The first semifinal is over and the results are in, so it’s time to move on to the second semifinal. Tonight, 15 acts will perform in front of a live audience, and this dress rehearsal will also serve as the performance to be judged by each country’s jury. That means 50 percent of each entry’s final score will be decided tonight, which will be added to results of tomorrow night’s televote.
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[liveblog]Alright, the opening video kind of rubbing salt in the non-qualifiers’ wounds by heavily featuring each of them. The opening act is a dynamic light and dance show with a bunch of people dressed in glow in the dark outfits while an intense-looking violinist plays.
Pilou, Lise and Nikolai enter, and introduce the show, make a joke about buffets and cellphones being more important than your heart, but soon enough, it’s time for the first act.
Malta’s postcard features fireworks; very pretty. Firelight’s on, very credible, they get the crowd clapping. Vocals are impeccable as always. They look great on-screen. Brilliant way to start the show.
Israel now. Mei’s working the camera with fierce facial expressions. Vocals seem rather weak in the verse, but it builds up well in the refrain. Good amount of applause from the crowd.
Norway’s next, with Carl cutting glass into the Norwegian flag. He looks great onstage, and connects with the camera extremely well. Phone lights are on for this performance. Vocals were perfect; I got shivers.
Georgia next, creating their flag from glasses of wine. Mariko’s looking hella hippie. Vocals are on-point from all the singers. Looks like they abandoned the blur camera effect in the video, but in the shots of the parachute guy, he looked uncomfortable. The crowd applauded in the end, but there was lots of background chatter.
Big applause from the audience for Poland. Vocals slightly screechy. Some hoots from the audience at the sexy parts, and a bit of applause when the girls do the twirl thing. The audience is loving it, but everyone is also kind of laughing. Great performance.
Austria’s next. Conchita looks fabulous in her postcard, and there is already lots of applause when she walks out onto the stage. Solid vocals right from the beginning. Impeccable. Audience applauds after every verse. Conchita’s bringing the fierce on-screen too; she looks intense, and she absolutely feels the song and the crowd’s energy. She can’t help but smile. Biggest applause from the audience thus far.
Lithuania’s next, and Vilija looks very sleek and sci-fi. Vocals are good, and Vilija worked well with the cameras, but the crowd isn’t engaging very well with this.
Finland’s next, and it’s immediately noticeable that Softengine’s lead singer’s eyes are actually open most of the time now. Some of the crowd’s clapping along, but applause seemed subdued for such a high-energy song.
Ireland now, and everything is just gold, from Kasey’s outfit to the background graphics. Some clapping along happening, and a good amount of applause from the audience. Vocals were good.
Teo’s next for Belarus, with his Las Vegas-style posse. Vocals good but non-notable. There’s dancing and some applause from the audience, but definitely not as big as the last couple.
Tijana next from FYR Macedonia, and she’s amazing, vocally. Good amount of applause from the audience. She was slightly off-sync with her graphics. It’s a good crowd-pleaser, as the audience clapped along the whole way. Overall much better than her rehearsals.
Switzerland’s Sebalter starts with a bang: literally. Pyrotechnics introduce the high-energy song, and everyone onstage looks like they’re enjoying themselves. Sebalter is all smiles. There’s a rain of sparkles right before the violin solo, and goes down the catwalk with a huge smile. He gets the whole arena clapping along. Biggest applause since Conchita.
Big applause from the boys from Greece now. Nick’s grown a bit of scruff since we saw him at the rehearsals. Lots of energy onstage and in the crowd. Lots of clapping along, but Riskykidd’s voice is slightly drowned out by the music. They’ve seriously got the crowd going though. Very effective. Loud applause at the end.
Slovenia’s next. Vocals are slightly off, but Tinkara’s keeping the drama in the song with her flute. Not much reaction from the crowd. Perhaps everyone’s tired after bouncing around for Greece?
Romania performs last. As always, perfect vocals from both Paula and Ovi. That circular piano really does look rather ridiculous though. They’ve got the crowd clapping and dancing along. Paula’s high note didn’t seem to come across though. Lots of fire onstage, and a good amount of applause afterwards.
Lise makes some hashtag jokes, and it’s time for Europe to start fake voting. The first recap plays, and the biggest applause is for Austria, Greece, Norway, and Poland, in that order.
The Australian interval act is next. In the video, they literally drop the continent onto Great Britain. After a gimmicky musical number, the singer is announced. Jessica Mauboy’s vocals are strong, with a very contemporary feel-good song. Not sure about her dance moves though. Nice applause for Australia.
Lots of applause for the fan dancing interval, especially for the Danes. Y’all are gonna love the dancing granny.
Tonight’s fake qualifiers: Georgia, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, Austria, Belarus, Finland, Israel, and FYR Macedonia.
And the show is over! Join Us tomorrow for the real show, as we give you more live updates from the B&W Halls in Copenhagen.
