Rehearsal

So we have now officially started!

As already mentioned the first runthrough was without sound from the press centre. However, as we are next to the hall we can hear *a bit* - and notice that the stream is not in sync with the sound from the hall. I hope this will be fixed or it could cause some confusion!

The second time it is unfortunately still the same. What I like is that it's not all dark. The background is a mix of blue and pink/purple and looks like a nice opener. Haven't heard anything worth mentioning yet but looks like a solid opener and Robin clearly knows what he's doing.

Third time - we have sound! It sounds really good I must say and will probably do very well. It's just not really my cup of tea. Also, now it's exactly 10.30 am here so in a few minutes we move on to country nr. 2!

Well we started on time in the press centre, Sweden are on stage, but as always zero sound in the press centre

Still there's really not much to say about this at all - the national final performance repeated on the Kyiv stage

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We start with Mans and kid performing Heroes. The complete kids choir joins them on the stage for the last chorus.

Intro about Sweden and we see hosts entrance. First words: Welcome to the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Yes, it was really 3 long years, but finally we're back in Sweden again.

Mans thanks Vienna for the wonderful show last year in German.

Petra say she was doing absolutely nothing since 3 years ago, sitting home on the sofa and praying that someone would return contest to Sweden so she can get employed again.

Magic words: Welcome, Europe! show appearance of Europe the Band stand-ins performing Final Countdown. Hosts apologize for misunderstanding.

Bost hosts (Petra with numerous mistakes) impress with their French language explaining the voting. You can not vote more than 20 times from one phone.

We have titles and names of songwriters this year at the end of postcard part rather than during the performance itself.

Sandhja is much better vocally tonight, I'm still not impressed by her outfit, while backing vocalists look too dark as well. This is a good opener, but non-qualifier in my books.

Greece has no problems whatsoever in the performance, it is quite energetic and guys just give it all on the stage. Would love to see this qualifying as it is quite unique, we don't have many songs with national instruments this year.

Lidia is doing OK in her jury performance. The hilarious moment with astronaut appearance is still there, and it just distracts viewers on my opinion. They were not allowed by EBU to bring in French lyrics. The 10 seconds of backing vocals solo is a bit painful. It has minor chances to qualify.

Freddie is OKish vocally though synchronization with backings doesn't work at times. I'm totally not impressed by his outfit - white t-shirt. It gets really strong by the end, and may get enough votes to qualify.

Nina is totally amazing and vocals/outfits combined this is the song to stand out from first part and it's certain qualifier. We have a break after it, with video with Mans and Petra playing Taxi drivers, with special appearance of our friends from Wiwi, Verka Serduchka and others.

Douwe has no problems but I'm completely unsure if the pause works. Public seems confused of what is going on at this moment. It doesn't help to anything, and the song may just get lost among the others around it.

Iveta is great vocally and this is another sure qualifier, and get a big round of applause in the press-center as well. It's perhaps the only one who can challenge Russia in this semi.

Charming yet chanceless San Marino performs well. Serhat is amazing artist and sounds exactly like on the record.

Now to the potential winner of the semifinal Russia. No problems this time for Sergey but it still kind of looks he isn't yet delivering in the full force. Should have zero problems to qualify and there aren't really much candidates to rival him in this semi.

Press-center gets excited for Czech Republic as well. I much prefer Croatia to this even though ballads still kind of lack something. It can be a first qualifier for Czechia but it has a strong competition around. Gabriela delivers at her top vocally.

Cyprus is extremely energetic, quite fine vocally and with impressive staging is another sure finalist.

Zoe still on my opinion can bring the biggest surprise in the competition, I have her sure in top 10 in the final, this is catchy and she is ultra cute.

Juri seem to have some vocal problems through the performance and I'm not impressed enough to say this is a qualifier.

In the break Petra plans to say Douwe's name million times, she also plans to talk to Serhat, reveal her legs, talk to "lovely big boy" Sergey.

Samra is perfectly honest saying: we crush and we burn - this is definitely about her vocals. This will still qualify but only just. They should have hired complete backing choir instead of dancers.

Montenegro, despite confident performance is heading to the last place in this semifinal. There is nothing memorable in this song to a general viewer not called Mike.

Greta is doing quite well, even if she is a bit thin vocally. She gets applause in press-center and the visual part of the performance should help well for it to pass to the finals.

Bosnia should join Croatia in the list of finalists easily, staging is very impressive, they deliver live vocally and it looks really great on screens.

I would have had huge doubts in Malta's qualification if it wasn't performed last. Still it is quite a borderline entry, there is nothing to massively impress viewer and it's destined to get lost in the final.

Hosts mention international superstar to join us in the finals (who we now know is Justin Timberlake), Petra comments that of course she will be appearing in the final too, as she signed for all 3 shows.

After an interval act we're getting performances of Big 5 acts: Spain, France and Frans. Spain looks much more energetic and catchy than France and should do quite well. I'm still puzzled over what Frans result might be.

Serhat got back his hat from the audience. Jon Ola Sand, Dumbledore of Eurovision confirms we have the result.

Winners from tonight are (fake result): Azerbaijan, while Petra fails to name it, Austria, Estonia, The Netherlands, San Marino, Czech Republic, Cyprus. Mans says there are 11 tickets tonight, apologizes saying 11 countries are left. Armenia, Hungary, Russia.

What to say?
Amazing staging, perfect vocal, all very sexual and sensual and Sergey sells the socks off this, but that said something is still missing for me from this. Almost certain that this will win now with the televote, but I am not so sure with the juries

Laura has certainly done her home work. She's delivering a huge routine.
Vocally I'm not entirely impressed yet, I am hoping the backings are a bit stronger in the chorus.

Personally I'm not a big fan of the overall orange and yellow look, but considering this is a song with a lot of disco elements, I can see why this was chosen.

Laura does bring a big choreography along, and you can see she's worked hard on it.

Funny little detail, I just got a cup of coffee and while pouring it, several journalists were also grabbing coffee whistling What's The Pressure. A Good omen?

Let's hope so!

Didn't really see much of Macedonia's first rehearsal, but what I did notice was the four backing vocals and a drummer.

Vocally, Kaliopi is just outstanding as she has proven before. Soft blue colour scheme during the verses, flames and gold/yellow colour scheme during the chorus.

I like this a lot, and as one of the only nations to sing in their native language, I do hope Macedonia make it to the final.

Their absence in 2014 has most definitely revived Serbia's desire for Eurovision glory.

Sanja and her song couldn't be more different from Bojana last year, but my god, she sure does not let down.

Joined by four backing singers, and a dancer who's portraying the abuser in the song, Sanja's delivering power vocals. Gone are the exaggerated facial expressions, from the official video.

Really impressed by this, and think this is gonna do extremely well next Thursday AND Saturday.

IVAN from Belarus is without a doubt the most talked about artist this year, even before the contest started.

His idea to perform naked has partly been granted, as you'll notice from the introduction. A naked IVAN hologram caressing a hologram wolf. You get the party. In fact the whole performance can be described as hologram. There is so much going on that I hope the Belarussian team whittle it down a bit.

Vocally IVAN's not quite on par either, but that's probably just the nerves with all the media attention and being in Globen for the first time.

Kicking off day 3 rehearsals is the ever so charming 21 year old Justs from Latvia.

Just like the Czech Republic yesterday, Justs is treating us to an absolute power vocal on 'Heartbeat'. You can not fault him there.

The overall staging is kept pretty simple, staying true to the feel of the national final. Dark blue colours, with hints of red during the chorus, set the atmosphere for this uptempo start. Justs is also appearing on stage alone. A little change in the outfit however, as the brown jacket has been swapped for a black one.

The negative is really the camera work at this stage. There's too many strange side angles, especially first verse, which I hope the Latvian broadcaster will make SVT aware of. Im also not very sure on some of those long shots, as it really puts an emphasis on Justs being all alone on that big stage.

Not that that should be much of a trouble, Justs is a great performer and throughout the runs, he's proven to have pitch perfect vocals and fantastic stage presence.

Great first rehearsal!

Bosnia Herzegovina have returned to Eurovision and they are doing so with some of the most talented artists of the country.

Really like the song, but not entirely sure about some of the costumes that have been chosen. Ana is wearing this really strange cape. There's also razer wire, separating Dalal and Deen.

I like the staging, the entry is well sung. I really think Bosnia Herzegovina are going to maintain their 100% qualification record.

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