First rehearsal: UK, Spain, Germany

Germany

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

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

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

Spain

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

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

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

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

United Kingdom

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

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

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

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

Good afternoon

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

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.

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

FRANCE

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

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

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


UNITED KINGDOM

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

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

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


GERMANY

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

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

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


SPAIN

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

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

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


ITALY

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

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

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


UKRAINE

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

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

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


MORNING JOURNEY

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

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

GERMANY

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

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

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


SPAIN

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

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

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

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


ITALY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


UKRAINE

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

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

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

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

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

Overview

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

United Kingdom

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

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

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

Italy

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

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

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

Germany

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

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

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

Spain

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

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

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

France

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

Day 7 - Sweden, France, Spain

SPAIN
Backing vocals/dancers are wearing the same outfits as in the first rehearsal while Barei is wearing a golden number with her trademark black and white high top sneakers. The stage goes dark when Barei has her 'fall' but we're so used to it now we don't bat an eye lid. Vocally not the best performer and not expecting too many points to be awarded but sure some will be gathered no doubt.

Camera work is still debateable and the split mirror image just needs to be binned. It might have worked in 1996 but in 2016 it really does not. Althoguh it is used in the Georgian song (#repeatedly), at least there it fits the song. Here there is no need for the effect. When will rtve learn?


FRANCE
Amir is still looking too alone on that big stage. We understand that he is looking for something and it makes sense that he is by himself but the song needs backing dancers and the cheeky smiley clapping that we saw in the preview video. The current set up is setting him up for another disappointing result for the French Republic. Vocally also it is still a bit shady. The high notes are not being hit, this could be due to him saving his voice, or rather, likely to be, but the whole performance unfortunately seems to have a missing element to it all. Will it be possible that France learns from this year (great song, not enough oomph) and last (medium song, too much oomph) and find the correct combination next time round?

Amir seems to be struggling finding the cameras and barely ever manages to look into them. Even the camera angles still seem 'not right'. The table around me would not be surprised if the song ends up on the right hand side of the board on Saturday.
 


SWEDEN
Although unfocused, it appeard that Frans was clearing his nose when the first notes started. At least he made a bit of an effort withis outfit although it is exactly the same as that he wore when winning Melodifestivalen. This song has about as much appeal as a soggy biscuit. Even the gathered europress could hardly gather the strength for a mild-mannered clap. It will do well but we would prefer it didn't.

Second run-through and it is not getting any better - if anyone is sorry it should be us for ourselves. Måns is in interview room 2, which is much more interesting than what is happening on stage.

Day 5 - France, Spain

Spain

Before the rehearsal

I don't think it should be difficult to do this vocally. We know she has a group of backing singers (which I hope we get to see). The big problem with this song is the really long 2nd verse. I hope they've found a way to make that look interesting visually so that people don't get bored during that part of the song.

Rehearsal

Where to start! I'll start with the most important part: Remember how in the preview video there's a weird pause where the music stops just before the second verse?
Something similar is happening here. While Barei is doing her sneaker-dance in the first chorus, she suddenly falls over and lands on the floor. The music stops and we all thought she had fallen and hurt herself and that's why the music stops. But then she just starts singing the second verse all of a sudden and the music kicks in.
The press centre were all quite startled by this, and then reacted with a bit cheer when realising that it was part of the act.

So, regarding the rest. Barei is in a short silver dress, and her backing singers are standing behind her in black and silver outfits. The stage is bright and with flashing colours. It all comes across as very happy and joyful. Vocally Barei was maybe holding back a bit, but fine. The backing singers are mostly fine. However, there's one of them (let's just pretend it's Brequette) who is absolutely SHOUTING the "Say yay yay yay" bit as if she's a peacock that just reached puberty. It's quite reminiscent of Israel 85. So let's hope they turn her down in the mix. A lot.

Mostly Barei and her backing singers are basically dancing on the main stage. Then towards the end Barei walks the catwalk to the satellite stage and finishes there.

I got a very good feeling from this. They have so much fun on stage, and Barei looks very charming and likeable. As long as they can sort out the vocal problems, this performance should be able to lift the song quite well. Hard to say whether the fake-fall gimmick will work well or not, but it will at least wake up the viewers and grab their attention.

France

Before the rehearsal

This is a very difficult song to sing. It's got a lot of falsetto parts in the chorus and not a lot of moments to breath. And throughout the whole song there's backing vocals singing along with Amir. So the singing and the mix of the backing vocals will be the big key to being able to recreate this live.


Rehearsal

They're definitely going for the "less is more" approach here. Amir is completely alone on stage. The backing singers are hidden somewhere, and so far they're not very loud in the mix.
He's wearing a plain grey suit over a white t-shirt. And white sneakers with no socks.
The stage is quite well-lit and the graphics have a space theme. There's a lot of stars, and towrds the end of the song the moon (or some other planet) appears on the floor underneath Amit.
He's up-beat and energetic, but there's not really any choreography going on. He's basically simply standing there singing the song. And loving it.

Vocally the first run wasn't perfect. He sings the you-oh-oh-oh-oh bits but they were a bit off-tune. And there were some other parts that weren't great either. But we have to keep in mind that it's a rehearsal.

Basically, this is the POLAR OPPOSITE to Russia.  While Russia has thrown in just about everything they possible can, France has a very simple and plain performance. It could be risky, but it makes me think of Lena's performance in 2010. It isn't similar, but it's the same kind of "I'll just stand here and sing the song, because the song is good enough on it's own" attitude.


Second run-through. Vocally it's a bit better, and the backing vocals are louder in the mix. But there's still some parts that sound really terrible. In the last chorus he tries to do some ad libs that are way too high for him and just turn into a strangled-cat moment. Hopefully he'll notice this in the viewingroom and ditch it.  Because he sings this just fine whenever he sticks to the basic melody, but whenever he strays from it, it goes terribly wrong.

Thoughts on France, Spain

France

It started off really nice and cool with Amir in the centre of the stage leaning forward through a sea of purple stars on the floor and the background. He looked really relaxed and smiled through the whole song. The rest of the staging was more or like the same, with random over-sized planets appearing in the background, forming a space travelling effect. Some shots were off, especially when he is looking up. In the first run the camera was just showing his front side, producing the famous pic posted on the MB. In the other two, the camera was actually above him, but far too high up, so nothing was really seen. I think they are going to make it so that the camera starts focused on him and zooms out quickly (or the other way), which should be impressive. The vocals are neither good nor bad. He suffers during some notes. The weird thing is that he failed to sing the same sentence all three times; the beginning of the last chorus. But then he was good at other difficult points and the backings sounded okay as well, covering him at times. The ending was a bit weird, the stage went dark and he is seen with his hand in the air, in a foggy cloud. Didn't really get that part.

Some more thoughts, always subjective. The staging is vastly different to the other (until recently co-)fav but then quite similar in some ways to other faves. Suppose we have France, Australia, Ukraine and perhaps Sweden as contenders apart from Russia. Well, only one of those 5 features more people on screen. Only one of those 5 has some serious dance moves. Someone is truly "the only one"!

Then again, I don't get why France was suddenly written off, or even why it's drifting at the bets. Or maybe, I know why the second thing happened. People were expecting far too much from him and the staging and this didn't happen. Now we're sure Amir won't win by a landslide, as people were hoping. Now we know that he is just one of the 5 main contenders, with Russia being the clear front-runner. I expect the odds to go up to between Ukraine/Australia at the very most. Which is what would truly represent the song's and Amir's abilities. Being a strong possibility to win, but not the strongest one

Spain

OK, this was first of all a smart trick that certainly grabs your attention and captivates you for the rest of the performance (I suppose everyone is already updated with the fact that Barei falls just before the second verse). There was not really much going on in the beginning, and the staging is too simple, just her in the middle and the backings close behind her. The floor showed an arrow, similar to Poli's earring before the first chorus. After the fall, it was so entertaining and energetic to watch! She stood back up, danced and walked around a bit during the verse and then proceeded to the catwalk. The camera turned a lot to the backings, but when it was back to her she was still only midway. She tried to make the non-existing audience sing along ("Sing it"). Then the last part came in which neither she nor the backings say "Hooray" at the first "say yay yay yay"s, but then they sing it for the last ones. I missed those "Hooray"s actually.

But more (or less) importantly, what do I think she's going to get with this? It certainly didn't hurt her, this rehearsal. She should be within the top-15, a distant outsider for being just inside the top-10 (although there's a lot of songs that are on the same level or a little better than her). Depends a lot on the draw and how surprising the fall comes across. It wasn't that good the second time, she made it look too artificial. This might be to protect her from injury, cause the first time it felt very real. I also suppose SVT won't pick the falling part to show during semi 1.

FINAL - FIRST DRESS REHEARSAL (Part II)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

RECAP

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

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

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

RECAP 2

Recap over, we have 60 seconds left to vote.

Countdown for the last 10 seconds.

Conchita sings You are Unstoppable. And continues with Firestorm.

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

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

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

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

We then go through clips of winners past.

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

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

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

This will take a while so grabbing food.

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

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

Winners and losers on Day 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Waiting to start UK still.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1st Dress Rehearsal - 2014 Final (Songs 13-26)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watching the first rehearsal of the final

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rehearsals1 Final (Part 2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ESC final: Where's the value?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jury Final - live blog (Part 1)

Good evening from the press centre in Malmö. Sild, Yair and I are here to blog the jury final, where half of the votes for tomorrow's contest will be cast. That means its important for the acts to give their best - especially for those who will be hoping to appeal to the juries in particular (we're looking at you Iceland).

We'll blog our thoughts on each song, and all three of us will give a prediction on each song's chances.

As we saw earlier, while Benny and Björn and Avicii's song plays, each of the acts walks on to the stage with the flag bearer of their country, just like the Olympics, except with more difficulty walking down steps (so more like the Paralympics in that regard, one could say).

Petra Mede gets a huge round of applause at the beginning, despite a horrible hot pink dress. Her script and delivery are much tighter this evening, even if she is referring to a prompt card for much of the introduction. 44 countries watching this year? So that's the 39 competing, Australia and...? All in all, it's a long intro - it's nearly 14 minutes into the show before we make it to the first postcard.

Incidentally, it's good to see the hall so full for a jury final!

FRANCE - arty shots are the order of the day, almost like in 2008. I'm not changing my opinion much from earlier - it's a safe, solid opener, but not one to challenge the scoreboard. Amandine will probably be relying on the juries for most of her votes, and accordingly is giving a much better performance than earlier - but even so, I'm not sure she really hits the notes with all the potential she could.

Predictions:
Sam: 16th-20th, Sild: bottom 5, Yair: 19th-25th

LITHUANIA - an enthusiastic crowd clapping along, and Andrius really is getting sexier with each performance. Though what will the juries think to the little pokey-out tongue he's giving them? This is a song that really has improved throughout rehearsals, and certainly deserves to be in this final. A good performance with genuine charm - not just eyebrows.

Predictions:
Sam: 17th-22nd, Sild: 15th-20th, Yair: 15th-19th

MOLDOVA - Hi Pasha and Pasha's arms! And hi dancers' arms too! Aliona is back to the swoopy-to-the-side hair for tonight. Despite what Martin said earlier, I'm not sure this is a very good draw for this song - it really benefited from standing out near the end in the semi-final, and I think it risks being forgotten here. And possibly the weakest she's performed it all week too - sounding not quite on top of everything, voice cracking very slightly on the biggest notes. Let's hope the juries didn't mind.

Predictions:
Sam: 13th-16th, Sild: 9th-14th, Yair: 10th-15th

FINLAND - tonight isn't really Krista's night - the juries aren't her key audience. It's a good performance as always though, both vocally and visually: this woman really does have so much personality! And it's certainly one that will get the audiences talking, but I do wonder if it's the kind of song that people enjoy, talk about... but don't actually vote for. Which is a shame, as it would actually be a pretty decent winner for the contest - punchy, contemporary and a social media genius.

Predictions:
Sam: 15th-20th, Sild: 18th-23rd, Yair: 12th-17th

SPAIN - a different yellow dress with horrible gold blingy jewelry on the shoulders and what looks like a stain on one of her boobs. We always said that this risked being a televoting nul points, but should pick up enough points from the juries to keep it off the bottom. I'd changed my mind earlier this week, but the first minute of the performance was enough to make me worry that we could be seeing our first overall jury/televote nul. It got better but... I worry. Notably, the last line of the song is now in English.

Predictions:
Sam: last, Sild: bottom 5, Yair: bottom 5

BELGIUM - uff, a nervy and pitchy start. It got a lot better, and this is just the same as it's always been. Roberto is a combination of terrified and/or overly expressive and he's wearing very pink lipstick tonight. Oh, and the last note was completely off, very croaky. But he seemed to like it, we even got smiles at the end!

Predictions:
Sam: bottom 5, Sild: 19th-24th, Yair: 15th-22nd

ESTONIA - this is actually a lovely draw for Estonia, after the loudness of Belgium and Finland and the not-very-good-ness of Spain. Birgit sings beautifully as ever, and is incredibly expressive without taking it over the top. I'd like to think this could surprise, and the performance tonight won't hurt that in the slightest.

Predictions:
Sam: 13th-19th, Sild: 17th-25th, Yair: 19th-25th

BELARUS - "Why do they have a monkey on a disco ball in the postcard?" wonders Sild. Good question. A good performance from Alonya, probably her best all week actually, both vocally and in terms of not being so wooden on stage. Everyone's back in their costumes from the semi-final, arms out and all. A strong performance, and it's one of the few songs fishing in its pool - could do well.

Predictions:
Sam: 9th-13th, Sild: 18th-23rd, 18th-25th

MALTA - smiley smiley Gianluca is just loving being there, and it's really very endearing. I wonder how the juries will take this - it's either very arty and genuine, or it might be a bit amateur. But they're the questions we've been asking all season. Gianluca is increasingly falling into the habit of chopping his phrases too early, probably because of breathing issues, but it makes the song sound a little rushed. He's back at the bench very late again after lots of high-fives - perhaps a deliberate decision?

Predictions:
Sam: 18th-22nd, Sild: 12th-18th, 12th-17th

RUSSIA - if the juries are going for a big vocal, here it is. Dina hasn't put a foot wrong all week, and the five singers on stage really do create a huge wall of sound. As I mentioned earlier, Dina is starting to get to grips with emoting the song too - she does look like she means it. And once again the audience didn't bat around the stupid balls the throw into the audience. Crappy idea. And the lights on the wristbands looks far too calculated, with far too many shots of them, to be as effective as the Russians were probably hoping.

Predictions:
Sam: 6th-10th, Sild, 8th-13th, 6th-11th

GERMANY - the sparkly heels are back! There's a great shot during the middle 8 (we are glo-o-o-o-o-o) where the camera soars from behind Natalie over a celebratory audience, which is very effective, as are the shots where she's surrounded by flags on the catwalk. I'm not sure she completely nailed it tonight, but her big market is tomorrow.

Predictions:
Sam: 6th-10th, Sild: top 5, Yair: top 5

ARMENIA - some unfortunate shots of a crowd who really don't care here. Another professional performance from a very professional act it remains to be seen what the juries think though.

Predictions:
Sam: 12th-16th, Sild: 14th-20th, Yair: 10th-17th,

Hm, interesting, we went into the postcard for Netherlands, leading us to assume they'd moved the break back to between Songs 13 and 14. But no, the postcard suddenly cut out and we're back to Petra introducing Lynda Woodruff. Lots of laughs in the press centre for the EBU spokesperson's tour around Stockholm.

And NOW it's time for Netherlands, and I will hand over to Sild for the second half of this rehearsal!