Rolling blog of the first Final Rehearsal – from 1400 CET

This is what they want!! The live blog of the First rehearsal! – Refresh to see the latest!!

Starts at 1400 CET – Come and #joinus.

1400 – It’s late – Shocker 😉 This bit always starts late so hold your water Europe!!

14.07 – We’re off, The feed crackles into life and the opening of the competition….. comes to a grinding halt… Un probleme Technique?!?!

14.09 and we’re back in the room – Rainmaker and lots of flags of the finalists ( all 26 of them).

14.11 – Some business on stage that we can’t see but they have to keep things secret. All the performers come on stage to start with. Olympics opening ceremony style beginning – yeah, not bad I guess.

14.13 Greece and Poland walk on in the wrong order. All stop!! – Shall we try that one again??

14.18 – We’re starting the parade of nations again! – That’s what rehearsals are for 😉 – but it’s funny. Has Hendrick just fired someone?? The songs are announced in English, French and their own national language.

14.22 – Our presenters are all dressed up for the occasion……

14.23 – They claim 180 million viewers and then into a film about Denmark’s Eurovision days!

14.25 – You can vote upto 20 times, go on… try it now… NOW ( not you, just you!!)

14.27 – Postcard explanation ahoy!!

14.27 Song 1 – Ukraine. Postcard is on Hidropark station in Kiev. Same as the other night. After a slight pause, the music kicks in and Maria is giving it some. Looks the same as the other night, as you would expect – but to me this one lacks energy but transplant it into the show an it is a cracking opener. NEWS _ Hamster wheel man falls at end of song!!!

14.31 – Song 2 – Belarus. This is great, and he’s not even started. He looks at all the maps and checks all the camera angles, The camera loves him and despite the dodgy lyric the camera shots are perfect for this song. A Total change of pace will not harm this song. Whatever the result – there is nothing wrong with this performance, very televoter friendly and Juries will like that.

14.34 – Azerbaijan. Dilara is singing a class song, it’s just a toilet break in this bit, and we’re at song 3. Juries however will vote for a good song but it’s again televoter disconnected..

14.39 – Song 4 – Iceland. Doesn’t have the energy that it did on Tuesday night but, again, a complete change of gear from the one that came before. Again it is a rehearsal and I take that into account but there seems to be lots gone out of them, and vocally a little bit off as well. Work needed for tonight.

14.45 – Song 5 – Norway. I have it on good authority that he is as serious in real life as he is on the tellybox but he’s missed some notes this afternoon that need to be found later on this evening if he is to get the top 10 result he is banking on. It still ends badly but hey, It’s a jury sponge.

14.48 – Song 6 – Romania. This really is bollocks isn’t it?! – However it’s rather worrying that this is one of the best in the first 6 songs. Kitchen sink or not – it’s getting votes from its usual places but do not expect this to be a contender or climb the top rung of the ladder.

14.52 – Song 7 – Armenia. Aram looks like a lost sk8r boy on stage and it really is him singing You’re not Alone at me for about 20 minutes so it seems. He really isn’t hitting the right notes when he needs to and it just looks messy. This is not a winner.

14.56 – Song 8 – Montenegro. It’s three minutes of Balkany goodness… Says Riigi, and after putting me on Camera I hit him for that opinion. It’ll do what the balkans do, get a half decent result but i’m imagining it rising slowly to the bottom half of the lefthand side. Nothing higher.

15.01 – Song 9 – Poland . This is all kinds of brilliant. Cleo is making love to the camera and she’s working what her mother gave her, as are all the “ladies” on stage. This gets your non Eurovision fan interested in the contest and it’ll be on every clip show for years. Top 10 for sure I would have thought.

15.06 – Song 10 – Greece. NO Advert break yet you’ll notice. However there are plenty of things to look at on stage. Lukas doing his best to whip the crowd into a frenzy but it seems not to be working, mind you there is a hard crowd on there. Even Shane looks bored but I’m sure they will turn it on tonight. If they Turn it on – It’s got top 5 written all the way over it but, if he misses those notes like he has just done – it’ll plummet. It’s on the cusp though.

15.09 – Song 11 – Austria. This is a top 5 song. Ignore all the bollocks and the beard, this is a classy song written well and the arse is performed of it. This is your first candidate for a win and no mistake. My worry is what happens east of the Urals but, if its a song contest, This is no doubt in with a cracking shot.

15.13. Song 12 – Germany. This is going to suffer from Lithuania last night. This will get no votes as people will be too busy tweeting or texting about Conchita to bother to look. However if they did, they would see a very staid and awful performance of a bad song. Nothing is going to save this and it is accidental last.

15.14 – ADVERT BREAK!! – Finally.

15.17 – Song 13 – Sweden. So, the winner?? Not now she is after the break. She’s doomder than a doomed thing thats a bit doomed!! – You can do whatever you like here, but DR have done their level best not to make her win! – She may well just about keep a top 10 place but, as well as being a bit dodgy vocally, she’s been stitched up like a kipper!

15.23 – Song 14 – France. Now the contest can start!! The first uptempo one or a while here but the Juries might have made the result for this one. It passes me by and thats not a good thing. Vocally all over the place ( again yes it is a rehearsal), but the mix needs sorting out now to be honest before the 9pm call for jury votes. It coul be bottom 5.

15.28 – Song 15 – Russia. A competent performance of this song has been given by the twins. The choreography is still messy and the mix is uneven ( though fcking STAR TV from Greece are taking a very loud phone call next to us – yes they are back). It just looks weak and a bit contrived – more so than a usual Russian Entry to be honest. They *will* be booed tonight and tomorrow but, what can you do about it. Last note was not good but they’ll polish it a bit.

15.32 – Song 16 – Italy. Si! Marrone is all over the place vocally here – ooooh from the press centre here. She;s in a different key from the backing music at the start and the mix sounds very odd indeed from here but she is carrying on regardlessly. B the time you get to the 2nd verse it has improved a bit but she is still struggling here. There needs to be some attention to the vocals quick in the next six hours to get this where it needs to be. Otherwise this is sinking on this performance.

15.35 – Song 17 – Slovenia. One of the weaker songs in the final and it is fighting for the last place with Germany. I can’t see who is going to vote for this one at home. Jury wise, they should rank it mid table because of the structure of the song etc but, i’m not hopeful based on this performance.

15.38 – Song 18 – Finland. Lose the hat is the first thing to say. However its a great song but YLE are missing a trick by not getting them to fist pump the air on ” all these words” – YLE, GET IT SORTED!!. Slightly out of tune the first 15 seconds but the juries will love this song.

15.43 – Song 19 – Spain. Logically she should be screwed by what’s to come after this song in the running order so she has to make a fist of this. Ruth changed the dress and overall it looks a lot better and this is the best thing she has done. Her hair is wet and she has polished this up to a decent effort. I still think its not strong enough with the seven to come to challenge but its back to being a 7th-15th contender.

15.46 – Song 20 – Switzerland. This is a dark horse. This just makes you smile and you have to whistle and or sing along to it. This is getting votes from across Europe in 2-3-4’s and, as points make prizes, this is going to end up near the top of the board.

15.50 – Song 21 – Hungary. Andras is going to perform this really well and will be in with a shout of winning this and at the very least in the top 5. This is a very very good song, performed nicely, near the end of the draw. Tell me why you wouldn’t pick the phone up. Contemporary and a fast 3 minutes, this sets the end of the draw up nicely.

15.56 – Song 22 – Malta. Great song and Great Performance.

1600 – Song 23 – Denmark. Malta have pissed all over this. This does look like a waiter and they have got rid of his face on the banner. It’s still stuffed by Malta. It’s tacky and all sorts of shite.

16.04 – Song 24 – Netherlands…. NO idea, I was being interviewed by YLE!!!

16.12 – Song 25 – San Marino. Decent performance I’d have thought but I was too busy being shit scared!!

16.17 – Song 26 – United Kingdom of Stuff. Fabulous. A very good performance of a great song. It’s fcking tonnes better than I would ever expect a UK song to be. There has done some serious work on getting the song right and it looked great on stage. Molly knows where the camera is and boy does she use it. She may not shake what her mother gave her, but she’s gonna make love to the camera.

There are also subtle references to the UK throughout the end of the voting…….. Stars alligning?!

Recap now…. The real 15 seconds are going to be key here.

So what have we learnt – Do not count anyone out yet. The Jury final will be crucial this year more than ever. – Thats all from me, there will not be a blog this evening but feel free to visit our chums at http://www.eurovisionireland.net from 9pm CET to get their take on it.

Hope you have enjoyed the coverage – feel free to comment and guffaw!!