In the meantime Iceland has made it to the arena. Ári starts his performance with his back to the audience, turning around as the first chorus approaches. He is still dressed in his white with red accents suit while his backings wear red and/or black.

No changes in the lighting here either, from blue to gold and red. His performance is good, the song is still the main question mark, no matter how good he will perform, qualifying will most likely prove a very hard task for Iceland once again.

Today the second country to rehearse is Albania and not Iceland, as the Icelandic delegation is delayed by a traffic jam.

A mainly red background here for Albania. Eugent is still sounding absolutely fantastic. In the hall it does seem he is giving it all, so looking forward to hearing it when it does matter!

Some issues before the 2nd run here but as soon as it started it went on as usual.

Albania 2nd rehearsal. Secure as before, holds back on the vocals for when it matters. Clever. #Eurovision

— ESCKAZ Chris (@EsckazChris) May 3, 2018

Azerbaijan 2nd rehearsal. Aisel gives good camera and vocals are strong. Movement around the stage looks clumsy and very rehearsed. #Eurovision

— ESCKAZ Chris (@EsckazChris) May 3, 2018

My blogs today will be live from the Altice Arena where we have seen Aisel performing twice already. Both times they had to start again as there were some technical difficulties.

There seem to have been no major changes at all in this rehearsal - I can confirm now, if it wasn't clear already that the glitter effects are exclusively seen on screen and not in the hall itself. Vocally it sounds strong but the choreography still doesn't connect with the song at all.