Second rehearsal: Poland to Latvia

Latvia

Red.


Hungary

Music stopped after 20 seconds, now we're hearing "I have time to go to the toilet?". Properly started after less than a minute, so I guess it's a no. A similar act to what we've seen. In the arena, this is electrifying and I finally got my first goosebumps of the year with the pyro during the bridge (am I that superficial - or was it that good?)

Malta

The on-screen heart is now about where Christabelle's liver is, still not anatomically correct but less disturbing than in the mouth. In the arena, the LED shower and laser show is spectacular, audience is in for a treat. Dancer now appears in the shower much later than in the first rehearsal, which was a good decision I think. A good rehearsal for Malta, but it would be better without the pyro.

Poland

More bad vocals. Either everyone partied late last night, or you should warn your non-fan guests on Thursday. Can crowd energy save this?

First rehearsal: Georgia to Hungary

Hungary

Pre-opinion: This has been the love or hate song of the season. I'm on the love camp. And I'm pretty sure there's enough of us to take this to the final, the main question is how far they can go there.

Set up: Lead singer in bare feet.

First run-through: Guitar player is on one bridge, lead singer crossing the other and runs about screaming. Lots of camera attention to the drummer with the nice arms. STAGE DIVE (the guitarist). Post-keychange chorus sounds a bit different from what we know (missing the recorded female singers), but not too different. This is going to look awesome with audience and pyro.

Second run-through: Running with bare feet isn't easy. Doing that wearing a jacket that looks like it was last washed in 1996 should make this even more uncomfortable. But this is all adding up to the incredible energy of this. Very positive reaction in the press centre.

Pyro run-through: Flames during the choruses, all around the stage going in different directions. Fireworks during the bridge. Fire geysers are added to the last chorus. Smells like a semifinal winner to me (and like feet).


Malta

Pre-opinion: I've heard this several times and still don't remember how it goes, except the repeated parts, peated parts. I would write this off if it were in Semi 1, but...

Set up: There's a 4m high box thing (which could be a shower). Heart screen effect, not the 💗 heart, but the kind that has arteries (!)

First run: Well, a lot of €€€ was spent on this. The shower complex is made of LEDs, there's lasers, on-screen effects, you name it. It's impressive if you like this kind of thing. Once Christabelle leaves the shower, a woman dancer replaces her. There's a lot going on, especially on the screen (from humans to tigers to stones), and I don't really notice Christabelle herself.

Second run-through: They're struggling with the on-screen effects a bit, now the heart is in her mouth. Oops. There's so much going on, they're really doing their best to distract from the lack of song.

Last run-through: Heart's still not in the right place, this time in the right side of her chest. Pyro flames are added to the already too busy stage. Press around me is divided on whether this is amazing or too much. Vocals are ok.


Poland

Pre-opinion: I'm no fan of songs with instrumental chorus, unless the instrumental bit is amazeballs which is not the case here. But this kind of song has its fans, so if done right it can make it out of this semi. Expecting a lot of (empty for now) audience shots here.

First run-through: Black stage at starts, in the first chorus the DJ stand and stage arches turn purple around the edge (think Zbudi Se). Pyro geysers in the first chorus. Lukas doesn't get much vocal help, so he'll need to do better than we've heard him so far. Gromee is the real star of this, making little hand dances to the camera.

Second run: Lukas walks the bridge and around the outer circle, high-fiving an imaginary audience member. Vocally better now, but he could still do with help with the higher notes.

Last run-through: We're promised more pyro. We didn't get it. It's coming along though, overall it's doing what it's supposed to, within the vocal limitations.

Georgia

Pre-opinion: One of my favourites this year, but this could easily go from gorgeous and atmospheric to Mižerja #2 if done wrong.

First run-through: They're standing and singing in a row, the extreme two have instruments (keyboard and guitar). Not really finding the cameras (but that's what rehearsals are for etc. etc.). This sounds really good but visually underwhelming. Reminds me of Questa Notte for some reason.

Third run-through: We were promised pyro, but didn't get any. Another one coming soon with waterfall (yay)

Last run: Starts with dry ice (they're over the Nina Sublatti trauma, good), colourful lights on the dry ice look really nice. Running Scared pyro curtain in the very end, revealed dramatically by the camera.

These guys are true music professionals, although they seem to lack experience on large televised stages. It's far from convincing right now, but can do wonders after the a few more rehearsals and director instructions.

Day 4 of first rehearsals - Georgia to Hungary

Hungary

Hungarian metal (if you are allowed to call it that when it has a key change?) in bare feet. Surprisingly well received in the press centre, which I personally don't get. To me it was what I would have expected for this song, a lot of energy, sreaming, high frequency blinking using all the lights, headbanging and running around on stage. Apparently there was a stage dive too, which I missed. Must have blinked or fallen asleep for a second or two.

Second time around I missed the stage dive since it wasn't timed right with the camera shots. I'm starting to fear that I'm never going to get to see it.

Third run and pewww, I caught the dive this time. Now I can relax and watch the flames being tested. Looks like Hungary's not only using all the lights but also all the pyro. I like it much better with all the pyro!

Malta

During the set up I just went "ewww". They seem to be preparing a fire-y heart - in the actual shape of a anatomically correct heart.

Why!?

We are in a part of the rehearsals that contains a few personal favourites of mine in a row, Malta is one of them. This performance was well thought through, with tall boxes displaying different visual effects, which makes it stand out from the other performances in a good way, I think. Christabelle sang the song well. The heart looked like it was about to be eaten by her at one point, but I'm sure that will be adjusted!

Impressions of Malta.

Including the flames from the last run.

Poland

We get some "fuldans" (hard to translate, but let's call it less perfect dancing) from Gromee, but he does it with a big smile and a bit of irony, so I just find it charming. This is a song that I enjoy a lot when it comes up on my playlist, but there's some struggling going on here vocally unfortunately. But overall it's a charming number still! 

I do believe Lukas sounded a little better second time around.

Third run about to happen, with full pyro (we had some fire sparkles in the second one). The "tell me wheeeeere toooo goooo" is back to sounding awful this time, and actually, there was no pyro... something must have gone wrong there.

Georgia

I very much like their spacey in a modern way collars! Vocally I thought it was perfect. This act stands out from the other songs to me, when it comes the the actual song. I very much approve and like.

Second run was just as good, if not better.

The third will have pyro and a waterfall, we are promised! The pyro was a nice fire rain curtain at the end of the song. However, the waterfall was just dry ice, I wouldn't call that a waterfall, but it looked a bit like this, which I suppose resembles a misty watery place:

[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 : NED / HUN / DEN / IRL / SMR

SAN MARINO

While Jummie is wearing pretty much the same as in the first rehearsal, however he is wearing a black t-shirt instead of the sleeveless v-neck. We do not approve. Someone needs to have stern words with the delegation. Valentina now has white stripes down the sleeves of her jacket and her pants are now black at the front, white at the back. For the rest, the two are vocally compatible and the backing singers do not overtake the show as we've seen in some other entries. Looking forward to the next rounds.

2nd Run - Oh! And the handbag is gone. Valentina seems to be a hoot to go out clubbing with. Might even be worth befriending her. Does she still live in London or has she moved again? But back to the contest - much colour, very spirit, wow - no hashtag. I would love to give this a spot on Saturday but do I really believe it or is it just wishful thinking?

3rd Run - And since there is no fog, or pyro, there is not much more to comment on the song. We will just have to wait and see if Europe will be feeling this duo's spirit on the night.


IRELAND

Brendan is wearing pretty much the same however the shirt is now unbuttoned and he has a white t-shirt underneath to stop his belly showing. Other than that it seems there were not any major changes made to the package being shown. Few colour changes of lighting but that's all we could notice. Coming after Anja however, unfortunately this entry seems a bit amateur. Brendan does his best but he's not the strongest singer here by any means. And we're still waiting to see that damned balloon fly somewhere. Why have such a prop if it's not going to do anything. At least the giant head has lazers and scary yellow-glowing lights coming out of those eye sockets!

2nd Run - Well, I don't see it personally but I've been suggested that apparently the balloon looks like it's actually moving since the wind machine is pretty strong. I'm not totally convinced but thankfully there is another go to help me make my mind up.

3rd Run - I don't see it. But the fog works nicely. I however don't think we need to worry about which half of the final Ireland will be singing in.


DENMARK

After that disaster she wore on Tuesday, it seems Anja went back to the frock she wore in Dansk MGP. Camera work needs a bit of improvement, quite a few funky shots and also we get to see the steady-cam people filming her ... that is not supposed to be the case - ever. Vocally this girl can give it though. We heard her warming up earlier and now she is belting the song out perfectly. There are also rumors at the table that this could be the semi winner. I probably wouldn't go that far but I'm sure she'll feature in the top 5.

2nd Run -  Another good run. At least this time we didn't see the steady-cam people. Confident and composed.

3rd Run -  Pyro curtains are the accessory of choice in Denmark it seems! Although the stage is already mainly just golden hues (sometimes purple) the effect adds a little bit but it's not as breathtaking as we've seen in other entries. Still, doubt we'll not be seeing her on Saturday.


HUNGARY

Joci's shirt has change from a simple black t-shirt in the first rehearsal to a blue shirt with golden embroidery. The dancer is wearing the same while the violinist is now fully clad in black. Joci is performing adequately vocally but there is just something missing about this whole package. The dancer looks scared (maybe she's supposed to be but we don't know) and there is no real chemistry between the two. The violinist (Emese) is just on Stage B minding her own business, getting involved when she needs to. I wouldn't want to have lots of money on this reaching the final.

2nd Run -  Still not sure why the milk jug is on a stand. It could have simply been handed to him or left on the floor. Another decent rendition but not giving me any palpitations and I doubt it will give much to Europe either.

3rd Run - There is pyro in the instrumental and have to admit it works well - but since when has pyro ever failed us? Joci and Alexandra (aka Mulan - thanks to Bálint for the comment below) dance around in the fiery circle which has been created until this turns down and we go to the rap section.


NETHERLANDS

No costume change for OG3NE. Vocally amazing, these girls can really sing even at silly o'clock am. The camera work is spot on! The girls look extremely confident and are just beautiful in their simplicity. The backdrop accompanies the mood and melody and has some lyrics shown - choosing carefully which ones in order to make the best effect to the audience and viewers at home (even though these are not always seen on camera). Even though I am usually considered emotionless, heartless, a soul as black as the depths of the ocean (to name but a few) this song is actually the first time this year that I've been nearly brought me to tears. Qualifying.

2nd Run - Camera was not as good as it was in the first round but still the vocals are amazing! Unfortunately however the camera is what makes the package work as well as it does. Still qualifying but the Dutch need to make sure that their time in the viewing room is spent well.

3rd Run - *shiver* that is all.


EARLY MORNING REALNESS

What? No Uberdrama? No updates blocking my laptop for 45 minutes? Actually arriving at 09:32 instead of 09:56? There are strange mystical forces at work and I am not liking it one bit - this is going too well.

Day 3 - ROM-NED-HUN

HUNGARY

We have an glittery vase on stage, which is one of those instruments very popular in Eurovision in the mid 1990s.

Violinist on the satellite stage, dancer on stage with Joci. He's looking ever so slightly terrified during the performance, but is also smiley once it's done, so maybe he is just feeling the lyrics. Could do with softening up though

This is basically the performance we've seen before. I think the vase/instrument just gets in the way as it is used so little, it's just a distraction. Some pyro surrounding him and the girl when they do their little dance. Doves on backdrop.

Maybe I need more coffee, I'm struggling to keep an interest in this one, and it's a song I really like.


NETHERLANDS

CRY NO MORE it says insistently from the LED wall.

Vocally strong (no surprise), rather well dressed (surprise), some subtle backdrop references to sick mother (holding hands etc). Some minor choreography, turn left, turn right, a mini-strut to the front.

Some more literal stuff here (sing about candles, fill the LED floor with candles - sing angel, fill LED floor with an angel), but it works.  Some of the moves seem a bit forced, but overall a very good impression.

Lovely last shot zooming into the trio, unlike the dodgy long shots we have seen at the end of some other performances.


ROMANIA

Gosh.

They know they have a silly song and they are flaunting that silliness completely. Lots of colour, the song title splashed across the LED wall, lots of colour.

And the most literal interpretation of a glitter cannon you will ever see.

Alex rides his cannon in a manner that garnered applause from the press boys.

Ouch, final run through and Alex thrust his cannon too forcefully rendering it un-mountable. He ended flat on his back, visibly shaken by the large prop.

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. 

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!

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 13-26)

Sweden
Impeccable performance, amazing staging as always, lights that work, this just screams to us top 5, if not winner. Unfortunately it is unlikely that Sweden will win again this year, but thankfully it is after a break so Conchita is unlikely to affect the result. Could Sanna be fighting Molly for the trophy? Wouldn't be too surprised if it did! 

France
The guys of Twin Twin are hanging round in a back alley street. They are playing with bikes and have hooked up smoke canisters which have colours added. The colours are those of the French tricolore.

There is a technical issue on stage and therefore Nikolaj has to do a very painful improvisation talk with the audience to keep the attention. If this happened on the night I can see many kettles being lit.

Which may not be just because of the Nikolaj speech, but also because unfortunatley France seems to be a disaster live. We start with Lorent shouting "Hello Copenhagen" and continuing with "We are Twin Twin!" - not to ruin his excitement but we know who they are, the commentator just told us.

No one would love to see these amazingly funny guys do really well in the contest but even though they have fun staging, fun attitudes and a fun performance, it does not manage to distract you from the fact that they are at best Euroclub karaoke singers who have decided to go on stage after a bit of Dutch courage being ingested. I can see Elaiza and Twin Twin fighting for the wooden spoon this year.

Russia
As many reports have been made in various media, there was a lot of boo's for the girls on their qualification on Tuesday. Even though we may all have our personal views on the situation regarding the policies of Russia and the decisions of their elite, this does not allow for the ruining of one of the happiest moments for two 17-year-old sisters who have nothing to do with the decision making of their political leader.

The song itself is good enough, and it's representing Russia so it will not do terribly even if the juries are not impressed as they were not with Alex Sparrow back in 2011. Could just miss out on top 10, but most likely between 7th and 11th.

Italy
Emma is in an open-air market. She goes round the stalls and buys some basil, tomatoes and mozzarella. She then goes back and is seen on a roof terrance cutting the produce bought and paces them in a serving bowl. Basil, mozzarella and tomatoes form the Italian flag.

Someone should inform Emma that clapping on the microphone is probably not the best thing you can do when you're singing live. Playback maybe, but live not. She still sounds very out of breath and you're half expecting her to decide to take a break and light up a cigarette. Shots of the cameraman's arse behind the lead singer bending over is lovely and will work well I'm sure *cough*.

Hot mess, and not in a good way. Probably Italy's worst result since coming back to Eurovision.

Slovenia
My wild prediction made it thorugh so very glad about that. Even though my second one of Israel passing and failing was beaten by the fact she didn't even get through to the Saturday show...

I still think this will do quite well, maybe not amazingly well, but well. I say top of the right hand side. It is not going to be lighting up living rooms accross the continent but will find enough classic supporters to persuade a decent showing. Slovenia as we know used to be considered doomed, with not even their former compatriots of former Yugoslavia bothering to give them many points. Neither their neighbours of Austria or Hungary, the forgotten country if you will, so the fact they qualified for the first time since Maja Keuc back in Düsseldorf is an achievement in itself. 

Finland
This was bound to get through to Saturday and it did ot fail to deliver. Will it be enough though to see them have a strong showing on the night? Not convinced that it will. It was a strong song in the semi-final but now that there are the strongest songs from both semis involved and having Spain just after them might mean they are quickly forgotten. Having said that however, the aficionado's of the genre will be voting for them en masse. Hard to predict this one but I would keep Finland in the second half of the score board. 

Spain
Ruth and her dancer friend are using woold and twirling it round two columns of a building. They obviously use yellor and red wool and once they have enough, a picture is taken of the Spanish flag.

And Ruth has wet hair, or at least appears to be wet, which may not be the most advised when the weather is as changeable as it is here in Denmark. Nonetheless, she belts out her rendition of the song, and in a much cleaner and less screachy style we have seen in the rehearsals. A big applause in the press area in heard after once done, but that is mainly since again it is dominated by Hispanics. A strong top 10 showing I believe.

Switzerland
Another lovely song next. Sebastiano is still the cutest thing and you can't help but go "awww!" every time you see him. His charm and song were enough to see him beat the likes of Mei last night, but what would they be able to grant him on Saturday? Unfortunately I would say not too much, since cuteness and charm do not always translate in votes for the Saturday when Joe Public is watching. I believe Sebalter will be celebrating their achievement anyway, which they should be proud of, however I doubt we will see them very high on Saturday.

Hungary
Running, running, running, yes she is! And it's great that András and the Hungarian team managed to portray the song so well on stage. It could have easily gone very wrong for the Magyars this year but it did not - to which a big sigh of relief I am sure. Currently Hungary are 6th favourite to win, could an extremely electifying performance help them do better? There are always many factors to take into consideration but with the level of the songs this year I doubt that we are too expect much more. A top 5 is possible but I agree with the standings and say 6th is more likely.

Malta
Michelle is wearing her glasses this afternoon - I guess too much celebrating last night. Another good rendition by this group even though at points they appear not to be as enthousiastic as they have been in previous days, again possibly due to the celebrations. But an artist must be professional at all times and hope they bring it out of the bag for the Jury Final tonight.

Trying to keep an open mind about the song and not let my personal connection hype it more than it should, I believe the performance is strong enough for a top 10 or at least a close to. First half of the board.

Denmark
Well, the danes doe things a bit differently... Basim and his friends decide to paint old furniture, including three-piece suit in the colours of Denmark. The picture does not seem to correctly represent what they were doing but since when did that matter?

Yes it is catchy, and yes you have the skubidubida thing but really, I still don't see what this is all about. And the fact that many a Dane thinks it will win just because it is catchy makes me question it even more. Vocally it is struggling this afternoon and that is without him having to have passed a semi-final just last night. The face flag has gone and now just the big heart with "Love" written on it remains.

The host country generally does well, but could we be facing another You so close to last year? If the performance is anything like this was, possibly yes!

Netherlands
After the Dutch post card ended, Pilou appears on stage in order to tell us three songs remain. It appears that the crew behind the song were not ready and therefore we are needing a new filler. It could be that this is just to test if it would happen in a real situation since a pre-prepared roll is played. The voiceover says "Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears we are having technical difficulties. While we fix these, here are some of the hits of the Euovision Song Contest". The video then continues to show some of the best known hits that came from the contest.

Once Calm After the Storm starts, you get the feeling that this will create a riot if there really were difficulties on the night. The interruption does make the whole continuation confusing and you're not expecting the song to just start. Maybe if they replayed the video first. I would complain vividly if I were in a delegation and this happened.

The song itself is a contender I feel. Currently third favourite this is an amazing feat since just two weeks ago they were a rank outsider where you could get amazing high odds for the country duo. Only the performance on Saturday and the voting public will be able to reveal if the bookies are right.

San Marino
Finally in the final, it is still a shock how this qualified but we all assume it is a mathematical reason of how she finished 10th due to the voting system. We don't need to be amazed at her not lighting up the scoreboard on the night however, being in between two of the top favourites while finding herself on 26th place in the odds does not bode well.

Ralf is still on the piano and Valentina is doing her best to try and make the song more appealing but it is not working. Apart from Germany and France, San Marino will probably complete the last three spots on the Final night.

United Kingdom
And we finally arrive at the song we were all waiting for. The UK postcard shows Molly rolling out white paper on a big car park. She directs old red-double decker buses to form the St. George's cross. She then directs red post office vans to be the cross of St. Patrick. After being lifted on a large fork lift, she then encourages various individuals in blue plastic raincoats to fill in the spaces in order to represent the blue of St. Andrew.

The performance is still amazing, even though this rehearsal did not have any pyro. Singing last was not the preferred choice of many of the British journalists and fans gathered in Copenhagen but it was quite likely to happen and so it did. It appears the last time a song which performed last won was back in 1989 when Riva's Rock Me clintched it for Yugoslavia. Could this be the following one? Possibly so - Manchester 2015?

Lise then comes on screen to sell off the CD and DVD and also the app where you can download all the song.

Predicticación

Are we all ready? I think I am! Despite having been far away from the interwebz for the last few days (I feel all naked! Though that might just be my swimming trunks), I'm getting into the mood, and even have managed to work out a little preditction for tonight. I've also put on some tiny bets that go against my actual guess, so who knows, really... Bets are on Ukraine and Belgium not to qualify, but in the list below, Moldova really is the one I'm doubting.

And as if giving you ten qualifiers wasn't enough potential for wrongness, here's how I think the full result will be tonight:

Sweden
Azerbaijan
Armenia
Hungary
Netherlands
Montenegro
Ukraine
Russia
Belgium
Moldova

Estonia
San Marino
Portugal
Iceland
Latvia
Albania

Have a ball tonight, no matter what! :-)