Our predictions for the second semi-final

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

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

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

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

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

Fishy Predictions for the Second Semi-Final

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 Denmark | Pretty please?! 🥺

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 6 | Second Rehearsals | Second Semi-Final | 🇦🇹 🇵🇱 🇲🇩 🇮🇸 🇷🇸

This will be a rolling blog, each country in running order, so please refresh to update.

Well, hello. Jesus is popping off to heaven today which means I have time to do a bit of blogging. Hope I can remember how.

But while we're waiting for Vincent Bueno to finish his lunch, let's take a moment to remember his grandma, Kay, from Eurovision 1965.

🇷🇸 | Serbia

Hajde da ludujemo.

Wear black, they said. It will look classy, they said. Stylists have been wrong before.

Struggling with this one. They sing well enough and gyrate all over, but the whole package feels a bit empty and without the necessary joy. Maybe it's just the lack of pink and purple that's confusing me.

Sanja serving some "C'mon Ahoy" realness during the bridge.

Nah, I'm just not feeling it and I'd really like to. It ought to be a right boppy banger.

So that's over and out from me for today. If you're very lucky I'll make another appearance soon, regardless of Jesus's travel arrangements. Jordy will be back to deal with the finalists. Tot ziens!

🇮🇸 | Iceland

The silhouette start is MAGIC. I wonder if they wrote the unnecessary slow bit at the beginning of the song just to include this?

I know I am meant to be bringing fresh eyes to this. But well, we all know the routine by now.  Excellent on camera, this should sweep up plenty of televotes. Juries, hmm, maybe less so? 

But anyway, me during this performance:

Ooh. And unexpected pyro.

🇲🇩 | Moldova

Good news: Natalia has safely removed herself from Kirkorov's lap. Although the fixed grin is still there.

She looks very comfortable singing this and I think will turn it up a notch when it matters. Does feel like she's very much in rehearsal mode. Some of the shots are a bit strange when she's turning on the turning thing. They film her from the side or back and it seems like the timing is a bit wrong. And the "body talk talk talk" choreo looks like she just needs the loo.

Impressive looooooong note towards the end. Not sure who's singing it though. 🤔

Camera work tighter in some parts on third run-through, but less tight in other parts. Hmm.

Dunno. It remains a bit of a let-down when you think of what might have been, with a huge prop and some more fun. Song is still a fave of mine but this performance is more low-calorie sweetener than a delightful sugar cube. 

So here's a delightful sugarcube I prepared earlier.

🇵🇱 | Poland

Talking of lights. But these are less impressive and can't distract from...well...I'm fairly tone deaf, but even I can hear those tones. 🙀

"I'll make it through..." We'll see Rafał, we'll see. Even with shades on. There's precious little to say about this. There's a bit of dancing, he takes his shades off and puts them back on. It's even more half-hearted than Azerbaijan. 

At one point he seems to be standing in the middle of the pyro.

Seriously, if that was the ride of my life I'd be asking for a refund.

🇦🇹 | Austria

This is very competent and he is in fine voice. I'm really not a fan of the song, but did wake up with it in my head the other day. If that means anything at all. Note to his Amen sister: It's possible to sing and walk at the same time.

Song really shows off his voice, much more so than I imagine last year's song would have. Not that I can remember last year's song, but anyway. Simple staging with some gorgeous white then purple then orange lights and a catwalk thingy that I'm worried is going to surprise him by moving like Sakis' giant stapler. 

At times he is trying to emote a bit too much. He should leave that to Vasil.

This starts with some lovely dry ice mist. He sings so clearly, the death and funeral lyrics can't be ignored and that could be a bit off-putting.  Vincent is clearly fishing in jury waters, and it worked for Cesár in 2018 with a similarly bland piece of competence, so who knows?

Gosh, this is a lighting orgy ❤️

There's still time to practice

Come on, you know you want to.

Second rehearsal: Russia to Georgia

Georgia

Small improvements on the camera angles, but they still look like it's their first time on TV. Think of this, only with a better song and better vocals:




Australia

The dress is still here. Still too many camera switches (at some part of the song, every time the drum beats), and some ouch notes there. I still really like it, but their best hope is that juries are as forgiving to Australian vocals as they were last year.


The Netherlands

I still don't like the song, the routine, or anything made of leopard, but here's a few things it has going for it:

1. Waylon's voice
2. Waylon's eyes
3. The six packs on some of the dancers

Moldova

Didn't improve, because it didn't need to. People loved it.

Russia

Watching this in the arena, in which the acoustics made everything sound good so far, but not this. More focus on the three backing singers this time, and there's an on-screen exploding snow effect during the first chorus. Three people applauded. Julia is rolled out with her volcano as the Moldovan prop rolls in.


I won't wake

Last night did not go well. Food ordered at 20:30 and arrived at 22:00, bill took another hour. This country has a pace of its own. Then I got an urgent message from the Belgian press that I left a mouse and a sock at the press centre. Oops.

First rehearsal: Denmark, Russia, Moldova

Moldova


Pre-opinion: The kind of guilty pleasure Moldova does best, they can send it every year as far as I care. They'll need to do something than the cheap mirrors to progress though.

First run: They're channelling Kamferdrops!! Hurrah. A seemingly simple, but clever prop of white magician squares that can become windows and doors. A healthy dose of comedy going on there when the windows open and close, this made me very happy and the press centre loved it. And (spoiler) they have doubles!

Second run: Very similar, it's all been well-rehearsed. The doubles join them in the end for a bit of Balkan dancing and it's all very energetic.

The prop is almost identical to the IKEA Kallax. Sennek's vote guaranteed.

Russia


Pre-opinion: Well. This song would and should be written off if it were sent by most other countries, but it's not. I guess the main question here is how serious they are about doing well with this.

Set up: Julia is on the volcano (we haven't seen how she gets on top unfortunately). Backing singers standing behind it to the side. Zoom in shows that the volcano is made of boxes of foamy plastic sprayed green, I don't think Icelandic viewers will be convinced.

First runthrough: This sounds very different to everything we've heard so far, I think they changed the key? Lots of dancing going on below her, topless male (too dark to see if attractive) and female in dress. More close-ups on the dancers (conclusion: not attractive :-/ ), if you thought Ireland gave theirs too much focus then this is even more. Volcano doesn't do much, except a bit of Estonia-style projection, but we'll wait for the last run to see if there's pyro.

Second run: It gets dark when she sings "even in the darkness" (see what they did there?), during which the dancers run off - each on a different bridge, then when the lights are back they run towards each other. Romantic...? The whole thing treads between 'uncomfortable' and 'boring' for me.

Last run: No pyro. Worst volcano ever. (or, best volcano ever, because the nice ones stay quiet)

Denmark

Pre-opinion: I wasn't too impressed by the DMGP show, but other performances of him suggest that the sound mix may have been at fault, he's a pretty strong singer and sells it really well, even if the song is bit on the basic side.

First (visible) runthrough: We only see half of it, but it looks identical to what we know. So much that I'm not even sure they're just replaying the DMGP performance.

Really, I'm struggling to spot anything that's new here. Today's theme must be "keep to the NF stagings". At least San Marino bred its robots since theirs.

Second run: Ah, here's something different. The Loreen/Ryan snow effect. The rest is still the same, except that the live backing vocals make it sound more lively, the stage is a bit darker, and the wind machine stronger.

A positive rehearsal, I'd say, and I rarely say positive things about Denmark.

Day 3 of first rehearsals - Denmark to Moldova

Moldova

From funny in a bad way, to funny in as good a way as possible. I really liked this performance! There was a big white wall with doors being opened and closed with funny/colourful/suggestive things happening, in a true retro kind of farce spirit. A big cheer from the press centre!

Russia

There was laughter in the press centre when the male dancer came running with his arms open towards the female dancer. It looked funny, and not in a good way. Julia, wearing something bright and puffy, is on a green "volcano", which actually looks all right when there is some kind of lightning effect that reflects on it.

The running was a little different second and third time around, but still funny.


Denmark

White sails and white flags on and a mainly blue stage, nothing unexpected from the first run though (that we get to see).

In the second run Denmark is pretending to be a chilly country in the north (fake snow). In my world, Denmark is basically southern Europe, you're not fooling me! ;)

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

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


RECAP OF FINALISTS
The recap is in order of announcement.


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

Congratulations!


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

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

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


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

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


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


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


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


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

Another reminder of the artists which have performed tonight.


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

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


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


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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16:04
Stand by everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Day 5 - 2nd Run Through : POL / MDA / ISL / CZE / CYP

CYPRUS
There is only one question we have - will he be able to keep his balance this time? Did he practice at all?

The answer is yes! And he actually walks on the lines which he did not do before either. He seems to be more confident in himself and the camera angles are helping him in the sections which could go terribly wrong. All in all it seems like the delegation really looked at the footage and possibly even the comments and have worked on it. Hovig stumbles a little bit on the last chorus but if that is the only one it's a lot better than the first rehearsal where he could not hold himself at all.

2nd run - In the instrumental bridge just before the second chorus Hovig gets tossed around from side to side by the backing dancers. Quite a decent effect! Also visually appealing is when Hovig is on the ground in the last chorus. It does give you a bit of a Sergey-inspired vibe but if it works why not? Comments have been made that this should be the reprise take.

3rd run - The sound in the press room (at least where we are sitting) is really bad and the audio cuts constantly. Performance is getting better and Hovig is looking more and more confident. Don't discount this me thinks!

And there we have it. End of day, now off to go and grab food, and drink (plenty of drink) and back to do it all tomorrow! Hurrah!


CZECH REPUBLIC

Martina is wearing the same outfit she did in the first rehearsal. We though (read: hoped) that it was just a joke and her real dress will be revealed later on, it seems we were wrong. Staging (purple and gold) - meh, song - meh, vocals - meh/good, qualifying - no. That is all.

2nd run - If you thought I was going to be able to come up with anything brilliantly funny or informative, you were wrong.

We thought we were getting another go at this song since the first run through was stopped but it seems we are not. Oh well, bye Felicia!

Oops, we were fooled! FOOLED I TELL YA!

3rd run - Ooh! Actually they changed a few camera angles in the first part and it works a bit better. Don't worry, it's still not qualifying but it's working better. We also have the backing singers of Hey Mama (Moldova) singing their chorus in the press rehearsal which is completely drowning out what we are seeing on screen. Now it is over. For real this time.


ICELAND

Jeezus christ I stand corrected. Iceland this year beats Poland in the tits department. Wearing white latex, Svala's figure-hugging attire leaves not much to the imagination. Her huge platforms would also put Dihaj to shame. She also shows Tamara from Georgia how to work a cape.

Svala sounded a lot better than she did in the first rehearsal but it is still a bit 'out there'. Coming after Moldova doesn't help her either. The performance in itself needs a bit of interpretation - which I am not really getting - and cannot really put my finger on it.

2nd run - Better camera shot at the beginning of the song, me likey! When Svala sings about the paper cutting 'right through' she uses hand genstures in her cleavage. Yes dear, give the audience what it wants! Another decent vocal rendition - quite likely going through to Saturday me thinks.

3rd run - Much the same as the other two. One thing that I've been noticing however today is that there are so many acts which seem to just have the single artist on stage and they look SO tiny on it. Svala at least seems to avoid most (not all) of these shots however you can still tell.


MOLDOVA

Flawless! Absolutely flawless! The three backing singers have all become brides now that the switch between black short skirt to white long worked for all three of them. The song has energy, fun, and connects well with the audience. The choreography is down to a tee, the backdrop works extremely well with the song and the guys make you want more. There is absolutely no way that this will not be in the top 10 come Tuesday.

2nd run  - Another great performance however one of the backing singers' changes didn't work. Also, this time they throw their bouquet's in the audience - I hope they have spares since they know they ain't getting those things back, unless they buy them off ebay where they undoubtedly will end up.

3rd run  - Yet again, great performance. The skirt change worked for all three again *good times* however the bouquet throwing techniques have deteriorated at a phenomenal rate. Only one managed to actually throw off stage, the other two just, well, had a bit of a girly throw which fell short of the audience. Now, cue hungry aggressive fans trying to grab that bitch of a bouquet at all costs!


POLAND

It exists. That is as excited as I can get about this song. Poland seems to go for the 'when in doubt, show tits and legs' method. Vocally Kasia is fine, but the backdrop of that stage just does not make any sense what-so-ever. Then again, when did that ever trouble the Eurovision gods?

2nd run  - Trying to pay a bit more attention to what is going on. In fairness, until the random animals and the pointless "FREEDOM" appear in the backdrop the song does pretty good. The entry didn't need any silly gimmicks (or whatever one might call them) to get noticed. One thing that does get noticed however in this run is that Kasia is not standing where she should be when the doves start flying out from behind her, she is too much to the right (facing the stage). She will need to work on this.

3rd run  - Well, she found her spot again this time. Vocally quite adequate but not filling the room with energy. Would still be on the fence with this one when it comes to qualification or not.

Day 2 - GRE-POL-MOL-ICE

ICELAND

Initial relief that they have dropped the national final performance.

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

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

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

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


MOLDOVA

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

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

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

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

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


POLAND

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

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

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


GREECE

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

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

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

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


****
Good morning!

I'm just about ready for another day.

The eight non-qualifiers - why did they fail?

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


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


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

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

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

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


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


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


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

The 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. 

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 1 betting guide: Bets are like thunder*

Sure, you've made your predictions, but are you ready to put your money where you mouth is? Ahead of tonight's semi-final, I'm going to take a look at some of the betting odds available for various outcomes, and see if I can identify where the value is.

The odds I quote below are likely to change in the run up to tonight, so, as always, oddschecker is your friend.

Firstly, who will win the semi-final? There seems to be strong consensus from the press corps that it's between Estonia and Russia, with Russia nosing ahead quite considerably in recent days. If you're in agreement, the best odds you can get for Russia to win the semi is 1.83, at William Hill - this means that if you bet £10, you will get £18.30 back (i.e. £8.30 profit). On the other hand, if you feel Stig and Elina's duet will top Polina's big ballad, you can pick up odds of 4 at either William Hill or Boylesports.

With two such clear frontrunners, perhaps the more interesting money is available for a top 3 finish - i.e. who will come 3rd? 3rd place in the semi-final can often be something slightly surprising that then fails to score highly in the final, and therefore the front runners here (after Russia and Estonia) of Georgia (2.25, 888Sport), Greece (2.25, unibet) and Romania (3.5, bwin) would all seem worth a punt. Albania have fallen from grace during the rehearsals, and their odds of 3.75 (bwin) for a top three finish seem rather stingy. On the other hand, if you want to win some relatively safe money, you could opt to bet on Russia or Estonia to come top three. At odds of 1.18 and 1.4 respectively, you won't be making much, but if you're confident, it's effectively a very short-term-high-interest rate account!

Bear in mind of course that you won't see any of your winnings for winner/top three markets until the full results are published following the final. If you want a more immediate return, the place to look is the qualification market.

Most of the bookies are offering qualification odds, though there's considerably less value to be had than in previous years. Finland are one who have really fallen in recent weeks, and you can get odds of 2 (i.e. doubling your money) at Skybet or Ladbrokes if you think they'll make it through. I'd also argue that Denmark (1.91, Coral) could be worth a punt - they've often done rather better than fans expect, particularly in semi-finals. The biggest outsiders in the qualifier market are Netherlands (3.6, Boylesports) and Moldova (3, various sites). They're a risk, but as I wrote in my prediction piece, I do think there's a chance either of them could make it - and anyone who was brave enough to bet on San Marino or Iceland last year made a tidy profit.

On the other hand, if you're a negative person like me, there's fun to be had in the not to qualify market. I'm still quite sceptical about Armenia, and there are odds of 3.75 (at Skybet) if you feel that six people all shouting different songs at the top of their lungs won't engage with Europe's voters. And if you're not convinced Belgium is really connecting, Skybet will similarly give you 3.5 odds. And if you're crazy enough to think Russia might somehow fail to reach the final for the first time ever, Skybet will give you odds of 26 to throw your money away.

If you're serious about your betting, it's worth already thinking about the final. If there's a song you have your eye on tonight and you think you might want to take a punt on it making the final Top 10, Top 4 or even winning the whole thing, it's worth placing that bet now. After tonight you'll have a much better idea of its chances - but so will the rest of Europe. The people who won big on the Common Linnets and Conchita last year were those who were brave enough to place their bets before the semi-finals. I'll be taking a closer look at these markets closer to the final, but if you think that, for example, Georgia or Greece might be an outsider for the top ten, it could be worth getting on the betting sites now.

That's just a brief overview of what's available tonight - do have a browse on oddschecker, and do feel free to post any betting-related questions in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer them.

(* no, I know they're not, but then neither's time. Go complain to Belarus.)

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.