Lithuania

Donny's experience from 2012 is that you have to enjoy, what you do. Sometimes you feel fear. Especially with so many viewers. But you need to enjoy yourself. He wasn't prepared for all the attention at Eurovision either, because Lithuania is a small country. He almost felt relieved, when he came back, at nobody wanted to ask questions all the time.

I decided not to hang around for the qualifier press conference tonight as I have a pretty hectic day tomorrow, but I have now caught up with the halves of the draw that the ten countries will perform in. It really has ended up as a show of two halves with most of the uptempo songs in the first half and the ballads and slower moody songs in the second.

Overall I think tonight's show was far better than Tuesday's. The songs were better, the pacing was sharper and there was less of last year's winner, though still far too much. The camerawork was also improved, but the issue with flags blocking the screen is still a major problem and has to be sorted on Saturday.

As for the seven songs that went out, only Switzerland and Ireland can feel hard done by and Poland qualifying was a bit of a shock. Some are suggesting it was a sympathy vote, but it was also helped by the draw so perhaps not totally unpredictable.

My thoughts on the seven that went home;
IRELAND: I think Molly performed well and for once I liked the Irish staging. However I thought we were probably doomed on the day we were given the awful #2 draw and so it came to be. I may sound like a broken record here but once again can I suggest RTÉ looks at its selection process. The current formula is giving is the worst set of results we've ever had in the contest.

SAN MARINO: Dreadful patchwork of a song and no amount of youthful enthusiasm can replace a lack of stage craft. It was always a no-hoper. It deserved to finish last and being honest, if this is the best that they can come up with, San Marino has no place in the contest.

MALTA: A much better performance by Amber tonight but there was far too much going on to distract you in the presentation.It was as if no lessons were learnt from Olivia Lewis in 2007. The song was always too weak for this semi, but might have had a chance in the first semi. No surprise this lost out.

PORTUGAL: The Portuguese chose the wrong song in the Eurovision selection, it's as simple as that. No matter how good Leonor was tonight (and she was very good), the song was just poor. Like Ireland, Portugal needs to re-think its selection process. There's enough talent there to do very well in the contest but RTP are not tapping into it.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Whoever decided to add the ridiculous shoe throwing to the act should never be allowed near the contest again. Until that point the performance was solid, even if the song was always a little dull. I fear that we may never see the Czechs back in the contest.

ICELAND: Not only the worst vocal performance of the night, one of the worst of this century. It was always a big heap of nothing of a song, with basically a repeated chorus and no verses but everything about this was absolutely dreadful from he staging to the costume, but especially the off-key performance.

SWITZERLAND: I really feel sorry for Melanie, because this was a terrific performance and hugely improved on the national final. Switzerland just doesn't have friendly neighbours or a diaspora, but if Austria can win, so can they. Really disappointed not to see this in the final.

The following countries are in the first half;
 Armenia
 Australia
 Belgium
 Cyprus
 Estonia
 France
 Israel
 Lithuania
 Norway
 Serbia
 Slovenia
 Sweden
 United Kingdom

That's a lot of up-tempo and mid-tempo songs. Personally I'd probably open with United Kingdom, then go with Armenia and Sweden, for contrast. I would have Israel at #13

At #14 it's Austria

In the second half you have the following countries;
 Albania
 Azerbaijan
 Georgia
 Germany
 Greece
 Hungary
 Italy
 Latvia
 Montenegro
 Poland
 Romania
 Russia
 Spain

There's no up-tempo song in there at all, but Georgia, Germany and Montenegro are at least mid-tempo. Hungary, Greece, Russia and Spain need to be kept apart. The director will certainly earn his money tonight.

Tomorrow I will review the running order, as I fly back to Dublin.

We had a chance today to see the opening ceremony of the Eurovision Village at the City Hall Square with a unique show idea FASHION FOR EUROPE. The idea is about designers and brands from many different participating countries building bridges through fashion.

In total it took 1.5 hours to present 14 brand: Agnesa Vuyhaj (Albania), Sinoian (Armenia), Lena Hoschek (Austria), Fakhriya Khalafova (Azerbaijan), Bernard Depoorrter (Belgium), Ivana Helsinki (Finland), Atelier Michalsky (Germany), Galia Lahav (Israel), Calzedonia (Italy), Daili (Lithuania), Sanja Matijevic (Montenegro), Blessus by Michael Hekmat (Poland), Adelina Ivan (Romania), Julian Zigerli (Switzerland).

Lithuania get to kick start our second day of rehearsals and they do so with plenty of enthusiasm.

Again, the chemistry between Vaidas and Monika comes across so well in on screen. Good vocal run for the Lithuanian duo too. There have no changes been made in terms of the backdrops, which is a good thing, and really adds to the performance.

I don't think we could have had a better opener for semi 2 then, Lithuania, and judging by the rehearsal seen today, I think it's very likely we'll see Lithuania in the final, Saturday May 23.

Lithuania are the first to kick off the rehearsals for the second semi final, and we're straight in with a bang.

Monika is wearing a lovely short white dress with a top consisting of dark blue and magenta pink flower pedals. She's starting off on her own walking onto the stage with a yellow sunrise behind her on the backdrop. Vaidas then comes in as well, in his baby blue waist coat and trousers with as backdrop a blue sunrise.

When the chorus kicks in the backdrops features an array of bright colours including blue, yellow and pink giving 'This Time' a very uplifting, energetic and bright performance. The kiss 'from the national final has remained as well, and it just lifts the performance. I would say, that perhaps it takes a little bit too long. When the 2 female and male backing vocalists join Vaidas and Monika, the performance features three loved up couples, which is just very uplifting.

I love this performance, simply because Vaidas and Monika ooze charisma and have so much chemistry between them. Just like Moldova in semi 1, I don't think we could have had a better song opening the second semi final.

A very confident and consisting start for Lithuania who are setting the bar very high for the remaining acts to follow today.

Lithuania, Huit Points!

What a nice start of the day! Lithuania presented the song in a very cheerful manner. Monika is dressed in a colorful retro dress and Vaidas in light blue suit, the four backing vocals (two girls, and two boys) are wearing black.

I'm not convinced about their vocals, there is some work to be done. But their attitude, their mood, and their smiles - it definitely makes the show. And when the sing "kiss" - they actually KISS, for a few seconds only :)

Well done, Lithuania!

Wow that's a bright colourful start to the day

Vocally there needs to be a little work on this, but it's first one of the day and does not need to be anywhere near perfect

Chemistry between the two is there.....some would say finally.....but this is the performance that matters now....forget the promo tour clips!

This year the host city of Vienna is providing literally hundreds of options for daily excursions to the various sights around Vienna

Last night Daniel and I were very fortunate to take one of the relaxed evening trips along the Danube river in the company of the delegations from Lithuania, Serbia, Estonia and various assembled press. All courtesy of www.ddsg-blue-danube.at

At around 7pm we all gathered on the boat with waiter service, plenty of food and some great company, and some live music from a saxophone player, mixed in with some background music, sadly not all Eurovision....

The whole trip lasted about 3 hours and at no point did the food or drink run out....always a huge plus.....

It was totally amazing to see the Danube in full for most of the journey, including going though the Danube Canal lock twice.....

Pictures and Video clip below;

Highly recommended for any visitor to Vienna, if you are here for Eurovision or not!