1st Dress Rehearsal - Semi Final 1 (P3)

Azerbaijan
We're not really sure how the postcard was made. Dilara was on the roof of a building and started unwrapping see-through plastic film in the blue, red and green colours of Azerbaijan, but then somehow takes a timer-controlled picture of herself and it turns into the flag of Azerbaijan ... hmm... seems like Eurovision points are not the only things which magically happen in the land of fire.

This song is winning the semi. There, I have said it - which now means it will fair terribly on the night. But going back

Ukraine
Mariya is using packs of yellow post-it notes and places them carefully on a train station platform starting from the edge. She writes a message on one of them (I believe it's her name) and waits for a train to come. Yes, trains in Ukraine are light blue. The picture is the blue of the train and the post it notes.

Mariya is dressed in blue, while her running interest is in a black shirt and tie combo. Good performance and a strong qualifier.

Belgium
Axel is waiting in a laundrette and finishes knitting his black, yellow and red flag. He puts it in the wash and starts. You then see him removing it from the tumble-dryer and a much smaller knitted flag comes out. Pic taken.

Axel sings his heart out but there is not much to this song. 'Mother' is still scary and even though he is the fat kid that people at home usually feel sorry for, as we saw in Antwerp already, will this necessarily get through? Most peopel believe it will but I still don't see this being a sure bet.

Moldova
Cristina is making clay, but not in a seductive Ghost kind of way, no, more a "plop" version. She makes three columns and colours them. One of them, guess which, has an eagle engraved into it and painted in the colours it should. We then take a picture of the flag.

Cristina still doesn't move but at least her dancers do enough for everyone. And what is missing from a performance with enough wtf moments? The singer ripping her hair out naturally! Why would anyone think this would be a strange idea? I think I had this as a qualifier earlier - doubt it now.

San Marino
Very unimaginative postcard for San Marino. It seems Valentina likes spending time in hangers since she went to an airplane hangar somewhere in San Marino (one assumes) in order to paint a canvas of the Sammarinese flag. Why she didn't do it in her living room one does not know - or dare to ask.

Still sounding very musical rather than Eurovision. This song does not invoke any major feeling and is more of a filler than an entry. Non-qualifier if there ever was one.

Lise is back on the screen doing her bit for tv-shopping addicts across Europe - informing them how they can get the super CD and DVD of this years' entries.

The next record is "Biggest Shoulder Pads". Again, no spoilers.

Nikolaj and Pilou are back to announce the continuation of the show.