First semi first dress musings

So there we just had the first semi final dress rehearsal and the sea references are laid on thick and fast from the outset, even Jon Ola’s mission control desk has waves atop it. Our four presenters start off together on the stage before Filomena is despatched to the green room for most of the semi. Their English is good and there’s thankfully no shouting at you as we’ve had in some recent years. They’re doing a pretty good job presenting with a fairly flimsy script. 

So here’s a brief run down of the postcards and my impression seeing the songs in the arena in performance order. 

Azerbaijan go ballooning in their postcard. Looks impressive on screen, vocally off at the start but a nice opener. This is borderline still though. 

Iceland helping an artist make a puppet doll for the postcard. Looks a bit petrified at the start before remembering to smile a bit and then belts it out.  Sadly not making it. 

Albania playing about in a narrow boat somewhere. Vocally the best thing I’ve heard in years, I can’t get enough of his vocal. Assured and confident. This must qualify. 

Belgium goes yachting on the estuary. She looks more relaxed now is connecting much more with the camera and emoting. Following Albania I’m wondering if she’s now borderline. 

Czech Republic clowning around in some festival costume in a village. Blue trousers and braces, not as acrobatic as he’s still injured, but still confident. Apparently, if he qualifies he will do the flip, but not risking it just now. I’m not as confident for him as the betting is suggesting. 

Lithuania riding a vintage car in a wood somewhere. Fragile yet powerful , I might have cried. Borderline qualifier. 

Break to green room now and Filomena speaks to the Azeris and there’s a skit with a toy piano. A quick hello and flounce last Iceland before discussing Eugent’s tattoos. Silvia and Catarina on the bridge explaining a bit about tweeting photos to the Allabord hashtag, then it’s back on with the show. 

Israel on Avenida then partying in a rooftop bar. There was a technical problem with this run-through, and I still find the first twenty seconds are just too weird. Once she gets going and interacting with the dancers, it’s great. This girl can sing. There’s fire, smoke and bubbles, looks good. Qualifying. 

Tech problem 

Belarus fiddling with the clock in Praça Comercio. To me this still looks ridiculous, shot from below the microphone covers his mouth. There’s too much happening and he’s a bit shouty vocally. Not qualifying. 

Estonia is rock climbing to a castle, the poor lass. This is really good on screen and it’s a frenzy of colour and vocal brilliance. Qualifying and it’s back to third favourites at the bookies. 

Bulgaria tram riding and being taken up the Elevado da Santa Justa. Lots of camera tricks still but is it too much? Great vocals and the chorus is wonderful. Qualifying. 

Macedonia doing a spot of tile painting in the countryside. They did a recording of the first few seconds that they will then use in the performance later and tomorrow, with her appearing to magically transport herself across the stage. That works, but sadly it’s not enough to lift this, it’s too messy. The pink jacket comes off to reveal sparkling hot pants and top. Not qualifying. 

Croatia cooking and feeding a family up north somewhere. Great vocals but boy, this drags, after Macedonia this should have sounded classy but it’s a low point in the show for me. Flat, not qualifying. 

Now we get Daniela on the bridge with another bad sea joke. I hope we are not getting this all week. Filomena Back in the green room, she enquires about Mikolas’ bag, the pronunciation of the Lithuanian singer’s name and the state of Alekseev’s hand before he gives her a rose. Back to the other three to introduce the final segment of songs. 

Austria out biking in the country and through a pretty village. Was thinking this could be in with a shot to win the whole thing, but now I’m left wanting. Can’t put my finger on it; is he a bit wooden and does the raised stage work? Qualifying based on the quality of the song. 

Greece painting ceramic birds, as you do. Another small technical pause here, unsure why. The blue hand has gone, but the staging seems better now with lots of smoke and flames. Good sweeping shots and this better. Borderline qualifier.

Finland on a golf course. Powerful vocals and the staging is working now, or am I used to it? Qualifying. 

Armenia goes stripping tree bark and then on a tractor, ha! Great vocals as always and drama, but this isn’t wowing me now, mmmm could this be borderline?

Switzerland are lucky and in a helicopter in Porto” Less angry now, really confident and the hand pyro works a treat. But it’s still that song, not qualifying

Ireland scuba diving in the Azores. Vocally lovely, they’ve tidied up the shots and the dancers are featured less. Still a bit busy and dark, but I’m keeping fingers crossed for the Irish. Borderline. 

Cyprus in the TimeOut market shopping for food. Wonderful energy to this, and it’s going to do ever so well. Qualifying with ease.

So, those were the songs, and Filomena is in the crowd meeting a fan before the other three explain the voting. There’s then a nice segment of Kyiv and Salvador’s win, with several of last year’s performers singing ‘Amar Pelos Dois’. I saw Svala, Manel, Norma John, Kristian Kostov, Marta and Blanche. 

There’s then a couple of ‘jokes’ about lad-fashioned ballot papers for the voting, and shots of people trying to answer a cluster of phones in the green room. Mildly funny only. 

There’s then a terrible segment called Planet Portugal with a comedian putting on a posh British accent to discover Portuguese people in their natural habitat preparing for the contest. I fear we will get another instalment on Thursday. Not funny at all. Daniela and Filomena introduce the Eurovision board game and exchange a few questions . 

I thought we may have had an interval act, but it seems for the semis we are getting just these skits and videos. With all the good artists here, surely it’s a lost opportunity?

Finally it’s a chat with three of the automatic qualifiers, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Claudia plays the Eurovision theme on a eucalalie, Alfred and Amaia sing their song in LA’s and the host makes some terrible jokes about SuRie’s name. 

So that’s the first semi. It’s a devil to predict and I need to think more on it.