Rolling live blog of semi 1 here

21.27 – Well thats the songs done – Lots of awfulness going on there and only 5 safe qualifiers., Denmark, Russia, Iceland, Hungary and Ireland. 

21.18 – Ireland.  Alleged that they are dressed like the white power ranger, their backing singers sound great as they are carrying the boys ( as usual) – Qualifying, sadly!

21.14 – Moldova! ( Thanks Shai!!). Again, like Austria its a song that is built for a show rather than built for Audio ( I must remember its Europe’s favourite TV show and not audio stream!!) – Vocally average, but it remains to be seen if the busy choreography will make Europe howl with laughter and forget to vote for it – I suspect they will.

21.10 – Austria.  Sounds fine, but then again I cant judge this properly as it is all show, am guessing the boys are shaking it like good ‘uns…..

21.07 – Hungary.  This is probably the 2nd song that has impressed me all evening.  I had a wogan-esque sneaking regard for this song, and this performance just confirmed it.  It is good and will qualify.  No dodgy notes, well peformed – that’s all you need? right?!?!

21.01- Russia.  It is what it is I guess – and it sounds messy but that is the supposed charm of the song I guess.

20.57 – Denmark.  More dodgy notes at the start of this song – there are too many for it to be a singer problem, and the more I am thinking its a mix issue.  However Soluna recovers mid song and this song will get what it deserves, it’s qualifying with ease after a raft of bad songs and poor singing mixed together.

20.53 – Cyprus.  Dodgy notes ahoy here in this one too – sounds like it could well be a sound mixing problem in general but they are not mixed at all well, however, Ivi is flat as a pancake and the backing singers are too loud.  Raises the question if people have forgotten that 100 Jurors will be casting their votes.  It goes on too long in a dodgy key and has lost all of its appeal.  Not sure.

20.49 – San Marino. Well even a 4 course meal with Ralf Siegel can help this song. What on EARTH have they done with the lyric, there is glissando all over the place and judging by the look on Liam’s face at http://www.escxtra.com it appears it looks as hideous as it sounds. They are all over the place vocally and shouldn’t get any jury votes at all!

20.45 – Israel. I like this song, but again the backing singers sound weak on the mix, possibly how ESCXtra has their stream but hey. I still like this song to hell, however and its a big but, who is going to vote for it. Think he’s trying to get the juries and its pleasant enough without being overfacing. Possible.

20.40 – Finland. Blew her chances within the first 30 seconds by singing some big notes not entirely in the right key and had to struggle to get it back from that disaster to be entirely honest. She’s going to need shedloads of televotes to get this back into the reckonning.

20.36 – Belgium. I still wouldn’t to be honest but, and its a big but, its a nice girl singing an average song, though some of the long notes sounded very nasal indeed to be honest. However, it builds nicely and the end of the song is considerably stronger than the first half. Maybe qualifying.

20.33 – Switzerland. They are now swimming against the strim which is a little bit better I guess. They sound a little bit weak on the sound feed I have to be honest, which has always been this song’s downfall. Earnest band singing an earnest song, but not enough televoters or jurors will get this through.

20.29 – Romania. This sounds fantastic, not a note dropped anywhere!. It’ll look “the dogs” as well to be honest – Unless something goes drastically wrong tomorrow night, this may well have already got through based on jury votes alone. Qualifying with ease.

20.21 – Albania. I still dont like the song – but vocally this was not bad at all, shot of qualifying? – an outside shot but there you go!

20.17 – Latvia – When did they start going “lala” at the start of the song?!? – Anyway it provides a great contrast to the awfulness that has just gone before. Europe’s 100 Jurors will be pleasently shocked at how this sounds compared to the one that has gone before – In tune for a start. Still think its qualifying!

20.15 – Greece. 2nd note was hideous and that set the tone really, she sounded very pitchy and screaming lots at me ( and i’m 2100 miles away). It didnt get any better to be honest – Its a very very long 3 minutes and I am struggling to see which jurors think this is a good idea. Eleftheria’s voice sounds like a 9 yr old screaming schoolkid – banish yourself back to Junior, love.

20.12 – Iceland. Starts off VERY ropey and on the audio I can hear it doesnt sound brilliant, Jonsi sounds a bit off key and Greta isn’t helping. However, as they get into the song they seem to bring it back. Qualifying Definitely, but with a lower score based on this performance.

20.08 – Well Montenegro sounded hideous. It didnt sound particularly coherent and sounds as though the jury isn’t going to give any points. Hurrah I say!

19.57 – www.escxtra.com will be the stream of choice!