Fishy Predictions for the First Semi-Final

It's been a long two years, but finally a Eurovision Day has come again! 🥂 For the first time in over 15 years I won't be spending it on location or in Syden, but rather in a rainy (shocker) Bergen, but I'm not planning on letting that dampen the mood!

I've been twisting my slightly May 17th affected head to see if I could not only figure out which ten countries will qualify tonight, but also which order they'll actually turn out to have placed in, once we get ALL TEH INFO some time after Måneskin's Destiny's Fyr & Flamme's thank you speech very very early Sunday morning. So enjoy my mistakes, but most of all enjoy the show, because Eurovision is back!

1 Malta | It was my main contender for the win before the rehearsals started, but seems to have faded a little compared to the likes of Italy and France, and due to boots and wigs and colour debates. (My take: If in doubt, always go for the brightest colour!) I still think it has a chance on Saturday though - and certainly tonight.

2 Ukraine | That bit where it slows down and builds and builds and builds to PLING * POW * RUN gets all my geese out bumping every single time!

 

3 Cyprus | Solid feels like the word best describing this, I'm expecting it do to very decently with both juries and televoters, without anyone getting overly excited.

4 Russia | My favourite in this semifinal, but probably a bit too odd to go higher.

5 Lithuania | Had its moment to shine when it came out in January, but gosh, it feels like years ago... Still very obviously qualifying, still very obviously getting the 12 from Norwegian televoters tonight.

6 Israel | This keeps getting stuck in my head, which should be good. But seeing as there's no natural flow between all those individual bits of song, it just ends up being one little bit in an eternal loop I can't get out of, and I end up considering a head amputation to get rid of it. I've had it down as my tip for 'forgotten and ignored, accidental last place' in the semi for much of the season, but Eden and her boys are selling it well, so suddenly it feels like a qualifier, and somehow even a safer one than the following bunch.

7 Norway | I can never quite decide whether I think Tix is annoying, nice, manipulative, a hero, or just a combination of all, but at the end of the day I really do like the song.

8 Belgium | It's mix of boring, pretentious, dark, nostril and grumpy. It's Belgian speciality, you will enjoy.

9 Azerbaijan | If it hadn't been for the last 30 seconds of pyro extravaganza I'd say this was as dead as the Tix+Efendi relationship will be next week.

10 Romania | I originally had Sweden instead of this, but seeing as almost everyone else seem to have the same ten as me, I figured it was time for some risk-taking. And I can somehow see this working on some level for some people, despite the mainly quite awful singing.

11 Sweden | The exact opposite of Norway and Tix - I'm sure I like Tusse, but the song... Surely juries can't be quite as forgiving about Swedish averageness as they have been the last few years? And thinking back about it, I actually think both 2019 and 2018 are very good songs, so it shouldn't really be comparable at all. Could they possibly lose out...?

12 Slovenia | Probably getting 15 televote points in total, all from Croatia and North Macedonia, but I can see some juries appreciating the loudness here.

13 Ireland | I've been hoping and thinking this should make it all season, but no, it just isn't working, is it... What could've been a joyous, confident anthem of finding one's way in life just ends up being poor Lesley getting lost in a paper forest.

14 Croatia | I don't feel hate, but why would anyone vote for this when there are better songs, better singers, better dancers, better stagings, better backdrops... Even the other Tick Tock is better - a far worse song, but at least it had #hamsterbutt.

15 Australia | Very interesting entry, and I really appreciate it being there and Montaigne seems great when she's not dressing up as a clown. Just such a shame it's not, like, you know, good.

16 North Macedonia | I don't think they could've done much better with this than what they're doing on stage, but it's still the same song, so... I miss You :-(

ESC week | Monday | First Semi-Final | First Dress Rehearsal

It really is all about to happen now! In the next few days we will be blogging about all the dress rehearsals, starting today with the first dress rehearsal of the first semi-final.

It's again a rolling post, so keep your finger glued to the F5 button, or whatever you use to refresh on a Mac.

Thirty seconds past three ... Te Deum! We start with some Dutch scenery, we see sheep, Rotterdam Central Station, a windmill and more and after 1 minute 30 we're in the arena. Some quick lookback to 2019 and then Duncan's on stage dressed in red in an augmented reality setting, singing a new song (i.e. not 'Arcade') It's a pretty short performance .... the stage is revealed in a spectacular way before all four hosts come up on stage.

Hosts are full of energy, talking quite fast, Jan's English has definitely improved it seems. Chantal also speaks a bit of French. Hell, they're quick. 

After 7.5 minutes we start with the first postcard. 

Lithuania - Lithuania is 'virtually' on the Rotterdam central station square for the postcard. Before the song starts the stage lights take the colours of the Lithuanian flag. Not much to mention about the Lithuanian performance, it's not much different from what we've seen from them. There are some split-screen moments between Vaidotas and the backing dancers. The hall is empty - yet we're hearing 'fake' applause. But it sounded already a bit less 'fake' than in ESC 2015.

Slovenia - Postcard in the dunes. Stage is mostly golden with a globe projected in the background. During the bridge the transparent LED screen comes down and shows what I think is Slovenian mountain scenery. Decent performance but not as impactful as I would have thought. The ending was very abrupt. She just stopped in the middle of a sentence 'Hey Child ...' ... not sure if that was a failure or intended, but she didn't look really surprised ....

Russia - Bad Dutchie, I have no clue where this postcard was recorded. Egg-shaped houses? [I later learned that these are the 'bolwoningen'/'sphere houses'  from Den Bosch aka 's-Hertogenbosch]. The bloggers before me have already described this performance pretty well. I have not much to add to it I'm afraid. Energetic and fun as usual. 

Sweden -  Postcard is filmed on Museum Square in Amsterdam. Some pretty awesome light effects for Tusse. There's also people on the LED screen at one point and it truly looks like they're actually on stage. Last minute looks quite impressive, light-wise. Vocally this is all very okay too. Not as hopeless as some may have thought. But of course the song is still what it is.

Australia - The football themed postcard this time is not for Spain but for Australia. Montaigne could not be in Ahoy, but she could 'be' in the Rotterdam stadium. No special announcement or so, we just get a postcard and the live-on-tape recording gets shown directly. Of course we do miss the stage lights going all Australian and there's no 'dumdumdum' moment, but the transition is seamless. Montaigne and dancers are doing a (sort of) yazbitti! \o/. Lots of visual effects here, where we see copies of Montaigne  as if she's doing a yazbitti with herself.  Montaigne sounds much better than in some clips we've heard so far. And it *is* very colourful. At the end we see the camera zooming out from the LED wall, bringing us back to Ahoy so the audience can do some cheering.

North Macedonia - Postcard is in a forest, where Vasil is climbing the wall of the tiny house. Much gold on stage again. During the part where Vasil is not singing he shows the disco ball on his costume, which looks very nice. Vocally fine even if he seems to be not giving it all yet. All in all, I think this wins the battle with Slovenia, but probably that's still not enough to make it.

First commercial break. Nikkie is now on stage to show 'the best off online reactions'. She calls it the 'online update'. There's also clips from the Looklabs. We see fans dancing. Surprise appearance by Conchita Wurst. Edsilia then interviews a fake The Roop. She doesn't use the stick herself. Nikkie also connects to Montaigne.

Ireland - We see the 'Skinny Bridge' in Amsterdam over the river Amstel in the postcard. Vocals are not very good I'm afraid. The 'book' part goes a bit quicker and smoother than we've seen in the rehearsal clip but is still not very impressive. So she's walking in all directions amonst all sort of cardboard objects like waves and trees and sometimes interacts with them, but it all looks pretty forced. It look fine - but not spectacular - and also a bit distracting at times and most of all unnecessary. She looks exhausted by the end of the performance. Sorry to say but this feels pretty hopeless :-(

For some reason we now get another break with Nikkie and Edsilia. We also see the billboards announcing what's to come next Saturday as interval act, much like we saw them in Europ Shine A Light last year. Of course this break is meant to get all the stuff Ireland brought on stage back off stage.

Cyprus - First notes were horribly off tune. Elena starts lying on the floor. Vocals get somewhat better further into the song. Visually this is very well done with the mirrors and fire effects during the last minute. It looks like more fun than the lyrics suggest, which I think is a good choice. Safe for qualifying, but not winning material.

Norway - I think that's the Muiderslot in the postcard? Never change a winning recipe, performance is again much alike the MGP one (but with less creatures around TIX). Using the stage doors with light coming from behind makes for nice effects. In the last minute the stage turns into gold. Looking good for Norway to qualify I'd say at this point.

Croatia - Postcard in a random polder. Some visual tricks make Albina appear on stage out of nothing. She's standing in front of the transparent LED screen and the effects look awesome. Dancers join her during the chorus. At one point we see five Albina's and no dancers though. The 'oh noooooos' sound a lot better than we've heard in earlier clips. I think visually this is pretty cool. The fake? applause seems to be much louder here than it has been for others for some reason.

Belgium - First minute of this performance is one long shot from one camera turning around Geike and the musicians. It must have been intentional but with the musicians so close to Geike it looks a bit messy to me. But that may be a personal thing. It's a decent staging ans well sung, but I may have expected more 'magic'.

Israel - Postcard shows Utrecht Central Station. Eden is amazing! This is a fun performance with Eden and dancers moving to the sattelite stage halfway, and then back to the main stage where she does the high notes, and they sounded near perfect to me. This has such a nice energetic vibe. Probably the best performance so far!

A break with Chantal now. And Måns. We can actually see him, so probably not live, but you won't notice. It's of course all to get people warm for the Saturday interval. Hmm, if it's not live the timing is perfect. After this interview Edsilia and Jan announce Romania's performance.

Romania - Roxen's vocals are much better than we've heard in some clips, but she seems to have a bit of trouble with the timing (think Zaleilah but less dramatic). All in all, it's still not very convincing. They should be a little worried now.

Azerbaijan - Postcard from Giethoorn (the Dutch more rural answer to Venice - at least I think it's there). Song and staging is Eurovision by numbers obviously. Lots of gold, pink and turquoise again. And another yazbitti. What did I say? Eurovision by numbers. Well enough performed. Is there still a place for this in ESC 2021 though? I'm inclined to say there is, despite the song being rather weak. 

Another billboard moment, with Jan and Chantal quickly announcing Ukraine.

Ukraine - Had some serious internet issues here, so missed part of it. Well, it's definitely standing out. Graphics look impressive too. I have a blind spot for this entry, never really got it, and as such this performance wasn't winning me over. But I acknowledge that it is probably making the final anyway.

Bit of a hiccup before Malta was going to start, with Chantal quickly standing by to interrupt.

Malta - Destiny has gone for the silver dress and high silver boots and a totally different haircut/wig, which I suppose fits with the 1920's style. Not sure if she's giving it all yet, but vocally she was already more than fine. But I feel this is not a winning performance, neither is the song. May actually be totally overshadowed by Israel earlier on. 

Some pyros before we start the vote. As usual we see the recap with the artists shown at the end of their snippet. For Montaigne we have a live connection. It's apparent that the sound quality of the Australian snippet is much worse (less rich) than the others.

After the recap there's an interval by Davina Michelle about 'The Power of Water', which is partly pre-recorded and there's dancing on stage with lots of bare-chested men.

Quick prediction: Lithuania, Russia, Sweden, Cyprus, Norway, Israel, Azerbaijan Ukraine, Malta. Then there's one left and it's between Croatia and Belgium, I'd say Belgium now, but not extremely convincedly. If there's going to be a huge surprise it may actually be North Macedonia, but I wouldn't count on it. 

All four hosts are back on stage to explain again how you can vote. And we get another recap. With again shots from the green room. At this moment none of the artists are really there, so it's just volunteers and they are having a good time it seems :-)

After the second recap there's about 40 seconds left to vote, so we quickly get to a countdown with Jan and Chantal. After that there's another break with Edsilia and Nikkie. They're standing next to each other in one shot and that looks a bit ... odd (because of the height difference). There's a flashback to ESC history with Johnny Logan, Katrina, Anne-Marie David, Lenny Kuhr, Marie Myriam and Eimear Quinn. They all tell about their experiences. And they're all sooo positive.

We then get a pre-recorded 'Eurovision Tutorial' with Nikkie. Which is very tonge-in-cheek and fun :-)  It has Manel,  John Lundvik with a sad face, Justine Pelmelay and more surprises. The theme is 'How not to win Eurovision'. Obviously we're experts on that subject.

Then we look back for a minute or two at 'Arcade' with Edsilia and Duncan Laurence.

After that there's an awkard break. But apparently this is the point where we'd get to the interviews and presentations of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Instead we now get to see the postcards for these three countries. 

Oh they're actually performing now!

Italy - Just looks so cool on stage. There's some parts though where Damiano is drowned into the light, not sure if that's intentional. So much pyros at the end. Yes, this is definitely a performance that could do it!

Postcard at Scheveningen beach for Germany, appropriately considering its popularity with German tourists. After the German postcard we suddenly get another intervention with Chantal explaining the theme 'Open up' and a pre-recorded video about the theme with Duncan as narrator. Not sure if and when they will actually show this in the real show.

Germany - Very colourful performance with a prominent role for miss Finger. Jendrik improvises vocally. At the points we hear a male voice 'you did not just say that' the camera zooms on the finger as if she is saying that. All in all, I feel it is missing the clever fun from the video and falls a bit flat on the stage. In the talking part he adresses in German ladies, gentlemen and everyone who's not either. And he ends in Dutch with 'tot snel!' ('see you soon').

Netherlands - Wonderful visual opening with the LED wall 'breaking open'. Jeangu is doing an amazing job vocally. During the brigde all move to the sattelite stage, before the stage turns all colourful. Obviously a lot of applause. That was a very nice performance, and very different from a lot of other things in this ESC. Not saying it is a top 10'er but it doesn't look like certain bottom 5 either.

Okay ... they're now improvising a bit because it's about time to rehearse the qualifier revelation. But first we get a look-ahead to Thursday with the usual billboards. It's mainly about the extra acts though.

They then introduce Martin Österdahl. And it seems like we have a 'valid result'! And he tells Jan and Chantal that they're 'good to go'.

We get to see three-letter country codes with square flags in the 'waiting list' below the screen insert of Jan and Chantal. When they are announced we see the full names to the right of them, as usual. [addition: as far as I recall there were no animations with enveloppes or anything of the sort appearing on screen, so it's just one of the hosts shouting a country name, and only then the name appears in the 'qualified' list]

First fake finalist is Romania, then Israel. They do this pretty quickly again. Cyprus, Lithuania and Norway are next. Also Azerbaijan makes it, it looks pretty realistic so far actually :-) Australia also qualifies and we see a happy volunteer on a couch probably not in Australia. They take a little more time now. Sweden is fake qualifier number eight. And number nine is Malta. And finally it's North Macedonia! We don't get to hear snippets of the songs when they qualify but we get a recap in the order as announced right after the last qualifier is announced.

After that the credits start running and we get views from the hall, also from the green room, which may be interesting because we'll probably see both happy and sad faces there, unlike usually when we only got to see the happy ones.

That was it for the first dress rehearsal. Tonight we continue with the jury final, for which Yair will provide commentary in this blog!

Day 6 | Second Rehearsals | Both Semi-Finals | 🇲🇹 🇸🇲 🇪🇪 🇨🇿 🇬🇷

Good morning from, well, not Rotterdam (Notterdam?). While I'm sure you're all waiting for the Big 5 (will there be an LED middle finger? A giant inflatable baguette?) which Jordy will bring from the real press centre later on, here's a bunch of mostly microstates first.

🇬🇷 | Greece

After all those overly coloured entries, the minimalist purple-white-grey theme works wonders and the stage (and Stefania) look stunning. The transparent dancers trick will be the talk of the day and they've impressed me where other trickeries failed. Not quite sure that Stefania is a strong/experienced enough singer to carry this, but maybe she's holding back.

Sedond and third runthrough and she's singing better (not great, but adequately). This is the best rehearsal I've seen of all - one criticism is that the 'rotating screen' effect while she's on the stairs is already done before (by Sergey, at least). Other than that, transparent is the new black. Or is it 'invisible'?

Over to Roger for some more excitement.

🇨🇿 | Czech Republic

The first thing I notice is that Benny's glasses are very reflective, both lenses and frame. Or did they get steamed up in the mask-mandatory dressing room? There's nothing exciting about this act, it's just Benny & co having fun on stage. He's very likable (both in the attractive meaning and the charismatic meaning) and seems to be quite the professional, visually and vocally. I don't know if this will be remembered by song 17, but I'm liking what I see.

Actually there is something exciting - a really clever way to reveal the female dancers who join the male dancers in the second verse. One of them just appears out of thin air. Magic! There's also a sideways jumping routine when they sing the title, that's going to become a gif as soon as it's allowed. Something like this.

Last runthgough was without glasses. Probably better this way (said the blogger with glasses)

🇪🇪 | Estonia

Trying to find something nice to say here, ok: Everything about this reminds me of Lithuania 2019, and that very nearly qualified (the Irish televoters loved it!). And it's wise of Uku to use loud backing vocalists, because during the first line of the first verse you can hear him alone and he's really not great. The moon backdrop is kinda nice too, as is the ripply floor effect... running out of nice things to say here, help me!

The online press centre are chatting about coffee, that's nice too.

🇸🇲 | San Marino

The main question I've been concerning myself was - would it be possible for the real Flo to perform without having rehearsed? And the answer is - yes, Faux Rida just walks in and sings his bit, never finding a camera and is just there - something that should be easy enough to replicate without any previous training. Hell, I could do it.

Besides him, there is a lot going on  - Senhits everywhere, including the LED floor, and everyone crowding on a rotating stand, like a giant Lazy Susan.

The're really doing the most to cover Senhit's lack of singing abilities and the rather average song, and it's working, but on Saturday it's still going to be mostly a novelty. The last runthrough brings the pyro, including on the catwalk box which works really nicely.

Oh, and the fully-masked-bar-star-shaped-eye-hole dancers are terrifying. Like some kind of clown ninjas. At one point they're surrounding Senhit and staring at her like they're about to murder her, but so far thankfully she survived.

🇲🇹 | Malta

Well, they tried. They really tried. They brought in their best gun. But the whole thing still feels very... Maltese. As in, amateur - although perhaps less so than 2019. Destiny is cute and her new burrito-wrap dress will make sure she's noticed, but you can still tell that she's a bit too young for this song.

The best moment here is perhaps the vertical split screen during the first chorus with lots of hands doing the familiar routine. Othere than that, there's not much else to say - it's very much focused on Destiny with lots of different solid colour backgrounds. One of those is very yellowy yellow, and to my eyes it's really not the best background for pink and silver dresses. It's not bad (and the pyro curtain helps a bit), but if I had lots of money on this to win I'd be worried. Maybe live audience will help and she'll own it when it really matters, so not all is lost for them.

Second rehearsal: Poland to Latvia

Latvia

Red.


Hungary

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

Malta

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

Poland

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

First rehearsal: Georgia to Hungary

Hungary

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

Set up: Lead singer in bare feet.

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

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

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


Malta

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

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

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

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

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


Poland

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

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

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

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

Georgia

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

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

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

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

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

Day 4 of first rehearsals - Georgia to Hungary

Hungary

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

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

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

Malta

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

Why!?

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

Impressions of Malta.

Including the flames from the last run.

Poland

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

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

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

Georgia

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

Second run was just as good, if not better.

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

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

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

Me signing off!!

OUTRO
The 10 winning songs are being shown once more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BREAK
Timur again singing his prepared script.

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

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

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

SAN MARINO
They are very good! 'Nuff said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 6 - 2nd Run Through : MKD / MLT / ROM

ROMANIA

We start, Alex does his first part, then Ilinca announces "I can't hear my ears at all, they're not working!"

So, take two! Alex is showing us his arms this time while Ilinca is dressed in a tiny red number. Vocally neither of them is blowing anyone's mind although the yodelling is still good. The canons are revealed and they are now sparkly! And Alex can kinda ride the one he pushes on stage. Unfortunately EBU have refused the requests of TVR to have confetti blasting out of them due to clean up time. Also refused were two fire cannons. Due to this, the camera shot at the end of the song is wide, which does not really suit in this occasion. I can understand the frustration of the TV station in this case since that visual would have helped them a lot.

2nd Run - Actually maybe the request being turned down is not such a bad idea. Throughout the rehearsals we've seen the cannons on more than one occasion pointing quite directly at Ilinca's head, so whether it be confetti, or worse fire, she might be glad that Alex's cannon-pushing skills are not putting her directly in danger. Although it would be entertaining.

3rd Run - Alex has just talked to me: "Now what’s the use of being so confused, of doing all this work you really don’t want to be doing?" These songs actually make sense when you read the lyrics. Sometimes. No, no - I joke! But the run itself was same as the other two, this time the cannon was at a safe angle and all in all good enough to qualify.


MALTA

Claudia also decided to change her costume for this rehearsal. Although similar to that worn on Tuesday, this one has an open cleavage. I guess we will know which one will be decided on in the dress rehearsal. Vocally Claudia shows us how it's done, especially with the trio we have before her in the semi (although I still believe Nathan was just having a bit of a bad day). No gimmicks as you know in this song, they wouldn't fit if there were. Unfortunately nobody at the table was facing the screen when the shot of the bosom-backdrop was due so we need to wait for the second one to see if it was kept or if the camera was changed to have it not so visible.

2nd Run - The bosom shot is still there, and Claudia stands right in between the girls. A very confident and competent rendition. Before coming to Kyiv I wasn't truly believing this could qualify but I am now converted and would be quite surprised if it did not.

3rd Run - No faffing about for Claudia, she's finished with one and on to the next! And another very strong rendition. And we're now off for a bit of yodeling! Hurrah!


FYR MACEDONIA

Gone is the green thing from Tuesday's rehearsal, Jana is now dressed in a black shimmery number with fringes - much better. But that is as far as the improvements go. OK, she's less $25 corner more $75 hotel lobby but still. Vocally we're still a bit squeaky in the beginning but she manages to bring it back later on in the song. Jana might not be dancing alone on the semi-final night but she probably will be hugging a bottle on Saturday while watching the contest on TV.

2nd Run - The vocals are still not convincing. The backing singers are clearly better than she is - and they are hidden which seems to be the way to do it this year. Nothing in this song makes you want to get up and dance - not sure if that is ironic or not considering the title. Here's hoping for some glittery masterpiece to be rolled out in the third try.

3rd Run - Unfortunately no glittery nothing, no pyro, no smoke, no nothing! Oh well, MRT will be happy for the refund on the hotel.


LUNCH

I know I mentioned yesterday that lunch has it's own section - but since I've not yet been to lunch there is not much to comment on it. I might even try and get some fruit! I'm assuming they're not going to add spices to THAT also. I mean, literally, everything is covered in spice here, even salads. Tasty spicey, but spicey! This Western type of stomach does not deal well with this constant Eastern type of food!

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 5 - Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Malta

Malta

Now, this has changed! She's in a totally different dress. And it's a pretty one. Gold sparkly top and a dark skirt. No projections or silly bulky fabric this time. They've clearly given up on that idea. (Thank god).
The dress is rather tight, and it very visibly confirms that she the rumours about her being pregnant clearly being true. Ira's dancer is wearing a grey flowy outfit with glitter details matching her dress.

The song starts with the same projection of her face as before, but this time it's projected on the floor instead of on the cloak of her dancer. The stage graphics seem mostly to be the same. And the choreography is mainly Ira waling around the stage interacting with her male dancer. She seems a lot more comfortable on stage and seems to enjoy herself a lot.

Basically, they did the right thing to change this. And among all the rehearsals, this is by far the one that imrpoved the most from the first rehearsals to the second ones. It's nice that they were able to see that the previous staging didn't work (and that a lot of other countries were doing projection-based performance) and decided to scrap it.

Second run-through and I noticed that the stage graphics are quite different too. Instead of the blue swirl the floor looks more like actual water. And there's a lot of smoke on stage too. The colours and images keep switching between gold/fire and water/sky.

Thir run-through, and Ira still feels very secure. The performance is basically mostly all about her, and she has the personality to pull that off.


Bosnia-Herzegovina

 Same performance as before, but with different outfits. The thermal blankets are still there. But Deen is wearing a long leather trench coat, and Dalal is in a tight red and gold dress with a mermaid skirt. It's not a great dress, but compared to a lot of the costumes we've seen earlier today, it comes across as fairly normal and stylish.


Iceland

Not much change here. It's the same interactive performance. But they've managed to get the lights more right this time. She's less in the dark, so her connection with the cameras is a lot better.

We couldn't really hear much of the first half of it, as there was a video-message playing for Samra from a bunch of random Azeri people who sent her get-well wishes. As in, "we wish you'll recover from whatever disease you have" not "we wish you'd suddenly start singing well".

Day 2 - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Malta & Sweden

 Sweden

Before the rehearsal

I don't really expect Sweden to change at all from the staging in the Melodifestivalen final. Every year the Swedish team report that they've made changes and adjustments, and every year we don't really see them. I expect that it will just be some minor camera angle that's changed, or possibly he's wearing different trousers or so. But if we're lucky they'll be giving us a surprise. Maybe even visible backing vocalists?
However, the old staging was clearly effective, and there's no real need to fix something that isn't broken.


Rehearsal

Yes, it's basically the same as in Melodifestivalen. He's got the screen with the lights behind him, creating various shapes and words. And he's walking around the stage in the same way, "missing" the same cameras as before. It works, of course.

I couldn't spot any of the backing singers in the first run-through, so they're presumably placed behind the stage or behind the screen. 

One main difference is that for the last chorus he walks out onto the catwalk and sings the rest of the song from the end of it.

There's not really much else to say about this. If you wanna see a video of the rehearsal you can basically watch the Melodifestivalen one. He is wearing different clothes now, but they're probably not what he'll wear in the final.



Malta


Before the rehearsal

The Maltese song, as many others this year, relies heavily on lots and lots of backing vocals. We already know that Molly P-H will be one of them, and that she (due to her own request) and the other backing singers will most likely be hidden behind the stage. Four backing singers isn't really enough to re-create the big gospel sound of the studio version, but it should be close enough. What might be a bigger challenge is to make sure Ira doesn't feel lost on stage and that it doesn't come across too much like a karaoke performance when she's all alone singing together with a choir that the viewers can't see. Some props or somethning else to fill up the stage and distract from the fact that only one out of five vocalists can be seen, might be a good idea.

Rehearsal

First run-through. Ira has HUGE images of her own face on the backdrop screens in the beginning. And then as she starts singing we see her face... projected on the cloak of a dancer who stands in front of her. Then halfway through the verse we get to see the real her, dressed in a very baggy light brown dress that is either hiding lots of clothes underneath, or a pregnant belly. Makes her chest look very ill-shaped somehow. The cress also has some sort of LED or light effects going on.
And yes, towards the end the bulky dress comes off and  she's in a black mini dress instead.
Ita's choreography is mainly to walk around the stage a bit. She's sometimes standing inside an image of a blue swirly thing on the floor, which is probably meant to represent the water she's walking on. 

Vocally, Ira sings it fine. No problems at all on that part. The backing vocals are rather low in the mix, and I wish we'd hear them better.
The oh-oh-oh-oh-oh wail before the last chorus is clearly done by somebody who isn't Ira. Might be Molly.

But most importantly, the chipmunk vocal sample effect from the studio version is STILL THERE. Either they found some way to do it live (but it doesn't sound like it) or the backing track features a pre-recorded backing vocal. Someone will probably have some explaining to do here...


Second run-through now. The potato-peel-coloured projection dress really is one of the most hideous dresses I've seen. It's so bulky that it makes it look like she doesn't have boobs, but rather just a chicken breast on the front of her torso. Nina Kraljic suddenly got some serious competition for the Barbara Dex Award.

But vocally it's really good, and as long as they get the mixing levels right it should sound basically the way it's supposed to sound. The choreography itself is working quite decently too. The male dancer is spastically dancing around Ira in what looks a little bit like what Loreen's dancer did, but he doesn't distract too much from the song. I would say that the dress is the only problem now. Hopefully they'll realise that themselves once they go to the viewing room.


Bosnia-Herzegovina


Before the rehearsal

The song is very much like the kind of thing that used to do really well 10 years ago. Montenegro has had mediocre success with similar songs recently, but the question is if Bosnia can manage to stage this in a more interesting and original way than the Montenegrins did with their recent balkan ballads.
If they want to recreate it to sound like in the studio version they'll also be depending on good backing vocals, as there's quite a lot of them in the recording. And visually there might be a challenge to make all four members of the group really seem like they're part of the performance and not four random people doing their own thing.

Rehearsal

The Bosnians just took the stage. Some of them are dressed in golden tinfoil cloaks. Or maybe it's thermal blankets? I m not sure what the symbolism might be. But it seems the general theme is gold. Deen is wearing golden high-top sneakers, and most of the things that seem to be items that they're meant to wear in the actual performance are sort of gold. So is the cello.

The barbed wire fence is there, and kind of just like Chanee and Nevergreen were positioned on each side of their screen, so are Deen and Dalal. And they sing towards each other through the fence, sometimes reaching through with their arms trying to reach each other. Clearly lots of symbolism here.

Vocally I thought they were fine. Deen and Dalal's harmonies work well together, and the backing vocals, situated further back, are doing what they should.

Second run-through. Vocally steady again.  During the instrumental break after the first chorus, Ana stands up and drops her cloak. Once Jala enters the stage, wearing sunglasses, the camera mostly focuses on him interacting with Ana while Deen and Dalal stand stind at the back of the stage. And then in the final chorus all four of them are together at the front.

Overall I would say that they've staged it quite well. It's not trying to be a different song than it is, but yet not trying to just do a typical Lane Moje/Lejla-staging. It feels like they're doing something that is new, but without over-staging it or distracting from the song. The only thing that does't make any sense to me yet is the choice of costumes.


Ana Rucner's outfit. More or less.

The not-press opinion - MNT, ISL, BIH, MLT

Malta

Two screens showing a still Ira, but her hair is waving. Then another screen of her singing (is she here?). She finally appears in a long dress that smells outfit change. A blue spiral on the floor during the chorus. Then yellow light projections on her dress, while she's moving literally around. Then the long dress is off (she is left with a black outfit, but I doubt that's the real one) and the floor is filled with yellow beams/flames. The blue spiral is back and it ends. Not much connection from her to the camera, it could be because it's the first rehearsal and they focused on positioning. Vocally perfect (will try to spot Molly in the next run).

The beginning is very much Eurovision-gimmicky and it takes some time for it to become normal and more contemporary. The dress projection colours make little sense and the dress colour itself (light brown) does not look particularly good on screen. A dancer is near her for half of the song. It looks like he is chasing her, while she is moving to all possible directions. Better close-up shots this time, still not many though.

Eye-contact with the camera better achieved this time round and the performance is pretty solid after the third run.

Summary: It looks very promising for Malta, as long as the weird, too eurovisiony beginning doesn't hurt the rest of the song. As expected, she is an excellent performer. Won some points today in the qualification race. Based on the staging, it also makes sense to have this perform last now, me thinks.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

First shot on Ana Rucner who is wearing an aluminium foil coat. Deen appears and sings through a -presumably not electric- wired fence to Dalal, out of tune at first, in tune after a while. They meet later and then the rapper appears and gets done with what's left of the audience patience. It's all a bit generic and the only thing that is memorable is the wires. They have tried *something* at least. I am really not a fan of this song so I can't judge it properly, but they have tried to do something with it here visually (after having tried to do everything with it musically).

Dalal also has a foil coat and gets rid of it before she sings. The staging manages to create some emotional intensity, but just as it reaches the top, the rapper breaks in and it's gone. The last part is boring (and Jala also is standing there looking weird).

Third run now and the song becomes more and more tiresome for me. However, I see that it will have an appeal. This time I've noticed that Ana and Jala have a little bit of connection during their part.

Summary: A really complex song needs a complex (but meaningful) performance. It generates some emotion and will find its audience (probably in the southeastern part of the continent). I've personally predicted them to qualify, despite it not doing anything for me. Their staging is at least memorable and the rap part is short and tied as well as possible to Ana, so I stick with this prediction. Huge difference to Iceland also, and I expect the Maltese staging will be far more western-oriented as well.

Iceland

Shaky vocal start, but recovers by the chorus. I really like the visuals. Similar moves to the NF, but a slightly more blue-natural background. The wings and the birds are there; they didn't remind me of Russia at all, though. It gets a bit uninteresting after the second chorus. At the same time, that's when her voice fully recovers. The backings are neither helpful nor hurtful.

Identical on the second run. There's also a point just before the second chorus where it's only the projection wall showing and she moves into the shot (and the hands). She has delivered what was expected.

More of the same. She should connect with the camera more during the bridge, which is practically the only close-up and well-lit shots she gets.

Summary: She has moved everything from Reykjavik to Stockholm and has done the same things. In my opinion, it isn't that reminding of Russia's projections. It also fails to come across as genuine though, it's a bit of a cold performance (then again, maybe that's what people expect from Iceland?). Not much has changed regarding its chances, it remains being on of the contenders for the "low" top10 places in the semi.

Montenegro

Ok, this couldn't be any luckier coming after the weakest performance of the semi. It manages to be at least along the competition level and the vocals sound professional (the Samra effect). Of course, the song tires you out after the 1st chorus. The shots are quite fast and confusing, but maybe it works with the song's atmosphere? They are all very static but the camerawork corrects this. Rehearsal-wise, the first run seems to have been a success.

Second run now. He is walking towards the centre of the stage, wearing his hood (which I suppose will happen in the actual performance). The girl is at the front, "dancing", during his parts. The lights during the chorus are really fast, almost annoying. Vocally no problems, they are in tune. The problem is the tune itself. It will reach its potential on stage, but I assume this will not be enough.

Well, now they probably are satisfied with the sound and try to improve on the visuals. The shots are still fast now, but by the third time it's possible to understand where everyone stands and what's going on. The shots on the girl are one of the best parts, however apart from the first one she didn't connect much.

Summary: There was only room for improvement anyway and they have achieved that. Benefits from the Azeri disappointment before it. If Iceland also disappoints, then they might have a chance.


Arrived just in time to listen to my favourite song being murdered on stage. But oh well.

Day 2 Preview - from Czech Republic to Sweden

The second day of rehearsals will naturally follow the countries set to perform in the second half of the second semi-final, which means we're in for a busy day with a number of performances to look forward to.

Indeed we start with three entries that we're very eager to see on stage. Czech Republic are on first at 10:00, and we're looking forward to finally getting a proper live performance of 'I Stand' from Gabriela Gunčíková. We've been given absolutely no impression of how they're staging this, but as long as she's not sitting for the whole song, we're happy.

Czech Republic will be followed by Cyprus, and it'll be interesting to see how their vocals come across tomorrow. We've seen a number of live performances in which the lead vocal of Francois Micheletto have seemed either strained or weak, and this is a powerful song that will need a vocal to match if it's to climb up the scoreboard on Saturday night. Immediately after Cyprus we will have Austria. Austria are certainly one of the most borderline qualifiers and, even though we've seen a live performance of it in the national final, somewhat of an unknown quantity. Zoe's been practising walking on a treadmill for the past couple of months, and it's going to be very interesting to see how this one comes across. Cute and charming? Or twee and precocious. We'll do our best to judge.

We're also really looking forward to seeing what Azerbaijan come up with tomorrow - they're certainly not known for their understated stagings. And later in the day at 3:00 we have Iceland. Now, when Russia came on the screens a few hours ago, the first thing that crossed the minds of everyone in the press centre was 'hang on, these projections look like Iceland's did in the national final'. Have Iceland come up with something else, or is Greta's gimmick going to wind up looking rather so-so after Russia? If so, it could really hurt the Icelandic chances.

Towards the end of the day we have Malta, who are almost certainly going to come up with a performance that is BIGGER THAN EUROPE. And Ira will be followed by Frans, the hosts having been allocated a rehearsal position at the beginning of the week, presumably to fill a gap with a delegation that are already present in the host city. We can only assume that we'll see a repeat of the Melodifestivalen performance from Sweden.

That's it! Join us (as the Danes would have said) from 10:00 in the press centre tomorrow, and as always, feel free to ask us any questions in the comments below or on Twitter.

SEMI FINAL TWO - THIRD DRESS REHEARSAL

Well, just like we did for the first, we will blog a bit about the rehearsal but only minimally. Will Portugal have to sing again? Will Iceland sound as bad as it has been? Will the 10 finalists be announced any slower?

Parade
Well, we already have a mistake - San Marino was called out but Montenegro stood up and was seen by the camera. The Slovenes are too slow so Polish Monika decides to overtake them in a move any F1 driver would be proud of!

LITHUANIA
No gay and lesbian kiss in this rehearsal again. Seems like they did it for the jury final so what are we to expect tonight?

IRELAND
Not sure what's going on with her hair with this one. Never really noticed it in any previous rehearsal so I'm assuming it's a new thing. Looks like he had a bee from the honey get stuck in it and she was scratching one part of her head to get it out. No dear. (San Marino intro ...) NO!

SAN MARINO
OH WHAT A SURPRISE! It seems we've been asked to switch the flashlight of the mobile phone on in this song. No one ever saw that one coming. Totally innovative idea.

MONTENEGRO
Knez has had a rough night it seems. He's never been looking like a spring chicken but it seems him and Lys could have been at school together here. Still, he still gets the song out.

MALTA
Apparently she was quite good in the jury final which should help. This is stronger than it was yesterday for sure. It will all depend on tonight I think.

BREAK
Green is the colour of hope "as you all know". I thought it was the colour of envy. But if Conchita says hope, it's hope. Obvi.

Conchita asks the same question to Michele as she did yesterday. This time he seems to have understood. Doesn't sound like a rehearsed answer at all. Molly from Ireland is cracking up at everything. What's you name? "HA!" Where do you come from "HA!" Where are you? "HA!" - OK, those were not the questions but answers were quite that.

NORWAY
LOVESH! Easily going through. He also stays moody for long enough at the end. Want to just give him a good long snog!

PORTUGAL
Ok, obrigado. Até  já!

CZECH REPUBLIC
Great again, would love these to go through.

ISRAEL
Show me Tel Aviv baby! Come on, this has to go through!

LATVIA 
And another sure qualifier if there is any justice in this world. Latvia is a class ahead of many this year. Unfortunately not sure about any problem-giving to the leaderboard, but a true song sung by a true artist.

AZERBAIJAN
Another decent rendition. Should be able to get through - although I just realised I said this for th past three songs. One of them will end up losing out probably - which unfortunately I would say is CZ *unhappy face :-(


ICELAND
Maria is a fairy in a stage play. She's light enough I guess, can't see Bojana having had this role. Although I would pay to watch that!

When not flying accross wooden planks supported by rigging, María is one step out of time. Well, she was yesterday, today it's not as terrible as it was. Seems like she managed to get it right at the end.

BREAK
Conchita small taks to Mørland (aka Kjetil) and then quickly move to talking fashion with Debrah. She then moves to Leonor who plays golf - of course she does. Why would she play anything else?

Charge your phones Europe!

SWEDEN
When something is good you don't change it. Congrats!

SWITZERLAND
The more I listen the more I like, but that's what happens with all the songs like is mentioned all the time. You cannot come here for two weeks and then not like every single one of them - or at least part of a song. Well, except Finland. That still hasn't had any likeable moment for me. Shame they've been kicked out *giggle with look of satisfaction*

CYPRUS
Simple, likeable - still needs to shave though. But if that is as bad as I can get on this then it's a good sign.

SLOVENIA
Camera angles are still a bit weird. Raay playing the airdrums, that random woman playing the air violin ... all a bit ... random. But in a good way? I love the song to bits, one of my favs, but watching it makes me feel stupid and confused - not nice. Then again, I'm in no way representative of European good taste so what the fook do I know.

POLAND
Still want some of that cake. There has been a sever lack of it here considering we're in Austria. Bad Vienna! WORST EUROVISION EVER! 
 
Monika seems to have slept in coz there doesn't seem to be much make-up going on. It's before the watershed dearie, there are children watching! Still find myself singing along to this - harmless enough.


EUROPE (AND AUSTRALIA) START VOTING NOW!

RECAP an History moment etc.

Bit of an awkward pause after recap 2 since Conchita didn't get her moment right (only a few seconds late but it was noticeable). She tells us to go get a drink - we approve.

Voting closed.

Mix of the voting clips still makes me laugh. Love this clip.

Bianca and Alex from Electro Velvet are being interviewed by Arabella. Italy's Il Volo are next to be questioned, this time it's Alice with the microphone. Yodelling is left in the hands of Edurne and the Makemakes are last to be talked to.

Videos of the finalists.

Jan Ola confirms once more that the results are ready.

"Thank you very much Jan Ola."

Qualifiers:

01. Portugal
02. Poland
03. Iceland
04. Cyprus
05. Sweden
06. Lithuania

(this is going slower thankfully)

07. Malta

Arabella is informing us this is fake since there seems to be enthousiastic cheering in the hall. "But thank you for the cheering" says Alice.

08. Israel
09. Azerbaijan

"And the very last country to qualify for the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 is... "

10. SAN MARINO

Thank you and good night!

Semi-final 2 betting guide: A chain of bets for you

Good afternoon everyone. I hope you had a successful and profitable semi-final on Tuesday; I just hope you didn't do what I did and pile more money on Denmark as their odds went out throughout the evening. Oops.

As always, oddschecker is your friend - I'm not listing which bookmakers are carrying the best odds today, as several of them are very even, and they'll continue to change throughout the day.

Unlike the first semi-final, the betting market has very much coalesced around ten qualifiers. It's unusual that all the fancied acts do qualify, so it's definitely worth taking a look at the qualification market to see if there's any money to be made. The one country that immediately stands out to me is Malta. They haven't failed to qualify since 2011, and in a semi-final that has Azerbaijan, Montenegro, San Marino and the Czech Republic voting, I'd be very reticent to write off their chances. Odds of 2.2 seems a decent bet for Amber to qualify, and this is one I've personally backed quite heavily. It's also one time I really won't be sad if I lose my money!

On the other hand, if you think the bookies have mainly got it right on the qualifiers, you could go in on some more safe bets, and try and make your returns with some larger bets at lower odds. 1.29 is available for Cyprus, which seems safe based on rehearsal reports, as does 1.36 on Israel, though both of these have come in considerably during rehearsals. Alternatively, you could just place all your money on Måns to qualify, and take the 1% interest rate that a 1.01 bet offers you.

With ten such solid qualifiers, the not to qualify market is an interesting one today. Of the ten considered most safe, Poland and Iceland are (perhaps rightly) seen to be closest to the cusp, and if you think they'll miss out on a ticket to the final the bookies will offer you 2.62 and 2.75 respectively. I personally still have my wonderings about Slovenia. For a song considered by many to be very contemporary, it's been met with bemusement and indifference from several of the non-fans I've encountered. If you're brave enough to think that Marjetka and Raay could be on the first flight back to Slovenia on Friday morning, odds of 7 will see you making a very tidy profit indeed.

As clear favourite for the contest itself, it's no surprise that Sweden's odds to win the semi-final tonight are very low, with 1.4 the best you'll be offered. Disappointingly, none of the regular bookmakers seem to be offering 'anyone other than Sweden' odds tonight, but if you're willing to get into laying on betfair (see sofabet's excellent guide for more details), lay odds of 1.38 on Sweden effectively translate to odds of 3.63 for Sweden not to win the semi-final.

Perhaps more interesting again is the top three market. With Sweden potentially sucking up a lot of votes, and the potential for fan favourites like Norway or Latvia to do less well than expected, this market is wide open. With an excellent draw and a compelling performance, Cyprus at 3.25 could be a very good bet here, or you can more than double your money with odds of 2.25 on Slovenia.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, if you have faith in a song and its winning chances, now is the time to place a bet for the final. Russia's odds came in dramatically following Polina's performance in the semi-final, and the same is likely to happen tonight. You can still get odds of 3 for Sweden to win the whole thing - if the performance is very strong tonight, and particularly if Heroes gets a good reaction on social media and iTunes following the show, those odds will tumble. On the other hand, if you really have faith in something that's still seen as a bit of an outsider, like Slovenia, consider taking the odds of 51 available now - if Europe really does love it tonight, they won't be there long.

Additionally, if you're keen on betting on the final and want to get in there first, you'll need to stay up late tonight. Once the halves have been drawn in the press conference, the producers will be getting to work on the running order. Last year they were pretty quick - and that moment in the early hours will be the first impression we'll get of how the final will really shape up. Expect the money to go flying thick and fast.