Second rehearsal - Serbia

All of this afternoon's rehearsals are apparently delayed quite a bit, due to earlier ones overrunning. But hopefully we'll get to see Konstrakta soon.

And we're on!

Postcard: Some countryside with old castles and ruins. There's even some snow. 

Konstrakta seems to struggle with her ear-piece a bit and spends the first bi of the song adjusting it. The performance itself. She's wearing white, sits on her chair,  washes her hands. The backdrop features a lo of hands. Konstrakta sings well in spite of seemingly having some issues. During the break she asks them to adjust the volume of the track vs. her voice in her in-ear monitor. Like the pro she surely is, she's very specific and tells the exactly how many decibels things should be turned up or down.

What's new: We get some random words and lines from the song subtitled.  Not on the LED-walls, but literally regular subtitles, in black and white at the bottom of the screen. We ge lines like "An artist must be healthy", "God give us health", "Heart beats by itself" and ""The body is healthy, so what now?"

Colours: The stage is mostly dark and blue, but occasionally shows some pink flowers and a yellow sun.  And during the bridge the spotlight on Konstrakta suddenly goes red. 

Is it live: The "backing vocals" definitely come across as all being pre-recorded. As there are some microphones involved, it's possible that they sing something at some point. The only part where we see them "singing" is in the outro. But all the prominent parts sound exactly like in the studio version. There seems to be some intention behind it, as during some of the backing vocal solo parts the camera shows close-ups of the backing singers, who stand there with their mouths shut. In spite of having microphones. So it might be an artistic choice to show that thy'r not singing. Symbolising artists being silenced in the healthcare debate?

Will it qualify: I find this one very hard to predict. It seems like it's already huge in Serbia and neighbouring countries. For a good reason. But will other countries "get" it? The rehearsal doesn't change a whole lot, though, because it's basically what we've already seen. With the exception that we get parts of the song subtitled. Maybe that will help viewers understand what it's all about?

Rules being broken: She seems to have actual water in her basin! In spite of initial reports that water would be banned on stage. Either those reports were untrue, or she got special permission, Or, which I chose to believe, it isn't water, but rakija.

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 ❤️

First rehearsal: Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany

Germany

I am on the team of lovers of this song. I was a proud member of that team through the first part of this rehearsal too. However, the change of graphics after a while (going from cartoon-y illustrations of words from the lyrics, to psychedelic white/red and black patterns) made it look tacky, I'm afraid. Still love the song, but I'm hoping they will try out different visual endings and go for something else.

After the rest of the runs I'm even less convinced when it comes to the graphics.

Spain

Amaia is in a plain white trouser-suit and half white, half glittery shoes. Alfred has been talking to the Icelandic designer, and gone for a wine-red suit with a little miniature map in gold on one of the sleeves. Visually there are no major "special effects", they are rightly focusing on the two cuties on stage, who are looking at each other and holding each other.

The camera crew have some more rehearsing to do, but this is still looking good despite those few minor mistakes. 

Third, last run and the camera work was good too!

United Kingdom

SuRie is up on a platform in a white creation with very flared legs. She's in a tunnel of blinking squares as well, shifting between pink, purple, blue and turquoise. Yair has joined me, and I'm happy that;
1. he is here.
2. he is the one making skeleton associations today.

I like how this looks, dry ice, a tunnel and sparkler looking pyro in the end is a good combination. The song is too anonymous for me though. 

Portugal

Cláudia is in her (or someone else's) grandmothers over sized well washed nightie, showing the contours of her black bra and trousers/tights. She sings a little differently compared to how I have heard the song before in the studio version and from the NF, staying on the notes longer. I like that change!

The backingsinger is in black and turnes up unexpectedly, unless you're expecting her to turn up :)


Time for first rehearsals again, so we are kicked out of the arena and now waiting for the break to be over. Stay tuned, Portugal is next in line!

Meanwhile, in the Serbian press conference, the designer is being held accountable for the change of costumes. However, she did mention that some people, especially the bloggers at ESCnation, liked the liquorice worms so much that the delegation insisted on keeping some of it. Thank you Serbian delegation for reading our blog and taking our advice!

Liquorice worms in the hair.

Second rehearsal: Romania to Denmark

Denmark

Sounds and looks exactly the same to me. I will run over to the arena to see if the fake snow (which will probably still be a part of this performance, at least in the last run) is more convincing "in person"!

There was no fake snow this time. No real snow either. Thank you Rasmussen for reading our blog and taking our advice!

The song/performance is powerful from inside the arena. Writing press is allowed in at the very back of the hall, but there was still a good view from there. If you have tickets for the back rows for next week you will still be able to see the show well!

San Marino

The famous Robot Nr. 4 is also my favourite, now presenting a sign saying "This is just a rehearsal", and a bit later, the sign "Justice for Valentina!", flashes by, which about 80% of the press centre found hilarious, yours truly included. Vocally, Jessika is struggling in all the runs today.

Outfits have changed. Jessika is in a short red glittery lace dress today, Jenifer also has different clothes compared to what we saw earlier this week. She is wearing a white sports bra looking top, white flighty trousers and a pink see through rain coat looking creation.

Serbia

Oh no. The Serbian backing dancers/singers are no longer dressed in liquorice worms! The tops of the dresses are now completely black instead, with a discrete pattern. The fabric/design in a too bulky if you ask me. Sounding and looking the same apart from that.

Romania

Romania sounds and looks very similar to the previous rehearsals. However, we need some hair Product to make all the Little baby hairs that are now standing right up, behave. Unless it's the look they're going for, who knows, it might the the start of a new trend!?

Day 3 of first rehearsals - Norway to San Marino

San Marino

The cute little robots are with Jessika and Jenifer in Lisbon! The press centre, including myself, is LOVING them. One robot held a "Will you marry me?" sign and our hearts melted. It was the awww-iest awww so far. And the song needs it, I think, it wouldn't do much for me without the robots.

Robot number four has "I'm not your robot" - Brilliant! #ThisRobotToo!? - written on the platform it's standing on, it then flips over to the "Will you marry me?"

Rehearsals are breaking for lunch. I wonder what robots like to eat.

Serbia

Huge oil barrel looking drums - yes, they are standing in a (semi)circle - an older man playing and/or pretending to play the flute are combined with outfits that makes me think of ancient times. This is one of the songs I have really enjoyed listening to the studio version of, and I'm happy that it's sounding and looking ok so far!

Yair's description "liquorice worms" is spot on! Something like this in combination with the ancient style dress:

Romania

The protesting security check has something to do with a power problem, apparently. We were asked to move from the newly opened part of the press centre during Romania's first run through. Some of the computers had blown up for some of the journalists, and they didn't want that to happen to us (OK, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but someone in there had had some damage to his charger and was a upset). From what I saw and heard of Romania, the only things that stay with me are the colours blue and pink and the creepy white face masks. The song doesn't stay at all unfortunately.

Trend spotting part two for Eurovision 2018: props in circles. Yesterday we had planks from Armenia, today we get mannequins from Romania.

Norway

We got to see the second to last run through from Norway, a cheerful Alexander (is he ever anything else?) on a stage lit up in blue, turquoise and pink and the "clip art gone wild" in white.

Last run was with pyro. I want more pyro. Always more pyro. This run went what seems to be according to plan as well, tons of energy from Rybak. Nice wake up call in the morning, good way to start the semi. I have a feeling I will be singing this song today, torturing Yair with it. Better put Estonia on to get it out of my head!

Step one, get out of bed, shower and put on clothes
Step two, just brew a cup
That's how you wake up smart

(work in progress, by Polle and Elin)

First rehearsals: Norway to San Marino

San Marino


Pre-opinion: Haha. Well, this song surely has zero televoting potential (except in Malta), I do sometimes enjoy it. Really hoping for robots or a similar concept.

ROBOTS ARE HERE! At least three.

First runthrough: Jessika starts in a cape, which is helped off by dancers. There's a fourth robot in the back, all robots doing some kind of hand choreography. Press is loving it. Jenny B does her thing, then Robot 4 is holding a sign, something along the lines of "will you marry me" (another Portugal 2011 tribute, clearly). Huge applause.

Second run: There's a lot of Verka-style up and down arm dancing. The robots are the true stars, getting a lot of camera love. In the bridge, Jess interacts with one of them and places her hand under the robot's, feels like it's meant to be holding something we haven't seen yet.

Third run: Sign says "I am not your robot" in the back. Clearly someone there is having fun, and so are we.

Serbia

Pre-opinion: This has been a complete mess so far, but has a certain fun potential to it. Let's see if they sort out the vocals, at least.


First runthrough: Yellow-black stage that becomes blue when the beat kicks in. Fancy drums with patterns on them, similar patterns on the women singer's tan dresses. Men are in black.

Patterns on women look like liquorice wormsSanja Ilić

Second run: This sounds fine, looks like they solved the singing issues by bringing in a third girl. That means they had to get rid of someone - Sanja? No, he's not there. Now it's Sanja Ilić (In The Audience) Feat. Balkanika. The act is less messy than it was in Beovizija, but still a bit all-over-the-place.

Last run looks about the same. I wonder why they decided to place Serbia right after Romania, both have an "ancient Greek theatre" style choreography.

Romania

Pre-opinion: One of my favourites this year since I first heard it in the salt mine (or was it Sighișoara?), I was gutted when it got such cold reaction from the fans and betting odds. Everything seems to be against it, but I still have my hopes. They'll have to work hard to follow-up this opener.

First run-through: Mannequins! Lots of them. Black shiny plastic bodies with white mask. The band also wear the masks from the NF, but on the back of their heads. A very dramatic staging.

Think Elouiz (from MGP 2016) meeting Schmetterlinge.

Second run: First shot is the woman who isn't the lead singer (Corina, I think) taking off her mask and walking about. Everyone's in white except Cristina's purple dress and the black mannequins. Male band members touch her dramatically and trying to keep an expression-less face. She's singing well. The white suits and back-head masks make the male Humans look like they're lab workers who try to contain Cristina with some kind of microbiological pandemic, and I'm not sure it's intended this way. But I like it.

Last run: Still sounding good, act however comes out a bit over-choreographed and feeling very much like a #2, unfortunately.


Norway

Pre-opinion: I have a love-hate relationship with this song - annoyed by the lyrics and infectiousness, but for all it's given us, I'm glad it's there. Perhaps I won't be so glad if it wins (and it can)... If they keep to the MGP concept, the first rehearsal will probably not look good, because they need to align the screen graphics.

First (visible) run-through: I say visible because it looks like they've done a few already. Colour scheme is similar to Finland (pink-purple and turquoise). About the same routine screen graphics we expected (with some added hearts I think?). Álvaro & co sound good. Rybak himself has obviously done this before, he's not giving it all and saves energy for the live shows.

Last run: We're getting pyro, apparently. Rybak takes off his jacket and throws it to the audience before the scatting part. Pyro fountains shoot when the violin goes 'wheeeeeh'. Another pyro coming from the arch at the last boom. Visually, this all makes sense as an opener.

A luta é alegria

The Portuguese take their worker's rights very seriously, a demonstration was setting up near our apartment and the security scanner at the press centre gates decided to protest too, causing a long queue. But Norway isn't starting on time either, so all is good.

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

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

Me signing off!!

OUTRO
The 10 winning songs are being shown once more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BREAK
Timur again singing his prepared script.

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

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

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

SAN MARINO
They are very good! 'Nuff said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 6 - 2nd Run Through : ARM / SLO / LAT / SRB / AUT

AUSTRIA

Oh Nathan! I warn you from the start, he can't do anything wrong in my eyes! But the damned light and camera people can! There is no longer the über-cute cheeky turn to camera right in the beginning. HOW DARE THEY! Also, Omar Naber is singing the Slovenian version of On My Way in his press conference making it a bit difficult to listen to Austria's rehearsal. RUDE. The not-so-invisible box is back, however this first rehearsal is without the heavy fog so maybe it will be 'invisible' at some point.

2nd Run - This is too sweet! It gives you cavities. Which from memory is what I have written for Austria last year too. What is it with them and sending candy recently? Unfortunately however we can't say that today's singing is a masterpiece. The high notes are not so high and the visuals are not as good as Monday. One more run through to maybe redeem himself but Nathan needs to be more on form than this in one weeks' time or it could be a bit of a challenge.

3rd Run - Slightly better but not amazeballs. And the invisible box is not invisible at all. In fact, it's more of the 'in your face' kind. #magicfail


SERBIA

Tijana just looks so alone on stage. Even when the dancer comes on for that short while it doesn't really help much. She also looks slightly stiff which just adds to the awkwardness. Vocally not the strongest, the camera does what it can but in general this is not the best we've seen from Serbia by far. Neither is is Cipela, but it's not one of their better packages.

2nd Run - Read above.

3rd Run - "Won't somebody save [her] tonight?" It is Serbia after all so let's not discount them since that would be silly, but I am struggling to find reasons to vote for it.


LATVIA

One and only one question needs to be answered - is the penis still there?! Answer - NO!

Agnese is dressed in a white and black techo-spacey number with boots going, in the words of Loreen, "up, up, up, up, up!" The props on stage have been changed slightly, especially that which created penisgate a couple of days ago. The Freedom Monument is now filled in and the stars are made a lot more visible, no mistaking it for a flacid shlong any more.

2nd Run - The backdrop colours are mainly black and white for most of the start of the song with green lighting coming from behind. This then turns into a technicolour mess during the chorus. Props are all in neon colours - pink, green and blue. All in all a decent performance but is it strong enough to reach Saturday night? The juries are unlikely to go for it so it will need a large televote to really stand any chance.

3rd Run - And the final run through we get to see the smoke but no pyro. Boo.


SLOVENIA

Omar seems comfortable enough on the stage. The usage of the chandelier is working well and Omar connects well with the camera. Although alone on stage, he does not look lost which is an improvement on quite a few of this years' contestants.

2nd Run - Another good performance. He is confident and comfortable and he shows it. The lighting of the stage also enhances the song well. I've never really been in camp Slovenia this year but this could be my mistake in my predictions.

3rd Run - He's flirting with the camera! We approve! The only thing we can fault this on is the distinct lack of pyro in places where it so obviously should be. Not that it actually needs it, but who ever had it for the need of it? Why wouldn't you have it if it is available? So if you're reading this my dear Slovenian delegation - PYRO!


ARMENIA

Clad in black, Artsvik and her two backing dancers and visually immaculate. Clearly they did not stay at Euroclub until 2:30am yesterday night. Someone might have, but not them. The choreography and staging is looking very sleek, much better than in the first rehearsal (which as you all know is what a first rehearsal is all about). Vocally she is perfect, no faulting, and even the many movements which were not so rehearsed (or so it seemed) on Monday have now been corrected - especially the 'Vishnu' one where the two backing dancers are behind her and she has now three sets of arms.

2nd Run - No real major comment to make from the first. It's qualifying - not that that was ever in doubt.

3rd Run - The this that I love about third runs is that you see what it should actually be looking like. And now we have dry ice and pyro! Hell yes we do! And it works so much better as a full package! I'm still not fully convinced by the pink digital eagle bursting out of Artsvik and flying across the screen at the end of the song (you'll understand what I mean when you see it) but it does have meaning I guess. For those who didn't know, Artsvik means 'baby eagle' in Armenian.


MORNING TRAGEDY

So, first of all I wish to apologise to everyone for the delay in the blog today. Although arriving on time, we have been experiencing technical difficulties in such that the laptop decided it had to update for over 30 minutes (and counting) so we have now gone on to the general PCs instead to at least get some content out. This comes in addition to the technical issue with the Uber taxi who forgot to say that we had arrived at our destination and continued to drive around Kyiv after dropping us off ... and charging for the pleasure. Uber support, here we come! But enough about the shitty start to the day! On to the songs!

Day 3 - SRB-AUT-MKD-MLT

MALTA

Most things would have sounded vocally good after Macedonia, Claudia sounds amazing. The strong voice means you almost don't notice it's another woman in white with a blue backdrop.

Another one using images of her self on the backdrop. Including a very off-putting close up of her chest, it looks like she's standing in her own cleavage.

Unlike all the other singers alone on stage, Claudia doesn't look lost.

This feels very much like a potential qualifier. But they need to rethink the backdrop and maybe do something at the end. It just stops.


MACEDONIA

She does, indeed, dance alone.

To quote Paul - "it's okayish". In fairness, that's more than we were expecting.

Vocally she's getting worse each time, but is adequate.

The dance moves are as cheap has hell though. Looks likes she's auditioning for a job at one of the gentelemen's clubs nearby.

You have to hand it to Jana though - giving hope to amateurs everywhere.


AUSTRIA

Very few of this year's singers can work the camera like Nathan. Some excellent close-ups to start this when he is sitting on a crescent moon, with lovely purple storm cloud type backdrop.

After the first chorus he jumps off the moon and moves around a bit being cute and smiley.

Backing singers appear (YAY!) towards the end with Nathan back on the moon and then *gasp* runs on the air!

It's all very cute, maybe too cute? Nathan doesn't look very elegant when he mounts his moon, so need to work a bit on the camera angles.


SERBIA

She's in white and the stage is blue. On her own for a lot of the song, then open-shirted male dancer appears and flounces around.

Awkward moment at the start of the final chorus when Tijana manages to sing without even opening her mouth due to the unseen backing vocals.

This staging is very generic and unexciting, although there are a couple of nice overhead shots with swirling watery images on the floor. Tijana is singing as well as anyone can at 10 in the morning.

Feels like a very long three minutes. She's on her own on the stage for too long and when the dancer arrives he doesn't bring very much. On the positive side, Tijana does comes across as quite likeable/votable (despite some unflattering face contortions).


****
Good morning.

It's day 3 of rehearsals, and we'll get to see the first half of semi two. For the occasion the air conditioning in the press centre has been set to "Austrian mountain".

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

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

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

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



BELARUS

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


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

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


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



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

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


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

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

The not-press opinion - SRB, IRL, MKD, LTU, AUS

Australia

Blue city lights. She's wearing a silver dress and lies mermaid-style on a glittering blue box. The dress glitters as well. It sounds *perfect*. She lifts the key during the second verse. And then a high note before the second chorus. She's only just sitting there but it looks mystical. She's down from the box helped by two guys during the bridge. Perfect vocals and the high notes sound awesome. She's moving a bit forward. She has given it all, which is kind of risky, I think she will not strain herself as much in the other two. This is pleasing to the eye and the ear.

Looks like no-one else agrees with me. Not sure how biased I am about it, but let's keep going.

The 3D effects are just there, don't really see the point of their existence. That's the only "negative" thing I can say about it. It's really, really pleasing (apparently even more if it's one of your favourites anyway!).

A bit more expressive in the last run and held back vocally. She's also satisfied, a big smile.

Summary: What I wanted it to be like, could have had just a tad more movement from her (it takes too long to leave the box). And the projections stuff does not really give anything to the song and happens too fast to understand. Apart from all this, it is really convincing and certainly a challenger for gold. See the odds shortening the next few hours.

Lithuania

Donny Montell is around 5 years younger than in 2009. He's alone on stage and dancing awkwardly in the beginning. Everything's blue and some dots, supposedly stars, appear. After the second chorus, it suddenly becomes more colourful. A prop appears, but he doesn't use it (?). He hasn't been very good vocally so far, then he goes melisma on the last part and somehow sounds okay. I guess he is not good at holding a tune, but he is good at "inventing" tunes? Nothing much, really. It was basically a blue Ireland.

Shaky start again, and his moves are of a poor man's Måns :) He even has his legs a bit wider apart than normal. The performance is very energetic, but the energy is inefficiently used. No point in carrying a prop (a tiny trampoline) if you are going to use it for 1 jump. It was a bad idea to have him alone on stage, the backing vocals could have appeared towards the end, when he does his solo.

The vocals have improved, or in more honesty, he skips the notes he knows won't happen. The moves keep looking a bit out of place. And then the prop is finally used. He does a backflip and smoke comes off from both sides of the trampoline as he is landing. More smoke and then it ends.

Summary: A bad decision to be alone on stage, but if he qualifies again, all credit goes to him. Coming after Macedonia is a plus for them, but then there's Australia after them, of which a classier staging is expected. The vocals are not perfect, however they've managed to make it less noticeable. And the melismatic part was flawless all three times.

Macedonia

Blue background and black clothes for her, her 4 backings and her drummer. Very strong voice and it's well performed. She knows how to make a live performance; she isn't trying to imitate the studio version, but finds ways to give some more life to it. Unfortunately, these ways include a very bad wail at the end. It plans on making the song more impressive but it comes across a bit forced. Literally zero movement on stage, except for some hand moves, on which I'll focus in the next run.

Turns out that this was the last run (McDonalds is far more time-consuming than expected).

Summary: Can't properly judge it, but it looked flat and unexciting. They haven't done anything to try and improve its chances. It's a much worse song than her other effort, so I don't think they are qualifying, based on what I've seen.

Ireland

Nicky appears in a red beam of light behind him on stage, wearing a brown-red jacket and black pants. He's a bit shaky at first but by the chorus the backings do their job quite well. Some problems along the next verse again. Nothing's really going on on-stage, with a drummer, a guitar and a keyboard player standing around him. No sight of the very audible female vocalists. The stage is too red, almost Dum Tek Tek red. It comes across as a filler, unfortunately and his voice doesn't do them any favours.

During the second verse the backdrop turns blue (innovation alert) and then back to red. Vocals much better this time round. He walks on the catwalk towards the end, with the last shot being him standing with the fist in the air. Improvement overall.

The place where he stands in the catwalk for the last few seconds has a very flamy sun on. No more improvement this time.

Summary: It is a very ordinary performance and it will probably be lost in this semi. There's not much going for him, although the catwalk was an effort to make him seem somehow charismatic and audience-friendly; this doesn't work. He needs to relax, smile a bit more and manage to hit some camera shots.

Serbia

Arrived just in time for her second (?) rehearsal. Sanja's dress is gorgeous, is there an opposite of the Barbara Dex award? I hope she actually wears this. Her strange moves have been reduced and the performance is much less weird; or I'm getting too much used to it already. A blue flower/star shape appears on the floor during the chorus. The staging reminds of Molitva's a lot, as expected. There is also a male dancer who acts like he wanted to be a female backing singer. Sanja misses one high note but rocks the ending.

Last run. The concept seems to be that she tries to escape the guy. She makes good eye-contact with the camera, as long as her eyes don't make the weird things. The dancer's moves are a bit too "aerobic" for the atmosphere at some parts. She fails the high note before the last chorus once again and makes the final note once again. The backings are staged identically to Molitva towards the end.

Summary: Well, it is much more polished and much less busy than I expected. She appears to be cool on stage and they are doing something that they've tried before and won. It should be safe, however the twice missed note is a bit concerning. Hopefully she will make it on the night (or they can skip it otherwise, because there is nothing else really wrong with this).

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

IRELAND


Before the rehearsal

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

Rehearsal

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

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

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

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

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

No applause in the press centre.



SERBIA

Before the rehearsal

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


Rehearsal

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

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

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

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






BELARUS

Before the rehearsal

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


Rehearsal

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


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

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

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

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

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

Day 3 Afternoon - Belarus, Serbia, Ireland

IRELAND

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

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

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

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

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


SERBIA

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

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

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

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


BELARUS

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

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

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

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

Day 3 Preview - will there be wolves?

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

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

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

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

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

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