Our predictions for the second semi-final

After watching rehearsals for the second semi-final this is who the ESC Nation bloggers predict to qualify tonight:

	SM	EE	CZ	GR	AT	PL	MD	IS	RS	GE	AL	PT	BG	FI	LV	CH	DK
Ben	X			X			X	X	X			X	X	X		X	X
Jonas	X			X	X		X	X	X				X	X		X	X
Jordy	X			X			X	X	X		X	X	X	X		X
Roger	X			X	X			X	X			X	X	X		X	X
SamB	X			X	X		X	X			X	X	X	X		X
Sild	X			X	X		X	X			X		X	X		X	X
Yair	X			X	X		X	X	X		X		X	X		X

Full marks for San Marino, Greece, Iceland, Bulgaria, Finland and Switzerland. Mixed feelings about Austria, Albania, Moldova, Portugal, Serbia and Denmark. At least two of those twelve of course will definitely miss out.

We're unanimous in predicting Estonia, Czech Republic, Poland, Georgia and Latvia will not make it to the final.

Are we up for a shock though? We'll know in about six hours. Enjoy tonight's show!

Fishy Predictions for the Second Semi-Final

A last-minute, foolish decision to kick out Sweden in favour of Romania in my prediction for Tuesday's semi-final resulted in getting 9/10 right, instead of my first ever 10/10...

So can I make up for it today, I wonder? Unlike Semi 1, I've been thinking for weeks that Semi 2 has ten quite clear-cut qualifiers, and while some have improved or gotten worse during the rehearsals in Rotterdam, I don't think any of these changes have massively affected the qualification chances. Hence there are no weirdass, last-minute alterations in the list below - now watch that being the foolish decision...

I find it a bigger challenge to dig out a semi winner among this bunch than ten qualifiers, as I don't really think anyone has it in them (except Denmark, of course! 🕺). There's about four that feel like they should come 3rd, so I guess it'll just have to be one of those.

1 Bulgaria | It's not really for me, but it clearly is for many others, and I can't fault the performance, so here we are.

2 Iceland | Just to make sure I don't get disappointed when this does better than it deserves, let's just make sure I expect the worst, eh? I truly couldn't stand Think About Things last year, so it was no big surprise this was equally awful, seeing as it's pretty much the same content in the same wrapping. There was a couple of months of glorious relief when far less people seemed to take to 10 Years than to Think About Things, but then somehow people were sold again as soon as they stepped onto the Rotterdam stage and did exactly what everyone knew they would because they always do, dressed exactly like everyone knew they would because they always are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3 Switzerland | I never quite saw this as the winning candidate that the odds suggested a few weeks ago, but after seeing it in full in the dress rehearsal yesterday, I also don't think it's any less of a winner now than it was before, despite the somewhat controversial staging, outfit and hand-move choices. Maybe the staging somehow fits it perfectly, and finally shows off the song for what it always was? I'm not entirely sure what that is, however...

4 Greece | Great songs shine through no matter what, but there was no need for that complicated staging.

5 San Marino | I don't think Mr Rida's appearance is making much of a difference as such (whether he's famous, unknown, a has-been or what, would any of those lead to people voting en masse either way?), but it does seem to make Miss Hit very happy and cheerful that he's arrived, which I do think might make a difference.

6 Austria | It's just good, and it shows.

7 Finland | This will certainly have its audience, even if it'll probably have shrunk considerably by Saturday.

8 Albania | Unsurprisingly I've loved this for half a year already, and for once it seems I'm not completely alone in appreciating a shouty and dramatic Albanian lady. Could it be because they've included a [gasp!] tune and a [double-gasp!] structure for once?!

9 Moldova | Quite varied reports from rehearsals, but I'd say it's a strong enough song in its own right. And considering the people behind it, I'm expecting some calls to have been made.

10 Denmark | Pretty please?! 🥺

11 Serbia | I wish they'd gone a bit more overboard with this, for something as loud and chaotic, it comes across surprisingly boring on stage.

12 Portugal | Yes, it looks very good on stage. But let's not forget it's still a godawful song with a godawful voice and a godawful ponytail under a godawful hat.

13 Poland | There are some bits of the song I really like, but no no no. So amateur and average I don't even think UK would've sent it.

14 Latvia | I can easily imagine any of these last four ending dead last - it really is about time we get a four-way tie for last place like in the sixties, isn't it? This one is both awful and glorious though, so might manage to convince some freaks to vote for it. It could even be me 😳

15 Czechia | The sooner he doesn't qualify, the sooner we can elope 🥰

16 Georgia | Feels almost too obviously last to end last.

17 Estonia | Most things would seem bleak after Senhit and Flo's colour explosion, but it's as if they've arranged meetings to think of ways to make this as bleak and forgettable as humanly possible, and even forgot to attend those meetings. I challenge you all to hum this tomorrow at lunch. I'd offer a reward for those that manage, but it feels way too hypothetical to bother.

Day 6 | Second Rehearsals | Both Semi-Finals | 🇲🇹 🇸🇲 🇪🇪 🇨🇿 🇬🇷

Good morning from, well, not Rotterdam (Notterdam?). While I'm sure you're all waiting for the Big 5 (will there be an LED middle finger? A giant inflatable baguette?) which Jordy will bring from the real press centre later on, here's a bunch of mostly microstates first.

🇬🇷 | Greece

After all those overly coloured entries, the minimalist purple-white-grey theme works wonders and the stage (and Stefania) look stunning. The transparent dancers trick will be the talk of the day and they've impressed me where other trickeries failed. Not quite sure that Stefania is a strong/experienced enough singer to carry this, but maybe she's holding back.

Sedond and third runthrough and she's singing better (not great, but adequately). This is the best rehearsal I've seen of all - one criticism is that the 'rotating screen' effect while she's on the stairs is already done before (by Sergey, at least). Other than that, transparent is the new black. Or is it 'invisible'?

Over to Roger for some more excitement.

🇨🇿 | Czech Republic

The first thing I notice is that Benny's glasses are very reflective, both lenses and frame. Or did they get steamed up in the mask-mandatory dressing room? There's nothing exciting about this act, it's just Benny & co having fun on stage. He's very likable (both in the attractive meaning and the charismatic meaning) and seems to be quite the professional, visually and vocally. I don't know if this will be remembered by song 17, but I'm liking what I see.

Actually there is something exciting - a really clever way to reveal the female dancers who join the male dancers in the second verse. One of them just appears out of thin air. Magic! There's also a sideways jumping routine when they sing the title, that's going to become a gif as soon as it's allowed. Something like this.

Last runthgough was without glasses. Probably better this way (said the blogger with glasses)

🇪🇪 | Estonia

Trying to find something nice to say here, ok: Everything about this reminds me of Lithuania 2019, and that very nearly qualified (the Irish televoters loved it!). And it's wise of Uku to use loud backing vocalists, because during the first line of the first verse you can hear him alone and he's really not great. The moon backdrop is kinda nice too, as is the ripply floor effect... running out of nice things to say here, help me!

The online press centre are chatting about coffee, that's nice too.

🇸🇲 | San Marino

The main question I've been concerning myself was - would it be possible for the real Flo to perform without having rehearsed? And the answer is - yes, Faux Rida just walks in and sings his bit, never finding a camera and is just there - something that should be easy enough to replicate without any previous training. Hell, I could do it.

Besides him, there is a lot going on  - Senhits everywhere, including the LED floor, and everyone crowding on a rotating stand, like a giant Lazy Susan.

The're really doing the most to cover Senhit's lack of singing abilities and the rather average song, and it's working, but on Saturday it's still going to be mostly a novelty. The last runthrough brings the pyro, including on the catwalk box which works really nicely.

Oh, and the fully-masked-bar-star-shaped-eye-hole dancers are terrifying. Like some kind of clown ninjas. At one point they're surrounding Senhit and staring at her like they're about to murder her, but so far thankfully she survived.

🇲🇹 | Malta

Well, they tried. They really tried. They brought in their best gun. But the whole thing still feels very... Maltese. As in, amateur - although perhaps less so than 2019. Destiny is cute and her new burrito-wrap dress will make sure she's noticed, but you can still tell that she's a bit too young for this song.

The best moment here is perhaps the vertical split screen during the first chorus with lots of hands doing the familiar routine. Othere than that, there's not much else to say - it's very much focused on Destiny with lots of different solid colour backgrounds. One of those is very yellowy yellow, and to my eyes it's really not the best background for pink and silver dresses. It's not bad (and the pyro curtain helps a bit), but if I had lots of money on this to win I'd be worried. Maybe live audience will help and she'll own it when it really matters, so not all is lost for them.

Second rehearsal: Macedonia to Finland

Finland

The I ain't scared part was so high pitched that only winged chipmunks could hear it. Was this intended? (answer: still don't know, but it kept happening in the next runs). Saara herself is in good vocals, the colour scheme stands out in this semi, but the backwards fall in the end is still not symmetrical (which annoys my pseudo-OCD to no end)

Greece

So, no prop. It's just her in a sea of blue. Her hand is blue too, as if she's been playing with gouache. But some of the smoke and light effects look really nice. How does this sound? No idea, I watch the first run in the arena and it was full of loud Greek fans. Back in the press centre for the next two runs, there's some ouch notes there near the end.

Austria

Stopped the first two runs during the first chorus because of technical issues ("the rope was in front of my legs"). Third run and Cesár still not looking comfortable for some reason, there's also a diagonal split screen effect that feels out of place. This looked better in the first rehearsal. More technical issues, this time with the lift, and they stop again. A full run, finally, but there are still camera issues, and he is seen releasing his own cable. Clearly there is some work to do.

Croatia

There's some kind of smudge camera effect, not sure it's intended (update: it's not). This comes off as professional after Macedonia, but I'm very sleepy during this, as is much of the press centre.

Macedonia

It may not be the usual Macedonian car crash, but it's still all a bit unprofessional, with some Barbara Dexism going on with the backing singers and Marija's post-change outfit. Lost is very much the right word here I'm afraid.

Day 2 of first rehearsals - Macedonia to Greece

Time to eat. So far the food in Portugal has been super delicious. This is what Yair and I had last night:

Greece

Yianna is alone on stage, wearing a long white dress with extra fabric that goes down to the floor at the end of the sleeves. It covers everything except a small rectangular peek gap at the waist and a circle in the back. A mainly blue stage makes it all extra Greek in combination. A lot of blinking lights going on. Slightly shaky on the vocals at the end.

During the second run the vocals were good all the way through. And either I got used to the blinking lights, or there was not as much of that.

The last run was just hacked by a Macedonian press conference! They like skiing in the Austrian alps apparently. I just like Austria.

Austria

Cesár, wearing a sweater and trousers in three shades of silvery grey, starts off standing on a big platform. The effect of that and a hologram of his face made the press people here go Oooohhhh! This also got the best response in here from what we have heard so far. I was quite affected by it too!

I got goose bumps during the second run through as well. Such a great performance (and song)!

Croatia

Franka seems very confident and sings the song very well. The performance gave a well rehearsed impression. Her dress is a black fitted long one, made of  lace with a lot of different patterns and many see through parts... See through lace - another theme for outfits this year! And there's a wind machine.

The second run through was spot on as well.

Macedonia

After about 30 minutes of waiting, we finally got to see Eye Cue rehearse. Unfortunately we just got the last run through. Something was weird with the sound, at least in the beginning of the song, a lot of extra echo. If it was intended, it is a bad idea... Marija's in a cute pink short dress with a lot of extra fabric in the back (back and jacket details seem to be the thing of this year). The stage was blue and yellow, and sometimes just blue, she was dressed in . Nothing that stands out really, not great, not bad.

Tourist information is all we are getting in the press centre at the moment, so here's a little taste for you - another photo from our historic tram experience yesterday.

First rehearsal: Macedonia to Greece

Greece

Pre-opinion: This stands out for me in this semi line-up, in a good way. But it will need to be staged with an 'atmosphere', and it won't be simple with this kind of stage.

Set up: Yianna is in a clean white dress with flappy sleeves that reach the floor.

First run: Oh. :-/
She's all alone on stage (more hidden singers..), which I think wasn't a great idea as she doesn't carry it visually by herself. She just flaps her sleeves about and looks robotic. Vocally fine until the last few lines, which made us squirm a bit.

Second run: Some improvements here, vocally and visually. The blue background and white dress make it look very Greek, at least. There's some light effect projecting on her dress during the drummy bit. She still looks lonely there, but they're on the right track with the vocals, at least.

Third run: We only got a few seconds of it, then the feed switched to the Macedonian press conference. Overall, they still need to work on the sound mix during the last chorus, but should probably sound good on the night. This is roughly how the whole thing looks:

Austria

Pre-opinion: I really like this one, but it depends on a strong backing choir for this to do well. And it better be visible too, because Cesár hasn't looked too comfortable on his own so far. ORF have a good record for doing their homework lately, so I guess I don't need to tell them that.

First run: Fabulous. He's on a futuristic platform that reveals itself dramatically, backing choir sounds great (they're behind the platform, we can only see their heads). Silver shirt that flatters his body really well. Giant hologram of his bust and face appears. He jumps off the platform and walks about during the bridge. Some wows and an enthusiastic applause from the press centre.

Second run: I should add he's wearing a neck mic and shakes his arms during the "I'm shaking til I fall down" part. The platform is quite a thing, it's a two-level device that lifts, both parts have lights. The top part looking like an alien spaceship. I both love it and fear green men will emerge from it and invade me.

Third and run and still looking and sounding great. If I were to say something negative about this, it would be that Cesár needs tighter trousers.

Croatia

Pre-opinion: There's not a lot of opinion, really. Most of us struggle to remember it's there. Can they do anything to change that?

First run-though: Dark stage. Backing singers are off-stage. Franka sings well, but not a lot happens, apart from a wind machine. I guess they're planning the focus will be on her facial expressions, trying to look 'crazy', but in this run-through it's all very mechanic.

Second run: First shot is on her stretched hand, slowly revealing her face. She uses the mic stand until the 'talky' bit, then she pulls it out, walks about for a bit, then goes back the stand. Some yellow lights in the back. The camera shows her from every possible angle, when it runs out of angles it does it again. Sound mix is absolutely fine, it sounds a lot like the studio.

Third and last run: They're trying a sound effect during the talky bit that makes her sound like she's on a walkie-talkie. There's also smoke that shoots from behind the camera when she goes 'skyyyyyyyy'.

To sum it all, this is... fine

Macedonia

Pre-opinion: One of my favourites this year, finding the change of styles fascinating. But well aware that this is a difficult song to sell, and adding Macedonia's staging track record and the live performances of this I've heard so far, chances are against them.

(still not started, on our screens at least, we're getting views of Portuguese forest bike trails)
(screens are on, looks like we get to see the last runthrough only)

So, it's not the carcrash many feared (hoped?). A standard Pop performance, with Marija walking about and interacting with Bojan and the drummer, and sometimes joining the three female backing singers/dancer in the chorus dance from the music video. Vocals are ok most of the time. Best part for me: the backings snap their fingers! It's very loud in the sound mix, so possibly an added sound effect (guess that's allowed...?)

The routine and outfits very much remind me of Karma's final performance from Dora 2003 .


Bom dia

Lisbon is so lovely! The historic trams aren't just a sight, they also take you to nice neighbourhoods your foot probably won't. If you're a smoker, however, you're never allowed on the metro.

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

CLOSING THE SHOW
The three presenters are on stage as are the qualified artists. A few general questions are asked in usual Eurovision style and then the show is closed. And that is also where this blog entry ends.


RECAP OF FINALISTS
The recap is in order of announcement.


FINALISTS
- Armenia
- Czech Republic
- Greece
- Finland
(six places remain now and I can feel my heart racing)
- Albania
- Slovenia
(our seventh finalist is)
- Australia
- Moldova
- Iceland
- Belgium

Congratulations!


RESULTS
'The yoda of the Eurovision Song Contest" (not my words) is introduced and Jan Ola informs that we have a valid result - or maybe he will, depending on if he can say so or not. If there is a valid vote, he will tell the two guys to "take it away".

"This is the moment of truth, the countries..." and that's where we currently end. The boys are just looking into the camera wondering what to do next.

Back, "the countries will be announced in random order".


GREENROOM
As a filler, Timur goes to the green room and interviews Australia, asking them why they are taking part. Volodymyr later also goes to the greenroom and interviews Manel from Spain. After the quick chat, we get the snippet of the song. The next artist to be interviewed is Lucie from the UK. Timur asks her how her experience of X-Factor has helped her for tonight. Volodymyr then moves on to Francesco Gabbani. It could be that they arm wrestle since "he's stronger than he looks!". The gorilla also gets a nod. We need to know more about the gorilla's movement.

Timur is then back informing us that that was three of the big five and Ukraine. If it weren't for him ...


JAMALA (AGAIN)
Jamala passionately performs another song (unfortunately we did not note the title) alone on stage. Dressed in what looks like a white poncho with multi-colored fringes.


VERKA SERDUCHKA
We start seeing views of Kyiv and a Ukrainian flag fluttering, the camera pans out and we see that it is being held by none other than Verka! Not to spoil it for you who are reading - you must watch this! It is actually quite funny! It's basically a clip of Verka and her mother, together with some other friends and family getting into comic situations in different parts of Kyiv and also a visit to Dolce & Gabbana.


VOTE WRAP UP
Apparently people from all over the world are voting! I thought it was only Europe and Australia but maybe they know something we don't! Only 60 seconds left. "All acts desperately want to be the new champion!" Who comes up with this? Oleksander and Volodymyr then start the countdown in Ukrainian from 10-6 and English from 5-Stop Voting Now! Again *eye roll*


INTERVIEW JAMALA
It's a bit confusing which microphone to use since apparently the one Jamala is holding is for singing, not talking - or so Volodymyr thought. We're therefore not sure what questions will actually be asked - or if Jamala is actually interested in answering them.

Another reminder of the artists which have performed tonight.


JAMALA
Oleksander and Volodymyr are on stage and they remind us of last year when Jamala won. She will be with us tonight with a special version of her song. Before that however, we see a montage of the voting and the 12 points to Ukraine.

9 dancers surround Jamala who is centre stage. From her nine roots are projected, each reaching a dancer. String instruments feature more heavily in this version of the winning song. Jamala does not move from the centre of the stage. No tree bursting out of her this time.


VOTING GUIDELINE
Let us just say that French does not seem to have been Volodymyr's best subject at school. Once we get the usual spiel of how to vote, and something which should resemble French, we go to the first recap of the 18 competing songs.


ITALY
Henrik is requesting some cleaners on stage. We do not know what happened and probably don't want to ask.

It seems we have a few minutes before we can continue so since apparently Jan Ola Sand has many jokes, we go to him. He's not ready yet but he'll have some for later. We're nearly done with this delay, and Henrik is asking the audience to help with the dance.

Performance: Francesco is delivering it today. With his cheeky smile he's making sure the people at home will want to jump up and dance with him. There are many shots where the audience is involved, and since it will be the fan zone you know there will be plenty of volunteers to be seen on tv. Although it was practically a given before we even stepped a foot in Kyiv, the more we go on, the less likely it is that anyone can take the trophy away from him.


UNITED KINGDOM
Since we've already seen the (Italian) postcard we can go straight to the song. However we would if we could. The United Kingdom's shell is not possible to get set up in 40 seconds, which means that the UK will have to come after a break.

This is taking a very long time so Henrik is informing that as in Stockholm, these will be 1 minute snippets of the Jury Final rehearsal. Timur is now taking over since we have "tecnical issues". He has "many questions in this emergency card". The poor guy doesn't really know what to do - it's a very long break. He therefore goes back to Alex who wants to thank his mum, but Timur says he should also thank his "daddy". Well now!

Performance: Visually this is working extremely well - could it be that the UK appear to have actually understood how to stage a Eurovision performance? Surely not! Lucie does not appear to only be the 26 year-old she is. She may be saving herslef slightly vocally in order to be able to belt out later on in the jury final however by no means failing to deliver. The only comment we could make would be that the tattoo on her right arm should be covered up but since it hasn't been yet all week, it is unlikely to be later on.


SPAIN
Spain's postcard isn't ready so they're showing Italy's postcard now. In fact, all postcards from now on are going to be Italy. It's Francesco being in a postcard with all different Francesco's (as a waiter, as a chef, as a dining guest). The fun and playfull character that he is exudes here. What Manel's postcard will be will be anyone's guess. Apparently for tonight's jury rehearsal they'll just show Italy's postcard for all countries.

Don't be fooled, this is still as wrong as it always was, we're just getting used to it more. If this was the first time we'd be seeing it the comments might be a bit different. The group still seems like they should be a supporting band rather than actually in the competition but it is what it is. Manel pokes out his tongue to the audience during the chorus. Not sure we wanted to see that.


LATVIA
Latvia's postcard is a mixture of some of the members doing rope skipping, make-up powder tasting and roof-top sightseeing.

Agnese seems to be taken by surprise that the camera is on her. I'm sure she's done this before but oh-kay. Vocally we've had better and the backing is taking over. The group are using as much of the stage as is left due to all the props but there is possibly a bit too much going on on stage. Sometimes less is more.


SLOVENIA
Omar wants to seduce you with sunglasses. He's visiting the Sports Palace where he took part in 2005 and relives some of his memories there. He then finds a cafe to have well earned drink. Hope it's not spiked. He'll need all of his wits after Armenia.

And it's already nearly over! Omar said that his experience might help him over some of the younger competitors since he has learnt things over his career such as flirting with the camera's etc. He clearly can sing and the staging complements him very well. There are some shots which could have been better reviewed but again, we need to see them with a full audience. At the end of the day, he is confident and knows what he wants - it's just a question of if the people at home want the same thing.


ARMENIA
Artsvik is in an air balloon. Not a warning for hot air though. Nice vistas of Armenia in the background.

Still sticking to the claim that this song could have done so much better with more dancers. The mystical emotion from the music video is missing from the stage performance. Vocally you can't fault her but the backing dancers are (or she is) not always in correct place so some visuals are a bit of a miss. The ending also has had a change to it. No longer is the digital eagle coming from Artsvik herself but the screen goes black and the eagle from the darkness. Not sure we approve of the change. It will still qualify however.


CYPRUS
Hovig has his head down, but then looks straight into the camera. We see him hanging in the park with his bros but also practicing hard on the dance moves. He's having fun while doing it.

This started off as being quite cheesy and bad but over the past week Hovig must have really practices his choreography and it is now looking quite good on tv. He is also singing quite well, another case of 'bringing it when it counts' and answering his critics from the first rehearsals. Also, coming after the Czech Republic is not hurting his chances. Closing the song the backdrop no longer sees a digital Hovig in mid-air, again, very good move since it did not work. With this new package, it is a likely qualifier.


CZECH REPUBLIC
Martina decided to drive to Czech TV's studio and discuss her participation with the delegation team. They then sit outside drinking juice and celebrating their inevitable win in Kyiv. Martina practices a bit in the studio, but you know she's already won... or so the postcard says.

Well, we forgot about this. Lindita has some competition for Barbara Dex. Fierce competition. This unfortunately just does not work. The colours are just no, the golden jump-suit, the half-naked people in the backdrop ... vocally Martina is reasonable enough but unfortunately we cannot see how this can turn up enough votes to see the final.


BREAK
Oleksander and Volodymyr once again flog the app. They both appear to know the inside of a gym and in this rehearsal they're only wearing tight fitting t-shirts. Very pleasing to the eye.

Break-bumper again. And Timur has nestled with fake Finland-artist (aka volunteers).

Timur is doing some emogic (emoji + magic, get it?). It goes all downhill from here as the rehearsal grinds to a halt. Some tech guy jumps into frame to hand something. Oh. They're re-doing it now. The mic seemed dead. that's been fixed now. The bit doesn't go down any better second time round. *sigh*

Luckily he now doesn't dwell and moves on to Moldova's booth. More of the knowledge tidbits. This time a relevant one - they refer to Sergej's YouTube meme-fame as the epic sax guy. And now it's Martina Bárta's turn.


ICELAND
Svala is siting on hexagonal mirrors. She didn't break any though. So she can go home and sip some coffee and sing a bit in her home studio.

Although looking like some character from a superhero comic (we're not sure which side of good she'd be on however) Svala is on point with her vocals today. Hopefully the same will be true tonight when the juries will be viewing. She does look quite lonely on stage though but add a large dancing audience and it should be fine. There are a number of wide shots and she's playing around with that cape like I used to when I was dancing around my room also pretending I was on the Eurovision stage. Good times. After a couple of years out, could this see the return of Iceland to the final?


MOLDOVA
The guys are out for a quick walk and then they go and select vinyl records. They end in a restaurant and clink their wine glasses. Then they're in Kyiv, performing for the gathered crowd.

The question we're all asking ourselves, are all three skirts going to work. We know the guys have been solid throughout the rehearsal week and their confidence is showing. They feel at ease on stage. Solid. And YES! All three skirts worked. And also the choreography is getting much better, the team must have been practicing a lot during their time here. A good reaction from us and Europe (and Australia) will likely agree.

POLAND
The Polish postcard shows the Kasia with the dogs. She's the one who let them out!!! After she decided she doesn't need them back, she goes to listen to a rehearsal of a classical concert.

The violinist behind Kasia is a bit more visible than before and there are more shots of him too. Kasia is still trying to escape from her dress but the pressure must be doing something for her since she is belting this out well - or it could just be the post-Demy effect. Kasia was in the right place again when the doves fly out from each side of her. A good reception is heard.

GREECE
Demy is in her hotel room, sipping a coffee. Next she's walking in a park as she spots some dancy guys she quite fancies. But she's not deciding yet. She first wants to explore the Greek country side a bit.  But yeah, in the TL-lamp hallway she's brought them along.

Demy still looks like a dear in headlights when the song starts. At the beginning of the first chorus the vocals go quite wrong. She tries to recover but the damage has been done. There is a very wide shot when Demy gets off the podium which works fine but then the waterfall projection Demy is very close up - a bit too close, you can practically see her womanhood! No one needs to be seeing that on a family tv show! Messy end to the song and not a great response.


BREAK
Oleksandr and Volodymyr are seeing that the social media is being whipped into frenzy. They're now reading fake tweets. Not telling you lot what they are, but they do remind the viewers of the hashtags are.


PORTUGAL
Smattering from the press centre as Salvador seems to have managed to get a postcard produced. We see him in Lissabon. Smiling a lot, but also singing and riding the tram. First performance for him on stage.

And the first time we actually see Salvador and not his sister Luísa singing. He's dressed in a black suit with black shirt and red handkerchief in left pocket. He's also wearing his accreditation but that is likely to be taken off during the show - unless we have another 2016 Moldovan dancer moment. The vocals are decent enough however they probably would have been better if he had been doing the rehearsals since in some areas they are not the best. However this simple song gains a huge reception here and it is likely to have the same in Europe.


AZERBAIJAN
Dihaj gets some cheers from the press center. She's out in the streets, but then visiting her favourite spots: Where she likes to rehearse, where she likes to hang out with her friends, where she likes to get tattooed. We also get to meet her kid (?).

Diana has her covered in a black tightened scarf which is the first time we've seen this. She is trying to be softer on the fake walls while she's banging them however it makes her looks uncertain of her strength when the song demands her to be confident in herself. Once again, amusement at the 'horse-man' having a fit on the ladder while "thorns" is being written on the wall. Azerbaijan always manages to pull stuff when needed however. The whole show is looking a lot better than what we've seen previously and again another good reaction from the gathered (fan)press.


FINLAND
Buildings seem to be sparse in Finland. The two have found some urbex site where we can see them promenading through the abandoned rooms. Oh, and of course a piano is being played.

Leena is pitch-perfect again. Even though we mainly know the show from back in UMK, it's simplicity and harmony is all it needs. It draws you in, making you want silence in the room in order to be able to appreciate it in its entirety. The camera shots being used have been clearly chosen and they bring much to the table. There is a huge applause by almost everyone present. It would be an injustice if this did not make it to Saturday.


BREAK
Oleksandr and Volodymyr are still trying to flog the Eurovision app, and its amaaaaazing features: Voting, downloading the songs and finding bios and lyrics. They just still have to mention the telephone number and you'd be forgiven to think that you've accidentally switched to a teleshopping channel. After the break bumper, Timur is quickly introducing some of the countries that already have performed. Georgia, Australia, Sweden and Albania. He tells a few politically correct facts about these.

Oleksandr and Volodymyr introduce Norma John, and thus the Finnish post card.


MONTENEGRO
Slavko is a theatre animal and shows off his spiritual home. But he's also excited as drawings of his Eurovision outfit are being made. Dancing, performing in the theatre. It's all part of who he is.

One thing you can't fault Slavko on, is his attention to the fans and his willingness to do any piece of PR he can. For his performance however, well, the beginning starts off harmless enough but there are too many elements which do not seem to make Eurovision sense. Yes we know the fans love it, however the juries will not look favorably on this entry and the regular Joe's at home will need a reason to vote for this. The vocals are not great and the spinning pony tail is still as distracting as ever. We will have to wait and see what happens with this entry.


BELGIUM
Blanche is wearing a lacy dress in the first shot. She's still a schoolgirl, so we get to see that. We also get to see that she has to juggle school with being an up and coming artist. So lots of press and gig-shots. She looks frightened in the live shot just before she's on.

Blanche is dressed in black, like her heart. The camera work is a bit shoddy, a lot of frontal shots and many many wide shots. Vocals are what we have got used to. She still doesn't look at the camera when she should. The robotic arm movements are still there but a wide camera angle helps mitigate the issue - slightly. This is however her best performance since we've been here. And there was an applause in the press centre to encourage it.


ALBANIA
Lindita shows us her fingered heart. Lots of cuts here: she's dancing performing, working out, enjoying the Albanian country side while jogging, fitting her dress, singing, playing violin... she's multi-faceted of course. Let's hope her performance is up to scratch.

Who is Lindita trying to fool with that white veil? The whole ensemble is debatable. Could this be a contender for Barbara Dex? Forgetting the attire, Lindita is singing well and the backing singers compliment her rather than overpower. The backdrop visuals may not be as appealing as some other entries' but this package seems to be getting slicker than we had seen it before - or it could be just the problem of having seen it multiple times that you just get used to it.

AUSTRALIA
Australia's Isaiah gets up - he overslept probably. And speeds in his car to his next gig. Everyone's already left (we never get to see the audience at the gig place) but they decide to shoot him performing anyway. He reaches out to us before he too appears in the now familiar TL-lamp hallway.

For the first time since we've been here, Australia has actually followed Georgia on stage. A more-confident Isaiah is trying his best but there is something missing still. It's a decent enough package with the singer connecting with the camera and vocally pretty decent but the visuals are slightly distracting - especially the one commented before when Isaiah gets swallowed by his own eye-ball. Luke-warm reception in the press centre, cheering mainly heard by the Aussie fanpress.


GEORGIA
Georgia's postcard then. Tako Gachechiladze wants us to know she's very much into transparent fabrics. It's all about make-up and fashion with her. But also about her as a singer/performer. So we see her in the studio. The TL-lamp laden hallway is the recurring theme for ALL the participants it seems.

A big pause before the song however - who wasn't ready for this? The fog is now on stage and we start closing in on Tako. Her hair still seems to be a bit of a mess, maybe she's half-way through getting it ready for tonight when it actually counts. Her vocals however are here and present. Girl can sing. Visually, like many others, this needs a large audience to be present to make it more appealing but but grand dramatic show is already enough to get most of the visual across. Another likely qualifier.


SWEDEN
Robin is being shown as he prepares but also during his pass-times, being on a motorbike. Next he suits up and finally readies himself with his dancing cronies in a TL-laden hallway.

Robin is dressed in his favourite fitted suit while the backing dancers are again in their grey/black combo. Slight error on the lighting of the front two dancers when the treadmills work them however this was quickly rectified - but noticeable. That however seems to be the only mistake made. Robin is looking like he's enjoying his time and the dancers are on form. No real worries for this entry.


16:18
They thank Sweden in their best and almost cute Ukraidish. Next they acknowledge the fans.
They banter on for a bit. Timur is going to be the greenroom Cinderella. Since he's the Eurovision nerd. Or so it is claimed.

Next they give an overview of the countries taking part in this semi final. They also mention the Eurovision app and tell the viewers not to vote just yet.

After it is established that Kyiv indeed is ready, the first postcards roll.

16:17
An out of breath Monatik announces the hosts and now we get to see them (Oleksandr Skichko.
Volodymyr Ostapchuk and Timur Miroshnychenko) for the first time. They of course say 'Good Evening Ukraine and Europe' as well as the now more familiar 'Australia'. Planet Earth also gets a mention. Though it is morning over there. You can't claim that you haven't been informed. As a side note, we don't know which is which, and to try to explain who exactly of the three is doing what over a rolling blog is like trying to explain Australia taking part in Eurovision: A futile exercise.

16:14
It took a while for the repeat to start. In the beginning of the dance act a female dancer dressed in white has the spotlight on her and this goes on and off a couple of times before Monatik appears from behind her. The female dancers are all clad in white while the male ones are in black. In total we count five female dancers and three male. "Heads are spinning!" If you say so dear. It's not the worst opening act we've seen.

16:09
Repetition of the opening act and the hosts this time will actually come in.

16:06
Monatik : Spinning - The first dance of the event. Monatik Sergeyovich is the full name of the artist. There are a number of dancers on stage with him. He thanks Eurovision Song Contest 2017 and then introduces the presenters.

16:04
Young girl dressed in Ukrainian traditional garb falls into screen. More Ukrainian female beauties of different ages all dressed in traditional garb from different areas of Ukraine end up gracing us with their presence. They represent the diversity of Ukraine. Doesn't last very long however and we are soon in the arena.

16:04
Stand by everyone!

16:03
We're getting clearance from the track that they're slowly getting ready!

16:00
Henrik is explaining what is going to happen - he seems quite excited about it all. We're not 100% sure what he's going on about but from what we heard even though now there's only 7 (somethings) when there was 25 (somethings) he doesn't mind because he's still getting paid.

15:58
We are a couple of minutes late but that is fine, gives us more time. There are some postcards which aren't ready so we're going to have Italy instead "because they paid the most money" Henrik informs.

15:56
Jon Ola Sand is there.
Henrik warns us with the final countdown.

15:55
Platforms are being wheeled on and off the stage... The press center is a lot more busy than it has been for the past week. It's almost as if something is about to happen.

Day 5 - 2nd Run Through : MNE / FIN / AZE / PRT / GRE

GREECE

Well, clearly EBU have not heard of the ISO-3 system since it should be GRC not not GRE but oh well, let us not hope they all suffer an agonising death and burn in hell for the rest of eternity.

But now that we are on the subject of agonising death, that seems to be what is happening on stage. If these sounds were coming out of a beast of burden they would be put on the next truck going to the meat factory. We thought the issue on Monday was the early-morning start however clearly that is not the case at 14:42, unless Demy's been up to no good last night. No amount of good looking, semi-clad hunks of wet-dream meat will distract you from that screech. At the end of the song we see Demy clearly knowing this did not go well.

2nd run - Well, she's trying to not be so screechy, not fully succeeding but giving it a good try. The waterfall effect which was not really working in the beginning is kinda a bit better but you still see Demy walking off the platform which kin of defeats the point. Maybe they work on that a bit more. Let's see what happens in the third run.

3rd run - OK, well we're improving vocally even more, so if she can sing three times on the night it might not be too bad! Back to the Demy in waterfall visual, so they now have a very wide shot when she leaves the platform so even though you still see it, it is not terrible as before. The effect though is seen at an even wider shot which in the end means that you can't even see it. Obviously this is a rehearsal so there will be a discussion and the best camera view will be chosen but if this is chosen it means that they think it doesn't work on tv.

And after Greece, a break! Back in around half an hour.


PORTUGAL

Well, allegedly Portugal since it's still his sister who is singing. We know Salvador can sing and let's face it, it's not like he needs to do much and therefore a bit difficult to get it wrong, but really?! I still cannot understand what everyone is seeing in this. And thankfully I'm not alone (there's not many of us, but there are a few). Staging is ok, music is ok, vocally doesn't matter since she ain't going to be singing ... meh.

2nd run - No one is actually interested in the second run since Slavko's press conference is now going on and he seems to be doing a rendition of Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)" so people are flocking over there to have a gander.

3rd run - The best thing to come out of this is that is it over. Other valid opinions are available. Please look around before committing yourself to one.


AZERBAIJAN

Oh-Kay, what to say here. Well, there has been some improvement but there is still lots which is just wtf. As you already know, Diana starts in a 'box' (three-sided, we need to see her) which has chalk writing on each wall with words from the lyrics. Also in this box is the horse-head wearing suited man up a ladder (when would you have ever written such a thing if not at Eurovision!?) with whom she apparently hooks up and it's alchemy. We're all well and good up to this point, weird, but good. The problems for me start when the box is opened, the camera shows the backing singers having to do this manually which to me doesn't show me slick-act or any concept design, but rather - just 'meh'. I guess it's just me not being cultured however, it usually is.

Moving away from staging, vocally it does not compare to the studio version. Especially coming after Finland, it shows a different category in signing quality and unfortunately this comes out the loser. Still, the Land of Fire has always qualified and I'm not going to say this will be their year not to.

2nd run - Still have no clue why she is putting a white X on the backs of the backing singers. What is it supposed to mean? Let us know if you do! Henrik says we've got "a couple of quick remarks and then we start again in two minutes."

3rd run - I'm sure he's done it every single time (it's Azeri choreography, they don't like improv.) but I would suggest you look at the man up a ladder when DiHaj is writing on the wall. It is much more interesting. It seems like he's having a bit of a fit up there - much more entertaining that her writing "thorns". Rehearsal over for Azerbaijan, and next, a change of tempo - Portugal.


FINLAND

What a contrast! After the epic campness that is Montenegro's entry, this comes as a beautiful pallet cleanser. Leena sang beautifully - her rendition of the song just impeccable. The staging is very simple, as with their UMK performance, it beings in blue watery hues in the first half of the song and then turning to red for the latter half. Lasse strokes those keys with elegance and the camera loves them both. There is a very good chance this is being seen in the grand final.

2nd run (or maybe 3rd) - The dry ice is on stage and also coming out of the piano. The effect works amazingly well on camera especially when the song ends with the stage becoming a whirlpool which Leena is standing in. The 'fog' appears to be turning with it, although this is just a trick of the eye.

That was the last go for Norma John so either we were not shown one or only two were performed. We believe it is the former - as happened before, especially yesterday, it seems someone is forgetting to press the button to show us what is going on.


MONTENEGRO

Slavko is just loving it. Whip that pony tail gurhl! He's wearing what we saw in the first rehearsal - ie, the see-through top and beginning with the blue skirt which gets ripped off to reveal the sparkly-fronted black, leg (and butt) hugging bottoms. There seems to be less close-up shots than there was on the first round, and there is less of the awkward pony-tail holding however he still decides it's a lasso during one of the chorus' and tries to take off into space with it. Vocally not great but the show itself is a camp delight. All the female girls in the room were giggling and loving it and so was I! Can't wait for the next run through, I SO need this in my life. As do all of you! Make sure you don't dare go to the bathroom during this one. It will provide Eurovision shows those wtf clips for years to come!

2nd run - The skirt which was left on the floor before the middle eight in the first run has now been removed before the camera shot from above. Much better - but I think it was a mistake in the first run since I cannot see them having it wanting to have stayed there.

Bitch is on fire! Slavko's creating his own moves which might not be conventional but we've applauding. He seemed like he was trying to do a pirouette which didn't fully work but that could be due to his shoes, possibly, maybe. Whatever he is bringing, we are buying. Will Europe though?

3rd run - Another competent run, nothing major to report. Just wait for the clip on the official youtube channel - enjoy!


LUNCH

Yes, lunch has it's own section in my blogs. The sad thing about Eurovision is that you usually end up gaining at least 5kgs (11lbs for those of you who insist on being different to the common-sense world). And we're not talking muscle weight here, we're talking pure saturated fat. When you count the unhealthy food and the copious amounts of alcohol (especially when it costs so little to buy) there is no escaping the problem. Should you start noticing new members joining your gyms in mid- to end of May, you should approach them and ask them if they went for the two-week Eurovision experience. Something tells me I'm gonna be forking out for a PT in the next few weeks ... thank you Kyiv!

Day 2 - GRE-POL-MOL-ICE

ICELAND

Initial relief that they have dropped the national final performance.

Svala is looking less agressive, dressed in white with a cape. It's essentially the white version of Tamara's red net curtain from yesterday. Odd floral leggings though, which possible are not part of the final outfit.

Some nice graphics and lighting, but overall maybe a tad dark. And camera work not very tight yet.

Like so many others, no sign of the backing singers. Svala looks a bit lonely.

This is one of my favourite songs, but this is all very pedestrian.


MOLDOVA

Black and white lighting, the weird foot-tapping dance, the bridesmaids, the sax, it's all as you'd expect.

In a dramatic twist, one of the bridesmaids turns into a bride!

(Edit: Later run-throughs they were all in full bridal get up)

Epic Sax Guy get plenty of the focus of cameras, which is obviously a good move. Images of the boys themselves doing the dance on the back screens. It's cheesy, it's not groundbreaking, but it's fun.

They also have enough choreography to distract from the repetitiveness of the actual song. Lining up, twirling around. Left, two, three, four, right, two, three, four.  And before one of the last chorus they have a couple of seconds of silence and freeze their poses, which oddly adds something.


POLAND

Animals, animals everywhere. The backdrop has a number of animals on it, a deer, panther, dog and dolphin. And at the end the word FREEDOM. For no apparent reason.

Kasia is in white, there's also a violinist on stage.

Oh there are doves too. All the animals. Vocally this is fine apart from an unnecessarily long last note.


GREECE

She's on a plinth, There are topless boys. She's behind a hologram thingy which makes her look a bit like she's in box.

The topless boys splash about in some water. And touch each other a bit.

Demy is singing adequately and looking great in a beige ("nude"?) dress.

At one point the hologram shows what possible is meant to be Demy underwater, but just looks a bit odd. Overall this looks good though, some lovely yellow lighting at one point. Will be a nice contrast to Portugal coming before.


****
Good morning!

I'm just about ready for another day.

The eight non-qualifiers - why did they fail?

So last night we once again saw ten lucky countries advance to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. As usual in a Eurovision semi final, the outcome consisted of a mix off expected and unexpected results. And as much as all ten finalists very much deserved to make it, plenty of people were hoping that other entries would be among that top 10 as well. Some might say that some songs deserved it even more than those who did make it, while other songs suffered the fate they deserved. I thought I'd take a look at the countries that didn't make it, and try to figure out why...


Estonia
This is perhaps one of the biggest surprises among many fans, and hashtags such as #JusticeForJüri are currently being spread on twitter. Personally I had a hunch that this was coming. The song itself was possibly strong enough to be a qualifier, but Estonia royally messed up the performance. Or rather, they didn't mess it up as much as they simply made us bored. Why was Jüri completely alone on stage? Why did absolutely nothing happen? (Except a card trick which you'd miss if you'd blink). Sure, he's a charming and handsome guy. But while standing still completely alone on a stage made sense for a big ballad like the Czech Republic, it made no sense for Estonia. The big issue here was simply that their bad staging decisions lead to a performance that failed to entertain the viewers and failed to stay in their minds.


Greece
This was perhaps not really a surprise for anybody. But being the first time a Greek entry fails to qualify for the final, it may have still come as a small shock to some people.
In theory, the concept on it's own could have been enough to make Greece qualify. On a superficial level, the song had a lot in common with their 2011 entry (traditional ethnic music mixed with rap verses and a sung chorus) which won the semi final. But this year's entry lacked a strong melody and lacked cohesion. I suspect it might have done better with the televote than the jury vote. Performance-wise I think they did well with what they had, but I suspect the biggest reason for the failure was simply the song.

Bosnia-Herzegovina
Just like Greece, I don't think the staging was the main issue here. Sure, it was a bit over the top with the thermal blanket capes and the camp outfits. And the song itself sounds like something that would normally have been strong enough to qualify. However, the backing track of the song does have a very bad production. It still sounds like a rather low-budget demo recording. There is really no excuse to send a production to Eurovision where the drumkit sounds as a badly sampled loop from 1971. And when compared to the surrounding entries which all had very full sounding high-quality music productions, the Bosnian song fell rather flat. This, combined with the fact that they came across as four solo acts rather than a group of performers, was probably enough to give Bosnia-Herzegovina their first ever non-qualificaton.

Moldova
Sometimes it's hard to pin point just one reason. In most cases it's simply a combination of several issues. And in this case there wasn't really much that worked in Moldova's favour. The song wasn't the strongest to begin with, and Lidia sure wasn't the strongest singer of the night. The ad-lib she decided to do for the final chorus (and which unfortunately also became the section used for the recap) didn't do the song any favours, and the dancing astronaut came across as a silly gimmick. And once again, being (almost) alone on stage didn't help either. With so many elements working against it, the Moldovan song this year probably never stood much of a chance this year.

Montenegro
Another song that probably never really was among the songs that would find it easy to qualify. But in spite of the song and genre being a difficult choice for Eurovision, the camerawork didn't really help it either. The fast flashing clips resulted in a performance where the viewers would have had difficlt making any sort of connection with the singer. We barely even got to see their faces long enough to see what they looked like, and anybody watching this on a very large screen would probably be feeling quite sea sick. The random half naked woman surely didn't help either in terms of convincing the jury to give them points.


Finland
The only thing that I thought would maybe help this qualify was the fact that Sandhja is a hell of a fantastic singer. And she did deliver vocally, even if I would have liked to hear her vocal higher in the mix. But it simply wasn't enough to make up for the bad styling choices (her jewellery even started falling apart during the performance) and the slightly weak song. A totally different visual performance might have helped it, but most likely not.


San Marino
Let's face it. This probably wouldn't have had a chance regardless of the performance. And staging-wise they did the best they could. It had life, it had energy, and it had all sorts of silliness which is what makes many of us love the entry. But it was always going to suffer from both juries and televoters finding it too old fashioned and too gimmicky. San Marino were never really competing for a place in the final this year, but they did put on a really good and entertaining show that people will remember. And they should be proud of that.


Iceland
And last but not least, possibly the biggest surprise in this semi. This one still baffles me a bit. The song is not bad at all, and it sure doesn't just blend in with the big mass of similar-sounding songs this year. Greta sang it well, and it had the draw really working in it's favour. Was it maybe the technical aspects of the performance that proved too messy? Was it the staging's similarities to previous entries? Was it the extremely ugly boots? I'm not sure. But I guess a combination of everything. And with more niched musical styles, there's always the risk that the people in the juries just happen to not be fans of that genre in the first. Every year there's always a few unlucky entries that in theory seemed like pretty safe qualifiers, and mostly it simply comes down to the fact that the jury and the televoters simply preferred ten other songs more. 

The borderliners - My Semi 1 Prediction

I have to admit, I'm finding Semi 1 one of the hardest semis to predict in a number of years, and that's for the simple reason that there are so many songs that, for me, are right on the borderline of qualifying. To put my thoughts in order, I thought I'd write about them.

For me, there are six songs that are definitely through in Semi 1, and four that are definitely out. That leaves seven in the borderline between 8th place and 14th place - so three of them have to qualify. Those seven songs are Greece, Hungary, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Estonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and for me, they fall into three pairs (plus Greece). So let's take them in their pairs.

Battle 1: Azerbaijan vs Austria
The two young girls who haven't impressed vocally in rehearsals. I've always really liked Austria, and have tended to be quite firm in my belief that it's a good song, and that will be enough to carry it through. However, with a lot of competition in this semi-final, and so many things working against it (the language, Zoe's vocals, the cute-and-likeable vs annoying-and-precocious debate), I now think it stays in the semi. Azerbaijan, by contrast, has never impressed me as a song - I always found it quite ordinary, and I think the staging is also quite underwhelming. But they have more friends, and what's possibly quite a generically appealing song.

Battle 2: Hungary vs Estonia
Two boys singing darker songs. Hungary have been quite well-thought of since 'Pioneer' was chosen, both in predictions and betting odds, but I've never seen it. I always found the performance from A Dal quite uninteresting, and it doesn't sound like Freddie's done much to change that in Stockholm. It'll all depend on if Europe sees something more than I do. On the other side of the battle, Estonia have changed their performance for the international final, and reports suggest it might be over-complicating things now. I do think Hungary is slightly more accessible as a song, but Juri might have enough appeal - and who knows what juries will make of it?

Battle 3: Croatia vs Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Balkan nations - is there room for both of them in the final? Croatia have tumbled down the rankings over the past couple of months, and even more so after seeing the planned stage performance. I always had Bosnia-Herzegovina down as a non-qualifier - just too Balkan as a song, and potentially not a very vote-friendly look (that's me trying to find a kind way of saying that Deen looks weird). But as Bosnia always do, they've come with a strong (if slightly odd) performance in rehearsals, and may surprise us once again. I told myself I'd never bet against Bosnia qualifying after 2010 - perhaps I should take that advice tonight.

And then there's Greece. As a song, it should be doomed - but on the other hand, the last time they entered a combination of rap and singing in a mix of languages, which we'd all assumed was hopeless when it was selected, it went and won the semi. I'm always wary of counting Greece out.

So, I have to make a choice... here goes:

The qualifiers:

1. Russia
2. Iceland
3. Netherlands
4. Armenia
5. Malta
6. Czech Republic
7. Cyprus
8. Hungary
9. Bosnia-Herzegovina
10. Estonia

And missing out:

11. Azerbaijan
12. Croatia
13. Greece
14. Austria
15. Montenegro
16. San Marino
17. Finland
18. Moldova

The not-press opinion - FIN, GRE, MLD, HUN, CRO, NED, ARM, SMA, RUS, CZE, CYP, AUT, EST, AZE

OK, this was it for me. Nothing to do with Samra and my ears. If you want my opinion and some (badly written) info on the rest of Semi 1, refer to my previous blog post. If you prefer well-written posts, then try the other bloggers of this website. Will be back for the other semi and the songs I missed from them.

Azerbaijan

First live performance, like in the actual stadium, ever for me was Samra Rahimli performing amazing Miracle. Certainly not the wisest choise I've made. But since I really love the song... And then again, she improved each time, also having very weak moments though. Loved the pyro show in any case.

Estonia

I expected something darker from them, but instead they went city-lights and Casino Royale. The camera closes in on him and then there's some prop with a card appearing and disappearing a couple of times, before he throws it to our direction. The end shot is a close-up on his face, but he obviously doesn't know what to do with it. He tries to be still, then smiles, then does a half-wink (like something is irritating his eye). I need to see this once more to be more descriptive.

Initial shots are well thought of, he appears to the right side of the screen before walking towards us, while the camers pans from above. Some far shots are closing in on him from the side. He has some issue timing the hand moves, they are looking a bit weird. Far shot closing ing again for the second verse. Camera then rolls around him slowly. Then he does the card thing. The card is thrown better this time. A nice red spade/heart shape on the floor. Nicer ending shot.

Austria

Long break followed Cyprus, I think we won't see this many times actually. Camera zooms to her smiling face. Then approaches her again from afar as she's walking towards us. Another close-up during the first en chante. She's a bit breathy. Many close-ups again, usually zooming out and showing the wonderful flowery backdrop. It comes across very optimistic, but then she misses some notes and the feeling is gone. Camera switching from far to close shots regularly. Then some more mid-distance ones. For the last sentence, it zooms out quickly. From some point on she looks really straining with keeping up with the notes. Not very sure about this.

Last run and nothing much changed. A cute thing is her interaction with the backdrop during the second verse, where moving her hands creates red roses in the back. Vocals again a bit strained (but then this is her third run, so she is tired). For the bridge, the camera rolls around her and she makes good contact with it. The last part was really shouty and strained unfortunately. Must improve to qualify, I see it just missing out as it is now.

Day 1 Rehearsals - Finland, Greece, Moldova, Hungary

 We're here at the press centre, ready to blog!

Hungary

Before the rehearsal

The song is quite a powerful ballad and Freddie has an interesting voice. I don't think it will have to rely too much on a spectacular performance to stand out. As long as the performance is competent and he sings it well, not more should be needed, in my opinion. And I'm hoping it won't be doing a Moldova and hide the backing singers... Because frankly, it's rather silly to do when the backing singers play such a prominent part in the song.

There's no feed at the moment. Not sure if it's because they have a break of because we just neither have sound or picture at the moment.

Rehearsal

The rehearsal started, and we had both picture and sound. For about a minute! Then it all died again.
The stage is basically very red. The floor looks a bit like dark red molten lava with black cracks in it. (That's the best description I can give). And Freddie had backing singers surrounding him on stage. That's about all I can tell from the brief part we got to see.

The stream is back! Freddie is wearing a light brown leather jacket over a light overlong t-shirt. Light-wash jeans with lots of rips and holes, and brown boots. He's got three male backing singers on the left side of the stage, and on the right side there's a guy beating on a huge drum which they probably stole from Suzy.

Vocally it's not 100 % but good enough. Basically, I would say that the performance is totally adequate for the song, and they could probably not have done much else with it to make it better without risking to distract from the song and from Freddie.

Suddenly there's one more run-through. The camera shots start off with a close up of Freddie (good idea) and then a close up of the drummer.  And then a close up of the backing singers as they do the whistle bits. There's actually a LOT of shots of the backing singers. Which would probably work better if they had actually rehearsed their choreography (which mostly just consists of swaying a bit back and forth and clapping along) a bit better. But in general it's all quite effective on camera and the performance comes across as effective without really doing much. 


Moldova

Before the rehearsal

Again, vocals could potentially be an issue, so what Lidia need to do is to nail them. And do a staging that doesn't feel too much like a Melodifestivalen entry from 2006. Hopefully they have also brought a bunch of competent backing singers to back her up, and to make sure she doesn't look lonely on stage.

Rehearsal

The first run-through just finished. Still no sound. But, Lidia has brought an astronaut with her! The guy (currently only wearing the helmet part of the costume) suddenly appears behind her without warning. It almost came across a bit frightening.

Lidia is wearing a potato-sack-coloured jersey dress, silvery jewellery and white jogging sneakers. I assume it's not her final performance outfit.
There's also a LOT of armpit-flashing here. And she did shave them. But about three days ago.

Apart from the astronaut, Lidia seems to be all alone on stage. Without the sound there's no way to tell if she's got backing singers hidden somewhere, but it seems quite likely.

Overall, the performance reminds me a lot of Montenegro 2009. A single woman with lots of hair alone on stage with a random dancer.

And... We've got SOUND!

As suspected, it's vocally a bit shaky. But she does have a stack of backing singers hidden somewhere, which help a lot. However, the fact that one can hear a lot of voices but only see one person (and a flailing astronaut) just makes her seem even more lonely on stage. She doesn't really have the energy or the big personality to pull off owning the stage all by herself.


Greece

Before the rehearsal

This song's biggest challenge will probably be the singing and the staging. In the studio version the girls are quite off, and songs like these tend to be difficult to stage. To present this well I think thy first of all have to nail th singing, but also stage it in a way that puts emphasis on the strong ethnic elements without feeling too much like it's 2005. Let's see how they do...


Rehearsal

First run-through... we get to hear the first few seconds. Which are voclly actually quite fine. Then the sound goes silent on the press centre stream (happens every year, nobody is even surprised anymore)

They are all dressed in white. But some of them in sweatpants, so unless they plan to really go chav with this, I assume it's not all their actual performance outfits.

There's a lot of "WE ARE GREEK"-styled choreography going on. Dancing in a line while holding hands and waving their feet like they're drunk drag queens who just broke a heel. Combined with lots of jumping (kind of like Serbia-Montenegro 2005) and stomping. And there's big drums (the kind that only really exists in Eurovision performances) and what I assume is a pontian lyra. Basically, nobody will miss the fact that this is Greece.

Second run-through and we still have no sound.
The stage is black and yellow/orange, with the backdrop and the floor displaying a moving animation of what looks a lot like that sun (or is it star?) of the original FYR Macedonian flag that the Greeks made them replace.

Personally, I quite like it visually though. I do hope they go for white outfits in their actual performance too. This is all very Eurovision, and it's not trying to be anything else. It could borderline coming across as a parody of a Greek Eurovision entry, but I find it hard not to enjoy it.

Still haven't actually heard the sound though, as there's still only a visual link. So this is all based on what can be seen. No clue if they're actually singing it well or not.


Finland

Before the rehearsal
The Finnish song "Sing it away" has always been more effective on stage than in the studio version. It's downfall may be that it tends to not stand out as much among all the songs. What I hope to see from the rehearsals is that they really give it all they have during the performance so it will really come through the camera and be an opener to remember rather than just another opener that people find nice enough but won't remember at the end of the show

Rehearsal
Sandhja just took the stage and did her first run-through. On time. She's wearing a baby-blue jumpsuit of what looks like some kind of faux suede-ish material, with bare shoulders and some open parts in the sides and the back. On top of it a silvery kind of necklace/harness. And sparkly flats.
Enough about her fashion sense.
Sandhja and her backing singers did what seems to be the full routine of the performance. Bascailly the performance opens up with Sandhja alone on stage, with a bunch of white microphone stands. Then as the first chorus kicks in the backing vocals appear from the door at the back of the stage and do a syncronated strut across the stage into the camera, joining Sandhja. Then there's a bunch of pretty simple but effectiviely joyful choreography. And a good use of the catwalk in the bridge.

Vocally Sandhja is steady but holding back a little bit. The five backing vocals are competent but for obvious reasons it doesn't sound as big as the studio version as that one has a million voices to create the gospely choir-sound.

Second run-through, after a looong break. Vocally good again. The stage is kind of dark and red-ish, colours which I don't think necessarily work with the actual performance and the outfits. Let's see if they change anything for the next one .

Third runthrough, and the colours are more blue this time. Which works a lot better.
And Sandhja has got herself several Ingeborg hairs by now. I assume that's intentional. 

Rehearsals Day 1 - what can we expect?

Tomorrow morning sees the starts of the first round of rehearsals for this year's contest, and as always we begin with the first half of Semi 1. Now that we have our press passes safely round our necks and can stop panicking about the prospect of queueing up at the accreditation centre while half-hearing Sandhja singing it away to an empty Globen, we can contemplate what we're most looking forward to.

The most highly anticipated rehearsal tomorrow will probably be that of Russia, this year's favourites. Sergey is due on stage at 4:40 local time, so keep an eye on the blog and our Twitter account. There's rumours of a technologically advanced performance from the Russians, who have told us to expect a completely different performance from the live routine they've been doing around the preview circuit, and from that we saw in the video.



Earlier in the day, another country we've got our eye on is Croatia. Over the last month we've seen a wide range of performances from Nina Kraljić, starting with that performance on Serbian TV that sent 'Lighthouse' crashing down the rankings. We'll see tomorrow at 1:40 what the Croatians have planned, and if Nina can bring across the charisma she'll need on camera.

We're also quite looking forward to seeing how the Greek entry comes across in its first rehearsal. They're one of the few this year whom we haven't seen a proper live, televized performance from. They're rank outsiders to qualify, but if we've learned something from previous years, it's to never count Greece out, especially when it's with hopeless-seeming combinations of rap and singing in Greek and English.

The Netherlands are on directly after Croatia, and it'll be interesting to see if Douwe Bob's authenticity lends a breath of fresh air to proceedings, and they'll be followed by Armenia, the first of this year's highly produced entries. We're very curious to see if they can bring across the atmosphere of the studio version on stage, and indeed what they have planned for us visually - so far we've had no clues.

And then of course, we have San Marino.

Tell us who you're most looking forward tomorrow in the comments below - and let us know if you have any special requests for our bloggers to focus on when they're casting their expert eye over the rehearsals.

Just one more sleep! We can't wait.

FINAL - FIRST DRESS REHEARSAL (Part II)

GREECE
Professional, working all it has. We're not going to Thessaloniki which is a good thing for Greece and NERIT but she's giving it all she has and nailing it.

MONTENEGRO
I find it extremely hard as you know to write anything about this. It works. It's balkan. It passed to the final. It will end up probably bottom left or top right of the table. Everyone will go home and continue their life.

GERMANY
And of course, one more postcard I miss due to not paying attention. Oh well, surprise for tomorrow.

Ann Sophie has a new earring on her left. It's one of those songs which is good for radio but don't think it's doing too much on stage. Don't see it lighting up with points tomorrow night.

POLAND
Well, Poland was my missed country from last night's qualifyers - I obviouly put Malta instead.
 

No idea, it seems to be loved by many a person and I like it too - it was my 11th choice - but although a good song sung well, I don't see it setting the stage alight.

LATVIA
Now this is another story. I am extatic for Aminata and Latvia as a whole. It shows that if you don't give up and you try your best you will get results. Could this be a dark horse? Top 10 likely? Further up?

ROMANIA
And the kid is still there, not yet retuned to Romania. The song is performed well and Călin is charismatic with the camera. Should get mid tables.

SPAIN
Edurne goes sledging with huskies. Again, the huskies must have thanked their stars that this petite artiste was chosen for them.

Amazing! Trick of light so you don't see the first cape being ripped off ... well, you kinda do due to not great timing, but still great effect. Best performance we've seen from Spain to now. Things are working a lot better, camera angles, lighting ... should see this going up the rankings. Don't bet on a win or top 3 though.

HUNGARY
Boogying to Boggie was amazing during SF1. Solid performance again now. Came to be expected now though.

GEORGIA
Without all the make up Nina looks fresh and young. Doesn't help the effect she's trying to go for but she'll be all dolled up later on tonight and tomorrow no doubt.

Great vocals and attitude. It's a great follower to Hungary - brings back the energy to the arena and viewers. Left side of the board for sure.

AZERBAIJAN
Vocally competent but it's a repeat of what we've seen over the past few days. Last year we saw Azerbaijan does not need to be on the left. I think this will be high right.

RUSSIA
Only 8th in the Press Centre voting, Polina is nailing it. This is most likely her contest to lose.
There will be many comments whatever happens on the night, Russia win, look for the media mentioning Russia's rights and equality records, Russia lose, look at the Russian and spere media reporting on how Europe is playing a game which they will end up losing... who said there was no drama at Eurovision?

ALBANIA
Wearing a different black sparkly ensemble for the rehearsal, Elhaida looked to me in the beginning as if she had her bra straps showing - this is not the case, it's the netting of the dress.

Another good performance but not much twitching in the press centre sphere and the arena is not to be judged since they seem to be applauding and cheeing at everything.

ITALY
Another missed post card - talking about which delegations have already gone home and which not.



To be honest, coming after Russia and Albania just makes this lose it's potential. It seems like it's just *there*. Still will get to the top parts of the board but winner - maybe not so sure.

BREAK
Conchita talks to us and then the three other hosts are on stage to open the voting.

RECAP

INTERVAL ACT
A bunch of drums, and drummers for said drums, on stage. Ooh, and trumbones, and trumpets, and many other instruments.

There is a lot of commotion due to a certain angry Italian close to where I am sitting so I am missing some bits. It seems that the acts will be forming hearts. This is very weird. Have no clue what is going on. That is why the commentators have the notes from the broadcaster. There is a massive rainbow though.

Riverdance it is not. Emmelie de Forest it is not. Petra Mede it is not. This is about as memorable as the one from Belgrade. You know, the one with ... hmm... emm... yes, that one.

RECAP 2

Recap over, we have 60 seconds left to vote.

Countdown for the last 10 seconds.

Conchita sings You are Unstoppable. And continues with Firestorm.

We then speak to Conchita and later to Vincenzo who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for Italy back in November 2014. We see a clip of his performance and continue talking to him.

Arabella mentions Jan Ola Sand. "Hurry up Jan Ola! I'm coming!" she state! Hmm... be afraid!

And another issue. Seems like something was missed. Conchita runs back on stage to meet Alice and Mirjam who were there with the trophy.

Lots of commotion happening around me at the moment. I think Lys is here for interviews but can't see her - poor thing, she's such an old lady.

We then go through clips of winners past.

Arabella back in view. We see Jan Ola again and there is some awkward chat between the two. "This is where I say we have a result" explains Jan Ola. Ooh!

We're on the voting. For the rehearsals it's always in alphabetical order and usually the 12 get given to the next country in line. We should be going to our second voter, Armenia which just got 12 from Albania, but instead we have confusion and uncertainty.

When we call a country, we see a line, a Chain of Light if you will, from Vienna to the capital of the country which is voting. Apart from Vienna itself where thre is a big red light.

This will take a while so grabbing food.

OK, so food eaten but after 20 votes we seem to have stopped. Latvia was in the lead with Italy and Israel completing the top 3. There was a leaderboard showing you the full ranking at that point so no need to frantically count down to find out where our favourite is.

It seems that this is the end of the rehearsal. Which means we can pack up and get ready for the last night before our most sacred of nights is upon us again, and we find out where we will be flying, training or bussing to next year!