Second rehearsal: Lithuania to Bulgaria

Bulgaria


This is very much a performance made for TV, in the arena it's just dark figures on a dark stage. There's a lot of video effects happening, including three of the male singers merging into one, like a real life game of 2048. This sounds fine, although I'm not sure someone watching this for the first time will get what's going on.

Estonia

Elina is looking stunning and sounding confident. For those of you with tickets to higher seats in the arena, this will be a spectacle, because unlike most acts that look tiny, the ice cream dress you can actually see. Also the sight of how they set up the thing and take it apart in 3 seconds. €60,000 well spent.


Belarus

The one we've all waited for. Once again the rose that pierces through Alekseev's hand is pristine, despite what we saw coming out of the crossbow clearly losing some petals along the way. What is the magic.


Israel

We have soap bubbles!

Besides that, they seem to have worked out the fake looper sound at the start and it sounds good. Pyro geysers at the first chorus are not necessary in my opinion (but don't damage this too much). Best part: Side shot on the catwalk with the backing singers emerging behind Netta:

I'm sold, but then I've always thought everything in life needs a Yaz Bitti and soap bubbles.

Lithuania

Press Centre is showing Czech conference, so we're watching this in the arena. Ieva now sings the last sentence in English, although there's a bit of Lithuanian before that. Back to finishing in Lithuanian in the next run, then full English in the last. In the arena it's a bit dull, but on screen it's gorgeous and I can see this in the top 10 on Saturday with the right draw.

Also aboard for Belarus to Bulgaria

Bulgaria

To me this felt like a 70's choreography (if you can call standing still and walking for a little bit choreography), it was a kind of ABBA style in the beginning, with two of the artists singing towards each other, and a very "Dallas"/80's way to divide the picture into three separate parts and other such effects.

We've now had four run throughs from Bulgaria, all very similar to me and vocally quite stable. Yair is over at the Israeli press conference not being a stupid boy - hopefully!

Estonia

I got winner vibes from this the first time I heard it. Elina's performance, with perfect vocals and the impressive dress effects (similar to what we have seen earlier, but with a few nice variants added) has not made those feelings go away.

What struck me during the second and third run through is how huge the stage looks in this performance. It suits the song/dress/Elin(a)!

Belarus

Just back in time to catch some of the lol-iness of Belarus, and my brownie, completely intact - equally amazing! In this performance, I actually thought Alekseev's back was missing at first! But it turned out it was just a rose wound. Such a relief.

First rehearsals: Belarus to Bulgaria

Bulgaria

My pre-opinion: This is the best vocal harmony of the contest, a bit like O'G3NE but with a slightly better song and a much more eager broadcaster. Are they eager enough to take it all the way (if it's even possibly with this song)? Let's see.

First run-through: Similar to last year, a lot of quick camera changes and split screens. Venetian blinds Power Point transitions. Not for epileptics. They seem to have thought this through and hired Christer Björkman's best staging directors, I'm sure the younger attention-deficit viewers will love this. The vocals sound higher pitch than the studio version.

Trey stops the second runthrough after five seconds and says he's sorry.

Actual second run-through: More focus on Zhana (who looks a bit out of place and wears too much lipstick). They're standing on three platforms that look like they're made of scaffolding (not sure if this is their final form), and change positions, a bit like Modern Folk Üçlüsü & Aysegül Aldinç. Overall, a solid rehearsal.

I've skipped the rest of it to watch the Israeli press conference, and no, I wasn't a stupid boy, although the songwriter wore a "stupid bøy" t-shirt, and this kind of diacritic misuse annoys me to no end, but it was fun and Netta owned it.

Estonia

My pre-opinion: When I first saw this, I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did. That's not exactly promising, and knowing the whole dress saga, not much is going to change. This kind of thing should have enough fans to take to Saturday though, one would think.

First run-through: As expected, an improved version of the Eesti Laul performance, in a darker, larger stage. The dress is centred in the round stage, which suits it well. Some nice patterns on it, including flowers and a swirly thing like ice cream n ithe end. Elina herself? She's good vocally, but I didn't notice her much, attention goes to the dress.

Second run: Much of the same, she's giving more effort and sounding good. Not much to say, this will do as well as this song can. My main reaction is that I really want ice cream.

Belarus

My pre-opinion: I've yet to see a good performance of this, but the one that matters hasn't happened yet and I'm not ruling this out completely. Alekseev has the face to appeal to a lot of teens, and the song is 'basic' in a catchy and comforting way, and if done right, may slip into the final in this whole mess. Either way, I'm very much looking forward to see what kind of prop they've come up with this year - can they top a holographic baby and a futuristic airboat?

First run: LOVE IT. Alekseev pulls out a rose, gives it to the camera(!), camera gives it to a Flamenco dancer. Flamenco dancer shoots it back using a crossbow, then breakdances. Press centre is in hysterics. This is Eurovision. Wait, there's more. This ends with him on a very high platform revealing a torn shirt in his back and fake blood (or is it crushed roses?). I don't even.

Second run: I'll try to pay attention to the singing this time, the visuals were so distracting I didn't even notice it. Really, the amount of shock was so big that I didn't even steal Elin's unattended brownie. Well it sounds okish, except that he's mumbling the words. Sorry, got distracted again by everything that's going on. His eyebrows have their own choreography on top of everything. And did I mention rose effects on screen? This is loltastic. I Love Belarus. 

Third run: The rose has lost its petals by now so he's just holding a stem, which is actually made of a metal cord with a rather sharp tip, and he nearly pokes himself in the eye. Watch it, Alekseev, we already have too many artists taken to hospital today!

[LIVE] Semi 2 : Dress Rehearsal 1 - live reporting

That's it for this rehearsal, people!
Was really fun to see how everything clicked together.

Me signing off!!

OUTRO
The 10 winning songs are being shown once more.

GOING THROUGH
-Israel
-Serbia
-Bulgaria
-Belarus
-Malta
-Ireland
-Austria
-Croatia
-Romania
and finally...
-Switzerland!

FAKE QUALIFIERS
Volodymyr announces Jon Ola Sand as the Mr. Miyagi of Eurovision. Does that also mean he can catch flies with his chopsticks? Before Eurovision once again turns into a cut-throat business, Volodymyr reminds the performers how amaaayzing they are and how great it is that they were allowed to perform in Kyiv.

INTERVAL ACT
The interval act is something dance-y. It's all very interpretative but looks slick because everyone is wearing black clothes with some red ribbon accent. In background of the predominantly percussion backtrack you can hear female voices singing Tatar-style melodic lines. Ukrainian horns warn us of Ruslana's arrival, but luckily for us, for the time being, she's not showing. Then it all ends.
Before we are officially introduced to the leftover finalists for next saturday, Timur gets to chat to Belarus.

VOTING COUNTDOWN
'They say time flies when you're having fun' Time was very slow today, I felt. Maybe there's a button to speed up time in a special app. The Eurovision App isn't the one though. After the countdown, they're talking to Macedonia.

VOTING REPRISE 2
Just before the second reprise Poland is being interviewed. Nothing earth shattering happening here...

VERKA II - The Rise
We now see Verka and mom live the independence of Ukraine, Dana International and eventually her taking part in Eurovision. Again, some of the years mentioned in the captions don't add up, but don't let that spoil your fun watching this.

VOTING REPRISE
Oleksandr and Volodymyr are bantering away as their life never depended on it. In any way the reprise soon follows.

HOST COUNTRY: UKRAINE
O.Torvald are bringing their show with gusto. They really enjoy performing out there. A bit screamy here and there, but I'm glad this type of song is in this year's final.

BIG FIVE: GERMANY
Same story for Germany in the camerawork department. But at least it starts really interesting enough. Sadly it quickly descends into dullness. Although I really like the stark architectural backdrop they've gone for, I feel a splash of ONE extra colour could've lifted it a bit. In this run there was new pyro too.

BIG FIVE: FRANCE
Alma is a bit breathy in the English bits during the first chorus. I feel that the camerawork could've been much tighter on Alma. The graphics are impressive in themselves, but do nothing to emphasize or help how amazing the song is. Instead it's almost off-staging the French entry.

ISRAEL
Imri's big hurdle throughout all of his rehearsals has been getting the vocals right. In this rehearsal he's much more in key. Occassionally 'just' getting away with sloppy singing. But dancing and singing at the same time is a challenge after all. If he repeats this in 6 hours, he'll be qualifying with ease.

ESTONIA-AH-A
What can I say, I love the 80s throwback. Koit seems to have finally mastered his cues and the entire thing is, to paraphrase mister Sofabet, a Telenovella fest. And they'll all repeat it on Saturday.

LITHUANIA
Victorija is wearing very long razorsharp white fingernails. If she would have a blackboard she could torture us all by scratching those of it. Instead she's singing her song. She sings it well though, and it's well performed. Well, as in, fully committed to annoy us for three minutes.

BULGARIA
I wish Kristian would stop hiding his mouth behind his microphone. Just keep it a tad lower. Still not sure of the line graphics that appear on-screen. I don't feel they add much. The more I hear the Bulgarian song, the more I feel it's a dull dirge. But he's quite good, being such a young singer.

BELARUS
The sound mix is off here once more. The male voice sounds much clearer. Kseniya is also a bit more shaky on the vocals. I would so love this to qualify, but they will need keep everything much tighter.

BREAK
Timur again singing his prepared script.

SWITZERLAND
That yellow... thing. Someone get me a bucket of anthracite gray paint now. Vocally she's fine, though in the high notes she clearly lacks power. Or confidence. I like this song in fact, but the dress isn't helping her. After the bridge, she tries channel Mariah, but sadly only Isaiah shows up. Luckily only us press center fanalists are the one subjected to it. Gosh. Not sure about this one.

NORWAY
Joust and his song 'Grab The Moment' is of course the streetcred that Eurovision has been craving ever since the mid 70s. However after Croatia it just seems a bit too mellow. The boys themselves are doing it fine, but I feel myself getting annoyed by the long fast sweeping cameracrane shots. Also not helping Norway's chances is the mumbling during the bridge. At this point in the show, it comes across as filler.

CROATIA
If San Marino was the appetizer in the car crash department, then Croatia is a full-on three course meal. But I adore it. Hope it qualifies, because I feel saturday night needs this. To be honest, I don't think Croatia's camerawork has improved since the last rehearsals. Still Jacques pulls it off. What 'it' is exactly, still remains to be determined.

SAN MARINO
They are very good! 'Nuff said.

IRELAND
Brendan is not doing well vocally. He sprinkles his performance with singing 'just' under the melody. The backing vocals are also all over the place. He was MUCH MUCH MUCH better during last rehearsal session. At least he's a way better body language performer than some of his age cohorts in this competition. It felt as something was wrong in the sound mix.

DENMARK
The backing vocals open the song a capella and the vocal balance is not there. The female voices in there just sound too shrill. Anja is moving professionally on stage, selling the song well. A bit slippery on some of the end-notes, but she's a great singer anyway. Songwise it's such a shame, just because she is so great. Pyro-curtain to end off the song.

HUNGARY
Joci Papai still looks a bit 'Blanche-y' when he starts his song. But I feel that he, just like Blanche, seems to have found his comfort zone on stage. And at the latest by the rap bit he's actually winning me over with his performance. Happy for him, but not feeling the song. But that's only me.

BREAK
Gosh. Timur's English is horrible. As he rambles off his Eurovision facts, he sings his phrases in a totally artificial manner. Luckily his bits are being kept to a minimum.

NETHERLANDS
Talking about vocal powerhousing. Although one of the sisters starts a bit early. The trio seem a bit more nervous than they have been throughout rehearsal week. And it's a bit audible in the voices. By the bridge they've all composed themselves and are vocally back on track. I seem to have noticed a few faintly flat notes. But nothing to be worried about.

ROMANIA
Finally! It's Romania. And nothing too soon. Not really fond of Alex's sleeveless jacket. Nor am I wild about the child letters that spell 'Y - o - d - e - l - i - t' on the big screen. It's harmless, unpretentious fun until the bridge, where they show that vocally they mean business. This is sailing through.

MALTA
We got the wrong credits. Those of Romania.
Claudia still has her breasts projected on the gigantic videowall behind her. This is Slovenia 2017 territory. Competent, yet somehow sleep inducing.

MACEDONIA
Macedonia's postcard has a bit 'NOT FOR AIR' message slapped over it, meaning this isn't the definitive version for the show tomorrow.
Backings aren't pitch perfect, but to the untrained ear they'll sound okay. I think Jana is doing well in this rehearsal. The entire package isn't in the top tier though.

AUSTRIA
Nathan is his impish self throughout the entire performance. I feel that he'll go full on energizer bunny once the arena is filled with a responsive audience. For now the rehearsal is almost faultless. A bit slidey on the wailing, but apart from that smiles all round.

SERBIA
Tijana starts and the sound mix in the press centre is off. The music sounds way too harsh. She looks great this rehearsal. I wonder if the hair will stay the same. Vocally on the cusp of being shouty, but still powerful enough. Ok, now she does cross that line into shouty territory. She ends her song with overemphasizing the last 'p' in deep.

INTRO
The host boys are on stage now. Oleksandr takes the word. And again the guys try to be funny. They'll get it right by tomorrow evening. Also, they're still heavily relying on their cue cards.

Next they 'freestyle' with some musical instruments. Oleksandr is quite good with his flute. Volodymyr likes to handle an accordeon.

Hahaha! They're Ukrainifying some of Eurovision's best known hits. :-)
Awww... a glitch in the sound tape and they have to restart. Volodymyr calls out for his accordeon. Henrik keeps his cool as always. They restart.

Oleksandr's flute is called sopilka. Whatever you say Oleksandr. But keep playing it please.
So, the Eurovision hits... first Euphoria, which is actually quite nice and epic in traditional music style. Next up is Fairytale, which already sounded quite folksy. So not too much of a stretch there. Third hit is 'My Number One'. Think the male choir in 'Moja Stikla'. That kind of singing.
Wow. Even 'Rise like a Phoenix' gets a treatment. It's nothing short of impressive! I like!

As this is the first dress rehearsal, they get to do this intro act a second time. As the production team sets everything up for the second go, Oleksander occupies himself with the logistics of swapping his musical instrument with the cue cards. Quite ingeniously he suggests that one of the Ukrainian grannies has them stuffed in their skirt. It sounds more ridiculous than it is, really.

During the second go, 'Rise like a Phoenix' gets pyro during the final.
A few more hiccups in the transitions - The choir has to leave the stage immediately. But that's what rehearsals are for. Did you know that you can vote using the Eurovision App? It's like a Eurovision party.

16:05
The show starts with traditional dressed young Ukrainian ladies similar to Semi 1. I 'think' they're different but I can't be sure.

16:02
Still waiting. What did I rush for?

15:57
Right. So a bit later than usual.
I'm by myself this afternoon, so it won't be a verbatim report. Only the stuff worth mentioning.
Think performance, camerawork and the likes. For a description of the postcards, well, you'll have to wait for a bit more than a day.

Day 7 - 2nd Run Through : CRO / NOR / CHE / BLR

BELARUS

Ksenija is wearing a different number to what she did on Tuesday but Arciom is wearing the same. Cameras are working well however wouldn't say excellent yet. The backdrop is still just a lot of random but that's not always a bad thing. Everything in me wants this to qualify however trying to take a balanced view on it, the likelihood is debatable. There are a few strong songs in this semi therefore what would make the people at home vote for this over something else?

2nd Run - This needs the crowd to be in the arena dancing and having fun together. It would be great if the audience wasn't packed like sardines in that standing area and actually had enough space to have a little boogie around. Still, the duo sing well and show that they are having the time of their life on that little boat on stage. This is what Eurovision should be about, artists knowing that this is probably the most that they will ever be able to achieve internationally, enjoying every moment they have on that stage, hoping and praying to bring pride to their nation. Belarus! I salute you!

3rd Run - Lovesh!! I know, I know, but there is something cathingly energetic about this song which just wants to make you get up off your seat and dance. Hopefully this gets conveyed to the audience at home since I doubt the juries will be very impressed by it. I guess we just have to wait and see until Thursday.


SWITZERLAND

The team stuck to the same wardrobe they did during the first rehearsal. Maybe they didn't watch it on video? Maybe they didn't read the comments? Maybe they forgot to bring another dress? Whatever the reason may be, it is not good enough. The rendition of the song itself is what we have been used to - mediocre. Miruna however decided not to sing the last chorus and instead lets the backing singers handle it. In the meantime she starts giving us an example of how she can't reach high notes. Maybe not the best time to start experimenting with these choices but let's see if she keeps them in a few moments time.

2nd Run - Well, the good news is that it didn't get any worse. But nope, the screaming is still there.

3rd Run - Well, no pyro but the wind machine makes a very strong comeback in this song. Wouldn't be surprised seeing the poor girl blown away! Or at least her dress. We do need to ask however; "Who though that this stage design was going to work well? When did someone think, 'Oh yes! Let's dress her up as Big Bird off Sesame Street and have yellow and pink backdrop! It will be totes amaze!" Whoever it was, please can we get the number of who is supplying you with your stuff?


NORWAY

We have more graphics projected on tv screens. Most of which are just harmless what could best be described as pink interference glitches but there are moments in the chorus where these digital heads appear to be screaming, assuming this is portraying the 'voice in [his] head'  however it does not work at all. No one is impressed by it. We're all in agreement however that the national final performance was much better and that something has been lost since then.

2nd Run - A respectable run but nothing to write home about still. Those graphics need to go since they distract rather than help anything. It's strange since visually this should be exactly like it was in MGP but it isn't. Two NQs in a row for Norway?

3rd Run - As with MGP, Joakim is not lit up for the bridge - not everyone is pleased at this. And there is no pyro for Norway further reducing it's chances.


CROATIA

We were supposed to have a run but Henrik asked to "cut the music" since the lighting didn't seem to work. He then said "it's a dark song!" to which we all laughed.

Take 2 - Well, that was an experience! The camera has been changed quite significantly from the first rehearsals, only sometimes working in their favour. The backing dancers were on stage for the whole song last Tuesday but now only appear from "Don't let go!" onward. Jacques is wearing a leather suit jacket and is delivering well. This did not get the reaction it did a few days ago however. May we have thought it better than it actually is? That never happens here in Eurovisionland does it?

2nd Run - Oh, so they are playing with cameras again. This time the beginning is back to as it was on the first rehearsal. Backing dancers are wearing dark grey suits with black t-shirts while the two guys playing instruments are also in dark grey suits but this time with white t-shirts. This worked better than the first run today. Still not sure about the shot with three Jacques - right head, left head and actual Jacques - but I guess they know what they're doing ...

3rd Run - We're playing with cameras still - something we can't really say much about since at the end of the day this is what rehearsals are for. It would be nice if they stuck to something though. Pyro is available in this song also and adds that little bit of fairy sparkleyness which was deeply missing up to this point! The laughter erupted when Henrik states "we're currently counting you as one person but we're looking into it". #croatiaskandal


LUNCH

The canteen upstairs is improving bit by bit - maybe due to the competition downstairs next to the male toilet. But today was a lovely dish of chicken drumsticks and rice. Tasty rice too. Gnam gnam!

Day 4 - BLR-BUL-LTU-EST-ISR

ISRAEL

Arms!

Imri is in black (or rather translucent), singing just about adequately. Not as much choreography as I was expecting. Two dancers and some backing singers.

More literal graphical interpretation for the 'walking on stars' and 'hour glass' parts. And Imri on the back LED breaking into pieces.

It's rather underwhelming. Nowhere near as much impact as Golden Boy. Someone here even mentioned a word to send fear into all Israeli supporters: "Tooji."

The jury final will be quite key here. If he sings like today, he will be punished.



ESTONIA

Staging is a mix of the Eesti Laul performance and Stig & Elina. Koit was a tad lost with some of the choreography on the first run-through.

Koit's acting skills haven't improved but I really don't think he's trying. It is a rehearsal after all. This should be fine once it all comes together.

Better for each run through. Laura in particular was very good.


LITHUANIA

Essentially the NF performance here, in red and black with some pyro graphics at the end.

Very grating vocals.

Poor things don't even have Georgia to vote for them.


BULGARIA

More blue lights, but with some rain effects. Kristian in black with white shirt.

Actually no, it's mostly black and white and he is swishing his hands about, so think there will be more stuff happening that we're not seeing yet, a la Dami Im.  At one point there are a few squiggles. It's still a work in progress.

Vocals fine.

Hmm, I think we were all expecting to be wowed and it's...just nice. Should be safe for a top 5 finish though.


BELARUS

The return of white clothes and blue lighting. They are standing on a boat. Not really sure why.

Shots of various buildings on the backdrop, giving the effect they are flying slalom on their boat. Maybe it's a plane?

They dance a bit towards the end, distracting from the repetitiveness. Vocally solid.


***
The after-lunch session. Let's see how much they show us in the press centre...

Day 6 - After Lunch: Latvia, Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Belarus, Serbia.

SERBIA
New item: Faces of various women appear on the backdrop for the first verse. Sanja is dressed in all black, as are her backing vocals. The backing dancer interacts a lot more with them than he did in the first round. Vocally stunning and the message of the song is protrayed nicely.

In the second run through there has been something happening with the dancer. We don't know if he is hurt of it something technical happened to him. We will se in the thrid run through if he comes back or if it is something to worry about.

(Voice of Consuela on Family Guy): No, no, you no worry, he come back.



BELARUS

Well, he's no longer digitally frenching the wolf - again, a good thing learned. The staging is still confusing and we are still not sure what the message is but that is what commentators are for. There are some bad camera angles still happening - you can see other cameras in some shots which definitely is not what the plan was. We don't need to worry too much either way, finalist he is not. For the first time in the 5 years that the contest has been held in Scandinavia since Belarus' debut in 2004 that the country will not qualify - in fact, it only qualified when the contest was in a Scandinavian country.


ISRAEL
Question: Will the acrobats get it right or will they have an argument on stage again? And it appears they will get it right - and they have changed the choreography a bit which is good. Hopefully they will get it right. Everyone seems to be glued to the screen when Hovi is on stage. We can't really hear the first 30 seconds of so of the song since Justs is singing his song for the 140,321st time since he arrived here and his press conference audio is higher than the screen. The presentation is excellent and as long as the hula hoop girls don't fuck it up make any errors, it should be through to Saturday.

On the third run there is a bit of an issue with the voice. He couldn't reach the high note and the look on his face after the last rehearsal says it all - he is not happy with that performance.


SWITZERLAND
The smoking armpits are still there but the hair is looking a hundred times better. Unfortunately that is where the improvements stop. Unlike Poland, there is no chance that this will gain enough votes to get through to the final on Saturday. As long as Rykka is having fun it's all that matters. The staging is quite good however, lovely backdrop to her.



POLAND
The red jacket is back! No more bare arms or silvery jacket which triggers mockery. And yes, we do have an actual third violinist who actually know what she is up to. Dinah Nah's lookalike can go back to her day job. The chello and piano are still where they were last time, piano barely visable. The lighting appears to have improved and it is not such a car crash as it was earlier but it will still need to find something amazing in order to qualify.

Actually, after I wrote that, I am thinking it could just sneak through. There are enough good but not great mid-table songs that the better presentation of today could actually get it through.


LATVIA
Just as in the first rehearsals, a good vocal permance. Simple staging, nothing extravagant. Works well on the first run. We did see Justs struggle in the last run through in the first rehearsal, will the same happen today?

And the answer is no, his voice was fine this time throughout all three rehearsals. We will be seeing Latvia again on Saturday night

Day 3 - Taking a look at Belarus, Serbia and Ireland

IRELAND


Before the rehearsal

The song is quite different from everything else this year, so it has the possibility of grabbing some votes just based on that. I expect the performance will also just be a rather simple one, which suits the genre. Nicky isn't bad looking, so they don't need a lot of distraction. We've seen him being a bit shaky vocally in the past though, so that's probably their main challenge to overcome.

Rehearsal

Barbara Dex Award alert again!
Black jeans, brown boots (when was that ever a good match?) and a leather jacket with some black bits, some bits of brown suede, and some red parts. It's not silly or ridiculous. It's just a very very ugly combo.

The stage is switching between red/pink colours and dark/blue. He is joined by a drummer, a guitarist and a keyboard player on podiums. They also seem to sing. But we can hear female voices as well, so there's probably more people behind the stage.

Vocally quite ok, actually. Although I couldn't quite tell because Hovi Star and about 9 members of the Wiwibloggs team are in an interview room next to where we're sitting at the moment. But it seemed a lot better than some previous performances that he's done. I would say the main problem with this performance is rather that it comes across as rather boring. It doesn't exactly scream "Remember Me!", and there's no really anything happening at all. Which could of course be a good thing, especially in a year where most of the other entries have so much happening on stage. Will have to watch this again to get a better impression of it.

Nicky sings it again, and this time I was able to focus less on the jacket, and more on the singing. And yes, it's really not that strong, but the backing vocals do back him up a lot. It's almost a bit like with Jedward, when we basically heard Leanne Moore's voice more than the actual lead singers. And the harmonies do work quite nicely.

It still comes across as quite boring visually though. The stage is mostly very very red. He mostly walks around the stage and eventually walks out to the end of the catwalk. That's about it.

No applause in the press centre.



SERBIA

Before the rehearsal

I was preoccupied and forgot to write something here before I saw the rehearsal. Sorry :-)


Rehearsal

Sanja is at the centre of the stage, which is lit with tones of red and blue. And the edge of the stage has the Undo-styled light pillars. Simple but effective. Sanja is dressed in a rather interesting dress with a printed landscape on it, but it doesn't look like it would be her performance costume.

Behind Sanja there's 4 female backing singers who start off standing in a half circle behind her, doing synchronised arm choreography with Sanja. Later they move to one side of the stage and do a more complicated choreography which involves a lot of grabbing of shoulders and other body parts. And towards the end the backing singers move back and stand right behind Sanja. It's rather reminiscent of the choreography of Molitva.

With one major difference. There's also a male dancer. He appears after the first chorus, and tries to grab Sanja. She over and over again pushes him away. He then moves on to try the same thing with the backing singers, and they also reject him. Basically, as the song seems to be about getting out of a bad relationship with domestic abuse, he's clearly playing the part of the violent ex, and she's now strong enough to push him away. It might sound messy, but I think it worked quite well. They could easily have overdone it, but they didn't.

Vocally Sanja was perfect, and the backing singers were very strong too.She doesn't quite hit all the camera angles yet, but hopefully she will later. Both the first and the second run-through was met with an applause from the press centre.






BELARUS

Before the rehearsal

I think the only question in people's minds right now is whether there will be wolves of any kind. and whether Ivan will be naked. I assume he will not. But a bit (or lot) of skin would surely not hurt to make this song memorable. The song itself shouldn't be difficult to perform live, as long as he's given the right amount of backing singers and doesn't try to do anything too complicated vocally.
Whenever Belarus send rock-inspired entries they tend to make pretty lame stagings that don't really do much to help the song stand out. Let's see if they've come up with something that is a bit more interesting than Hasta La Vista or Eyes That Never Lie


Rehearsal

Projections are really THE most over-used prop this year. The song starts off with a video projection of a naked Ivan and a wolf. They both then turn into dust (or stars) just like Greta's silhouettes do, and instead the real Ivan is seen. He's in a beige linen blazer over a beige shirt. His extremely long legs are dressed in beige trousers of some material that might almot be some kind of leather. The only non-beige thing in his outfit are dark high military boots. And he has the white face-paint stripes that we've seen before.


The screens behind him show images of wolves as well as very badly animated people walking around looking a bit like Neanderthals. There's also additional sheer hologram screen which he at one point steps behind, which means he can interact with one of the holograms.
The floor also has projections and at one points it gives the effect of Ivan standing on blocks of ice. Very similar to some of the Russian projections.

And at the very end of the song, the screen behind him shows an image of a huge baby. Stumbling towards the camera. In a diaper. It's rather cute but totally awkward.
Needless to say, this got mostly laughter from the press centre rather than an applause.

Second run-through. Some things I didn't notice before. The hologram screen also at one point shows a drummer, and then a guitarist. Which are actually Ivan himself, dressed in different clothes and with his hair done differently. Basically instead of having a  real band on stage, he's got holograms instead.
He does have backing singers though, but not on stage.

Vocally, Ivan is mostly fine but there's a few notes that aren't 100 %. But probably not bad enough for the average viewer to notice.

It's really hard to tell how this performance will be received. Just like the Russian projectiongavanza, it's doing SO many things all at once. But there's certainly a lot of cool parts. Especially the part where it looks like Ivan is standing on a solid block of ice floating in the air over a river of moving sheets of ice. (Or whatever they are). Unlike Sergey who had to climb a screen to reach his block of ice, Ivan just has to stand on the floor, and the 3D effects are doing the rest of the work.

Day 3 Afternoon - Belarus, Serbia, Ireland

IRELAND

Before the Rehearsal
The question we are asking ourselves is - will he actually be able to sing it this time? It seems that for someone with his status he should be able to but for his promo his was not able to pull it off live.

Rehearsal
And the fear was well-placed. Unfortunately not the greatest vocal performance we heard tonight. Not sure if Nicky is wearing his Thursday outfit but hopefully not. The stage is quite dark with hints of orange and red which are also on Nicky's jacket - which would lead me to believe that the outfit may actually be THE one but hey ho. The camera angles were quite bad so this distracted a lot from the stage performance. We were not  really to sure what we were supposed to be seeing.

Second run - It appears that our sneaky "let us not post until we see the second run to comment something better above" did not work since Ireland is taking it's sweet sweet time to do the second run. We therefore have to come out and admit it.

And obviously as soon as the "update" button is clicked they decide to start. So now we can report that the stage starts in red/orange and then in the second verse moves to blue tones - returning to red for the chorus. The camera shots we are seeing are still extremely messy and they are not sure what they are looking for. For the last chorus Nicky uses the catwalk. His face says it all however - not good.

Third run - The initial shot is of a red beam directly above Nicky which works well (something positive)! On stage we also have a drummer, a guitarist and a keyboard player. With the competition in this semifinal it will be hard to see this again on Saturday. Question is, will Nicky fly back in order to continue the tradition of points-giving for the Irish Republic? The odds of him being needed in the actual show are not in his favour.


SERBIA

Before the Rehearsal
Myself and J just noticed that we both didn't write any 'Before' for Serbia. Oops.

Rehearsal
Light columns welcome you to the stage. Sanja is centre-staged, bathed in white light while around her, her four female backing dancers are lit in red. After the first chorus, a male dancer comes on stage and brings the message that she doesn't want him there. The harmonies are very in tune - although the staging is becoming a bit too Molitva. Today this has been the second show that commanded attention (and therefore less comments). You want to watch this. It makes you gravitate towards it. It is an easy qualifier and we all know it. Big applause in the room.

Second run - Again, amazing performance! Would not be surprised if this started climbing today.

Third run - Unfortunately I cannot really write much else on this. The team has clearly worked a lot on this, they have read and listened to reviews online and have come to Stockholm with a slick, professional entry. If only other countries were as diligent in listening to what people were saying,


BELARUS

Before the Rehearsal
The question will finally be answered shortly. (Voice a-la Ingvild Bryn, 1996) Will there be wolves on the Eurovision stage this year? Although you can never tell with Eurovision, we do believe that the likely answer will be "No". Hopefully nakedness is not part of the show. Let us wait and see.

Rehearsal
Oh dear lord Jesus. Well, here are wolves and nakedness - however digital. No one needs to be seeing that really. Ivan is dressed all in beige. The iconic three face lines are still there. There are three digital wolves, left, right and center. They seem to not be in sync on purpose (alpha, beta etc) but this just looks wrong. And it is not the only thing that is wrong with this. There is a hologram box which is being used but the holograms are quite distracting if not simply weird. We end with some random baby with Ivan's face lines. Very weird. Vocally Ivan is challenged - but we knew this. The studio version has been worked on a lot in order to make it to a point pleasantly audible.

Second run - Noticed: The three wolves in the hologram box end up becoming dust which then turns into a drummer... and other musicians later on. Still messy. Still vocally challenged. End.

Third run - "Leave all the madness behind, far behind". Couldn't have said it better myself. We managed to find one good shot - the stage floor is made of ice which starts breaking and obvi Ivan is standing on the one piece which can fly. Very nice, but probably not enough.

Day 3 Preview - will there be wolves?

As Day 3 dawns, there's really one rehearsal we're looking forward to today more than any other, and that has to be Belarus? Will Ivan have any clothes on? Will they have made good on their threat to bring live wolves with them, or are we going to be seeing holograms or even some terrible dressing-up from a backing dancer?

We're hoping for the latter, obviously, as we'll be ready for a laugh after what looks to be a rather slow morning. One of the second semi-final's favourites, Latvia, is on first at 10:00, and we're hoping they've nailed the staging like Aminata managed last year - and we'll try not to read too much into any pre-rehearsal pictures of Justs wearing a massive red dress.

After that, though, we have what promises to be a rather slow few hours with Poland, Switzerland and Israel rehearsing before we get to Belarus on stage at 1:40, after lunch. We might even make a point of attending the Belarusian press conference, if only to ask what on earth they were thinking/what happened to all those ideas (delete as appropriate).

Following Belarus we'll have Serbia at 2:20, and we'll be keeping an eye on Sanja's demeanour on stage. The visual performance from the presentation show of 'Goodbye (Shelter)' was, shall we say, rather dramatic, and we're curious to see if Sanja will be able to rein in the histrionics on the big stage, when she's singing live rather than miming. We hope so, otherwise we fear it could be rather off-putting to a European audience.

Finally, the last rehearsal of the day will be Australia. 'Sound of Silence' is another performance that we haven't seen a proper televised live performance of yet, and we're eager to see what Dami Im can bring when she takes to the stage at 5:20. Australia are one of the favourites, currently sitting within the top 5 in the bookies' betting odds - the first rehearsal of this one could bring some big shifts. Keep an eye on the blog and on our Twitter account.

And as always, feel free to ask us any questions in the comments - is there anything in particular you want us to keep an eye out for in today's rehearsals, or just interested in a Swiss backing singer? Ask it away!

SEMI FINAL ONE - THIRD DRESS REHEARSAL

Apologies, got in a bit late today. No, I'm all here after the fantastic Israeli party but just was having a bit of a lie in. At the party yesterday we had Amber, Kurt Calleja, María Ólafs, Il Volo, Michele & Anita, Elnur (who sang part of Hava Nagila) and some others. Always a party not to miss.

So, what have we seen up to now today:

MOLDOVA
Still sings competently well. Qualifier - likely.

ARMENIA
THEY GOT THE CIRCLE! THEY GOT THE CIRCLE! And it didn't look weird! Now let's hope they can repeat tonight. Qualifier - likely

BELGIUM
Another greatt rendition. Qualifier - likely

NETHERLANDS
Trijntje is in the same dress as yesterday afternoon - so we assume she's keeping this now. Qualifier - unsure.

FINLAND
I have decided to refrain from commenting on this. It seems whatever anyone says about this it ends up being taken too much to heart by people so it's not worth the drama. Qualifier - you decide.

BREAK
Interview Loïc and Trijntje.

GREECE
Much wind, many light, breath. Qualifier - yes.

ESTONIA
Well, it seems the crying is part of the act since she cried again now! No need to worry, it's all part of it. Qualifier - yes.

FYR MACEDONIA
Again, this is not bad. It's just not attractive enough to make it an easy qualifier. Unlikely.

SERBIA
Gone are the days when clothing ripped off during a performance magically disappeared from stage. Bojana's white robes litter the ground making it look messy. Beauty may not lie but cleanliness is supreme. Qualifier - too close to call. It could go either way.

HUNGARY
Nothing else needed - yes.

BELARUS
Just like with FYR Macedonia, this is a decent enough song, just not strong enough in the semi. Unlikely.

RUSSIA
Absolute belter! Top 3 in the final is hers, or it's ROBBED!

BREAK
Talking to Elina and Stig. Elina shows she doesn't only sing cute puppy-eye songs. Then off to Bojana.
Reminder again for the DVD and CD and #eurovision.

DENMARK
One of the other difficult ones to judge. It's Danish enough to make it work but in a year like this will being "Danish enough" mean anything? 

ALBANIA
i assume she's saving her voice. Did not sound as good as it has been in the past rehearsals. She did the same yesterday so there is a trend. I would like to say yes but it also falls in the question mix.

ROMANIA
All over again. The more I watch and listen the more I realise how I have no fecking clue of what is going to happen with half of these songs. The message is good, the song is mediocre. Hungary beats Romania on the combination of the two - but is Europe willing to have two of these on Saturday?

GEORGIA
Finally, something that doesn't make me judge my capabilities of having my own thoughts and opinions. Not that my thoughts and opinions are much different to anyone else's on this song but at least I know it's a qualifier. Unlike yesterday, she sings it as it should be - last warm up before the big night. 

RECAP
Slight glitch with the graphics which had the rolling 'telephone numbers' sequence going on when the voting hadn't been opened yet. No need to redo so we continue with the actual recap once the voting is open.

Noting different to yesterday so just read that one if you need. No hiccups, no champagne, no petits fours, NOTHING!

"QUALIFIERS"
01. Greece

And again a technical issue.Mirjam is a lier. Apparently.

So now...

01. Moldova (reminds me of Igor's voting method)

02. FYR Macedonia (this time with FYR mentioed)
03. Hungary
04. Georgia
05. Estonia
06. Belarus
07. Armenia

Small talk for suspence.

08. Greece
09. Denmark

Last finalist from the first semi final of 2015.

10. The Netherlands. Les Pays Bas.

RECAP
Again, in order of appearance not announcement.

End of show. Only a few hours until the show begins!!!

 
 
 

SEMI FINAL ONE : FIRST DRESS REHEARSAL

Conchita montage of her win from Copenhagen opens the show. The back of the stage opens up to reveal an orchestra - AN ORCHESTRA! AT EUROVISION! First time in years (I can't remember myself when the last time was but sure one of you will). The lights from the ceiling also dance and flutter like the flags and light bubbles of the logo.
Conchita emerges dressed in white singing Rise Like a Phoenix. The lights behind her flutter still but they also have a sort of wing effect. Conchita is helped down by a hot guy dressed in a tux. She then goes into the arena surrounded by dancers in sparkly evening wear. Being lead back up a flight of stairs to the second stage, Conchita continues singing and then welcomes us to the "Eurovision Song Contest 2015, live from Vienna", "Contestants, the stage is yours" follows. She then welcomes all the delegations in a parade as has been the case in recent years.

Trijntje appears to have chosen the second outfit - best choice.

Sound has cut out in the press room after Estonia has been announced so we have no clue but we can see that Russia is currently being welcomed. Denmark follow suit. Romania and Georgia have been announced and now all contestants are making their way slowly but surely to the stage from the green room which one again is part of the arena.

Still no ound but there appears to be a musical number since there are dancers going about. Conchita is also involved in this number.

The sound is just back when the musical number has finished. In the meantime, Valentina Monetta is lurching around the press room. Edward af Sillen and Sanna Nielsen were also here, sitting in front of us needing help for the priter. To the rescue, non other than Daniel Lynch of ESC Bubble.

The presenters are welcomed by Conchita but there is already a technical issue - to which "well, it's a rehearsal!". They cannot find their standing spot since there is no standing spot to find.

"Conchita has made herself comfortable in the green room with the contestnats". We are then informed of how to vote, not that I think it is a surprise for anyone any more - but hey ho, maybe for the Czechs, who are not even in this semi. You can vote up to 20 times for any of the countries apart from your own. SKANDAL!

MOLDOVA
Driving around in an open top car in Moldova, we have a engine wrench in the box. To which we pan up and we are in the Austrian countryside, using the wrench to start the gear of a tractor. Eduard helps the peasant farmers and they all celebrate with VIN!

Hashtags seem to make an appearance this year "01 MOLDOVA #MDA". There will be trendings this year.

Eduard is there dancing his solid beehind off - as are his dancers, all of them. Much rippage going on still, they have a big budget! Camera working well, but that is the luck of this song, you dont need much to make it work. Was typing so missed if the flippy bit worked or not. Eduard "tackles" the male policemen and wins - obvi!

ARMENIA #ARM
The package is left in front of a house which Essai was just happening to visit with all the group. Inside, coins and cards from a fun park. They enjoy the rides and take pics. Something tell me Eduard got unlucky.

Camerawork slightly changed for the better. Still awaiting the circle-moment. All sing well. I am biased, I love this so ... there. Ooh, somethin happened with the camera, like someone bumped into him.

The circle camerawork has been changed, they still can't form a circle though - unhappy face :(

BELGIUM #BEL
Brussels atomium, driving in a scooter around the city. Loïc receives something he is to young to know about - a cassette. He then is in some dance studio for some reason. He joins the group and they go to the streets of Vienna (or somewhere else in Austria) and do a street show.

Just like in the music video, this is working like clockwork. He might be young but he is very professional in his singing and his dancing. Camerawork is quite simple but effective. And it has rapapap. Still personally usure about the whole grabbing his mouth thing but oh well, I am not aid to understand these things. Big applause in the press room.

THE NETHERLANDS #NED
Scenery from Amsterdam, Trijnthe opens her post and finds an old compass like that from The Golden Compass movie. She then takes a hot air balloon ride over Austrian scenery.

In true Dutch 'f you all' style, my previous thought of her using an outfit from the other rehearsals was wrong. She is gone for outfit number 127 it seems. This is getting silly now. Then again, the more we talk about dressgate, the more publicity she gets, the more publicity she gets, the more people hear of her. You can never trust the sneaky Dutchies!

Some cloth is on the floor - maybe it's part of one of her previous outfits. It's over.

FINLAND #FIN
Pelle Miljoona (thanks anonymous comment who quoted my original comment *like*), which to me looks like he could have done with a wash, gives the pack to one of the guys at the door of his apartment block in Finalnd.. They then go on a tram ride through Vienna. They blow kisses to girls in the tram and to the tram driver. Everyone smiles and is happy building bridges.

Well, it's Finland, it's short. That's the best thing about it. He doesn't slam the mic on the phone, the fattest one walks off stage immediately.

BREAK
Since it's so short, we take this opportunity to speak to Arabella and Mirjam. They give a shout out to Australia (to which an applause in the press is given by one single person - we really do not care any more about Australia) and then some other discussion which we didn't follow.

Conchita interviews a delegation, Belgium is selected. She calls Loïc "darling" and is loving is. She is actually lovely. "There´s just water on the table, what´s going on?!" ponders the lady. We agree!

Alice then is on screen to continue the show. We go to...

GREECE #GRE
Maria-Elena is taken to a school in Austria where she colours and plays with the children. Germs aplenty! Thankfully she had her injections before she went ... we hope. Well, she didn't seem like she was riddled during rehearsals.

Greece is just one of those counties, you can pretend you really cannot be arsed with their drama any more, but you find yourself always talking about them. Great staging and lighting. The white piano on stage sometimes looks a bit funny since you can't see the guy playing it in all shots.

ESTONIA #EST
SKANDAL! Stig and Elina spent the night together - well, how else do you explain Elina opening the door and Stig coming to check what arrived. They then go to Austria and scateboard in the forest. As you do.

IT WORKS! IT WORKS! At least for now, no mistakes with the shadow and the effect is AMAYZING!

Typed to soon obviously, oh well, seems they don't show the angle much so not as obvious as it was - Elina gives Stig the eye for most of the song. But then again, with her eyes, who wouldn't want them focused on them?

FYR MACEDONIA #MKD
The package has an address of Macedonia. #pissedoffgreeks. They go skiing.

Not much changed from the rehearsal. Let's keep this politically correct. They did the best they could in the time they had and with the equipment that they had. Make out of that what you wish.

SERBIA #SRB
Bojana goes to dye some cloth in traditional Austrian fashion. She then wears what she made. And is happy. Not like the person she did not pay.

They stuck with the coloured flags, which to me personally, don't think fit in the beginning of the song. Love it or hate it, she knows how to belt out this song. It seems, for the time being, that maybe more 'press' than 'fanpress' is here since not so much screaming and clapping as during rehearsals. In fact, it's quiet after the end of the performance.

HUNGARY #HUN
Boogie is putting out fires in Austria. 

She is not liked in the press/fan voting but the song works. I don't like it either but I have to admit it works. She will do well. She thanks us in English and in Hungarian. This may not be the same in the live show obviously.

BELARUS #BLR
Apologies, too many people asking too many things so this missed me completely. I only managed to catch the last few seconds which did not really let me understand the gist.

Maimuna has found the good balance between too moody and too smiley which she seemsed to have problems with in the rehearsals. The two play around on stage and Uzari uses his shots to get his charm accross. The backdrop is stll a bit of a mix. We are to believe they are dancing on the clouds but there are no clouds beneath them, only on the back.

RUSSIA #RUS
Polina, where would we take Polina if it were not a huge place full of crystals. She admires the sparkly stones.

Nothing I can write will make any news. She knows she has this semi final in the bag. Unless something really bad happens tonight and tomorrow night, there won't be many open mouths when she walks on to the stage as part of the ten. Gets a large round of applause from the room. She also looks emotional.

BREAK
Conchita thanks Polina and continues by interviewing Stig and Elina from Estonia. Later "Hello GORGEOUS!" "You look fabulous darling!" she tells Bojana. Fabulous is a word used a lot here.

Arabella and Alice are now on stage to remind us the voting will be open soon. We can also download the official app from the app store, or we can use social media platform to discuss with others using the official #eurovision.

DENMARK #DEN
The danes get a hat. And they go sleding. They have a race down an old village lane.

The audio had gone quite low but it seems that was due to the room and not actual audio issue. 

The boys are quite well oiled. Nothing bad happening, nothing I would say they deserve huge praise for, but its harmless enough.

ALBANIA #ALB
Elhaida receives a key. A key to a huge Austrian snow plough. Thanks to her handywork, a single skier can go down the piste. Something smells like ORF have got some free labour from some of these artists.  If it was real anyway ... which it is not just in case it was a question.

Some camera crew was filming a bit before Elhaida started which made the shot look weird until you realised what was going on.

Not sure if Elhaida is saving her voice but she has sung this much better in rehearsals. Could it be a bad year for Albania?

ROMANIA #ROM
Horseriding is the activity for the members of Voltaj. They got the trophy! Will this be a sign?

Călin was out last night at the Euroclub as were many others. He is a really nice guy and has time for everyone, regardless of how pointless your chats to him are. Unfortunately though, I still don't see this working for them. It's in Romanian (for part), it's got sad movie shots of children, and it's late on when people will not be listening much (if they were in the beginning) to the commentry. The little kid is there, smiling and waving to the camra after the performance.

GEORGIA #GEO
Nina got fabric. Not black which she probably is not happy about but still, when in Austria she gets something more appropriate to her taste from the shop.

Starting well but we soon realise something is a bit off. The backing singers are a bit too high in this run. Also, Nina seems to have made a couple of mistakes in pitch. What is happening? She was a dead cert until just now. No don't worry - she is saving herself we are sure. You don't force your horse to run for miles to train for a race they need to win later on today. She knows when she is needed - and this is not it. 

BREAK
And there we ave it. It's done. Conchita back on stage asking the empty green room how they feel! She is funny. Don't let Conchita down, "support your favourite".

Arrabella, Mirjam and Alice are on stage to bridge until the recaps.
Recaps go through and the artists are shown at points just before their section will end.

After the recap the three presenters are bck on stage and start talking about pets and animal. Arabella starts talking to a horse who goes through the streets and find Alice who has a cat which then also goes through Vienna to find Mirjam whose dog is next in line. Various scenes of these animals going around town, kitty also jumping into a Eurotaxi and paying the €10 fee is seen. The dog goes to smell the butt of another dog.

This is actually quite funny, if it wasn't so long.

Arabella and Mirjam on stage mention the official DVD and CD. So there will be a DVD release.

Recap number two ensues.

Arabella back and quickly followed by Conchita to ask for votes.

Alice is next to speak, in French but was looking at the wrong camera. She starts again.
Herself and Mirjam then proceed to the countdown to stop the voting.

History Lesson & Talks to Artists
The contest we are told, was always going to have to return to Austira sooner or later. This is because Austria is known for music and hospitality. We then go on a tour of Eurovisions past and great Austrians. The audio in room is not great since lots of people are having loud conversations so cannot understand what is being said all the time. Elżbieta of Elaiza fame should be arriving in Vienna (if not the group itself) where she will be interviewed by Arabella. Mirjam then interviews a member of Genealogy. Mentioning Mary-Jane being the Australian member from the group, this gives the cue to talk about Australia in Eurovision. Really, you'd think we had no other thing to talk about apart from Down Under.

Eduard is next to be speaking to Arabella. How did e accomplish so much at such a young age. Mirjam then has Maria-Elena and Polina next to her. She asks her question but the stand in didn't hear it. Mirjam says "it doesn't really matter, no one is listening anyway!" we love her now.

Uzari and Maimuna are up next with Arabella. How many has that been now? Are we going to talk to all of them? Has there been internal skandals which we were not made aware of? Has everyone been talked to at least once throughout the night?

Recap of Finalists
Austria, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany - FROM REHEARSAL! All others was the music video, France, Australia.

Alice goes to talk to Jan Ola and calls him a Math Magician. She has to repeat that part since it went wrong the first time. And yes, we have combined the televoting and jury votes and we have the winners.

Arabella and Mirjam are to announce the finalists. In random order.

"The first finalist is..." ... long wait, unsue of what to do, look at podium. Arabella waves at the audience. We laugh.

Arabella and Mirjam go into some German talk. We go on. The board is sponsored by Microsoft. Nice big logo at the bottom right.

We wait again to find out who is going through,. Finally find out.

01. Russia
02. Romania
03.

We go back to German. That was it, those are the qualifiers! :D
Arabella and Mirjam are good though, they just start clapping to the audience and go into an impromtu standup. Asking where people are from.

03. The Netherlands. Mirjam says "gefeliciteerd, goed gedaan!"
04. Moldova
05. Greece
06. Finland
07. Armenia
08. Albania
09. Belgium "felicitacions!"
10. FYR Macedonia - but this was announced without the FYR in front. Again #pissedoffgreeks

The recap is in order of appearance not announcement. This could be changed though for the real night.

Recap over, all four presenters are on stage with the artists in the background. One thing left to say "Good Morning Australia, and have a good night Europe".

SHOW OVER.

Only 10 minutes away from the first rehearsal of Semi 1

Time is like thunder, and it flies by so quickly. Doesn't seem like yesterday we were here admiring the press centre for the first time, and look at us now, already a week has gone by, EuroClub has opened, parties have already happened and also, there was some red carpet thing.

But the time we've all been waiting for is near, we get to see the opening of the show, the postcards and what have the delegations done since the second rehearsal - and was it a right choice.

Stay tuned for more ... in 10... 9...

Recap of Lunch: Semi 1 run 2 day 5.

ESTONIA
Smouldering hot looks from Elina. She still however doesn't place herself well enough on the shadow. Piercing blue eyes! We will see them on Saturday - I say so ... and we all know how always right I am ...

FYR MACEDONIA
Second run through one of the tech team which I would think is audio is on stage taking down some notes. One of the guys from Merge talks to her a bit but not sure its about the sound. Daniel is still wearing his raincoat which actually comes in handy today.

Third run seems not to need audio lady any more.

SERBIA
Flags are still white for the rehearsal. We've already been told they will not be white in the show. We thought so and it just was made correct: they are all going to be a single colour but together they form a rainbow (well, as well as you can with four flags). Blue, Red, Pink and Yellow.

Bojana really belts this out though. I admit being one who did not understand why people cheered her before now but I have to admit the lady can command attention.

HUNGARY
She came, she sang, she sang more, she really kept on singing. She left. We survived.

It will qualify though, so whatever we think about it, it doesn't matter.

BELARUS
Maimuna smiles quite well now. Everything works OK but that is about it. It doesn't seem to have anything stunning to make it shine from the rest. Still, it has a violin and thunder and wing effects and clouds so that must count for something.

UPDATE: Belarus had to cancel all interviews since the schedule was not kept for them. We were given Swiss chocolate in order to say "Sorry" even though it was not their fault. SPACIBO BELARUS!

Winners and losers on Day 2

So there we go, we've now seen all 16 of the first semi-finalists, and of course we all know exactly who's going to qualify for next Saturday night. Right?

It's been a funny old day really, because most of the rehearsals have kind of confirmed what we already knew. With that in mind, I'm calling today's winners as Russia in particular, who put themselves in pole position to win the semi-final; Hungary, who were vocally really solid and whose staging includes some of the most impressive use of the video wall we've seen yet (and not one mention of dead kids in Gaza!); Denmark, because for all the song isn't really my cup of tea (who am I kidding, it's my #40 by some distance), they've basically delivered the same performance as in the national final and are going to get exactly the votes they were always going to get; and Georgia, who basically kicked ass. Nina is a scary woman, but in all the right ways.

Somewhere in the middle, we'll put Romania, whose creative use of scenes from the music video is offset somewhat by curious fashion choices and unimaginative lighting; and Belarus, who were perfectly solid (and as Roger said, Maimuna even smiled during the last run-through!) but a bit empty and uninspiring in the staging department.

Losers is a harsh term, but there's no denying that Albania delivered an underwhelming and confusing set of rehearsals, though things did get better towards the end (which is the point of rehearsals, after all!); and, I'm afraid, poor old Serbia, whose entire choreography and styling concept may well be in keeping with the message and vibe of the song - but what if that message is tacky and awful in the first place?

And with that, it's time for us to oximate in the direction of a Danube boat trip! "Viennese appetisers" are promised. Photos may follow if they turn out to be substantially better than our drawer full of Smash. See you tomorrow as the second semi-final starts to reveal its joys!

Day 2 rehearsals: RS, HU, BY + RU

And we're off!

SERBIA

Big hair! Or rather, wild hair. For the first time we see Bojana without one of those turban thingies (technical term). This is just what you'd expect. Camp - with our singer wearing the main tent.

Roger never lies. This performance is no beauty. The backing singers start dressed in white, with a faint hint of Klu Klux Klan, and then when the beat kicks in they strip off to reveal something that Moje 3 wouldn't even have worn.

Oh, it's a hot mess. But hugely entertaining.

HUNGARY

Ok, so I can't stand this song, but it is performed pretty well. The backdrop starts slightly oddly with a tree made of guns (!) but then at the end it becomes a normal tree in a shockingly green field and it's all beautifual and the world is lovely and such forth,

There really is not a lot to say. Boggie's vocals are a little bit struggling on the low bits in the first verse but other than that it's the performance you'd expect, especially if you've seen her perform it before. So yep. Rehearsals for nothing,

BELARUS

The only thing resembling thunder in the first run through was Maimuna's face.

It is all a bit underwhelming. He stands there and sings, she stands there and fiddles. A bit of dry ice this time, but yeah. It lacks something.

The backdrop starts with a red heartbeat 'pulse' and then turns into white flashy things which I suppose are meant to be lightning. Predominantly red and black though, turning to blue by the end.

RUSSIA

Quite surprised with the presence of a couple of guitarists and a drummer on stage. Polina in fine voice, some great use of the screens, white light pulsating everywhere. Probably, no, definitely the best first run-through we've had.

Yep, this is more than solid. Would be very strange if it doesn't win the semi.

God, I've even started to actually like it. Help!

1st Dress Rehearsal - 2014 Final (Songs 1-12)

Ukraine
Vocally saving herself I think, she can do much better and these are now more of another run. Also, there is no more the pressure of having to ensure the qualification to the final which means there does not need to be that amazingness at every go. The guy in the hamster wheel however still gives it his all. Will IKEA start selling them do you think? It could be a new trend instead of the treadmill - much cheaper, doesn't run on electricity and fits quite nicely in a living room and can be the focal point of discussion when you have people over.

In regards to the song itself, not a winner I don't think but should still do pretty well. Would say top half of the board but not going to scare any of the strong entries battling for the top 5.

Belarus
Teo seems to have had a bit of a late night. It seems a bit unfair to the acts who were only selected last night to have to do this rehearsal so close to their night of celebration but there is a time limit and therefore not much DR and/or EBU could do to avoid this. It is part of the planning nightmare that is the two semi-final system.

However he might be feeling, he is doing his best up on stage. Not as good as he was last night but good enough. I don't however see Belarus lighting up the voting finger of the viewing public and therefore would be quite comfortably see it lying in the bottom right corner of the board.

Azerbaijan
And another of the former Soviet Republics to take to the stage. This however is, as you may have imagined, one that personally does light a fire. Dilara looks lovely on stage and the song is worthy of a good place in the final. The trapeze artist is still a bit off-putting but it clearly didn't stop the Land of Fire from proceeding to the final. I believe it is not unlikely to see Azerbaijan holding at minimum a top-10 position.

Iceland
Well, a pleasant surprise qualifier for this nation. And as mentioned in the press conference, why is it that Iceland always has to be revealed as the last country to proceed? Does no one in the volcanic island have a heart condition?

Vocally doing a good job and you can't help but tap your feet and do a little swing to this. It could well be a bit of a dark horse - left side of the board?

Norway
I just realised I had his postcard totally wrong but oh well... Coming so close after Azerbaijan may not have been the lucky break for Carl but with Iceland in the middle there is a break of pace which helps. Having to choose between the two nations, one dominated by ice and the other by fire, one holding the Northernmost position of Europe while the other technically making part of Asia, I still believe that Azerbaijan wins. Carl however could probably reach the top positions of the second half of the board.

Romania
Always one to look out for this country, especially after the miracle they pulled off last night. In fairness to them however, they have managed to get it a bit more slick than it was on screens before. Ovi still seems to be a bit of an extra but I guess we're used to him by now and as long as Paula is queen of the stage it's not as bad. 

Bad camera shot where you see Ovi stepping out of the circular piano - we do not need to see him bend over thank you very much!

And we see him come out of the circle again during Paula's high note. What is up with that?

The ending however is good, and can see the audience cheer and clap to this. Difficult one for me to predict since I just don't see why Europe would fall for this but it seems they do. Since I got their not-qualifying so totally wrong, I might as well go full change and say top half of the board.

Armenia
Aram is wearing a t-shirt with the Union Jack on it. Is he sending a message to anyone? Probably not, but might as well have the rumour mill started like all good fans like to gossip about. Vocally competent but I believe the song has been hyped much more than it deserves to be. It is by no means a bad song but it should not really be challenging the top positions on the night. Having said this, Armenia does tend to fair quite well at the contest and therefore would doubt them finishing outside the top 10. 

Montenegro
So glad that the Black Mountain state has managed to get through to the final. It did take them numerous failed attempts in order to get here but finally they realised that the strong Balkan ballad is all you need to ensure qualification.

Ensuring qualification it did but what happens next. Many of the strong Balkan supporters are not in this year so would Montenegro manage to ammass the amount of votes needed for a good showing? I unfortunately think not necessarily. I would therefore put it at the bottom of the left hand side of the result table.

Poland
What can be said about this that has not been said before to show how much this needs to be in everybody's life? Well, unfortunately the fact that there was an incorrect graphic popping up during the song, that the mic level broke for a few seconds making Cleo sound far far away is not the exactly what needed to be said but it is what happened.

At least it qualified which is what most people wanted. In the final it might find a bit stiffer competition than last night. Could it see its popularity rise due to it being in the final - probably, will it mean that it will be in the top half - probably not. I would expect a mid-second half showing but may they be blessed for existing in Eurovision history!

Greece
Will he remember his lyrics on the night? Well, like we reported also during the rehearsals, it seems the written version of the lyrics is not as important to this group of youngsters as it may be to some of the other artists. The song allows for improvisation without it sounding strange - unless you are used to the studio version of the song.

The trampoline gimmick must have given the people at home a nice surprise but would this be as exciting second time around? I assume yes, and it is Greece after all - so what else is there to say apart from a top 10 result?

Austria
Should we be believing the rumours that Conchita won the semi-final? Could the Austrian bearded lady have knocked the youthful excitement brought to us by the Greeks? Is it a coincidence that they have now been placed back to back? Conchita is not singing with the power of last night, but that is understandable since she must be trying to avoid straining herself too much too soon, ruining the chances of tonight's jury rehearsal and most importantly, tomorrow's live show. She does however show us that she can still get the high notes whatever the situation and a rupture of applause envelopes the press hall.

Germany
First time we're seeing the German postcard and the group forming Elaiza are in a kitchen. They are making a mixture of candy blocks and are coloured Black, Red and Gold. they are then rolled together and small sweets made from the large sugary block. A picture is taken of one of the small sweeties for showing the German colours.

Performance wise there is not much there. The song itself is not bad, Elaiza are not bad, Ela's vocals are not bad ... but it seems to just be a mixture of "not bad". The cascade of streamers is too muchand it completely covers the band. Ela's face starts to get drowned by them and she has to remove some from her face. I would assume someone will be in touch about this to ensure that this is not the final result.

A quick break now where Nikolaj tells us to follow them on twitter on #JoinUs. He also decides to insult the elder generation by telling them if they did not know what a hashtag was, not to worry and just enjoy the show. "#JoinUs in the 21st century".

The Record Book is next, with the following record being that of Highest Note. No prizes for guessing who wins this one!

Back in the arena now for "Europe [to] make some noise!". More gay inuendos being mentiones with Lise thanking all the Eurovision fans, such lovely men dressed in, well, "all the colours of the rainbow." Yes, yes, we get it, most fans are gay.

Anyway, on with the show!

1st Dress Rehearsal - Semi Final 2 (Part 2)

Lise wants to "thank all you handsome men for coming out!" They seem to be on a roll with these jokes in Scandinavia.

Austria
For those who have not seen the postcard on youtube yet, Conchita is in a theatre and has numerous red and white dresses which she starts hanging from a three-tiered clothes hanger. She puts the red ones on top and bottom and white in the middle forming the Austrian colours.

Would be interested to know if Russia, Belarus and Armenia Ukraine (updated after reading comment below, thank you very much) will be broadcasting this or if they will have technical issues. Good to see Azerbaijan has not been involved in the talks about this topic. Good old Catholic nations it is again then. But moving on, Conchita is amazingly lit and the revelation of the bearded lady brings shivers. As does her rendition of the song, even though there were a couple of bad notes there. Biggest applause in the press are yet. Qualifying - unless there is some serious injustice in this world and contest. 

Lithuania
Vilija decided to go to the main square in Vilnius for her picture. She is with a number of people who are holding umbrellas even though it seems quite a sunny day (yes, we're surprised too!). The group opens their brollies which are, as you may have guessed, yellow, green and red.

You all know what Vilija and crew are wearing so it won't come as a shock. Vocally not great and quite shouty but there is enough noise going on in the background to make it sound correct. And if that was not enough, you've got so many things to distract you the song is one of the last things you notice. I would say this should not qualify based on merit but as usual, Lithuania is not necessarily stopped just because they have a bad song. Undecided.

Finland
Another postcard which has been available on the internet for a few days now. The boys of Softengine are taken to the frozen seas of Finland and do a bit of ice-sawing. A bit of treatment some of the ice block and some careful placing of them on top of each other reveal the Finnish cross.

They are still as smiley and happy as ever but as mentioned before, they don't really need to be. I would hate to have to be their manager but I guess you take what you can. And maybe I judge them too badly, who knows what they are like in private, away from the gaggle of 'journalists' they encounter here at Eurovision. They perform the song well and there does not seem to be any issues with notes - well, unless you include the screeching as a note, then there could be one there. Qualifier.

Ireland
And it's balloons for Ireland. Helium-filled ones. Kasey and the team are in a grand looking room having fun filling up the balloons with helium. They let them go once filled and they float to the ceiling. A number of them are needed but before you know it, the ceiling is full of green, white and gold balloons. The final golden one goes a bit astray and ends up in the middle of the white so it's Kasey who has to go up a ladder and place it where it should be. Back to the floor, Kasey takes the picture.

Vocally not strong, but Kasey is looking into the camera more. Visually quite ok if you ask me, people at home are used to expect a bit of random mess by now when watching Eurovision. People also commented about the dancers, but would you be able to have an Irish tune without the dancing? Ok, probably yes, but I see no harm in them being there. You never know, Lithuania is there, Poland is there, UK is there... I put my neck out and say Qualified.

Belarus
Teo is taken to an ice-rink and directs an ice cleaning truck to reverse onto the ice. Hundreds (I guess) of hockey pucs are deposited on the ice - one side black while the other a possible red or green. Teo spends time putting each one the right way up in order to reveal the colour and also carefully places them on the ice in order to reveal the Belarussian flag.

Well, I'm slightly tired of listening to cheesecake also but he sings it well and Europe is open to this music.

FYR Macedonia
And another lovely postcard from darling Tijana! A cello is hooked up to a sound machine which vibrates a red film on which bright yellow sand was poured. Tijana starts playing the chello, making the sand bounce and form sound formations on the film. Looking for the correct note she finally finds it and the sand creates the sunburst motif of Skopje. Different to other artists, its is a lab camera which is used in order to take the picture.

Vocally unfortunately a bit weak in this performance. The presentation has not changed much since the first rehearsals. Not always sure what we're supposed to be seeing but the charisma of Tijana both on and off stage makes me warm to her. I would love this to go to the final but watching this today I am not sure I can say it will. With a heavy heart I must say Not Qualifying.

Switzerland
And it's domino's for Switzerland. Many of them to be precise. Sebastiano places them carefully in order, accidentally knocking some of them down. After what must have been quite some work, he finishes his task, and continues to knock one of them down - revealing that some of them had a white back to them forming the Swiss cross.

Vocally doing well and enjoying the stage - and utilising it well. I don't think Malta and Switzerland will need to share votes, and this should see themselves doing reasonably good. Can't remember how many I said would qualify, but I would say this is borderline. Could qualify but could also just miss out.

Could there be something better?

Than Finland which is the next song to be rehearsed after a short 30 minute break?

Finland
The performance is not the most enthusiastic and the boys are not the smiliest of people one can meet but they are not here to be happy smiley, they are here to do their job and that's it. As long as the three minutes on Thursday night work well for them then there is no real need for them to entertain the crowds at other times. The staging is still not the most imaginative and the guys just stand in place and do their bit but for the needs of the song it works and I don't think we will need to worry about them missing out on one of the available Final spots.

Ireland
Kasey is now connecting better with the camera but not exceptionally well. The set has not change since the first rehearsal and the camera angles are used to highlight the effects of the backdrop which sometimes means that the shots are quite wide, making the performers a bit small looking but this could be what the delegation wanted. Vocally Kasey starts a bit shaky and then gets better the more the song progresses. The two male dancers are doing well considering that they both have been out a number of times and seem to be having late nights.

Third run through and it is sounding better. Seems like whatever the problem of earlier was, this has been resolved. Would it be enough to help the Irish through to the final though? Would Ireland and Slovenia end up fighting each other for a place in the final? Would Ireland stand a better chance due to being on earlier or is Slovenia's one but last position be in its favour? Let us know and Comment below or in the Message Board.

Belarus
There seems to have been a couple of issues with the technical side of this song. Other than that the song is not really changed since we first got introduced to it so many months ago. Teo comes, sings and leaves. That's about as much as there is left to say about this song now. And many comments can be seen here.

 

FYR Macedonia
Tijana's voice is not that strong in the first run. The performance seems to have been cleaned up a bit since the first rehearsal and the camera angles are working a bit better. Now that they appear to be in costume it visually is more appealing but there is still something about the whole thing which is a bit flaky. The question to ask would then be, would the time between now and Thursday be used well enough in order to ensure that the remaining rough edges get smoothened down to make it more appealing to the general voting public. Also to ask - why is Tijana not wearing her signature glases? Will they make an appearance on the night? Why are they being so prominently promoted throughout Eurovision portals and not be part of the costume? We believe it may be in order not to distract the audience at home from the rest of the show - but really, the glasses are amayzing! Your thoughts? You know what to do!

Switzerland
You can't be mean about this entry. The song is happy, the singer is cute and likeable and he whistles! It might not be a mega-hit in the making but performed well enough it could possibly secure a spot for the Helvetic Confederation. It has family appeal and is not at all polarising - from your granny to your annoying little sister would be able to enjoy this. The presentation is working well and Sebastiano uses the stage to good means. He could be a bit more motioned during the violin solo and could do without shouting "come on" to the viewers when he doesn't have a mic but if those are the only pointers to say could be improved it is doing well.

Rehearsals1 SF2 (Part 3)

Sill haven't had lunch yet but oh well, much to busy talking about how we should be getting Andorra to come back into the final with the guys from 12 points 4 Sweden! (it's in Italian). We already have the whole plan at hand and it is just a case of waiting for RTVA to listen to reason and let us dictate everything of their entry.

Ireland is on stage and we can see them but there seems to be tech issues so poor Can-Linn is just hanging around waiting for someone to tell her when she can start.

Ireland
The audio is quite low in the hall so can barely hear the vocals over the backing track, and even this is quite low. The stage looks lovely, lots of Celtic motifs there and playing with the Emerald and Gold colours of Ireland.

There are men in skirts on stage! And no, it's not Conchita again. The backing dancers are doing the Irish dancing as they were bound to do. The violin solo is quite good and the stage presence seems to be good (not great yet but workable). There is a need though for Can-Linn to belt the tune out more, she seems to either be nervous or just trying not to strain herself too much - but doing it like this would not get many voters.

Second run through and I notice the lightening at the back of the stage. Can-Linn needs to connect more with the screen sine she seems to just have an indifferent glance to it which I don't think will be appreciated in the living rooms of Europe.

If this is her costume, it is long! and golden! and sparkly! And there is a wind-machine which is much needed.

 

Belarus
Four male backing dancers/singers accompany Teo on stage. A fifth is at the back of the stage but is not a dancer, just backing singer (I guess he wasn't as popular as the rest). They do their little Robin Thicke routine and well, that's it really. The backings use the catwaks but Robin Teo doesn't. Not very imaginative use of the stage and background. You could have imagined the act a while ago even without any knowledge of the arts. And you're singing about Cheesecake? (well the word anyway - who do you know that calls their partner "cheesecake"?) Not well received in the press hall, total silence.

Most importantly: Is cheesecake cake? And what if it looks like this?

 

FYR Macedonia
When you come on stage wearing a top saying "That's Bullshit Darling" you cannot but love her! Well, you should only love her but a sigh of disappointment enveloped the press hall since we were expecting so much from this song! Attitude, wind machines and pyro, naked men, but nothing! Not even a gas mask could be seen on stage *sad face*.

Top like the one Tijana is wearing on stage

There are  three backing singers - two male, one female - and a male backing dancer. Tijana and the backing dancer should be performing some of the routine together but they don't seem to hit the timing right. Also, we know Tijana has attitude, she should be grabbing the balls out of the song and owning it on stage but it seems she is just a piece in the play and not the main act. I do hope there will be some talk at the viewing room since we all want to see Skopje in the final. Vocally the second run was much better than the first but from what we have seen and know about Tijana, she can sing and can pull it out of the bag when needed - no worries there.

Well, at least the dance routine to the chorus is quite easy, twirl your right hand twice in the air and then point straight up. Repeat ad nauseam.

 

 

Switzerland
Well, they're all there. The group starts together in the centre stage and move to the catwalk (apart from the drummer since he would find it a bit hard). There's a lot of frantic beating of drums while singing and whistling. "Interesting" would be a good word for the performance. Vocally quite good, and the whistling is flawless, we assume it is live since we don't think the EBU would allow it on the backing track. Visually not moving too far from the concept of Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow (Swiss selection show) but why would they? It seems fitting for the song and therefore why fix it? Will it be enough to see them through to Saturday? Will Switzerland and Malta share votes? Unlikely but we will find out soon enough.