Hello again peeps! I’m heading off to Baku tomorrow morning, (yay!) but before I do, here’s my rundown of the first rehearsals from Semi Final 2, and my predictions for who will qualify. These are based on one watch only, and as before, are subject to drastic changes!

SERBIA
Zeljko is back for another chance to lift the Eurovision crown, with this, very typical Balkan ballad. It’s not really a million miles away from his previous entry which I wasn’t raving about, and as such, I’m not a massive fan of this either. It’s very simply and well performed but isn’t really my cup of tea. Still in a semi full of friends it’s a definite qualifier and depending on a draw will probably do pretty well on Saturday night. But as a winner? I very much doubt it.

MACEDONIA
I saw Kaliopi perform this at the London Preview Party and it really shot up in my estimation there. She is a lovely woman and has a powerhouse of a voice and I rather like the fact they’ve rocked it up even more as they have ditched the piano and brought in guitarists that really add to the performance. The famous scream towards the end of the song is just immense! Despite the draw of Death, I think she’s got a pretty good chance to qualify, and change Macedonia’s luck over the past few years.

NETHERLANDS
Joan has become a bit of a fan favourite amongst certain fans, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a really catchy feel-good song. She’s kept the infamous headdress but she has changed the female tambourine players for a bunch of guys and I think it suffers for it. She performs it fairly well but there’s something missing, it just feels a bit flat. Still, I’d love for this to qualify as the Dutch really deserve a break. To do this, it needs a bit more work, but there is still time for that…

MALTA
Malta are one of Eurovision’s most eager participants and they try so hard year after year to lift the crown, without success so far. Sadly, I don’t think Kurt is going to change that fact. There is no denying it’s a decent pop song but the performance isn’t quite there yet. His vocals on the high notes were a bit shaky too, and it could have done with a bit more dancing instead of the guitar player. They came surprisingly close to qualifying last year though, so you can never write the little island off…

BELARUS
Litesound have gone for the dancier version of their song, which, contrary to other’s opinions, I prefer to the original version. The singer really reminds me of Magnus Carlsson, ex-Alcazar member (it must be the hair!) Not a bad first performance, but as Felix said, it is rather repetitive, and is not that different from the song performed before it. It’s nice enough, but I’m just not sure it stands out enough to get the votes it needs to qualify.

PORTUGAL
Now I must confess, I do love a bit of Fado. Filipa was another one I saw at the London Preview Party and she is such a sweet girl. Her vocals are excellent and the staging of the song is very simple, and quite Israeli with the backing singers walking around the stage. After a bunch of uptempo songs, it’s a refreshing change, and I think the juries could go for this. However, not quite sure it’s a televote grabber though, but Portugal have surprised us before, so you never know! I’d love for them to qualify though!

UKRAINE
Well…this isn’t one you are likely to forget in a hurry! It’s classic Eurovision with an OTT performancewboth in dancing and vocals – Gaitana really belts it out, and it looks like she wasn’t even giving it her all. The screens are really effective towards the end of the song and you just can’t help but dance along to it. After the Portuguese song, Ukraine is like a slap in the face, but in a good way! Qualifying? Hell yes!

BULGARIA
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song in the studio version, it’s firmly in my top 5. The National Final performance was a little lacklusture and I was hoping that they would ramp it up for Eurovision proper. Sadly this doesn’t seem to be the case as Sofi is on the stage alone. For one of the danciest songs of the contest, this is a HUGE mistake. Sofi also sounds a little bit off on the chorus, and she doesn’t have any backing singers either to support her. Such a shame, as it had a lot of potential which has been squandered.

SLOVENIA
I have rather a soft spot for young Eva, the youngest of this year’s competitors, a full 60 years younger than one of the Russian Grannies! The performance was pretty good, but I don’t think Eva’s giving it 100% yet, especially in the earlier part of the song. It builds and builds well though and redeems itself at the end of the song. With a bit more polish I think this could do fairly well, and has a decent shot at qualifying. Wish she’d kept the dramatic hand move at the end of the song though!

CROATIA
Yet another Balkan ballad here, of which there are quite a few in this semi. There’s no question that Nina can sing well, and the performance was quite interesting, with the sheet being waved around. Not quite sure about her dress though! I just don’t think it’s really memorable enough to qualify though, and probably should have remained an album track on her latest opus.

SWEDEN
So here we go, the entry people love, or love to hate just because it’s either Sweden or the overwhelming favourite to win. There’s not an awful lot to say about this performance other than it’s pretty much the same as the Melodifestivalen performance, and Loreen peforms it out of the park. The backing vocalists work well though they could do with turning down the echo effect a bit. It’s difficult to judge this without seeing the camera feed as this song is based solely on that. I can’t really judge it’s chances to win though as it could really go either way. Definitely qualifying though, which I know will piss a few people off!

GEORGIA
By God I HATE this song, so it’s really hard to comment on it. To give it it’s due, it’s about a million times better than the National Final performance, and it’s kinda alright on stage although rather messy like the song itself. I’m sure loads of people round Europe will laugh at it though, but that’s bound to pick up votes just for the sake of it. I could actually see this qualifying over some songs that deserve it though, but that’s what often happens at Eurovision!

TURKEY
After last year’s disaster, Turkey try something a little bit different. The song is fine but Can is another one who seems to be holding back a little, and the whole thing is just a bit lacklusture overall, and a bit boring. I would have always said Turkey were sure qualifiers but then last year proved that theory wrong. Still some work to do here, I think…

ESTONIA
Quite a few people are tipping this to win, and I can see why, it’s a nice enough ballad performed well by a handsome guy. It is a bit old-fashioned though but after some of the rather dramatic performances it stands out a little. I just don’t think this has enough bite though to win and doesnt really build enough for my liking, but I’d say the qualification chances are pretty good anyhow.

SLOVAKIA
I find it hard to judge this as it’s by far and away my least favourite type of music. Max does perfom well, despite a few dodgy notes, but that doesn’t really matter with rock music so much. The performance for this could be so much better though and I fear that a lot of Europe will be a bit alienated by this, and it’s not helped by the fact that Slovakia doesn’t really have any friends to help them get over the line. I think he’s going home early, but then what do I know?

NORWAY
This is another fan favourite, and it hasn’t changed a lot from the Melodi Grand Prix performance either. Tooji sounds fine (helped by a backing singer) and I really like the dancers too. Norway has a rather excellent draw and I think it will do well in the semi, but as for the final? I’m not quite sure yet, a song like this heavily depends on the draw. It could do an Eric Saade or a Kati Wolf…

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Maya gives a rather understated performance here for this sweet ballad, sat at the piano for the first half of the song before moving centre stage during the instrumental break. Her vocals are great though and I think it’s a jury pleaser. With that, combined with the Balkan votes, it should be enough to see it over the line, but I don’t expect it to light the scoreboard alive come the final.

LITHUANIA
And here we have the last song! Phew! Donny perfoms this better than I remembered and it’s certainly a toe-tapper but it’s all just a bit…bland…I do like the visuals on the background but the song seems way longer than three minutes and when it was all over I had a “is that it?” moment. He may have a good draw but I think it might just pass too many people by to have a decent chance of qualifying.

So there we go…I have to get up in 5 hours for my flight – eek! But before I go, here is my first shot at predictions. Bear in mind, this is with one view of each rehearsal performance. It’s a much tougher semi to predict than the first I think, as the field seems much closer. My choices to go through are:

SERBIA
MACEDONIA
NETHERLANDS
UKRAINE
SLOVENIA
SWEDEN
TURKEY
ESTONIA
NORWAY
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

I’d love PORTUGAL to be there, but I think it may JUST miss out in eleventh place.

OK, I’m off to bed, the next time you’ll hear from me is in Baku!