Day 8 | Second Rehearsals | Auto-finalists | 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇳🇱

Good morning from the Irish extension of the press centre! Sild and myself will bring you live reports of the last day of technical rehearsals, while Jordy is back in the arena taking videos. He's allowed to post a combined total of 2 minutes - if you have any special request, please put them on our message board! (personally I'm hoping for a Blas howling compilation)

🇳🇱 | Netherlands, No Definite Article

Starts off with Jeangu doing his sexy moves and surrounded by two backing singers and it's just fine, and then when he sings the title a red dancer appears very close to the camera quite awkwardly - at first I wasn't sure if they were meant to be there or is just a stage invader / photobomber. Rather confusing.

The dancer in red seems to be still there after a while and even interacts with the rest of the team, so I guess it's intended. I'm sure it means something very deep and important, but I'm not quite sure it's working. 

Vocally I cannot fault Jeangu - he's flawless at every runthrough and sounds very pleasant too. And he's quite charismatic too. If anything's going to save this rather messy staging, it's him.

Third runthrough and I'm enjoying it more, possibly because I knew what to expect. Over to Sild for the next three finalists.

🇩🇪 | Germany

If you take the LED background of La Venda and replace Miki with Plastic Bertrand, this should give you a clear idea of what to expect. It's obvious that Jendrik isn't a professional singer, struggling to keep up with his own song and becoming out of breath, but I guess none of this would matter for the target audience of this. He does have charisma and enjoys it, which is perhaps more important here.

Oh, and it seems he gave up on Dutch and speaks German again. I think.

Despite his best effort, I don't feel hate towards this. I just feel "aww, overexcited non-singer gets to be on a Eurovision stage! How lovely for him! As long as there's just one of these..."

Also, I can confirm that all colours on my rather old TV work. Good to know.

🇮🇹 | Italy

After so many favourites sabotaged by SJB, it's nice to see a performance that's just, well - a performance, focusing on the band's skills that we already know they have. There's a good play of lights (black and white at first, then turning to a red theme during the "parla.." bit, and near the end changing to blue and red again) and silhouettes on the background, but mostly the focus is on the band, as it should be.

Third runthrough and first goosebumps moment for me this year with the pyro. At first it's a curtain and then it's EVERYWHERE... OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG SOOOOO GOOOOD OMG OMG

But anyway, yeah, this should do as well as this song can, whatever that means.

Second rehearsal: Germany to Italy

End of Week One

Many thank you for reading and commenting! Elin and myself are off to other parts of Portugal now, Jeremy will be with you for the remaining events with some fresh perspectives.

Italy

These guys are true professionals. Looks fantastic inside the arena, without those silly distracting words in screen (second goosebump moment of the year for me). Unlike Serbia, they haven't been listening to us.

France

The red trainer shoes are still there. First shot is really effective, with both of them staring to the camera (it looks like they're standing next to each other, but in fact he's behind her). This time we don't see Monsieur picking up the microphone before the hand bit.

We'll have to wait to see this with audience to know how effective this is.

Germany

Well, this is just so so so good (except the lyrics, and the hair). Germany is back on track for doing things right.

Desculpe

We meant to bring you the full run this morning, but we had to deal with our main site being down (hosting company is in the UK - just as well we missed their rehearsal!)

First rehearsal: Italy and France

France

Pre-opinion: I got hooked on the snippet, the last times it happened were with Molitva and Heroes. This is as promising as it gets when it comes to winning chances, but there's still plenty of ways this can go wrong (including the stale NF staging).

First run-through: Black stage, black tight suits, red guitar, red shoes (that only reveal when the dry ice fades). I think it's a different backing track to what we've heard so far. For the Mercy Mercy bit the stage turns red and they go to the catwalk and do the hand thing, picturing this with an audience that does the same this could work really well.

Second run without fog. A much better staging than the NF, Madame actually looks at the camera for a start. Not sure it's enough to win this, but I'm hopeful.

I've had enough of black and red though. Seriously.

Last run through, this time the fog is back and blue light is projected on it (the sea?). Hurrah, another colour. They may win now.


Italy

Pre-opinion: This is one of the more powerful songs, keeping in mind that the magic from Sanremo can easily be lost with the wrong staging.

First run: We have lyrics on screen. Lots of them, in translation (but in more colours and overlaying than the preview video - some letters are made of images). Very very red stage.

Second run: They each walk a different bridge (during the "col sorriso di un bambino" bit) and meet for the ending in the middle of the catwalk. They're both great performers (as we knew) but the lyrics keep distracting me (which language is this? And this? And this? Was that Danish or Norwegian? Arabic or Persian? Hey I know this one, it's my language. Oh, Ermal is going waaaaaaahhh)

First rehearsal: UK, Spain, Germany

Germany

Pre-opinion: This one actively annoys me, which is good news for Germany: Better some emotion than no opinion whatsoever as I had for their recently failed songs. And for every hater, there's a lover or two. So this could make an impact.

First run-through: Michael in complete darkness, yellow-ish projections start at the first chorus. Parts of the lyrics, family pictures (not his), a road and a home. Michael in good voice. Projections go crazy near the end with his body throwing shadows in spirals, and then it's red, and damn, I'm starting to like this.

Second run: Still looking and sounding effective. The black-and-yellow road projection may remind you of the 1991 Belgian national private final stage:

Spain

Pre-opinion: One of the strongest melodies this year, but the hyperglycemic performances we've seen so far might turn people away. Especially now that Lithuania does sugar so much better.

First run-through: No pianos. They start out standing in two different time zones (very Waterfall) in a dark stage, then getting close and holding hands. Amaia in white, Alfred in burgundy. Not much happens, apart from them touching each other in different angles.

To give you an idea of their choreography, this is how they move about on stage:

And from about 2:00 they're in each other's arms until the end.

United Kingdom

Pre-opinion: This stood out in the UK final as the only confident performance and memorable song. It won't be so easy when the competition level is 100 times stronger. Hoping for a full blown storm effect with sprinkles in the arena and everything.

First run-through: SuRie is inside a dead whale skeleton made of LED and sharp angles. This looks really cool. Backing singers are off-stage, but they're really loud in the mix.

Second run: We have dry ice, and it looks like the whale skeleton is floating on a cloud. This is all very symmetrical, with the thing in the centre of the stage and SuRie in front of its centre - fans of symmetry will love this. She sings well but looks a bit lonely.

Pyro run: I only saw a bit of pyro during the last chorus, almost like a birthday cake firework.

Good afternoon

I went to see Portugal (the country) and missed Portugal (the song). I'm in love with Lisbon, but my feet don't share that feeling. They cobblestone anything and everything, even inside the arena(!)

Why third place could be enough to win

I hate predicting for the final. I am rubbish at it. While I can see in my mind which entries can qualify and which can't, I have a real blind spot about the final, particularly when it comes to the winner. I can construct in my mind a narrative for pretty much every entry as to why they won't win, and even why they just can't win. Which makes it rather difficult to construct a final scoreboard prediction.

In my mind, and in the minds of the betting public, there are three contenders. Even I can see that. And while I can find reasons for them all not to win, I really can't find reasons that any of the other 23 entries would end up on top of the scoreboard after tonight's voting. So let's take them one-by-one.

Italy
The favourite pretty much all season, and back to being the favourite as I write this, though only just. When it won Sanremo, I didn't see it winning Eurovision. I thought it was just too difficult to gain widespread support, both in terms of topic and being in Italian. But then, it did. Widespread support among Eurovision fans, true, but support on a level we haven't seen since Alexander Rybak, and possibly not even then.

But then I showed it to a fan-but-not-diehard-fan friend, who usually likes this side of Eurovision. She was underwhelmed. Is that going to be the reaction of much of the viewing public? After having seen the rehearsal clips, I worry that might be the case. The Sanremo performance was, for all its faults, genuinely fun, naively and innocently joyous, and that's missing from what we've seen on the Eurovision staging, as the backdrops try a bit too hard, the camerawork is too distant and Francesco is taking it one step too far into 'clever' and 'ironic'.

And there's always the eternal question that hangs over this entry like an anvil - will the juries just hate it?

Portugal
Almost the opposite, here. The live performance of Amar pelos dois on Tuesday night was absolutely hypnotic, and it's unsurprising that its odds have shortened dramatically in the last four days. But do televoters really vote en masse for a ballad in Portuguese? That's what I can't fully get my head around. Similarly, it's always been assumed that juries will go for Portugal - but often in the past they've ignored the more difficult ballads and those not in English, instead voting for more 'obvious' songs in English like Australia.

Bulgaria
A more obvious televote magnet and jury magnet, really. In a way, it's safer for both voting demographics, and unlike the previous two, there's nothing to turn televoters off or alienate jurors. So if it doesn't work for Italy or Portugal, for whatever reason, then Bulgaria is sitting pretty ready to mop up and take home the trophy.

In my mind, Bulgaria has a set amount of votes that it's definitely getting. Effectively, it's definitely coming third. The problem is, I don't know if Italy, Portugal or anyone else has the potential to go above them, or will that third place turn into the win?

Day 8 - 2nd Run Through : UKR / ITA / ESP / GER / GBR / FRA

FRANCE

And guess what, once more the frock is the same as in the first rehearsal! Alma had also worn it when coming into the Norwegian press conference yesterday after it ended and requested a selfie with Joakim and Aleksander! Back to the rehearsal however and Alma is not the strongest we've seen her. She is still delivering adequately but not as good as we've had. The camera angles work nicer than what we saw previously but still getting dizzy with the flyover view of turning Paris.

2nd Run - Adequate once again. Alma is not really bringing the best of herself to the camera but is trying to be playful. It will be a bit hit and miss on the night I believe.

3rd Run - And this concludes the second rehearsal for all countries. With Alma going off the stage, we are now done for the day. Who do you think did better than expected in this round? And who fared worse? You can always comment in the message board.


UNITED KINGDOM

Only Ukraine seems to have opted for a different look today. Lucie is also wearing her same dress from Friday. Camera angles have been worked a bit and now we have three of her in one shot - just like Croatian Jacques! Putting the multiple versions to one side, Lucie is delivering this song with the professionalism you expect from her. Pitch-perfect even though after performing she compains "my ears are so low!" Wouldn't have known unless she mentioned.

2nd Run - Another pitch-perfect rendition. Since there is no dancing there is not much that can go wrong with this. Possibly the UK's best result since 2009?

3rd Run - And more pyro! Not much but enough. This is looking like a very good package, and would be suprosed if it ends up with a similar result the UK has been getting in the past few years


GERMANY

No costume change for Levina today either. She's looking confident on stage and even though she doesn't have an entry with any belter moments, she does her best to give it the best she can. Unfortunately we think the song itself is not able to carry much weight when compared the the likely rivals that will be in the final - however, hopefully, this will not end last.

2nd Run (or possibly 3rd) - We could hear the backing track but the microphone wasn't very loud for the first couple of lines. The song itself is harmless and Levina is just doing what she can. She's singing well but she must know there are not very high hopes for her. This run had pyro which is why we were a bit confused on which run it is since we only saw two but it's always the last one that has the extras.

3rd Run - Germany has just changed the game! This third one did not have pyro! What are they doing to us? Don't they know the sacred rules? Joking apart, unfortunately there is nothing more to add to Levina's routine. It's well sung, confident and reasonable staging but at the end of the day the song is what it is and this cannot be changed regardless of camera angles and lighting effects.


SPAIN

So, the guys are still seeing the Earth from the beach they're supposed to be on while Manel sings the first verse. Nothing strange at all. The guys are wearing the same Hawaiian shirts they did on Friday but in fairness they're doing their best on stage. It's still likely ending last, but they try.

2nd Run - The team seems to be going through the motions. There's no real emotion being shown to camera and the other band members just seem to be doing their own thing without any real choreography being planned for them in most parts of the song.

3rd Run - As much as I hate myself for knowing that I'm going to write this, and it could be because I'm running on the last bits of energy I have left running in my body, but this is not seeming as terrible as it did just a couple of days ago. I'm attributing this to the 'seen it multiple times' effect which as we know makes anything with familiarity more appealing to the brain and therefore we have better feelings about it. Europe will not have these feelings.


ITALY

Francesco didn't start with the first line - did he just forget? The cameras have been worked on and, as to be expected, the package is working a lot better than during the first rehearsal we saw. The team is wearing the same attire they did on Friday and it is likely that this is what they will be wearing come Saturday. Francesco is loving it on stage and is good with the camera - although not perfect. Also, dad dancing is having a revival in Eurovision.

2nd Run - All the lyrics are available this time round. Camera is still being changed to view new angles and the backing singers do the Alé/Allez! And oh, no dad dancing this time but a statue-still Francesco with the dancing ape doing all the work. Another large applause from the people in the arena.

3rd Run - It seems we have the same person with 'issues' we've had a couple of times before this year. The video in the press was only switched on for the chorus so we have not seen the first half of the third run. Although we doubt anything major happened in the part that we missed, it is kinda the point of us being here to see these things in full and comment. But oh well, not like anyone was doubting this wasn't going to be good and further solidify the likeliness of an Italian win this year.


UKRAINE

Well, the giant head is still there but Yevhen at least has changed his costume from the first rehearsal. We're trying to check the others to see what they're wearing but the run was a bit fast. Again vocally this is doing quite well and visually it's appealing - apart from the scary eyes at the end.

2nd Run - Someone forgot to press the button so all we saw from the second run was the last three verses of the song. Not much we can do with this.

3rd Run - There aren't many close up shots of the other members of O.Torvald however we *think* they also have changed their outfit since last Friday. Another good rendition of the song and with home advantage it should see decent scores coming in howsoever should not be troubling anyone at the top of the leader board.


MORNING JOURNEY

Well, let us just say that possibly maybe I am still not yet to bed but since today is only six songs we should be able to get through this pretty easily. Coffee is aplenty and we'll also have lots of water to keep hydrated - even though the current situation may in fact lead to better comments.

Day 6 - 1st Run Through : UKR / ITA / ESP / DEU

GERMANY

Camera starts from inside the chandelier and zooms in while going down. Levina is lying on the stage floor dressed in a dirty-white long-sleeve top with cut shoulders and a grey long skirt. Stage is playing mainly with black and white geometrics. This then starts blending in with the starry space. Vocally we're not receiving a treat but it's by no means the worst we have heard this year. Not troubling anyone at the top of the leaderboard (or anyone on the left side) but if there is any justice, she will not make it a row hat-trick for Germany and last place.

2nd Run - A decent repetition. This time we notice that the top is backless and that Levina is barefoot.

3rd Run - "This time with pyro" says Henrik. "With pyro!" cries the fan press! It took us a while to get there but finally we get there! We have a half-curtain and at the same time shooting stars from the chandelier. Germany in fact have spent quite a lot of money on pyro it seems - the effect lasts for quite a while. As always, approved!


SPAIN

No one is actually paying attention to this. Like nobody. It's on the screen and everyone is chatting with each other. I'm trying my best to actually care about it. So, the scene starts with a (what I am assuming is) a moon-lit night sky with clouds passing by. This then ends up turning into some beach with palm trees - cue sick bags.

Manel is dressed in a Hawaiian shirt (barely buttoned) as are his three companions with instruments. Unfortunately we get to see hairynipplegate! This couldn't scream last place more if it tried. Again, we know the cameras will be worked on but vocals are mediocre at best and the energy on that stage is the same as when receiving a wet kiss from an estranged elderly aunt. The only thing worse than having to see this once, is having to see it repeatedly in succession. What one suffers for their hobby!

2nd Run - So, now that we paid more attention. The backdrop starts with a silvery globe which pans out while you have the darkened beach in the forefront. Strange since the globe should be the moon (would make more sense) but it is not - you can clearly see Europe and Africa etc. Anywho, the globe then splurts to become this beach thing. Nothing strange at all there. Manel's shirt seems to be better buttoned this time so we are not inflicted with another showing of his hairy right nipple. Even the camera crew are bored - they spent 5 seconds of showing us the stairs to the stage. Manel does not look impressed at all. We're not either but only one of us is forcing the other to watch them sing for what feels like an eternity.

3rd Run - Unfortunately even though the time had technically run out, Manel still managed a third rendition of the entry. The best I can say is that it didn't get any worse.


ITALY

The one we've all been waiting for is now on stage! Excitement is already massing up in the press room.

There are three backing singers, two female one male. Female to the left is dressed in blue jumper, middle in yellow and the guy on the right is in the orange ensemble that Francesco himself wore during San Remo. Francesco himself is dressed in a black suit with a tiny silver tie. And actually there is a fourth backing singer - male, dressed in a red jumper.

Background has many elements from what we saw in San Remo with a couple of additions here and there, such as umbrellas blowing in the wind on the backdrop while the floor leds show a figure of a man with an umbrella walking. Also there is graphics of the monkey itself.

In regards to choreography, the backing singers don't do the "Alé!" which would have been more apt and also the cameras are still not very tuned since there are parts where the choreography Francesco is doing and the camera which should be following are completely in two different worlds. If we were a site who liked drama and skandal we would be saying this is a disaster and Italy have just lost the game but since we know this is the first run of the first rehearsal, we will wait to announce that judgement. Until the second one that is.

2nd Run - So the camera angles have been changed and work a little better than those we saw in the first run through. Also, the "Alé!" (or Allez! however you want to have it) is not so much of an issue since the camera pans to crowd which I'm sure will be more than happy to provide the correct choreography for this piece. Although for us who have heard the song in its entirety the cut still sounds a bit weird, and maybe also to Francesco, I guess those who have heard it for the first time will not be too confused by it. A good show for sure - has it given me goosebumps, no. Will it still end up winning ... never count chickens but we've heard that Milan's hotel availability in May is already basically zero. Maybe Turin?

3rd Run - I cannot be sure but I think Francesco got mixed up in the lyrics by saying "cercasi, umanità virtuale" instead of "cercasi, storie dal gran finale". Oh well, it's a simple mistake to make! You can see that the camera crew are playing around with as many angles as they can since the show again seems to be new in this third round. It seems like Italy is pulling out the stops this year to ensure their package is seen as best as it can be.

That was it for Italy, on to ... Manel! Another piece of information you get to find out when being here, due to the reaction of the eurofans during the national final, rtve decided to not accredit any fansite with 'P' but rather gave them all 'F's. There you go.


UKRAINE

So we were not able to see it from the beginning but it did pop up on screen in the end. Gone are the timers coming out of chests and the team is dressed in black. We've finally revealed which act has the mysterious large head - this one! Since we didn't see it from the beginning we can't comment on how it started but it seemed pretty good at first glance. And what more could you want than lasers being shot out of the eye sockets of a massive shiny head in the middle of a stage?!

2nd Run - Trying to get more information on what is going on in everything. Starting with a wide shot, the stage has an 'under the sea' vibe to it. Correction to previously, the lead singer, Yevhen, is dressed in a silver jacket over black. The stage turns to black tones and green lighting while during the instrumental bridge we then have lots of lightening and strobing. The head which at first seems silvery, and later simply seems possessed) then starts turning golden hues at the end of the song with the background complementing this change. The backdrop appears to then be the new dawn rising from behind mountains and the head has a body starting to be attached to it via the floor leds. There is a lot to take in with this performance so definitely needs another look in order to try and understand.

3rd Run - The vocals are what we are used to with O.Torvald so can't comment much on them. The colours change from blue to dark after the first chorus and then the green spots are added during the second chorus. One thing that was noticed this time, the eyes of the giant head are closed at first however later these open in order to reveal the lasers (at first) and then, during the golden hues, the eyes shine yellow also. Not creepy at all.

4th Run - Another decent performance. I don't think it will be worrying many people but decent enough - and they're on home soil so they have the advantage.

Semi rehearsals - winners and losers

As Day 4 in Kyiv draws to a close, all 36 of our semi-finalists have now rehearsed, and as always, these days have brought us some winners and some losers. Some songs have leapt up in our estimations, whereas others have drifted away.

(And yes, this is with the proviso that these are only rehearsals, some singers are holding back, others have got days to practise standing on one leg etc etc etc.)

The losers

Belgium - oh dear, it seems like what we'd been worrying about at the preview show performances has come true. Blanche just doesn't have the personality to pull this one off. Instead of commanding the camera, she's trapped in the middle of an empty stage. We can't see six qualifiers coming from the first half of this semi, so will Belgium be the one to miss out?

Ireland - after so many years of coming with bland, uninspired performances, Ireland have finally turned up with a concept this year. However, it doesn't seem like they know what to do with it. A real missed opportunity because, if they'd got this right, it would have turned what was always a borderline qualifier into a potential Top 10 finisher.

Israel - performing last in the semi should be a gift for a song like this. It'll no doubt come alive (pun intended) in front of a live audience in much the same way Beauty Never Lies did in 2015, but for now Israel is more Tooji than Golden Boy. There's even whispers of a possible NQ going around the Eurovision bubble.

The winners

Slovenia - the fan and betting communities have always been united in calling this a non-qualifer; it's spent the last few weeks further out in the odds even than the Czech Republic. The rehearsal was something of a surprise therefore, with a strong vocal performance coupled with strong imagery that makes the most of the stage. With Latvia coming across as an absolute mess immediately afterwards, Omar could feel like the natural closer of the semi-final, and hoover up the votes from juries and televoters alike.

Croatia - we always said that the only chance that Croatia had of making it through the semi was to make the performance of My Friend fun and ridiculous - more Cezar than Axel Hirsoux. Unfortunately, it's seemed like Jacques was far too po-faced and wrapped up in the serious artistry of the whole thing to even consider that. Pleasingly, someone in the production team has considered it for him. The performance with the camera shots from both sides is just quirky enough to work, and the massive double-Jacques heads on the background screens add just enough camp to draw the audience in. A potential qualifier now?

Italy - he hasn't even rehearsed yet, but these have been good days for Francesco Gabbani. Every time another favourite rehearses, his odds shorten. With Blanche faltering and Bulgaria proving more Francesca Michielin than Dami Im, victory is looking more and more assured for the Italian.

Eurovision Hotties World Cup - Semi-final 1

Do you follow ESC Nation on Twitter? If you do, you might have been following along with our Eurovision Hotties World Cup, our mission to find this year's hottest (male) Eurovision contestant (or host).

We started with 32 guys in contention in the group stages, 16 of whom made it through to the knockout rounds. Now, after the round of 16 and the quarter finals, four competitors remain.

Semi-final 1 - Nathan Trent vs Francesco Gabbani

The first semi-final is a battle between two very different hotties, as fresh-faced innocence from Austria takes on the personality and charisma from Italy. Francesco came into the competition as one of the favourites, but hasn't had an easy journey to the semi-finals. It was tight between him and two of our hosts in the second round and the quarter final, and in both cases he only just squeezed past Timur Miroshnychenko and Volodymyr Ostapchuk. By contrast, Nathan's had a much smoother run, which culminated in beating Hovig with almost 75% of the vote in the quarter finals.

Take a look at the photos, and vote in the Twitter poll below, which closes this evening.

(We initially intended to introduce shirtless pics at this stage of the competition, but, well, there aren't any. Not that we could find anyway. If you know better, please send them our way on Twitter or by letting us know in the comments.)

Vote, and make sure you're following us on Twitter for the results!

#eurovisionhottiesworldcup Semi-final 1. Vote for your favourite #eurovision hottie

— ESC Nation (@ESCNation) April 30, 2017

Day 7 - Germany, Italy, United Kingdom

UNITED KINGDOM
Much like the first rehearsal. Much mediocre as the first rehearsal. There is still part of me which is just waiting for Jake's guitar strap to break and see the guitar crash to the floor while he's bouncing up and down. The ending with Joe putting his arm around Jake just looks fake and over-rehearsed. It still gained an applause in the room but I think it's just because there are quite a number of British people here. It is completely forgettable performance and if it is placed between two good songs it will be likely bottom 10.



ITALY
The microphone stand has more coloured ribbons than just blue and yellow as was seen in the first rehearsal. Francesca is no longer clad in the brown dungarees and white t-shirt but in a black number. Camea angles have changed as have some of the added screen graphics. The LED backdrop has had a few additions to it but nothing majorly different - mainly some outlines of fluffy clouds floating accross the sky.

In this rehearsal you see Francesca picking up the apple with the seedling growing out of it. I would personally avoid this since you can see Francesca concentrating on doing it without being able to see since she is looking into the camera which is straight on. I would say this is the one that will be top out of the direct finalists this year.  


GERMANY
Same as most other times it has been performed. The outfit is the same as was worn in the first rehearsal as are most of the camera angles. This is the best so far today and by a long shot. Vocally Jamie-Lee is still strong and the backing vocals are on the correct strength. It would predict it to be second out of the direct finalists but I am sure Europe has it in it to blind-side us. Good effort and hopefully should get a decent result. We will not be seing Germany last as we did in Vienna.

The not-press opinion - FRA, ESP, GER, ITA, UK

Overview

France gave what I expected them to give. They are still a contender for challenging Russia and they certainly win against the similarly simply staged Sweden imo. Italy's staging is not to my liking, it really destroyed the feeling for me. However, it seems that people who were not into it find it very appealing. I'd be happy if a song I liked gets a good result, although I won't like the live performance video in the end. Germany gave me goosebumps, but I do realise that this is not going to happen to the average viewer. Hopefully, the juries will help her placing rise, but then will the outfit ruin her? The UK delivered, they made me like the song more than I ever had. Although it's instant, its appeal will depend a lot on the draw and what precedes/follows them. They would benefit from a clinical performance, like Czech Rep. for example. Finally, Spain's incompetence is beyond words. My first reaction two days ago was positive, but no improvement on the vocals has been made since then and the fall is captured and implemented in a very fake way.

United Kingdom

First shot the one not holding a guitar (I suspect that's Jack?). The shot widens as the background is filled with purple/blue dots. Two blocks with the drummer and the guitarist. Random faces appear during the second chorus on the floor. And the background as well. Stage turns black with white lights for the bridge and then some strong purple ones for the last part. Vocals are not bad, but not very strong. It ends in a mid shot with them hugging (in a friendly way). Personally, I like the far shots of this more, but for the vast majority it's the close-ups that will matter. It wins the battle against what I've seen from Denmark, but not much else.

Faces during the first chorus as well. Oh, it's actually two sets of drummers on the podiums. Not very noticeable anyway. For the second chorus, camera starts with them facing each other as they sing the first "You're not alone" and then pans away for the "We're in this together". This is effective camerawork. Some awkward jumps in the last part, somehow too co-ordinated, like they're standing on a mini trampoline. The vocals have improved.

Third run. Their vulnerable look in the beginning is much more preferable to the other opponents in this category, DEN, IRL, LTU. Or arrog-Frans. But I'm still not convinced they will avoid something like 18th. Good pyros by the way, timed with the I,I,I and sky,sky,sky parts (three each).

Italy

People loved this yesterday, but the stills didn't convince me. First time for this too, then. The stand has blue and purple shades around it. The flower arrrangements right and left of her are a nice touch, but it's too linear. Balloons all around and yellow spheres on stage. She's convincing when faceing the cameras. The tree on the back is just there, which is good (I wouldn't like any more movements and distractions on this). Some effects of white something on screen, like bubbles. The language change is here and I love that moment in studio, but here nothing special happens. The white thingies are like fireworks and bubbles, and little hearts. Ok, a bit silly. She gives us a potato? So many things happening, I didn't notice the song that much, which is certainly not needed. I'm cautious.

The white sparkles/clouds/hearts are already present in the opening shot. The close-up shots where not much is going on are the best moments imo. It happens during most of the 1st chorus. She gets the right angles every time, but then something appears at a random point in the screen and you watch that instead. Vocally perfect. I don't particularly like these ideas, but maybe others will? It could be because I also had a totally different staging in mind.

Warming to it in the third run as I focused more on what I was listening and her instead of everything else. It needs for the viewer to not be too distracted by all the staging and realise that they are actually listening to a decent song. In the end, it might prove to be a wise choice, but it's certainly risky.

Germany

First time watching this. Stage is purple while we first get to see a close-up of Jamie-Lee after 30 seconds or so (might be for the best). Camera are too shaky. Purple naked trees with green laser beams towards above (as leaves?). She is spot on in her vocals. Cameras are finally steady and she hits the shots. A weird shot of the backings in the dark before the second chorus, during which she walks the catwalk and arrives to the end of it just in time for the Ahhh scream. Ends with a far shot with her in the middle and the huge moon behind her.

We will need the next run to properly judge this, as the camera crew had a collective stroke or something.

Steady shots this time and identical performance. The weird dark shot of the backings is still there, though. It's so dark, this still counts as "hidden backings". She arrived a bit earlier to the end of the catwalk, which is less effective than before. She looks happy. Being a big fan of the song, I can't help but sing along. Although I love it, I do realise there might not be enough amount of connection developed during the night. Not much to say about the third run either, she's perfected it already.

Spain

The opening minute is vocally and visually problematic, unfortunately. The backings are clapping at the first "Say yay yay yay" very not to the rhythm. The fall was too fake again and did not happen during the close-up shot at her dancing feet. Much less convincing than her first rehearsal. She lifts it with the catwalk and this time she does one accidental Hooray (which exists in the studio version, but she's not supposed to do it live, from what we've seen so far in Stockholm. Let's wait for the other two runs, but I'm doubting her chances for a decent result after this.

More parts I find awkward. Why does the screen go black after the fall? It doesn't seem realistic, they should have stayed with the initial thing, where we get to look at her on the ground for more seconds. They've unfortunately managed to make what was a refreshing and contemporary performance into something over-rehearsed and obviously fake. The silly choreography of the backings doesn't help.

Good luck to her, because she's the best that happened to this entry.

France

Again, like with its first rehearsal, I am satisfied while mostly everyone around me is not. I think the performance is very sincere. My favourite part is during the bridge when the moon approaches him on the floor projections and he stands on it and then makes a glowing effect. There is one thing that's missing; audience. I am still optimistic about this, although I agree it is not a front-runner, like Russia clearly is.

Day 6 - Germany, Italy, United Kingdom

UNITED KINGDOM

Before the Rehearsal
The UK decided to move away from their format they chose for the past few years of internal selection. Admittedly, they did not have much of a lot to choose from and probably did choose the best option for the show. No one is expecting this to really do anything in Stockholm (apart from the British media who keep on asking people if they are going to win - just to have people disappointed and angry when they don't even finish top 10), but we should be seeing the UK reach a higher position than they have seen for a bit.


Rehearsal
Starting on a darkened stage, we open with Joe's closeup. The shot changes which then brings Jake into the picture for the second verse. The stage also lights up in blue, white and red lighting. There are two drummers on podiums. For the intro to the chorus, photos of people take the stage. For the second verse, the stage goes back to its original colourings and changing back to new photos for the chorus. These photos change with the rhythm of the song. This unfortunately does look like a bad performance in an X-Factor style show. They would be in the sing-off and probably get eliminated this week. The third run-thorough has some pyro on the last chorus but I doubt this will gain many extra points (if any) due to it. Don't expect any "Royaume Uni, douze points!" being uttered.


ITALY

Before the Rehearsal
Well, at least we have someone who wanted to come to Eurovision rather than the group Stadio who let's face it, would not have any interest in coming here. Italy is one of those nations who everyone wants to see but has no real following at home. This is the first year that the contest will be shown on the first channel - until last year it was on Rai2 with the semifinals still being on Rai4 until today. Will having it on the first channel make any difference? I believe it will all depend on what happens. If they do well like last year, then it is likely that the interest will remain the same. If however Francesca fails to light up Europe, then it is more likely we see it go to Rai2 and stay there for the duration of Italy's comeback - which in itself might not be greatly long-lived.

Rehearsal
She's definitely not wearing her outfit for Saturday. Brown sparkly dungarees on top of a white t. There are a lot of digital effects on screen like we saw in her music video. They take a bit of getting used to. Staging, well, it's nice, it's different, it's unusual... we have a couple of platforms with a lot of items on sticks around the edges. I'm sure I can find better words to describe it but it is quite difficult to explain. A yellow balloon, a seagull, a sunflower, a parrot, an umbrella, 3D glasses (blue/red) and much, much more.

Unfortunately I seem to be the only one who does not get this. At all. Everyone around me is telling me how amazing it is but I clearly am (as has been told to me) "dead inside". The staging starts with a bare tree on a cloudless, sunny day. Francesca is on a grassy circular platform. The background turns into night for the chorus. The tree is lit up as is the floor and we have fireflies buzzing around it. For the second verse, the floor is an ocean. This continues throughout the rest of the song while the time of the day changes from day to night depending on the chorus. Her microphone stand has ribbons in blue and yellow - unlike in Rimini where this was in the colours of the rainbow flag.

At least for this rehearsal there has been no pyro or any other effect. If there was going to be it would be likely that Italy would have paid for it but maybe we just need to wait for the second round of rehearsals. A lot of people here are already talking about Turin 2016, could this be just press-centre emotion like we had with France last year?




GERMANY

Before the Rehearsal
What are we to expect from Jamie-Lee. The good thing is that we really do not know. The staging for this song is one of the things I've personally been looking forward to. we know that she is quite a character and that it is hard to point out what she will want to do next. Will the artistic director want to change from the staging in Cologne or will we see something similar to that?

Rehearsal
Well, it is similar to the national final. You can see the outline of Jamie-Lee in front of a moon. She is in the forest which we saw in Germany. Wearing an outfit not too dissimilar to that we saw in the national final, consisting of a Japanese schoolgirl shape however being a sparkly silver top, turquoise skirt with sparkly blue circle stones, and frilly shoulders. She is also wearing a headpiece in the same colours of her attire. Socks are knee-high and in blue and purple. White sparkly flat-souled shoes with a silvery bow complete the outfit.

The backing vocals are unfortunately quite off in the first round, unlike Jamie-Lee who is giving a good performance. There is, as you can imagine, not much choreography. Jamie-Lee walks along the stage rather calmly but never moves too far from her original position on the main stage. She does however later use the bridge to the satellite platform which is where she completes her performance.

Second run - the backing vocals have been lowered which is a good sign that this was noticed immediately by the delegation. Jamie-Lee is looking like she is really enjoying being there but is quite shy and has the 'I'm just a little girl' look. Mothers across Europe will be into this if she finishes her performance with *that* look - regardless of what they think of the song.

Third run - Addition of the dry ice to cover the stage to enhance the mystical look of it. Could do with getting the combination right, the platforms of the trees are visible which could be done without. Small issues which will be fixed before you know it.

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!

Winners and losers on Day 7

Hey hey! It's my last day in Vienna, but before I head out to join the Nation boys at their villa in sunny Spain tomorrow, let's complete the set of "winners and losers" by taking a quick look at the big 5+1+1.

Oh, actual Chinese TV is here! And they just interviewed Felix and me! That's not random at all.

Anyway, the winners of today's rehearsals for me are Germany, who have a sensible staging concept and an Ann Sophie who's starting to come across as more seductive than shouty; Australia, which is basically already the complete package with no further work required, as Guy ably demonstrated; and France, where the potential of a highly conventional song is being maximised by an effective stage presentation.

Somewhere in the middle I'll place Spain - their entire performance is frankly ludicrous, but it's hugely entertaining trash and the final desperately needs a bit of that. Austria probably belong here too, if only because the Makemakes did exactly what we expected of them (well, with added fire) but nothing more.

The losers of the day? I'm going to put Italy in that category, because "Grande amore" is currently a bit of a mess in the filming department and the Il Volo boys seem reluctant to look into the camera; and, most notably of all, the United Kingdom. Even if they manage to get the camerawork right and inject some personality into the performance, the whole thing will still be a hot mess. If they don't, a very round score could beckon.

And with that, I'm off to eat some cake and actually see a bit of the host city, since it's probably better to do that before you leave than after. Laters!

Day 7 rehearsals: IT, AT, ES, DE, UK, FR, AU

ITALY
Backdrop has statues, big statues, much lions. Guys are dressed in dark suits with white shirts - surprise!

When the first chorus begins, thunder clouds roll up from 'over the horizon'. Second verse, colours change to golden hues from the blue which it started in. White or the chorus.

Singing wise not so great. Ignazio has issues with in-ear it seems, not the first time this happened this contest.
First run through over and all three seem to have issue with in-ear. None look happy. Piero and Gianluca also remove their in-ear and Ignazio talks to the technical person. To be continued....

UNVERIFIED: ALLEGEDLY since unfortunately we couldn't hear very well and don't know who exactly said it, we overheard "problems" and "off stage" so we came to the conclusion that they are not happy and if it goes like this they will stop. ALLEGEDLY!

Second run they seem happier (well, less moody) and it seems the issues of the in-ear are getting resolved. It seems that when they are singing the chorus it's a bit too loud (hand gestures of lower) but only by a bit (finger squeese).

Possibly the background will be changed - it is a bit kitsch and does not really fit the song. The longer you look at it, the less 'right' it looks. I don't think the Italians will settle for less than perfect. After the third run Ignazio cracks a smile, must be good. Vocally they are doing ok, they are probably just saving themselves to ensure they don't tire themselves out.

AUSTRIA
Vocally it's exactly like in Wer singt für Österreich? Dominic is in the dark for most of the song though, it seems like the lighting is a bit off and they will need to work on it. Fire is not allowed so they tried to have a fire effect on the floor when the piano should be catching fire. But it doesn't work. As doesn't most of this - sorry Austria, but if this wasn't in the final already I don't see it being selected for a Saturday show.

Second run through and the lighting already seems to have been fixed. The fire thing still doesn't look that good in my humble opinion. Probably there is pyro waiting though, as with most delegations, they are not made of money so they use what they could buy at the later rehearsals in order to not waste it on bad camera angles.

By the third run through no one is paying any attention to what is going on... UNTIL something happened and the audio cut out and then we all turn towards the closest screen and go "oooh!" for the first time ever for this song.

God, I need to start getting bored of this many times, since now again, as soon as I going to write how boring it is ... GUESS WHAT! Only the freaking piano actually on fire, and not some silly little fire like in the national final, no, this thing is burning! They are killing it with fire! OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it's actually a good effect... for a pyromaniac. Surely though this was the last one, Austria seems to have been rehearsing for hours.

SPAIN
Well, nothing like sitting on a bare-chested man to start your performance. Literally, you can imagine the screaming in the press centre. Clapping and shouting by Spanish fans. Edurne starts clad in red but this gets ripped off her before the chorus in order to reveal a sparkly silver number with much leg revealing. Had a bit of a Madonna moment though with this since it nearly choked her the first time round. The dancer is wearing some leather gear (maybe ready for fistfet later on - yes, it's also going on in Vienna) but this is gladly also removed when he reappears later on and he is showing us that he has a healthy balanced diet and a rigorous hard exercise routine.

Backdrop is quite mystical with a huge circle of warped visuals in the centre. It does work ok-ish but wouldn't say it's amazeballs. Edurne is saving her voice (we hope) since otherwise it's mediocre at best. She has a moment where she does some Sailor Mecury routine. We hope that it's not bubbles which will be the visual effect since that will be a bit 'meh'. Hopefully more like some sonic air trail.

Second run through and it's a bit better - but not much. Still, Spaniards clapping for anything she does.

Third: Oh, she wasn't sitting on him, she was holding him. He is apparently dead. Didn't notice that when he was dancing around. But now it makes sense. Well, as much as it did in the video.

Jesus, even I'm clapping to this now. Finally, now that I understood what it's all about. And I speak Spanish, and I watched the video over and over and over again, and loved the song (I am a fan after all) but only now I managed to understand what the hell is going on with this. Still no idea about the tiger though. And no, it's nowhere to be seen - thankfully. People at home however will be a bit confused which may not work in Spain's favour. I would assume that the optical effect they will be going for is a ball of refracted light which she will be 'controlling' with her hands.

GERMANY
Dressed in a tight black number with large golden feature belt, Ann Sophie struts around with one big earring with lots of dangly bits. Vocally she is strong, and visuals at the back are simple with either white on black or black on white smoke effect. Golden spots add to the visuals.

Received an applause in the press room. Can go either way.

Second, rehearsal as good as the first. There are five large lights on stage, one for each person. Ann Sophie is in the middle while two backing singers are to her left and two to her right. Also noticed that gold plays a part in the backdrop also. The smoke effect is more for the chorus.

Third, they are playing around with the camera angles for the beginning of the song. We have seen three different ones already. Ann Sophie could do with more strutting around.

UNITED KINGDOM
May we have your performance please United Kingdom.
I'm sorry, I don't have them.

Waiting to start UK still.

LOL! OH MY GOD! This was so worth the wait. This is the biggest car crash I've seen in a while. Bianca is wearing a pink dress with some possibly Al Qaeda inspired contraption stuck to her back. Alex is dressed in black and wishing he was somewhere else - at least his face says so. They have some random stairs which they come down of which are later used by the female backing singers/dancers. The lights do go down in order to keep the neon lighting views but the whole thing is just a mess. Cannot wait for the second run. People who are drunk - which if it is on late enough will be the majority of people - will find it hilarious!

This is not getting any better. For Electro Velvet we mean. For us, it's getting to the point now the initial hysterical shock has calmed and now that we know how bad it is, it's not actually a disaster but a wonderful laugh. There is a couple of pyro moments which only one was seen correctly. The one at the end was quite ok but it wasn't strong enough to burn the whole thing down so we will still get it on Saturday night. Get your eyeballs ready folks, this is going to be a classic moment in ESC history reviews.

FRANCE
Lisa is dressed in a dark purple dress with black lace arms. The backdrop is stunning. Starting off in a scene of a wasteland with some dead trees and ruins, the scene starts remerging itself throughout the song with, the trees growing leaves, the buildings built anew, the streets repairing and doves flying. Once the city becomes liveable again we see soldiers appearing both in the visuals and also four, two on each side, as backing to Lisa. It is one of those scenes that, at least I, cannot find the right words to give it justice. Brought tears to some people in the room.

The singing by Lisa is pitch perfect. She has no trouble getting this to work for her. Could definitely see this putting up a good fight.

Second run and just, wow! If France are given a good position in the final (should EBU be interested in Big 5 having possibly 2 in the top 5) then this could also see a jump and win the whole thing! Or it could just be a bunch of us just getting overexcited because we had to watch the UK before it.

Third: First run saw the mic held on a stand, second in hand and third again on stand. This might be because when hand-held, the burst effect on the floor which happens with some of the beats in the chorus do not work as well since Lisa is not placed perfecty in the centre which is not an issue when the stand helps her judge where she needs to be. No one seems to have anything bad to say about this - again, Paris 2016?

PS: In regards to the backdrop, to try and decsribe it better, we are taken on a tour of the town. So the scene is moving as if we were walking backwards (or Lisa forwards but she does not make any 'walking' movement unlike the four soldiers and the soldiers in the backdrop who do look as if they are marching through the streets of the ruined city. Amazeballs!

AUSTRALIA
History has been made - and it's underwhelming. Think of any X-Factor performance you saw from any act which was quite hyped. And it's that. Good singing, good lighting, good backdrop but "wow"? No. 

Seems it's not only me who is thinking X-Factor. Many people are saying the same thing. Maybe the draw will help him, it's still better than many other shows this year but for apparently the country who spent most on their act this year, I would be asking for some back. There will be pyro for sure, I mean I don't understand how the six street lamps would have cost such a fortune otherwise. Edurne's dress would probably cost more than these bits of steel.

OK, well, I know you're supposed to save your voice and all but Guy is not even trying to sing some parts of the song. Or at least I *think* this is what he is doing. Otherwise it simply could be the biggest let down this year. Especially when we have Edurne belting her "hiyeahiyeah-o" part while doing interviews. But obvi it's the first.

... And there you have it. Rehearsals over - all 40 acts have had their first moment on stage now. Will be interesting to check the betting sites to see who has made the biggest leaps or falls from April 30 to today. Not that we encourage betting - but if you do already, then might as well let us know these things. Where's Martin when you need him?

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.

Watching the first rehearsal of the final

The whole thing starts off with what can only be described as a Eurovision version of the "Parade of Nations" in beauty pageants like Miss Universe and Miss World. The stage shows the flag of each country, one at a time, while a voice reads the name of the country in three languages as the entrant walks across the stage and waves to the audience. Sadly, they aren't wearing ginormous feather-embedded national costumes :/

They managed to mess it up by announcing Greece as Poland and Poland as Greece, so they stopped it and will presumably start over...

One more try, and this time everyone entered when they should. A rather nice start of the contest

Something has actually changed in Ukraine. The whistle bits seem to be properly back. I can't tell if they are being done live or if they've changed to another backing track. But would this be the furst time (excluding 1993 and 1996) that a song has actually changed musically between the semifinal and the final?

The next few countries are all performing very similar to the semifinal, so not much to say there

Germany finally. In the postcard they're baking sweets in the colours of the German flag. The performance is quite basic, just the three members if the band performing it in the same way that someone would probably have performed this in Eurovision 1996 or so. Except for the pink confetti strips falling down at the end, which totally covered the lead singer making her look a bit like a pink egyptian mummy.

Now another Record book segment. The highest note ever is apparantly the one by Maja Blagdan. Congratulations Croatia, you managed to get a mention even though you're not participating this year.

Technical issue before France. But eventually it starts. The singer shouts random stuff in the intro and the rest of the performance is rather messy. But it might just be the kind of thing that works better with audience reactions.

Next country not from the semi is Italy, with the postcard of course being mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil. Visually I think the performance works well, even if there are a few notes that aren't quite working. 

Slovenia and Finland did their thing. Now Spain. Ruth made the Spanish flag with yarn. The stage looks really awesome, in my opinion. And the fake rain almost looks real, especially as Ruth performs with WET HAIR! (a first?). The white light at the end isn't that great though... And the backing singers are nowhere to be seen unfortunately. But overall the performance is very effective

Eventually we get to Denmark. Vocally it's not great today, but the camerawork looks good. 

Then there's some technical difficulties... They're taking quite some time. So they decided to cut to a clip containing a medley of "some of the greatest hits in Eurovision". I suspect this might be a clip they've created especially to use in case of technical issues on the final night, ans that we won't get to see it if there are no problems. Oh well, it was just "Fairytale", "Congratulations" (no, not the Silvia Night one sadly) and "Satellite", so no big loss :)

Now eventually the UK. Molly in a goldem short dress with a feather-like collar. Almost like something from the videoclip further up above. Vocally she and the backing singers are alright, but the performance isn't as effective as I hoped it would be. Maybe it'll work better with a more interested audience though.

Rehearsals1 Final (Part 2)

And Italy decided to keep us waiting so we just start wondering why this may be. We believe she may be lost somewhere backstage and since she has no clue of any English she cannot communicate with anyone to tell her where to go and google all the maps can't save her. She finds her way however and therefore...

Italy
Well, you would imagine that due to their late entry they were trying to get things sorted. Well, "no" it seems is the answer to that. The vocals start off ok-ish, not great but not as bad as we heard in Germany during USFD but wait until the song progresses and by the end she is out of breath and quite bad. You may be forgiven for thinking that she is out of breath due to her energetic performance, but again this is not the case. In fact, for such a song you would imagine there is a bit of running about, some crazy gestures, something that may make you believe that her music video was something we were going to have a representation of on stage - again, no, Emma was calmly walking from one point to another making sure she doesn't break into a sweat. The only time she takes a moment away from her calm walk is in order to crawl accross the stage during the bridge, obviously making sure to avoid eye contact with any camera possible.

In regards to the background, the Italians have gone for black and white as main colours with gold as an accent. There appears to be a Greek-key motif early on. Later, the background starts using Emma's face singing the song. Mouths and Eyes also make appearances accross the displays on stage.

Emma is accompanied on stage by four musicians, all dressed in white and quite pleasing to the eye. They for the moment seem to be the best thing of this presentation. Hopefully round two will be better.

And unfortunately not. We are now in run three and the vocals are sounding a bit better but still not those you would be expecting from a professional artist. There is still no real eye contact with the camera. It seems that the Italian song is being used in order to showcase the ability of the stage designer rather than to best present the song. Oh well, it will work on the night of course *cough*.

Waiting now for the greatness that is Ruth Lorenzo. Will her recent sickness be noticable in the rehearsals?

Spain
What could Ruth do since she was not allowed to have actual water falling onto the stage? Well, make a graphic and use it for the show. The shot begins with a blurred Ruth appearing from what looks to be a rainstorm. This is complemented by the the stage looking as if drops of water are hitting an already saturated floor. In the first round there was a slight audio issue but Ruth kept it very professional and went through without batting an eyelid. The song was belted out and got a rupturous applaud in the room - but then again, many fans from Spain have now arrived and may have contributed significantly to the commotion surrounding the completion of the song.

There are four backing singers, unfortunately it is not possible to confirm sexes but I believe there is a mix. Will try and see if it is possible to confirm in following run throughs. All are dressed in black and do not prominently show against the mainly dark backdrop. This mainly black theme changes at the end of the song where after the bridge, the coulours flow into more dawn and later bright white background for Ruth who ends the performance enveloped in multiple spot lights to the point of disappearing from the camera view due to the brightness. An effect that works extremely well. This song has already started being a daily occurance at the karaoke nights, as is Quedate Conmigo. It is more than likely that Dancing in the Rain will add itself to the perennial karaoke nights accross Europe.

Run two and another impeccable performance. That might actually be a slight downfall however, Ruth is giving it her all and runs the risk of actually suffering later on in the week if she keeps on belting the notes out like she is for the rehearsals. In this run there was another audio issue, this time in Ruth's ear-piece. This time unfortunately Ruth was not able to hear the backing track and was not able to continue the song. Although the entry continued to be performed some of the lyrics were not sung.

The other two runs went better. There seemed to be no audio issues this time and as for the performance it was just as good as the previous. Will Spain achieve a better position than they did with Pastora? Comments are much appreciated in the Message Board.

And that is us, the rehearsal day has finished and we are now off to catch a bus and have some much needed rest and relaxation. Also maybe get some clothes washed might be a good idea...

ESC final: Where's the value?

If you've been following our betting guides to the Eurovision semi-finals this week, you'll know that it's been more than possible to make some easy money by predicting what's really going to happen, rather than what fans think will happen (hello San Marino!). However, there are always some surprises on the way, too - Israel's non-qualification will have stung the pockets of a lot of punters, for example. So where's the value in the betting market for tonight's grand final?

Firstly, because most normal people equate "ESC" to the Saturday night show, it's worth pointing out that there's far more money in the markets today - and far more interesting sub-markets for us to look at. Let's start with the winner market, though, since that's where most regular punters tend to focus. To say  that Denmark is the hot favourite to win would be a huge understatement. The best available price for Emmelie de Forest's song is 1.79 - that's less than evens in fractional terms. The problem is that most of us who don't think she's a guaranteed winner are none the wiser as to who will win. Norway are currently the second-favourite at 7, while Ukraine have drifted to between 9 and 17.5, depending on who you look at. Useful outsiders, particularly for an each-way bet, could include Germany or Italy (both available for 41) - or, if you think the world is going to go very strange tonight and fall for the elusive charms of Cezar, you can grab Romania for a tasty 101.

The next port of call is the top 4 and top 10 markets. Denmark is basically a write-off in the top 4 market (a best price of 1.12 offers no value at all), so you might want to look at the likes of the late-drawn Greece (4.5), Georgia (5.56) or Italy (5.5) for a better bet. The top 10 market is more potentially rewarding - if all the votes really are concentrated around the likes of Denmark, that opens up the possibility for some surprise countries sneaking into the upper echelons of the scoreboard. A price of 3.1 says that semi-final favourite Ireland will be among them, for example, while the male power vocals (in very different ways!) of Romania and Iceland are both priced at 4.5. Alternatively, if you think a soft and pleasant song like Estonia - effectively alone in its field - could capture enough jury attention to be catapulted into the top 10, that one's available for a very tasty 11.

As Eurovision fans, of course, we're almost as interested in what happens at the other end of the scoreboard. In the last place market, poor old Spain are the clear favourites - a mere 3 is available for them to finish last, and the odds are shortening all the time. Other candidates include Belarus and Lithuania at 11; both countries would seem to have enough allies to score 20-odd points, but that was almost enough for last place in 2011, so if the votes are widely spread then they could still get tangled up at the bottom of the table. Thinking of the light and airy sounds of Switzerland 2011, actually, I'm wondering if Malta at 21 mightn't be a bad outsider for last place - but then I also suspected Gianluca wouldn't qualify, so what do I know?

In the final, there are also regional markets to look at - although some are bigger than others, e.g. following the Balkan collapse in the semi-finals that's left us with just Romania and Greece to choose from! If you suspect Norway will come out as the top Nordic country but you don't want to pin yourself down to a bet on their absolute placing, for example, a price of 4.75 is available at sites such as Ladbrokes and Bwin. (The real outsider in this group is Iceland, coming in at a whopping 41.) Meanwhile, in what's being called the "Western Europe" category - consisting of the Netherlands, Ireland, France, the United Kingdom and Belgium - you can still get a quite decent 2.44 if you think Hologrammatic Anouk will beat off the aforementioned competition. Seems quite feasible - the only one I can realistically see challenging her is Ireland (3.5), although if the Bonnie Tyler fanbase turns out in force, 7 might end up seeming like a quite acceptable price.

While we're on the subject of Bonnie, there's the top big 5 market. Italy leads the way here at a best price of 1.91, and with a late draw and all those Balkan votes floating around, it's hard to disagree with that. However, Germany's Cascada is a big name, and 3.75 for Natalie's dance beats to come out on top is quite an attractive proposition too.

As on Tuesday and Thursday, we finish with the many head-to-heads that are on offer. 2.62 for Greece to beat Azerbaijan seems like an interesting one - and I'm certainly tempted by the 2.1 that's available for Iceland to beat Finland, especially now we've seen their respective positions in the running order. Meanwhile, if you think Ireland's position in the running order is hugely advantageous to them, you can get 2.4 for Ryan Dolan to finish ahead of Anouk from the Netherlands.

You can use the wonderful Oddschecker to investigate all of these markets and more for yourself. And whatever you bet on, I hope you have a great time tonight and end up happier, richer, or ideally both!