On the first day that delegations start to arrive in Amsterdam your roving ESCKAZ reporters, Mike and Daniel, have been busy stalking the performers at the accredited hotel.

Make=up was grabbed, hair was blow-dried, clothes were changed and several delegations gave us interviews in the brilliant sunshine over-looking the river Amstel....

Check www.esckaz.com for the videos themselves....they are being uploaded to Russia as we type this. But so far so good, no hissy divas at all, the girls have all been excited, glad to be here and looking forward to their free day in Amsterdam

Delegations we have et so far include Belarus, Bulgaria (the party delegation already.....the backing singing boys have already disappeared into the city), Serbia and Slovenia.

Good luck to then all.

Looking forward to this afternoon when we will meet with (hopefully) Malta, San Marino and maybe Albania.....

ESCKAZ are very proud to be in Amsterdam this year for the Eurovision In Concert Party on 9th April.

Not much to say at the moment, except that it's colder than London, the people are nicer than London and it's more expensive than London....only joking, but them euros don't go as far as they used to.....

Okay so it all kicks of tomorrow with the first of the countries on our radar meeting with us at their hotel.....yes Belarus will be wooing us with their rousing love song for their great homeland....can we handle this just after breakfast.....only time will tell.

Next after them are San Marino. We confess to having a little soft spot for Senit and her stunning looks and catchy little (watered down) r'n'b number so we're really looking forward to that one.

Finally on tomorrow's agenda is the pre-party at the Cafe Rouge in the evening, we have a date with the Latvian Head of Delegation there (well about 4-5 drinks if truth be told) and then it's the big day on Saturday with 21, yes 21 delegations, a morning meeting and day trip on a party bus and finally the concert itself on Saturday evening.....it's gonna get messy

So we'll try to bring you updates as and when, and don't forget to check www.esckaz.com for all the video interviews, photos, and other dramas from the whole weekend

M+D

Will mime on her 6 years old version. This is decision of her management. All others will mime on rerecorded versions.

Bet 365

Georgia 11/4
Sweden 7/2
Belgium 9/2
Latvia 6/1
Malta 9/1
Lithuania 9/1
Moldova 9/1
Armenia 11/1
Serbia 12/1
Netherlands 16/1
Belarus 20/1
Macedonia 25/1
Russia 25/1
Ukraine 28/1

was won by Sweden

From Dress-rehearsal

2nd rehearsal is running now and we're ready meanwhile to answer any questions you have - post them in responses to this message.

Началась 2я репетиция, а в это время мы готовы ответить на любые ваши вопросы - постите их под этим сообщением.

BTRC report, just saw him in the hotel and he is a bit unwell, having cold. He will perform Europe Sky, mixed Russian-English version.