First at all - why there are only four hostes and will the number grow to eight for the final?
To be continued on that...

And now back to the important stuff:

01 Norway
As I've missed a lot rehearsals, I'm gonna watch tonight as if I've just switched my TV on without knowing what is going on. I totaly agree with Desirée. Fairytale reloaded and Oslo might come back as Eurovision host.

02 Romania
Oh, those masks are scary. Put your kids away from television if you don't want to get a sleepless night. And again, I'm totaly agree with Desirée. "Goodbye" is a song which could work for Eurovision but the performans kills it. Shame.

03 Serbia
Wow. Great, unusual, but with a catchy melodie. Pop meets ethno. Strong voices. I'm afraid it still too unusual for the average national audience, but I really would like to see Albert Einstein with his panpipe in the final again.

04 San Marino
Well. Don't think, it is going through the semi. At least both ladies AND the robots are enjoying themselves on stage, don't they?

05 Denmark
Again - agree with Desirée. A solid show, charismatic artist with a good voice and a strong message (too much make up for a viking though ;) ). My colleague was singing along and the press center applauded.

06 Russia
There are so many questions on that perfomance I won't never get answered. Why the montain, why the dancer, why an outfit from the grandmom's wardrobe? I was so distracted, I couldn't concentrate on the vocals or the song, which is a shame, as they are quite good. Still, the audience liked it. C'mon, Julia, you can do the Final.

07 Moldova
Balcan beat meets Estrada and I must confessed, my slavic soul looooooves it. The performance is maybe a little bit over the top for my taste, but hey, it's Eurovision where sky is the limit. The vocals were fine, dear Desirée :)

08 The Netherlands
Sometimes less is more and that definitely the case of Waylon's performance or rather the performance of his stage entourage. Those break dancers will break your neck in the Semi, hon. However, it is still a cool radio song that I've already added to my spotify playlist. Without the dancers.

09 Australia
A very strong vocal performance, but the dancing seems to be a tribute to "Puppet on a String" and, unfortunately, the camera shots don't flatter Jessica.

10 Georgia
One of my favorites this year. The vocal energy rises with every moment. But I'm afraid the music is too sophisticated and the show too classical for the Final.

11 Poland
Agree with Desirée: quite flat vocals even with some noticeable breaks, but a wide voice range isn't required for dance pop. Cool staging, catchy tune, could work.

12 Malta
Again, less is more. Strange cheesy visuals which distract from the song but, unfortunately, not in a good way. She seems to relax and gain confindence during the performance, but will it help?

13 Hungary
Can't write - need to handbang now. Finally something authentical came up on the Eurovision horizont. This entry shows that the contest IS open for all genres beyond the limited frames of commercial music. I would love to see them at the Final and I'm sure, I will.

14 Latvia
Good vocal performance, but an average performance.

15 Sweden
If Justin Timberlake and Justin Biber would merge together, Benjamin Ingrosso will be the result. Absolutely love it. A radio hit, sung by a very very very charismatic artist and supported with a stunning but still very simple stage set. Less is more, as I said.

16 Montenegro
Smooth, powerful voice, but the entry is too traditional. A modern staging, performance and costumes could have bring it through the Semi, but I'm afraid, he's gonna stuck here.

Norway
Denmark
Moldova
The Netherlands
Australia
Poland
Malta
Sweden
Montenegro
Ukraine

Actually this a little tougher than Semi one if truth be told

Norway
Romania
Denmark
Russia
Moldova
Australia
Malta
Hungary
Sweden
Ukraine

Though I could swop Romania and San Marino in first half and Malta and Poland in the second half...

No time to keep thinking of what happened yesterday as the first dress rehearsal for tomorrow's semi-final is already in full swing! Later on we will fill you in on what happens on the postcards as well..

01 Norway
This is becoming a solid favourite for the win, the performance is slick and it's a cheerful opener. But the question remains how much juries will take this song seriously. Alexander seemed to be saving his voice.

02 Romania
Vocally this is very strong again, but the performance is too theatrical, too kitsch for this song. I will not be surprised if this will be the end of Romania's perfect streak.

03 Serbia
Good performance in this rehearsal, it keeps getting better and better. After Romania I think this has a chance.

04 San Marino
The robots and Jessika and Jenifer as well are back! Size doesn't matter was one of the messages on the cards held by the robot. It may distract from the sometimes weak vocals at the end.

05 Denmark
Another good and solid performance from Rasmussen, really not much to say about this, it looks and sounds very well, no issues at all here.

06 Russia
The vocal arrangements in the chorus seems to have been altered a bit, it sounds a lot more shouty now especially during the long notes. Really hard to predict what will happen here.

Time for a little break now in the greenroom, with a little game with Alexander Rybak among other things..

07 Moldova
Not sounding that great today in the hall, could be that they are saving themselves for tonight. It's still a fun performance though.

08 The Netherlands
Putting Waylon's stage together apparently takes a bit more than the time of the postcards, as just after the postcard we got switched to one of the hosts in the audience for a very awkward conversation that went completely wrong. Let's say "It's just a rehearsal" as San Marino reminded us a few days ago.

Now, to the actual performance. Vocally it sounds really good and it is not completely my genre but I feel we're back to real music after a few weaker songs. There are far less shots of the crumping dance right now, so it looks better. I think there's still a chance for the Netherlands.

09 Australia.
Back to the greenroom again! That's how they fill three extra minutes it seems being this the semi with one song less.
Very strong vocal performance from Jessica. It's one of the few straightforward pop songs and still think this could really have an instant appeal. I do think however that the shots during the bridge where Jessica is dancing are not that great.

10. Georgia
There seemed to be some issues with the sound at the beginning as it started a bit weak. Iriao soon got back on full strength though. With a few of the ethnical entries out from the first semi-final gone it could really stand out in the final if it qualifies, which I hope, as the last part was absolutely beautiful.

11. Poland
Vocally not the best performance. The many pyro fountains and the catchy song might distract from it.

12. Malta
Lots of flames at the beginning of this performance, very strange, likely to be a technical mistake. There seems to have been done a lot of work on the lighting of this song as there are now many laser effects. The light show could get the audience to go for this more than we expect now.

After these 6 songs it's time for another break in the greenroom.

13 Hungary
Those were three very intense minutes - very energetic performance as always and it does stand out.

14. Latvia
Still a very theatrical performance as well even though Laura seems to have toned the hair swinging down a bit and that's only for the better. In the bridge she struggles vocally.

15 Sweden.. or maybe not as we switch to the greenroom and then go to:

First up we were delighted with Ireland making it to the final - first time for four years and in our opinion it was totally deserved - well done to the whole team involved and especially Ryan for making Ireland proud

Really the show was great, no technical mishaps that we noticed, so again congratulations to the EBU team for another successful live Eurovision transmission and bringing the music to peoples home's to take part in the longest running and possibly the most popular event on television

So the qualifiers;
Austria. One that I missed but Daniel got. Was happy for them in the end, it seemed to be a great performance and effectively staged. Deserved
Estonia. Both of us saw this. I'm not a fan of the song at all. Verdict probably deserved
Cyprus. Again both of us saw this, and calling her the Eurovision Beyonce maybe a bit premature but possibly the winner of the televote. Verdict Deserved
Lithuania. Daniel missed this, but I saw it from the very beginning of the whole event. Verdict, deserved, but some may disagree
Israel. Again we both got this one, again this is probably deserved, but again the song is starting to grate a little now.
Czech Republic. Fantastic from Mikolas - very very deserved
Bulgaria. This is such a grower of a song, so we both out it through but not sure if it was deserved or not in the end.
Albania. I got this, Daniel missed it. From what we heard yesterday in the media room, the delegation were stressed and a little unhappy - but in the end it all came good. Very deserved
Finland. Well she really pulled it out of the bag at the last minute - faultless performance and very much deserved int he end
Ireland. Kinda made our Eurovision week - perfect!

And shocks for us, both Azerbaijan and Armenia missing out. Thought at least one of them would go through. Sad a little for Croatia, and Greece - both of whom we count as delegations that are friends as well as co-workers. Iceland - again we were sad - but really this is because of Ari himself and not the song. Belgium, she did a great job but in the end the song was a little too clever for Eurovision. Belarus - the staging killed this, really poor showing from the delegation that usually gives us such a great show. Macedonia - even though it possibly one of my favourite songs, it did not translate very well on the live stage - so BOO!
And finally don't forget the Swiss. Great performance and they can be really proud of themselves - I think they just missed out last night

Lisbon: 8 May, 2018
There were emotional scenes in Lisbon today at an event involving Malta’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest, Christabelle.

The Ministry of Health in Portugal teamed up with a leading University research centre and the singer to send a message of hope about mental health.

When a member of the audience tried to put a question to Christabelle, she broke down in tears and Christabelle left the panel to give the young woman a hug.

Christabelle, Malta’s entrant in the contest, has had to deal with mental health issues herself and her song, “Taboo”, sends a message to everyone who is struggling about the need to seek professional help.

Christabelle, and Dr. Paula Domingos on behalf of Professor Miguel Xavier, Director of the National Programme for Mental Health from the Ministry of Health, appeared at today’s event organised by the Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health. The institute forms part of the Nova Medical School, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Professor José Miguel Caldas de Almeida, Director of the Institute and Coordinator of the EU Joint Action on Mental Health and Wellbeing, also addressed the meeting.

The Maltese singer gave an acoustic rendition of her song and spoke of the need to break down the taboos surrounding the issue.

The meeting also heard, in video messages, from the Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister of Malta, Dr Chris Fearne, and the President of Malta, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. They wished the singer well in the contest and praised her activism.

Professor Caldas de Almeida told the meeting that many people with mental health problems face abuse and discrimination and spoke of the stigma that made people hesitate to seek help. He said about 22% of the population of Portugal suffered a mental health condition. He thanked Christabelle for giving this issue a voice at Eurovision.

Dr Domingos told Christabelle she was very brave to tell her story, and demonstrated that she wasn’t afraid to be judged.

Christabelle will perform in the second semi-final of Eurovision at the Altice Arena in Lisbon on Thursday 10th May and, if she qualifies, in the final on Saturday 12th May.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Backstage tour

Selected members of the press were invited to a backstage tour and a walk around the arena area today. While most of the tour was a little irrelevant for press members who had bene here for two weeks, we did have time to visit the prop room, the area reserved for delegations and a great look around the arena - photos and video below

Australian Embassy

Once again esckaz.com were invited to the Australian Embassy event - this time in the Eurovision 2018 host city Lisbon.

The delegation from Australia always produce a great event, with complimentary food and drink and a chance to mix and mingle with other journalists, delegations and Embassy staff including his excellency the Ambassador for Australia in Lisbon and the the Chief executive of SBS Australia, Michael Ebeid.

As always the event was in the sumptuous surroundings, this time it was the Sky Bar Lisboa based in one of the top hotels in Lisbon, The Tivoli.

After speeches from Michael Ebeid and hi Excellency Peter Rayner the audience were treated to a short interview with Jessica Mauboy and some performances from her. All videos and photos below