Opinion

Final artist on the stage, and it's already the last participant in the first semi final.

Nina Sublatti from Georgia is channeling her inner comic superhero, Raven, by the looks of her outfit. Wearing a pair of hot pants, and a leather jacket with feathers on the top, including a raven headgear, Nina is looking absolutely fierce.

She's absolutely owning that stage, with her impressive vocals. First time around she drowned a little in the sound but with the second run, the sound's much better adjusted.

There's not that much happening on the stage itself, but the anticipation really builds up when the smoke fills the stage during the intermezzo.

Great end to finish, this first semi final with. I am getting good vibes from this, there's definitely comparisons to be made with Moldova in 2007 when they unexpectedly made it to the grand final with a similar song.

Great first rehearsal for the Georgian team.

Romania have send a band to Vienna who is one of their most professional and experienced household names from home.
It's that professionality that really shines through in the entry that they picked, but also the way it's portrayed on the staging.
the backdrop starts first with two gigantic suitcases which open, and showcases shots from the song's video clip. Throughout the stage, several suitcases are being scattered around.

The first chorus and two verses are fully sung in Romanian before the rest of the track is being performed in English. I think that's been a good choice to make it fifty fifty allow both the international viewers as Romanian supporters to understand the lyrics.

Personally Romania's song doesn't really do much for me, but their professionalism is really shining through in the way they perform and I don't see any reason why Romania wouldn't make it into the finals this year.

Romania, Sept Points!

From all the songs in the competition, Albania has possibly grown the most on me, over time.

Elhaida has a great voice, and she's really showing it off during her rehearsal. Again it's really important to stress that this is a first rehearsal and things in its first run through weren't quite as fluent as they would normally be.

But as the performance went on Elhaida clearly felt more confident.

she's dressed in a black catsuit that comes with a black cape, with sets diamonds. The overall backdrops is a metallic bronze colour, which is quite a warm colour that suits elhaida's voice and overall feel.

Still some work to do for Albania, but not a bad start.

Albania Sept Points!

Never change a winning team. For years we've seen Danish entrants coming to the Eurovision Song contest very well prepared. 2015 is no different.

Anti Social Media have stuck very closely to the performance like we know it from the Danish national final. Even their costumes are similar, if not exactly the same. And that's pretty fine by me. The 60'ies pop of the band, comes fully to its right on the big stage, and it's really a gigantic stadium filler. It's main colours on the stage are black and white.

Adequately sung, as you would expect from the Danish, who have a very solid first rehearsal. Consistence is the key to success.

Should have no problem qualifying.

Denmark Huit Points!

Russia is the last act to perform, before we go on a quick break, but wauw, can I just say that Polina and her team are delivering a confident, no nonsense performance.

Polina's a professional, her vocal capabilities are unreal. It's like she's not even trying that hard. Really really impressed. She's wearing a long figure hugging silky white gown on which little drops are being projected at times.

What's so impressive with the Russian rehearsal is, is that Polina has not brought any props with her. She's solely relying on her vocals. She's joined by three backings and a drummer, all dressed in white, who are bringing that real stadium feel to 'A Million Voices'.

The backdrops as well are so cleverly sought out and they all work very well together.

Right now, Russia is walking over everything we have seen today. Qualifying should be dead easy and this is the first contender, for the top place coming May 23rd.

Russia, DOUZE POINTS!

Uzari and Maimuna had their very first rehearsal for Belarus too, and... Oh it pains me to say this, but I'm not feeling the performance at all.

Now I'm gonna be positive because after all this is just a first rehearsal and a chance to explore the stage.

Backdrop wise, Belarus have a lot going on. Overall it's a red cardiac backdrop with hearts which then transforms into an orange, red spectacle with white wires flowing through the screens. But then when the bridge kicks in we're seeing the backdrop change to a blue sky with several clouds.

Unfortunately the change in the backdrop is mainly what's going on for Belarus and that's a shame because there song is so traditional Eurovision, that it lends itself to a variety of ways in which it can benefit from using some standard props. E.g I'm missing a big bang moment in the bridge, which could easily be done with some pyros. I also think that the use of a windmachine could really enhance the performance. There seems to be a bit more interaction between Uzari & Maimuna in this run through, but I want more!

Vocally I get the feeling Uzari's holding back, and for a first rehearsal I'm more than happy ok with that. Still there's a lot of work to do for Belarus in my opinion. But I'm hopeful and I really hope they consider making some small changes.

Belarus, Six points

Boggie from Hungary has just done the first run through of her rehearsal and I'm pretty impressed... well with some of the elements of their staging.

Hungary's going for a very understated performance. The camera zooms in to Boggie, who's wearing a bourgondy red long gown, while her backing vocals are scattered over the stage. One by one they join Boggie while the song progresses.

I'm impressed with the galaxy backdrop. Interesting here, is that a tree grows from guns, which shape the tree first. Then unfortunately the backdrop changes to a green field with a blossoming tree and, I'm losing the connection with the song.

Perhaps that's my main issue with the Hungarian entry, I'm missing a connection. I'm not sure Boggie is yet convincingly enough in the camera and trying to connect with the audience, although I'm pretty sure she'll have all of that sorted for the big moment.

Hungary, Sept Points!

Bojana Stamenov from Serbia gets to kickstart our second day. And boom did she kick things off.

I'm still not entirely convinced about the song itself if I'm being honest. Yes, Bojana has a great voice and she hits her notes perfectly, but I'm not convinced about the two extremes being combined together in one song.

As for the styling: Bojana is wearing a silver and white long dress. I'm a little disappointed with the choice in fact. Who knew Bojana was supporting a healthy dose of curly hair, and in a way that's not a bad thing, but at the moment it looks a little like she's just tumbled out of bed. (sorry Bojana). I'm still hoping her hair stylist does something a little different to her hair.

I really think the strongest selling point for Bojana is how they make the presentation come across live. She's very likeable, and there's plenty of close ups. So Grab the moment Bojana! The first part of the song is very static, with the white flags, white long coats and masks of the backing vocals. But when the beat kicks in, and they take off their coats, the song really comes to life.

So vocally, top notch, but I'm hoping to see a little more fun from Bojana herself on the stage.

Serbia, Sept Points!

Well that woke the press centre up this morning

Not too sure about her BIG HAIR thing going on, but the outfits look good. The singing is prefect for this song, tad on the shouty side but that works with this.....

Obviously the fan boys round the press centre love it......and so doe this fan boy too :-)

Wellt he day went super well until the interview and meet and greet chaos started after lunchtime, at this point I lost complete track of the rehearsals going on the screen and missed almost all of them.

That said I did catch glimpses in between running from the press conference area, the interview rooms and the desk to upload it all and actually managing to get 2 or 3 interviews done

So.......

Finland, basically the national final repeated, still not a fan of the song at all....but that's just personal taste. However the guys really came to life a bit at their press conference for me.....like them a to now.....they are down to earth and hope they do well now!!

Greece....amazing performance from Maria-Elena for probably the best ballad in the competition this year....interview to come later this week, which I am really looking forward as she's a real doll!

Estonia....well I am sadly disappointed with this to be honest, vocally this was not really great today, but again this is a rehearsal, so hopefully this will improve by the time of their second rehearsal on Thursday.

Macedonia, again I was a little disappointed with this so hopefully this will improve for next time when the second run through.

That's really all there is from today.....