Welcome to esc-chat.com’s live blog from the first dress rehearsal of the first semi final for ESC 2013! Danny will be blogging here from the press centre, and you can follow Martin’s tweets from the arena here.

Hello everyone! I’m sitting here in the press centre listening to some of the artists warm up for the first full run through of the first semi final – it seems that the artist dressing rooms are quite close by – we have heard though that due to their rather tight dresses that Margaret from Norway and Moran from Israel have dressing rooms in the arena so they don’t have to make the 400 metre walk from the press centre!

It’s just gone 5pm and the show has not yet begun, stay tuned for all the action when it finally does!

And we’re off!

The first VT is various shots around Europe, which is interesting, as usually it’s all about the host country – the theme of We Are One is definitely being followed through this year. We then see a lovely shot of the Oresund bridge with butterflies flying around before finally entering the arena – the show opens with a group of kids singing Euphoria similar to the Melodifestivalen interval act performance all standing on a high catwalk before Loreen walks along the catwalk in a red dress. It’s quite a powerful performance. Then – entering from a rising platform underneath the stage, Petra Mede appears wearing a very interesting dress made of tinfoil, and it looks like she is not wearing any make-up! She gives us the usual introduction of the evening’s proceedings – she also tells us that you can only vote once all the artists have performed, a change from last year!

The postcards start with a butterfly in the colours of the competing country and there’s a really nice VT of the artist doing usual things, and shots of the butterfly flying around. Before the song starts, there’s a small jingle.

AUSTRIA

Natália kicks things off with a confident performance – it looks good on screen with the lamps down on the stage before rising on the second chorus. I think this is the best performance she has given us so far, but I am still not sure about her qualifying chances though.

ESTONIA

They’ve turned up the sound of all the screens for this now, but they’re all not in sync now so we’ve had to move around the press centre to be able to hear it properly, but we’re fine now! This is another strong performance from Birgit, vocally she is perfect, and looks very pretty – still not sure about the dress though! This is going to get a fair bit of jury votes I think, and she’s also in with a shout of being a surprise qualifier.

SLOVENIA

The dancers are now in their full costumes now, and they are wearing silver masks which they rip during the first chorus. The part where they all move down to the catwalk looks good oj screen. Vocally, it’s fine, and I’ve just noticed there’s actually some backing vocals in the last few choruses which make it sound better. I still think the song is a bit too niche to qualify though.

CROATIA

Another strong performance here from the Croatian boys – the performance is rather static though, but the point of this song is the vocals. This type of music is SO popular in the Balkans that I think it’s going to make it through.

DENMARK

Same performance as before, though there’s a few strange camera shots in the first verse. Barefoot Emmelie (I hope her feet don’t stink) is vocally better than the last dress rehearsal. This looks VERY good on screen with the lighting and the pyro curtain looks AMAZING. There’s a reason why this is the favourite to win, and based on this performance, it could just do it.

We then have a short break with a sketch where Petra tells us some of the other suggestions for the show’s tagline We Are One, these included “Thank You For The Music” and “Don’t complain, it’s even more expensive in Norway!”

RUSSIA

Slightly different outfit for Dina – the dress is much the same with the addition of lacy arm – it looks much better. Vocally, this again is excellent, but they still don’t get the ball thingy right. It comes across well, and this is another definite qualifier.

UKRAINE

The start of this actually looks BRILLIANT on screen, every time Igor takes a step, there’s a loud bang and the camera shakes! Zlata is back in her cream coloured dress – I think she needs to keep this rather than the one she had on the other day! We then have a technical hitch where the song stops – I think Zlata’s microphone wasn’t working, so the song is started over again. The camera clearly LOVES Zlata. Clear qualifier and I think this is now in with a shot of top 5. This gets the biggest applause in the press centre so far!

THE NETHERLANDS

Another understated performance here from Anouk, she looks better than earlier in the week, she seems to have had a few night’s decent sleep! She also seems to be enjoying herself a bit more than earlier rehearsals. It comes across as classy and I think deserves to make it through.

MONTENEGRO

Hmmm….I had this down as a possible qualifier but it comes across a bit messier today. Nina is great though.  They’re not wearing their full costumes either. I’m not sure the type of person who would vote for this would watch the song on a Tuesday evening and as such, I’m putting this down in the non-qualifier list.

LITHUANIA

I predicted last place for this, and I still stand by that decision – it’s all just so half -hearted and he just doesn’t seem to bother at all. Not much else I can say about this to be honest! Poor Lithuania.

BELARUS

The audience is definitely going to be woken up with this! The entrance from the disco-ball looks great, and Alyona is connecting better with the cameras. There”s nothing quite so camp in this semi, so it’s sure to get some drunk votes and I think it will have enough to see it being performed again on Saturday night.

MOLDOVA

Pasha’s back on piano duties, and Aliona finally reveals her hairstyle, I think. Or maybe not. This looks just FANTASTIC on screen. Vocally, she’s good too. I definitely think this is making it through, and top 10 is a possibility.

IRELAND

The dancers seem to have even MORE tattoos now! This looks decent enough and it’s performed well. Ryan performs well and I think he will make it

We then have a VT about how much Australia loves Eurovision!

CYPRUS

The lovely Despoina is next. She is wearing a simple black outfit, she’ll be saving her proper one for later on, then! Vocally, she’s great. This is competing for some of the same votes as Estonia and I think only one of them will make it. Based on both of their performances, I’m not quite sure which one. This semi is tough!

BELGIUM

Quite a lot of people have predicted this to do well. I think the song deserves to, but this performance by Roberto is just not good enough – this is actually the first time I have seen it as Martin covered it both the other times. It is quite a stark contrast to the colourful Irish performance. This and Ireland are also competing for the same votes – if it was based on the song – I’d say Belgium deserve it, but based on performance, I think Ireland deserve to.

SERBIA

Moje 3 are in their full stage outfits that we have already seen, which gets a few laughs from the press centre, obviously some people haven’t seen it! This comes across as a song in a musical, with all the acting going on. It’s a good closer though. Vocally they are fine, and despite the outfits it does look good on screen!

Petra is back in a flowing purple outfit telling us that the voting has begun. Then we have the snabbrepris, but they make a mistake and use the graphics for Semi Final 2 – Slovenia comes up as Macedonia, Esma’s looking AMAZING! After a short pause, they start the reprise again, this time with the correct graphics.
After the reprise, Petra is in the green room walking round chatting to volunteers who are pretending to be the artists and she has a fake interview with “Birgit” from Estonia! Up next is a VT about this history of Eurovision, covering the early years up to the there’s a nice funny bit where Petra appears in the clips of the performances behind the singers! She even pretends to be Nicole singing “Baby Baby” with Hugo! This is a real fun touch – let’s hope we see the second part in the next semi!

We have another run through of the reprise – they have picked good parts for Montenegro when Nina rises, but they’ve totally picked the wrong bit for Ireland, its the last 20 seconds of the song, they should have picked the chorus!

The interval act which I am reliably informed are called Northern Lights is up next – it’s not the most interesting interval act I’ve ever seen but then most people won’t be watching this anyway, going to refill their wine glass or chatting to their friends.

Up next is LYNDA WOODRUFF! She’s travelled up north and staying in an ice hotel! I won’t spoil it for you though, but it’s funny! There’s a “to be continued…” caption – she’s appearing at all three shows!

We then have quick clips of the 6 automatic finalists, but in a twist, instead of the usual previews we get their postcards instead!

Jon Ola Sand is then introduced and we have the fake results! All the countries names appear on screen in the running order with Petra to the top left. There’s a long pause where they test some shots. For those of you who are interested, the fake qualifiers are Ukraine, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Croatia, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland and Serbia!

We then have a winners reprise of the 10 songs, and it looks like the 10 qualifiers will end on stage behind Petra! Petra then says her goodbyes, and tells us she will be back on Thursday along with Lynda Woodruff! YAY!

Overall, that was a VERY good show, just the right mix of fun and seriousness and Petra did a great job! The graphics too are STUNNING. Very impressed! Right that’s me off to get ready for the Israeli party in a few hours – see you all soon!