1st
Moldova
Azerbaijan
Portugal
Poland
Armenia

2nd
Greece
Sweden
Australia
Cyprus
Belgium

Moldova
Azerbaijan
Greece
Sweden
Portugal
Poland
Armenia
Australia
Cyprus
Belgium

Just under three hours left now until the first semi-final really kicks off, and 2,5 hours later we should know who we will see again on Saturday and who will fly home sooner (or stay anyway and just relax here!).

It's getting busy and exciting in the press area already, it's filling up as people are getting ready to go to the hall. I'll be there as well - of course - and can't wait to see how it will all work out.

Yet there's always *some* kind of mixed feelings for me involved, as by the end of this evening every song will have the definite stamp of 'qualifier' or 'non-qualifier', despite each of them working for months for these three minutes. Until now all songs are still possible qualifiers for me - as certain a few countries seem to be in (or out) - shocks happen almost every year.

Good luck to all participants tonight and let Eurovision 2017 begin!

The bookmakers' odds have been moving all week and now that the first semi final is near let's have a look at what the betting markets predict for Semi Final 1 Qualifiers:

Armenia
Portugal
Sweden
Azerbaijan
Greece
Australia
Finland
Moldova
Belgium
Cyprus

See the graph for predicted probablities.

Yesterday, after the first dress rehearsal for semi-final one, Chris and I sat down to discuss our views on each song in this semi-final.. here's the result!

My qualifiers are based on the first dress rehearsal, as I saw/heard nothing of the jury final:

(In running order - prediction)
Sweden
Georgia
Australia
Finland
Azerbaijan
Portugal
Greece
Moldova
Armenia
Latvia

The now traditional Irish Party at Eurovision took place last night at O’Brien’s Pub in Kyiv. Bang in the heart of the City, close to the Maidan Nezalezhnosti this jolly little bit of Ireland in Ukraine was the perfect venue for the press an delegations to gather and mix while catching up with performances from the Irish singer, Brendan Murray

In typical Irish hospitality the invited delegations and press were treated to complimentary food and drink and had an opportunity to meet with Brendan and his team behind Dying To Try. We spotted the teams from Malta, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and probably missed many many more.

Then it was time for some traditional Irish music from a local band, we didn’t their name - sorry for that - but they got the crowd going and most of the delegations there danced - or attempted to dance - Irish style….you can watch the clip here;

A special treat were two performances from the Irish Backing Singers, Allison Vard Miller and Margot Daly;

Finally it was time for Brendan to take to the stage and perform for every one and the clips can be found here;

The one highlight was that he made the Serbian singer cry with his performance of Dying To Try and then she decided to sing the Adele song “Someone Like You”; clip here

You can also check all out photos from the event here;

With many many thanks to the whole Irish Delegation for the invite, and especial thanks to Rayna Connery for all her efforts and assistance this year..

Go Team Brendan!!!!