Welcome Eurovision fans to our live coverage of the second dress rehearsal of the first semi-final!

I’m reporting to you live from my home in America and will be doing my best to pull all the knowledge we know from the rehearsals this morning, photos, TikTok clips and more to give you a rough picture of what to expect for each act’s performance tomorrow. This article will be updated every few minutes so follow along and enjoy!

The opening of the show

We are seeing glimpses of the postcards in the cold open, which also features clips of the action from Liverpool last year that brought us to Malmo. These postcard moments all come together to form the Eurovision heart – how cute!

We now move to the stage where Eleni Foureira kicks off her Eurovision 2018 hit “Fuego” in a new mix. Donned in a gold two piece filled with dangling pieces, she lights the stage on fire….literally. There is new choreography for the performance and a new ethnic mix that happens to create a new dance break for the performance. The arena is screaming for her.

Next Eric Saade comes on stage and he gives us a new rendition of his smash hit “Popular” – smashing a sugar glass window upon his entry. It’s another performance that the Eurovision fans will love and he’s also equipped with backing dancers.

Finally, we get Spain’s very own Chanel from Eurovision 2022, donned in a new blue jumpsuit to perform “Slomo”. There is also a new dance break in her version of the entry, and she is also joined by a number of dancers mid-stage. The whole thing has the fans screaming in the arena.

The hosts are on stage – Welcome Malin and Petra

And now we have our hosts on stage Malin Åkerman and Petra Mede! We’ve heard a few jokes be volleyed by Petra on stage, one of which is when Petra admits that she too voted for Finland last year in Liverpool. Another one says “Yes I’m back, I’ve done it once by myself, once with a man, and now with a woman!”

We also get our first look at the scoreboard, bathed in purple light and the moving bar graphic that you will see throughout the show. A reminder that the voting for the semi-finals does not open until after all 15 performances occur (this is not the case for the final however). They say the official words “Let the Eurovision Song Contest begin!” and we are off!

Cyprus – Silia Kapsis won’t stand for a Liar

We’re off to the races now with Cyprus, who ignite the stadium with their song “Liar”. It is worth noting that their postcard covers two iconic performances like the 1997 and 2012 acts.

The stage for Silia’s performance is bathed in waves of blue as we’ve seen in the press pictures, and there is a lot of cool interplay between arena shots, close ups, and even some shots from the back of the stage. The stream has been having some buffering issues so parts are unfortunately being missed.

I can however hear the crowd and they are very happy with this performance. In the final chorus post dance break the stage moves to a red color and this is where the shirts come off on the dancers. She moves to the front of the stage and gives her iconic “Liar” pose. And that’s a wrap on Cyprus.

Serbia up next – Teya Dora takes us to the seaside

Serbia has had some rocky (and I’m not making a pun) rehearsals over the last few days, expressing that camera work and lighting just was not coming together in the way that they wanted.

However in this dress rehearsal it seems that things have started to all work, and it’s super beautiful. It’s hard to describe but the first part of the performance features a lot of dark close ups that create this illusion that she’s in a studio alone, no one else is there. As the performance continues you start to see her emerge to the stage and we get to realize she’s actually in the Malmo arena after all.

There’s a few images of lavender bulbs shooting out of the LED floor as well as a giant flower at the end. If you loved this song at PZE you’re gonna love it here too.

Off to Lithuania – Silvester Belt makes the crowd go nuts

It’s not surprising that Luktelk has set the arena on it’s feet, and they are having a great time. The staging as has been noted many times is similar to the Eurovizija staging but with some new twists, there are new LED floor moments like blue circles pulsing out from the center, and a new hypnotic red and black spiral that appears at the end.

We also noticed that the crowd has light-up wrist bands that are in sync with the colors of the performance, and that’s a neat trick. Overall Lithuania has been well received by the crowd and we saw many on the floor dancing along.

Bambie Thug has enchanted the arena

Tonight’s performance was even more on point for Bambie, and the crowd is also loving this. We see a few new elements that we missed in the initial dress, as Bambie now has some silver elements across their chest like armor. The smoke cloud in the LED has also made a new hit for them. They’re serving goth ballerina and I live.

The moment where the ring raises into the air is also very red, and creates a very different tonality to that of the beginning. We watch a live exorcism happen on stage as the stage pulses red and blue, and the words “Crown the Witch” appear across the stage. Also Bambie ends in a stance where their leg is stomped on their dancer. Malin reminds the audience that Bambie is the first non-binary artist in the contest (at the time of competing that we know of).

Our first ad break comes after Ireland

We see a skit from Petra in the crowd, where she approaches a fan and informs her that she’s been “studying up” on Eurovision and knows every single song now. The fan then begins to quiz her asking her to recount a number of songs like France 1983 and in a funny manner, Petra doesn’t know the song. Instead she repeatedly asks “okay give me another one”.

Realizing she knows none of them she says “Let’s agree to disagree” before the camera starts to move away. She also muttered “next time lets go with something like Sweden 1974 yeah?”We are back on stage now and the United Kingdom is set up for “Dizzy”.

You’ll get dizzy with the UK camera work

The camera work for the UK is predominately happening in front of and to the side of the massive box set, never wanting to break the illusion of the magic they’ve made. There are a few clever uses of the cameras to mimic the box tipping over and you see the dancers “slide” down the set as well. There are also moments where the camera does a full spin.

A few other new details noticed happen after Olly and the dancers leave the box, and we see that the LED floor almost “crumbles” underneath him, folding into infinity. It’s a really cool effect to watch happen honestly. They they are on a new side of the stage surrounded by lasers to finish out the performance with pyro as well. The crowd seemed to enjoy that!

The crowd is clapping along to “Teresa and Maria” from Ukraine

Many of the moments in this performance Matt and I discussed on the stream this morning but to give you a road map, Jerry appears from behind a curtain almost to open the performance bathed in orange. She then moves downstage and up the rock formation before handing it over to alyona alyona.

A color shift happens to move to blacks and whites, and then as the rap ends a massive version of Jerry Heil appears on the screen as a fake curtain falls on the screen.

They both finish the performance back to back and then lay down on the LED floor on top of a number of unidentified females, creating a very impactful overhead shot. Crowd goes nuts for them!

Poland has built a tower….to the moon?

Poland’s staging has been very interesting to the eye, and there are elements that truthfully are a bit confusing to the eye. However LUNA sounds much better tonight that earlier today – there is a lot more control of her voice and less breathy for the front half.

The storyline is essentially seeing her fighting with the dancers in black and white who seem to be trying to controlling her movements in a way, or making her conform. The middle section it is noticed that she is actually not singing (the first part of the bridge) so that she can instead engage in the choreography and lets the pre-recorded vocals do the work for her.

The new notes in the track have stayed in the performance, likely as a way to show off a bit vocally and also add some oomph leading into the final chorus. Overall it’s a very good performance with a lot of imagery, I think the casual viewer is going to like it a lot.

Croatia features new vocal overlays and ENERGY

One of the biggest things to note here is that Baby Lasagna has new vocal lines in his performance that really round out the overall performance – some that are vocal effects, and some are backing vocals being added in. We also have a much more prevalent electro beat under the song which now really works to bring the energy to the song.

As you can see in the pictures below there is a lot of color being used in the performance from whites, greens, blue, yellow, and more. It’s honestly giving the vibe of being at a rave or rock concert. Lots of pyro and smoke comes in as well to really sell the atmosphere.

As we’d expect you can hear the crowd scream throughout most of the performance, and Marko screams “DANCE WITH ME EUROPE” before the dance break as well. You can also hear the crowd screaming “Whoooaaaa” alongside Marko during the entire back half of the performance. This is the loudest that the crowd has been all night.

Iceland’s Hera is set to perform on stage

Eurovision legend Hera is up next with her song “Scared of Heights” and once again we have a delay in the performance. I’m not sure what is happening to cause this, it’s either an issue striking Croatia or setting up Iceland’s staircase.

Without missing a moment through Hera is off to the races. Here’s the good thing, this performance was lacking energy and oomph this morning during an empty arena but with a crowd we can see her coming alive much more. There are a few timing issues tonight where Hera might have taken too long to get off the staircase and misses her big pose before the second verse.

As the second chorus comes in Hera climbs up the stairs again and her backing vocalist join her on stage as well. Images of dancers are projected on to the LED triangle, and at the very end they both look to Hera as she finishes the number.

We move to the second ad break for the semi-final

We now have another ad break following Hera’s performance, which is an odd number showcasing Malin putting famous Eurovision songs on top of classic cinema movies? Thankfully for those not watching on the Eurovision YouTube your country will likely cut away and you’ll miss it. There’s only about two movies in this break – which makes it strange.

Also strange is the cutaway to Petra introducing Germany for their performance. She mentions that Germany is up next but then skips to mentioning that Sweden is represented by Marcus and Martinus from Norway. She also recounts other Swedish artists who represented Sweden but are from other countries. Then never mentions Germany again? Very….strange….

Let’s go to Germany now.

ISAAK is on the run for Germany’s good placement

ISAAK has a pyro filled performance that really brings up the temperature in the arena. He starts off seated in the chair by the trash can fire, recounting the first verse before he stands up and approaches the front of the house box set.

Once the chorus begins the set begins to light on fire, engulfing center stage in a flurry of heat, flame, and smoke. We see the LED moves to a heat image as well, with smoke starting to rise from the screen. Don’t worry the infamous elephant noise is still present in the track.

ISAAK ends the performance in the last chorus out on stage as the pyros are extinguished and his backing vocalists join him mid stage. The lighting changes to more hues of orange and white, and he seems extremely proud of what he’s accomplished!

Slovenia’s Raiven casts a new spell with Veronika

A number of the tiny issues have been tightened up for tonight’s performance, making it a really slick and visually arresting experience. The smoke levels have been tamed down to just cover the LED floor, and give it more of a dark feeling. We also see lots of clouds of smoke filling the LED wall.

We also see the stage swallowed in blue and white lights, which really sell the darkness of the story and her performance. You’ll notice that a few references are made in the choreography back to the official music video. There are also a number of wide arena shots, close ups, and the traditional 360 shot as well.

The performance ends after her siren call with an overhead shot of her being lifted as the LED floor becomes water. A call back to how Veronika was drowned.

Finland has no rules for their performance, literally

This morning we noticed a number of camera issues during the Finnish performance, as things just weren’t lining up in the way that they were planned. Thankfully for tonight’s performance we’ve got a few more of them right. The shot of the fan in the arena blocking his pelvic region has still not lined up.

The same elements from UMK are here for Eurovision, from the executive with the clip board, the microphone stand and smoke column and the iconic jean shorts with sparklers. A few new elements are introduced from a camera man blocking his area with the lens of the camera and also a round light also blocking him from off stage.

You will notice that he cannot use the sparkler tubes on the LED floor (likely due to fear of damaging them) so he instead just holds the tubes as dances around. Everything else – it’s basically the UMK performance but slightly larger!

Moldova creates a stunning visual for Natalia’s performance

Up to this point in the semi-final I would say that Moldova have the best usage of all the elements of the stage – LED wall, the floor, the cubes – everything is used here. There are some really cool graphics being used here from the water bubbling up and swirling around, the growth of the tree behind her, and the vegetation starting to spring up in verse two.

The butterflies take off in the second chorus swirling around stage, which leads in to the bird wings for the violin verse. Once she moves into the bridge everything turns to gold as a sphere takes off into the sky. The performance ends in a giant flash of gold. Natalia ends her performance saying to the crowd “Thank you so much!”

With a short break we’re back for the host country – Sweden!

Sweden’s performance is just Melodifestivalen but up a notch. However the tube lights from the side do require a bit of set-up and stalling from the hosts on stage. The opening sees a very dark stage with some red light, and honestly it was a little hard to see them at first. The chorus sends us into the light tunnel with unforgettable displayed behind them and LED cubes showing up across the floor and wall.

The second verse is just the same, but with more swirling camera angles as the tube light walls open up on stage. The cubes have descended and now projects unforgettable as well as their dancers join them on stage for the iconic choreography. You can hear the crowd clapping along as the break happens.

The stage is now align in a sea of colors, for the computer it’s actually a bit much – I don’t think my graphics card liked that at all. But the performance is solid and will light up the arena on the night of the grand final. They pass it off to a reminder of the songs still left to compete.

Azerbaijan bathes the stage in light and glitter

As my stream struggles to recover from Sweden (my sound and picture are now 10 seconds off one another…) we’re seeing Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov of Azerbaijan. This performance is very futuristic and shows a woman in the background who seems to be calling out or beckoning out to them both from the screen.

We also see her hands following Fahree along on the LED floor as her hands magically appear center stage framing him. There’s not much else happening visually in this performance other than the camera moving between Fahree and Ilkin as they play off each other vocally, and as the stage fills with color as the performance goes on. Very pretty on the screen.

It’s worth noting that the hand is nearly as tall as Fahree himself.

Australia reminds us that we are united by more than music

Escape to the world of Fleetwood Macs and Janets, Australia takes the stage to remind us all of what we all have in common. The stage is bathed in reds and oranges, and we see a lot of swirling glitter on the LED.

What was missing from this performance this morning was energy and it’s emerged with the crowd. With the arena bracelets, cheering, and a few vocal improvs we see a lot more change up happening on stage. The words Mil Kali La are projected across the wall and cubes (One Blood).

A few stage notes to point out, as we head out of the first half of the performance the vocalists are joined by their backing vocalists on stage who lead them into the second chorus. In comes the diggerido player to add that aboriginal flare into the performance and then there is a really cool shot that we’ve not seen in other performances. The camera comes from a close-up rising into the LED cube for a really cool overhead of the red LEDs.

Portugal’s Iolanda inhales all the arena’s energy, leaving us breathless

I will be honest with you all…..I forgot for a second that I needed to be typing – what a performance! There’s a lot of source material from Festival da Cancao in here, so a lot of the camera shots and choreography will not be surprising to fans. And yes, the masks stay on for the dancers.

One fun things that is a bit new for the performance is their use of aspect ratios, shorting the length of the screen to really focus the eyes on Iolanda. It’s very effective. They are also the only delegation to use the LED cube so close to the stage in this semi-final (other than pre-qualified Sweden). Overall it’s arresting and beautifully done!

Luxembourg’s Tali is ready to close out the show

Once again my stream is wildly out of sync with itself and I’ve missed portions of Tali’s performance. What I can comment on is that the energy is definitely there tonight compared to this morning, and she’s nailed the choreography as well.

They’ve found a way to include her in the choreography but not overwhelm her, which is very important for a high paced song like this. The colors really pop for this performance, but there are some moments where you can kind of notice the emptiness of the stage – overall though this does not detract or negatively impact the performance, just an observation.

She is in the same outfit as this morning and the most impactful moment is the bridge, where the color all gets sucked off stage and she’s just bathed in light. She once again ends the performance in an ad-lib phrase of French that I did not catch.

Off to the recaps and intervals now!

We’ve got our first recap of the 15 songs now, and we’re happy to report that the acts ARE still in the arena for the recaps. Though it is likely that they will not stay for the entire night.

As we move to the first interval act Petra mentions that Sweden has lost the contest nearly 55 times now, but what do they do when they lose? They wipe off their tears and then send Loreen – crowning her as the official queen of Eurovision. She then introduces the king of Eurovision – Ireland’s Eurovision 1980 and 1987 winner Johnny Logan.

He will perform an orchestral ballad version of “Euphoria” that is amazingly beautiful. Seriously you are in for a lovely tribute to Loreen here. I did notice that there are some moments where Johnny seems to be just a fraction behind the track which does confirm that he will be singing live on the night.

After Johnny we move to the Green Room

Petra moves to the green room behind the LED screen to see what’s been going on behind the scenes with the artists. She first talks to Luxembourg’s Tali and they discuss how the last time her country competed in the contest, Tali was not even alive yet.

We then cut away to a recap from yesterday’s Turquoise carpet which had mixed reviews from fans, press, and locals as well. We also head into the second recap of artists, this time with no cut aways to the green room.

New elements added to the stream after this morning

This morning we skipped from the turquoise carpet moment over to the crowd as they introduce the ESC app, but we will also see a quick spurt of all the 16 acts performing in the second semi-final. These are not shots of the performance, but clips from the postcard sign-off (slowmo turns and poses at the camera). We also get a recap of dance numbers in Eurovision in tribute to Nicole and Hugo from 1973.

We then cut back to the green room with a number of jokes from Petra, including a lasagna and a….”baby lasagna” as well. We also get a “you go girl” for Hera who conquered her fear of heights flying to Malmo and Poland who flew higher than “Dima Bilan” according to Petra – this joke is in reference likely to his aerial tricks in Moscow 2009.

Her final joke is about Bambie Thug who is part Irish and part Swedish. She mentions that should Bambie win this year it’s actually a win for both countries making it 8-8. They then cut away to Benjamin Ingrosso’s interval act!

Benjamin Ingrosso sends us into the final leg of the show

This has been the best interval of the show thus far, as SVT has let him perform a mega medley of his own music spanning nearly three songs. The semi-final transforms into a Benjamin concert in vibe, as he not only takes over the stage he takes over the crowd.

Most of these viewers and audience members are not going to know his music but that doesn’t matter – all eyes are on him. I’d say that after that performance it’s the loudest the crowd has been since Croatia and Ireland.

And now we get to head into the fake results for the semi-final. But before we get there we have to reveal the acts behind the stage!

The green room is revealed behind the LED

As we head into the end of the semi-final broadcast Malin and Petra reveal the acts in the green room behind the screen, in a very dramatic way. We see the screen open up and the acts wave from the back. Hello artists we see each of you!

Here are tonight’s FAKE results – again these are NOT THE REAL RESULTS:

  1. Serbia 🇷🇸
  2. Portugal 🇵🇹
  3. Slovenia 🇸🇮
  4. Cyprus 🇨🇾
  5. Azerbaijan 🇦🇿
  6. Australia 🇦🇺
  7. Ireland 🇮🇪
  8. Lithuania 🇱🇹
  9. Moldova 🇲🇩
  10. Croatia 🇭🇷

We now see a recap of the ten fake qualifiers for the grand finals, and as all the qualifiers are grouped together along the rail. This allows us to see them all celebrate but also maintains the privacy of the non-qualifiers for the semi-final. Petra and Malin give us a goodbye sign-off as the show comes to a close, the stage bathed in a hue of sparkling lavender.

And now we’re out with the official EBU theme. Thanks for joining us tonight and good night!

Are #YOU excited for the first semi-final tomorrow? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited or on our forum page!

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