The semi was opened by three presenters, two ladies and, of course, Stefan Raab. Introductions were made and an explanation of how the semi's are divided up and a little about the Big 5 with a special welcome to Italy's return....
And so the semi 1 dress rehearsal begins with ....
After the Polish post card which seems to be about a love letter, we go to Jestem, sung by Magdalena Tul for Poland. She is dressed in white jewelled mini frock and is joined on stage by four backing dancers. Magdalena comes across well and her vocals seem good and the performance overall was well done. A good opener.
Norway's post card is about a climber reaching the top of a mountain.... Stella looks stunning in her gold dress and is joined on stage by 5 dancers/ backing singers... Stella imediately sets the stage alight with her lively performance. Colourful back drop to the whole performance. She uses a wind machine. Vocals still a little weak in places but the bounciness of the song carries it... Stella then tries to get the crowd to join in which will inevitably happen .... A great performance
Albania's post card seems to be about two lovers taking a stroll along a beach. Aurela is dressed all in white with a flowing dress which is caught by a wind machine.... her hair is bright red..... stunning LED backdrop... very effective and suits the song... it's a wave movement against a red back ground... very good strong vocals and Aurela works the camera well. A very confident performer and performance for Albania.
Emmy for Armenia is up next against a back drop of blue vibrating stars on the huge LED screens... She is sitting in a big boxing glove and her backing dancers have boxing dressing gowns on.... Her vocals have improved from the rehearsals but the sound mix sometimes did not come across at times on the tv.... Emmy is dressed in a white rara type skirt with jewels on and she and her dancers give an energetic performance... the dancers surround Emmy with white ribbons to represent a boxing ring and she walks around it singing ....
The post cards semm to be projected on the LED screens for the audience in the hall while the stage gets ready.....
Yuksek Sedakat sings for Turkey and the lead singer is wearing green trousers and a black shirt and is on stage with his band. There is a contortionist in the spherical globe. This is a good strong performance of this rock song, good vocals. The lead singer sings to the girl in the cage. This is a very good performance by the Turkish performers and the whole band works the tv cameras well. The globe ends up being covered up and the lead singer releases her as an angel.
Now there is a break showing footage of the welcome party at the Tonnehalle on Saturday night. Stefan Raab interviews various contestants and getting the artists to sing a german folk song.
Nina now sings for Serbia.... There is a very psychedelic back drop reminiscent of the 70s... Nina is wearing a 60s style black short dress and the three backing girls are wearing similar more colourful outfits.... Nina's vocals are excellent and she comes across as very confident... the three backing dancers/singers join Nina in the centre of the stage and it all looks very well done, well rehearsed and polished performance.... Nina and her backers all work the stage and tv very well .. this is a fun perfomance ..... Very good for Serbia... good cheer from the press...
After the russian post card, Alex Sparrow is standing on a plinth surrounded by two screens .... he is singing a typical russian song before launcing into the song 'Get You'.... he is wearing black jeans and a low cut white t-shirt with a black leather jacket.... the backers appear from behind the screens and the choreography is very good.... Alex is a confident and charasmatic performer... his vocals are good ..... the backing dancers all wear LED shoes..... Alex does a backward somersault off the platform...... Alex works the tv camera well and the arena audience ..... All the LEDs are white as well as the boys' jackets which light up.
Anna now sings for Switzerland... she is wearing a stunning red glittery dress and is joined on stage by two guys with instruments.... the LEDs are nice and simple.... all clouds and weather type symbols but suit the song very well..... Her vocals are spot on and she knows how to play to the tv cameras... she does tend to stay in one spot though.....Simple and effective performance ....
Next up is Eldrine for Georgia ....The lead singer is dressed in a green and black costume and her backing band are dressed in stunning grey with colour edges.... this is performed very well with good strong vocals and the use of a wind machine ..... the boys do a bit of rapping and then she carries on with the rock song.... the staging is electrified with pulsing LED efefcts ... a very good performance indeed by Eldrine .....
There is now a small announcement about the voting system which starts from the begining...
Next up is Paradise Oskar for Finland ..... Oskar stands alone on the big stage with his guitar.... he is wearing his eco friendly shirt .... the camera zooms in on Oskar and he seems to be working the camera quite well ... the back drop huge LED screen starts off with stars and then a huge image of the planet earth rises up slowly and spins round... a very stunning and appropriate back drop.... Oskar's vocals are very good... this is a good performance by him and the song has a very good message..
We now see the Maltese post card .... seems to be in a theatre .... Glen and his backing dancers all start with their backs to the audience... wearing casual jackets and jeans, Glen turns round and walks to front of stage... there are three girls singing onplatforms behond dressed in black with white sun glasses... the backing dancers are very energetic and dance around Glen the LEDs are pulsating circles and various shapes in tune to the beat ... glen's vocals are very good and spot on and Glen knows how to work the tv camera to get the best effect ... he certainly gives his all and this comes across on tv .... the LEDs are now showing bits of his official music video... very well done..
San Marino post card showing a big lake with a young couple on a boat sight seeing..... Senit is dressed in a stunning sparkly gold dress with three backing singers and two guitarists ... they sing from centre stage and this alolows Senit to work the camera .... her vocals are very good and suit this ballad style ... the guitarists join her at the finale of the song and she sings to them .... simple and very effective performance of a very pleasant song .... as well as the close shots of senit there are a lot of wide camera angle shots....
Croatia has another skiier at an alpine resort post card ..... Daria is wearing a short black dress with a gold sequin strip down the middle... she has four backing singers and a huy at a mock dj post.... Daria is joined by the dj/backer who leads her to a hoop which he pulls over her and then she steps out and she has a pink dress on suddenly.... she now walks down cat walk but only half way and returns ... she then walks up to backing singers ... vocally she is fine and Daria works the stage and cameras to her advantage ... finale there is a pyro and another frock change and then it ends....
Icelandic post card at a fish market ... seems to be a slight technical delay ....
And we're back.... Sjonni's friends are dressed in white shirts with grey waist coats and trousers and are in a line singing .... the backdrop LED is of golden turning cog wheels .... the guys clearly look as they are having fun on stage and their vocals are perfect .... they look good together and get on well which clearly comes across ... their harmonies are spot on ..... the cameras zoom in and out on the performers in the stage .... as well as using wide angle shots from front and behind to capture the crowd ... polished confident performance...
Advert break now and we have interviews from the green room ... now interviewing Stella ... the green room is actually a series of pink lit boxes against a black back ground in which the performers sit...
Humgary is up next and their post card is also in a food market and a restaurant ... Kati starts on stage with her two backing singers .. lit only by blue spot lights .... then the stage erupts in LEDs and spot lights as she sings the first chrous .... Kati is dressed in a short aqua blue wrap around dress as are her singers ... she is joined by three male dancers in white ... her vocals are good although at some of the high notes didn't come across loud enough on the tv it seemed ... however this is a very good and energetic performance and Kati works the stage and the tv cameras... the choral part at the end is good and Kati tries to get the crowd to clap along ....
Portugal next and it is a couple in a maze who get seperated and try to find each other, which they do of course... Homens da Luta all stand in the centre stage in a line in their various colourful costumes holding placards except the lead singer who has a megaphone ... the back drop is very colourful to reflect the song ... at the chorus, they all raise their placards to chant the song... very energetic performance and they seem to be having fun whilst trying to get their message across..... the cameras zoom in the performers on stage when they raise the placards and another camera hones in on the performers individually ... this is a bouncy performance to the end...
Lithuania's post card is back to a mountain scene with skiiers and snow ball fights ... Evalina stands central stage dressed in a long white dress with black embroidery and she has a pianist at a white piano just behind her ... the camera zooms in on her and she plays to the camera with good effect ... she smiles at the camera all the time and this comes across as well on the tv.... vocally she is perfect and Evalina also signs for the deaf for part of the song ... she starts moving as the song builds up in the chorus and the camera follows her... the back drop LED is stunning star effect with white spot lights shining upwards ... nice performance from Evalina .....
Azerbaijan post card shows a typical german village square with old world houses and tourists on a tour of the town ... Ell and Nikki are in a line with their dancers and it starts off that the camera shots mean you can't see them at first and then the dancers all walk away until Ell and Nikki are revealed back to back and then they seperate at the chorus ... they are both dressed in white but their vocals do not come across as well on tv and seem too soft... they walk about the stage inbetween the backing singers and the camera follows them at different points .... the camera shows them back together as he stares into her face lovingly and they hold hands and sing the final chorus ... the LED backing is simple and effective of strobing lights and spot lights ...
The Greek post card shows a marathon with runners .... A dark and broody beginning to the Greek entry with blue spot lights ... then the camera shot opens with stereo mike and the rapping does not come across well on tv... backing dancers dance all around him ... now Loucas sings, dressed in a simple black suit ... his vocals are excellent and the backing dancers are completely still when he sings ... they start dancing when Stereo Mike sings... again the rapping does not come across well on the tv ... the back drop turns in to big colloseum type pillars all in blue and white ... in the ethnic part there is more dancing by all the dancers who now take their jackets off.. stereo Mike returns to the back of the stage and it focusses on Loucas.... as it ends...
That is all the contestants and we return to the three hosts who explain the voting system... we see the scoreboard which is black with each country's flag on it.... now we get the reprises of each song in order from the first song ...
Then it goes to the green room again ... we now see all the post cards together which seems to represent this year's Eurovision theme of 'Feel the heart beat' .... all the post cards are now in a montage and they are all shouting out their messages in their own languages before returning to the logo of the heart beat...
We return to Stefan and a female host telling a joke and then another reprise ....with a count down clock to the end of voting ....
Count down has finished and back to Stefan and a female host who explain that only 10 contestants will go through fromsemi one to the final ....
They are standing on the 'satelite' small stage in the centre of the audience.
They introduce the interval act which we think is a typical german marching band... which we don't see as this is a stage rehearsal ..
They also show clips of the Big 5 entries .. they show the music video clips.
More green room interviews ..... followed by some attempts at jokes by the hosts ...
EBU executive comment on the juries voting and then also the televoting ....
The envelopes are announced .... on tv screen appears host on the left of screen and an envelope in the middle and the ten slots to the right of the screen ....
The envelopes open and the country floats to the slot...
First run through finalist is Finland ... then Norway ... after each announcement they go to the corresponding entrant in the green room .... Georgia is the next finalist ... then Albania .... then Armenia ... then Serbia ....