I arrived in my good old Cologne! Not in total Eurovision mode yet (because visiting a non-fan friend here), but still blogging about my thoughts about the rehearsals today. And when I came home to the hotel, “Popular” sounded out of a pub that I passed on my way. So let’s see who was really popular today and who was not!

Bulgaria
Poli doesn’t appear as wild and rock-y as in the bulgarian final, and I think that’s not an ideal development. Vocally, this is totally fine. A powerful entry with catwalk use, big spotlight, kneeing on the floor…. and a quite boring backdrop. It’s doing basically the same all the time, which makes it a bit less interesting. Could have been staged much better, could have been done much worse. I tune into the common thinking that this is a borderline qualifier.

FYR Macedonia
Backdrop: irritating. Singer: bad. Song: unworthy a broadcasting. Forget about all of this. Why oh why, dear macedonians, didn’t you pick the chicken?

Israel
Deeeeng daaawng. Dana International propably enjoys to be at Eurovision, whatever the outcome may be. The backdrop is nice. She sometimes sings in tune. The song itself is completely pointless. Next please.

Slovenia
Thank god they got rid of the dancer that “danced” like he’s gonna take a sit on the toilet. Instead this has a perfect staging now. Whirling flights, an impressive backing choir, tight performance. For some reason, this looks a bit like a darker version of Alvedansen, which is a good thing. Hey, all this is really impressive. Slovenia was the major surprise in the ChatVote 2011 (coming 7th in front of favourites like Sweden and France), and I think it will be Top 10 in the final at the moment. Austria, watch out for this one. Excellent!

Romania
Can I just say, that the backdrop creators have done a great job in general? Now on to the entry from Southern Denmark. The same feelings spread in me as with the Netherlands… it’s an OK song, good vocals, but just too boring to be remembered after the next postcard. It’s just there, it just goes on and ends eventually. I think noone would notice if it went on forever cos it’s neither offensive nor catchy.

Estonia
This is quite the same as in Eesti Laul, just my fear that it will be out of tune is quite gone. It’s pop, on your ears and for your eyes. They could have done without the stupid wigs though. It might be a bit too messy, and it lacks some exciting highlight (though to be fair, as does the song). I like it, but on stage it’s not among the best whole packages we’ve seen so far.

Belarus
There are so many things you can do within 3 minutes. You can get yourself another beer, you can call a friend, you can try to solve a jigsaw puzzle, you can  give water to the plants, and you can watch this. Do whatever you wanna do with it. I have no words. And she doesn’t even sing well.

Latvia
Some people don’t get this one, the others quite like it. I belong to the latter group. And Musiqq do their job quite well, the vocals are fine, the whole staging is very effective, and with some nice camera flights this should come across rather fabulous. It’s pretty much the best you can do with it! I’m just not a friend of these last few notes yet. Hard one to call, might qualify. Good rehearsal, still borderline I guess.

Denmark
Now it’s a tricky situation for a fanboy blogger. You absolutely don’t like the song but still have to try to be objective about the rehearsal. I might like it if I wouldn’t hear at least 4 popular tunes in it, cleverly blended together, one being this (which is an old cover version as well). Let me try to focus on the rehearsal of this then: He basically has the hairdo that Poli Genova should have. Solid vocals. Not much else that could be judged on.

Ireland
Finally Ireland. Finally Jedward. I don’t expect them to be in tune, which is part of the artwork they are. Now let’s see if they do what I expect them to: Have fun on stage and let it come across on the TV screens, as they did in the irish final, accompanied by a catchy 2007 style pop tune.
So… no, they don’t look as relaxed, yet. The whole staging has a much different (darker, more powerful) vibe and style than what we know from the Irish final. The whole staging and choreography is less fun at the moment, and I am not sure what effect *this* has, because *this* is a much different thing than that, that the* non-Ireland/-UK-Europeans know from Jedward so far (and the people outside of Ireland are the ones to decide upon hot or not).
At the moment: Unexpectedly not hot.

* th th th th th !!!!