Not many know that Eurovision is not just about music, show and fan gossiping around and waving flags of their favorite countries.
From year to year the contest becomes a very popular object of scientific research. This year, a three-day-conference on different research topics with academic presentations, professional expertise roundtables and keynote speakers takes place at the Eurocafe.

First day – May 7th – Gender (de)constructions in Song Contests

The subject of the first day of the conference dealt with the female role in Song Contests using the example of the national Portuguese final Festival da Canção hosted by RTP.
Three former participants – Isabel Campelo, Joana Espadinha and Susana Guerra (known as Suzy) – shared their experiences working in a very male dominated business.
As keynote speaker Pilar Guillén Marco from the University of Valencia introduced her research on the development of female identities being presented during the history of the contest.
Unluckily, only very few people found their way to the Eurocafe. So we hope, you are going to join tomorrow.

Second day – May 8th – Young Academics Science Slam

Tomorrow, a group of young researcher will present their academic projects.

1. For sure, you are aware of large number of tourists walking down the narrow streets of Lisbon attracted by the Eurovision Song Contest. Carla Figueira will speak about Fan Tourism, Nation and City Branding in this year’s host city.

2. Even if politic issues are officially not allowed at the Eurovision Song Contest, the political dimension of the competition can’t be denied and is one of highly researched subjects. Ricardo Rios will introduce his thesis on the Nagoro-Karabakh’s Conflict and its effects on the Eurovision Song Contest.

3. Laura Ortiz Montero looks into the organization in charge of the show and describe the contest’s structure “beyond the show”.

4. The conference’s host – Sofia Vieira Lopes will introduce the concept of “Lusifonia” which came up after Salvador Sobral’s victory last year at the Eurovision Song Contest.

5. However, members of ESCKAZ researches as well! When you want to know, why some countries keep losing or succeeding in the Eurovision Song Contest, I would like to invite you to my presentation on strategic marketing at the contest.

Third day – May 9th – Professionals’ Expertise

Finally on Wednesday you’ll get the chance to ask Eurovision professionals all about the contest you always wanted to know. There will be Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling (Head of the Reference Group ESC), Thomas Schreiber (Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf), Thomas G:son (Composer of various ESC entries), Mihkel Mattisen and Timo Vendt (Authors of Estonian entry ESC 2018), Alon Amir (Former head of Press of the Israeli Delegation), Vasyl Myroshnychenko (CFC Consulting, consultor on various Ukrainian entrys),Thorsten Keller (News editor) and Ricardo Duarte (editor of www.dezassete.pt).

To complete the conference two keynotes - one with the title “Musicking in Eurovision: Sites and Sounds” by Ivan Raykoff and the second about postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest by Dean Vuletic - will be held at the end of the day.

There is so much about Eurovision you even has been thinking about and It is worth getting to know new aspects of our favorite show!

The jury final has just started. As tonight it is all about the performances, this live blog will focus mostly on that. But of course, if anything special happens we will of course let you know.

1. Azerbaijan
Aisel immediately gets the audience clapping along with her - maybe eager to see the show started as it's the first one. The running before the first chorus looks very panicked now. OK performance but not spectacular, vocally she is struggling in some of the verses. Azerbaijan has a great record but I would not be surprised to see it broken this year.

2. Iceland
Ari has been very solid all week through and again now his performance is good. However, it will most likely not be enough for qualification.

3. Albania
It seemed to me there was an issue with the lighting at the beginning as he was mostly covered in blue until the first chorus starts. Vocally a very good performance though that gets a huge applause in the press hall. However, Eugent seemed a bit nervous to me.

4. Belgium
It took some time before we got a good focus in the opening and vocally Sennek sounds very fragile tonight. She improved as the song progressed though.

Just a general observation, I thought this jury final was sold out, but I see lots of empty chairs everywhere...

5. Czech Republic
Miklas struggles a bit to get his rucksack back on after the tricks in the middle. Otherwise a good performance and he looks relieved after it.

6. Lithuania
A bit breathy but otherwise very good performance vocally with a good reaction in the hall. In the end Ieva has decided to revert to English for the very last line again.

7. Israel
The beginning sounds good today, but for the rest it's not Netta's best performance vocally, however the long high note towards the end goes quite well.

8. Belarus
An otherwise fine song ruined by the staging, it's still all too much. Not convinced about his performance tonight, his vocals seemed off from time to time. No specific issues though.

9. Estonia
I would not say Elina is off, but in the verses she is not as good as she was before. In the higher parts during the chorus she is perfect though, and that is probably what will matter most and stay in people's minds.

10. Bulgaria
Vocally competent but very cold performances. I'm just not really sure if everyone will go for this tonight and tomorrow.

11. Macedonia
Major issues earlier today, but they finally got the camera shot right with her walking to the drummer taking off her dress. During the end she's still out of breath though, and the (great!) backings are not able to hide that at all places.

12. Croatia
Franka's confident performance from earlier this week is back. Some issues with the sound of the stream though that might be only here. Flawless performance, I still think this can surprise everyone.

13. Austria
Sometimes César is just walking in the dark through the end which is not so great to see. He and his backings gave a good performance though.

14. Greece
Yianna is out of tune in the first verse and also struggles during the end. During the second verse we get fireworks now which is just a bit too early really.

15. Finland
A seemingly effortless performance of Saara Aalto who does not miss any note. Based on this alone I would not be surprised if there's a space for Finland in the final after all. Oh, today all three firework fountains worked.

16. Armenia
The Armenian performance also went well, though the high note with the guitar sounds a bit strange from time to time.

Earlier today, just before the start of today's first dress rehearsal the press centre was honoured by a very special guest - one of San Marino's robots! Apart from dancing as you can see below, the robot can also speak ánd has a will of its own as first he was a bit shy and wouldn't move, but in the end the gathered press convinced him to give away a special performance.

Hummmmm, like Mike this is tough but here goes

Albania
Czech Republic
Israel
Estonia
Bulgaria
Croatia
Austria
Greece
Finland
Ireland

Semi final one

Azerbaijan
Albania
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Israel
Bulgaria
Austria or Greece???
Finland
Armenia
Ireland

But you might feel differently

Dress rehearsal one for the first semi-final has just started - we start of course with some opening sequence showing, among others, images of Lisboa, Pasteles de nata, water, football... and of course the various logotypes of this year's contest before we move into the hall where our four hosts all come on stage, still a bit giggly at first!

I'm here liveblogging this semi-final from the hall and will most probably be back in the evening for the jury-final when it really matters, so I'm curious to see where my impressions will differ today comparing the 2 rehearsals!

Check back here from time to time to see all the latest updates, as the performances and more pass by!

1 Azerbaijan
Postcard: Aisel in what seems a typical Portuguese village with white houses before taking a balloon tour.
Peformance: Lots of smoke on stage in the beginning, not sure I noticed that earlier. Vocally ok until th esecond verse where she starts to struggle a bit. It's still very artificial, the glitter effect in the bridge seems to have been developed better now.

2 Iceland
Postcard: More Portuguese villages but Ári gets inside a building where he makes a puppet-on-a-string - Now is that a Eurovision reference or not?!
Performance: Missed camera shots in the beginning where we see cameras through the screen while we should only see Ari. This better not happen tonight or tomorrow night. Otherwise great performance again from Ari who once again shows how good a singer he is.

3 Albania
Postcard: Eugent is taking a boat tour what looks like through the Venice of Portugal.
Performance: In the last part of the song the backings can be heard a lot more now. Vocally this is great once again and I can not see any fault to this performance but I immediately admit I'm biased as this is by far my favourite.

4 Belgium
Postcard: Also Sennek went on a boat trip but this time closer to Lisboa, in fact it seems very close to where we had the blue carpet event yesterday.
Performance: They finally seem to get the opening right, even though I wonder if it's the right opening to this song. After Albania this is really quite relaxing without getting boring. Not completely sure the vocals in the chorus were as perfect as in the last rehearsal.

5. Czech Republic
Postcard: Mikolas finds himself with some very strangely dressed creatures with carnaval masks from the Tras-Os-Montes region of Portugal.
Performance: Mikolas seems more comfortable on stage than in his last rehearsal, he's moving around a lot more, but of course leaves out the backflips that caused him lots of trouble one week ago. Still a lot running and a normal jump on stage though.

6. Lithuania
Postcard: Ieva is taking a trip in the mountains in her now quite trademark comfortable wide pullovers, very similar to what she wore in the second rehearsal.
Performance: On stage she is now wearing a very princessy pink dress. Vocally it is very good and the song is so relaxing and smoothing that it is over before I know it! And, small detail - 2 lines in Lithuanian are back today!

After this performances we get to the greenroom where the host is already asking how Lithuania is doing, I wonder if she'll be back at all at that moment! Will be fun to watch tomorrow.

7 Israel
Postcard: Netta performing at an outside party.
Performance: The beginning now sounds better in the hall than it did during the second rehearsal. However, we get to start over again as apparently there were issues..
Thought the first time sounded better, but it's probably more noticeable in the press area that it didn't go well the first time. As if Netta may have thought she had something to prove after the issues in the beginning, she gave it all at this rehearsal, to send up a bit out of breath by the end.

Another tradition Eurovision location is Euroclub, which opened last night at 11pm (Lisbon time). It’s located at Praça do Comércio in Millennium club. Euroclub this year have two different spots: terrace and 2-leveled dance floor. This year’s Euroclub is three-times smaller than last year’s but this one looks more like a club, and not like exhibition centre.

Last night there were artist from Australia and Portugal performing. And the host was Suzy (Portugal 2014). In conclusion, this year’s Euroclub is more “clubish”, real place where you can rest or party like an animal

06:20 Australia - Jessica Mauboy
07:15 Austria - Cesár Sampson
08:07 Azerbaijan - Aisel
09:23 Belarus - ALEKSEEV
10:20 Belgium - Sennek
11:12 Bulgaria - EQUINOX
12:18 Croatia - Franka
13:23 Cyprus - Eleni Foureira
14:29 Czech Republic - Mikolas Josef
16:25 Estonia - Elina Nechayeva
17:10 Macedonia - Eye Cue
17:54 Denmark - Rasmussen
19:10 Finland - Saara Aalto
20:37 Georgia - Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao
21:28 Greece - Yianna Terzi
22:03 France - Madame Monsieur
22:22 Germany - Michael Schulte
24:21 Hungary - AWS
25:13 Iceland - Ari Ólafsson
25:59 Ireland - Ryan O'Shaughnessy
26:56 Israel - Netta
26:11 Latvia - Laura Rizzotto
27:37 Italy - Ermal Meta e Fabrizio Moro
28:51 Lithuania - Ieva Zasimauskaitė
29:35 Malta - Christabelle
30:57 Moldova - DoReDoS
32:58 Montenegro - Vanja Radovanović
33:30 Norway - Alexander Rybak
34:02 Poland - Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer
34:47 Romania - The Humans
35:27 Russia - Julia Samoylova
37:13 Serbia - Sanja Ilić & Balkanika
39:09 Slovenia - Lea Sirk
39:31 San Marino - Jessika featuring Jenifer Brening
40:19 Sweden - Benjamin Ingrosso
41:13 Switzerland - ZiBBZ
41:51 The Netherlands - Waylon
43:36 United Kingdom - SuRie
43:44 Ukraine - MELOVIN
44:37 Spain - Amaia y Alfred
45:00 Portugal - Cláudia Pascoal