- Israel - 3.4 (drifting)
- Estonia - 7.8 (shortening)
- Norway - 8
- Cyprus - 8.8 (shortening)
- France - 14
- Bulgaria - 15.5 (drifting)
- Czech - 16.5 (drifting)
Hosts still screaming and the usual pre-show banter. "Good evening Europe and good morning Australia".
Azerbaijan - same patchy vocals, nice glitter mascara on the closeups. Basically the same as before, good opener, competent but nothing special. Actually the vocals are even worse than before, must be nerves.Very cool on-screen sparkles on the last verse.
Iceland - Ari is painting on an egg in his aww postcard. Hopefully it open up his chances a bit. Lots of close-ups here and he makes great eye contact. He's squeezing everything he can from this lemon.Vocally it's perfect and some applause when he throws the mic stand, then some great wide shots in an all yellow stage for the high notes - which he nails. Great performance all in all.
Albania -the start has a blue hue on his face, no real stage lighting which fits perfectly until he hits those first big notes, then the stage goes all red. His vocals once again are fantastic, and he's owning every second of this song. The language sounds beautiful, and he shows his emotions in every note. Can you tell I'm gaga over this? First huge applause in the PC.
Belgium - hasn't been a good run so far, let's see if she can Blanche this. She's standing in front of the fan circle, with flags all around - seems a bit distracting. Vocally, much better than before.It looks a bit strange seeing her amidst the fan circle, they're basically at the same height of the stage so it doesn't visually fit for me. She's much more engaging here but I'm not holding out too much hope. This should be on the stage, not the fan area.
Czech -huge welcome in the hall even before he starts. No backpack here, but it shows up later. The camera work here is fantastic! He's still not moving at all, until the three of them twerk for the last bit.He joins the dancers for the last routine, huge applause in the hall and PC.
Lithuania - such a contrast from the Czech song, the crowd applauds during her first verse and she's basically whispering. Absolutely lovely, with echoes in the chorus. Now we're taking a stroll on the bridge and her vocals are getting a tad ouchies.This isn't as amazing as the earlier rehearsal but it's still beautifully done.
**Commercial break**
Israel - Netta needs to own this to keep up her odds advantage. Netta's postcard is all looper so good hype preparation work. Huge welcome for her in the hall. The mike is huge and seems to cover her mouth on the closeups, not sure I noticed this before.This seems messy to me, ugh, and not sure what the juries will make of it. Netta is completely breathy and sounding vocally off, but she's oozing fun. Obvious Q, but will need a lot of work for Saturday. Gurl opened a huge door imo.
Belarus - the rose is still taking a walkabout, and man & teeth are making the most of it. The rose stabbed him in the hand, in another yet show of gore which I don't really get. Weird entry.
Estonia - nothing to add here. Still beautifully executed, and vocally perfect, except the lower notes where she gets a bit La Voix. Doesn't seem as good as it was earlier, I think a lot of them are nervous. Some more patchy vocals, as the song progresses. Yeah, not entirely convinced this will nail the juries although biggest applause so far in the PC.
Bulgaria - more nervous vocals, the mic seems too fine tuned, it's picking up every breath for these songs. Sorry to say but it's still as much a vocal train wreck as before, and the Sia lady is still miming. Probably the worst performance of the run so far :-(
FYR Macedonia - ouch. Completely flat from the offset. Nothing to add here.
Croatia - finally, a vocally perfect performance. This could be a sleeper qualifier, she's stunning, the camera loves her and she owns every second of this. The camera work is messy and too many wide shots which distracts, but it's the only negative thing I can say about this. Another big applause in the PC, something may be brewing here with this.
**Commercial break**
Austria - pre-observation: he should wear his postcard track suit instead of his on-stage ensemble. Another perfect performance, not missing a note and looking great. Full of R&B/gospel realness with his fantastic backing vocalists. He's fidgeting with his mic pack so maybe he's not happy with something..but it doesn't show. Flawless, can't point at anything here that needs improvement, seems top 5 material.
Greece - blue hand is back! She sounds a bit nervous but her backing vocalists are doing a good job of lifting her in these parts. I don't think anyone will get the blue hand reference, she's not creating any effect with it, and she's not moving much in the last build-up.The previous rehearsal seemed better, both vocally and visually.
Finland - some screaming to start off the song as she gets off the wheel. As with many others before her, she's not as good as the previous run, some vocal shakiness throughout, and lots of unnecessary screaming..Will probably Q but wouldn't be shocked if juries push it down.
Armenia - exactly as before. Like with Austria, this dude is completely focused on what he's doing, it's just him and he's living every note. The juries should lap this up. Update..he botched the last part and missed some of the high notes, which took a bit away from the initial impression.
Switzerland - I want those abs. She's making good use of the bridge and it looks very good with people all around. Other than that, it's exactly as before: competent and well delivered (except that "anyone who has been hurt" bit of saccharine), but not sure if that's enough here - I'm betting it ain't.
Ireland - whatisface is wearing shorts in his postcard. Tip: stop skipping leg days in the gym. On to the song, big applause in the hall before he starts.Just as before, every bit of this comes across as earnest and heartfelt. There's a great shot behind the dancers with the audience holding a glowy thing? Really lovely :-)
Cyprus - the hype seems to have reached the audience, they're into this from the get go. Flawless, sexy, engaging. Everything that needs to be done is done here, will score big.
People are coming back from the arena, reporting a very sparse showing of audience and almost no reaction during or after the songs. Any/all noise coming from the fan circles. Anyhoo, join us on the MessageBoard for more fun.
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