So Latvia probably has one the best backdrops this year. It's all very psychedelic, bright neon colours - of course based on what they already showed in the national final. There's obviously a lot of camera work here moving from one side to another, zooming in and out so it's not always completely and/or clearly visible on the tv-screens, but I especially enjoy the drumming robot(s) on screen.

Now while we are waiting for TrianaPark to do their second run, the drummer is showing that his drum does work despite the music not being live. Always fun when performers do such things in the middle.

In the meantime, Angesa looks completely different from last time, now with long hair, with two buns/pony tails, dark on her head and platina blonde further down. It looks like a ready look for the big stage to me, but I guess we never know what will be next when it comes to Agnesa's looks.

Omar really lifts his song. So does the staging. I wouldn't rule out Slovenia at this point.

He is also a singer-songwriter in his own right now too

After a quick chat at the Montenegro party last night he informed us of his new project that has been coming to life the last few months

Links to the music are here;

iTunes: http://apple.co/2qv3lMR
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2pJ4dL6
Deezer: http://bit.ly/2pbdfQ0
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2qClR38

And some information on the project from Jan himself is quoted below....hope you have some time to check him out...

music: Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg, Sean Vella
lyrics: Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg, Sean Vella, Jan Vehar
arrangement: Sean Vella

- I met Philip back in April 2016, while we were both jurors at Vodafone Freeyone high school festival, on invitation by Serhat
- We started talking about the music and at some point he said: »You know Jan, I think you have such a great energy, I'm gonna compose you a song« And so we did
- song was recorded in late october and we also applied to EMA 2017 preselection
- immediately after song wasnt selected, i signed a deal with biggest record label in Slovenia, Dallas Records (I'm sharing a record label with Severina – Croatia 2006 )
- song was released worldwide on May 04th 2017 on all available platforms
- I'm about to shoot a music video right after Eurovision
- In Slovenia I'm known as one of the youngest TV personalities, who reached huge success also out of the country (Spain, Sweden, Germany, Malta …) but I've never tried myself as a singer, with such a proffesional project having behind me

Singer-Songwriter George Kachinari is here with the Albanian delegation this year, and we had a great chat with him at the Montenegro Party last night

A musician in his own right, you can check out some of his material on Facebook - just search for George Kachinari

Should you wish to contact him for bookings please mail to georgeorjoe@gmail.com

Our quick interview and performance from him earlier this week can be found here;

Omar Naber is on stage now for Slovenia and while his singing was sometimes not completely on point during the first rehearsal, today he sounded very well during all three runs as far as I could hear in the hall.

The panel screens all around and above him are actual props and while they will look great on the tv-screens, they are a big disadvantage for the audience in the hall as anyone not standing or sitting right in front has a big chance of seeing this performance through the (at least transparent) panels during a big part of the song, as they only rise up just before the last chorus.

What I do like is how the lighting uses pyro effects without there being actual pyro. Another case of less is more, but well applied here.

Artsvik is wearing a black jumpsuit, similar to her two dancers who join the song during the first verse.

I'm still not too fond of the staging, a lot more could've been done, maybe more dancers or get the Eastern touch even more clear through the performance. During the instrumental bridge when the camera zooms in on Artsvik, I think the lighting could be improved as now it makes her look very red.

However, I still think this can do very well as she sounds great (in the hall it's a bit too loud though) and it's a unique song in this year's collection of entries.

We finally get to see Artsvik's costume, a martial black top resembling chain armour, which fits the staging and the slightly provocative undertone of the performance.

The overall impression of the performance is that it looks very slick and Artsvik is in good form.

Pyros in the third run. Fierce.