Liveblog is now in chronological order – auto-refreshing is deactivated.

11:55 GOOD MORNING

Hey folks! I’m here in the press centre this morning ready for the second rehearsals – today we have the whole of semi final one – each act will have 20 minutes on stage today to tidy up any issues they may have had in the first rehearsal. There was also an EBU press conference which we will get any relevant info to you! Just about to kick off with Armenia!

12:00 ARMENIA

And we’re off! We miss the first half of the first run through. Second time round, we see everything. Aram is wearing a long black leather coat, black top and trousers and fingerless leather gloves. Not much else has changed staging wise – he is still standing alone centre stage. Very dark for the first half and gets a lot brighter with reds in the latter half. Before the third run through we hear the floor manager say that “this is a test, we’re not sure if it is going to be in the live show” so they must be trying something out. Sure enough when the beat kicks in we have bursts of flames at the side of the stage! Overall, decent rehearsal but I still don’t think it’s a winner.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

12:25 LATVIA

After a quick turnaround we have Latvia up, and there’s a slight hitch when the singing stops about 20 seconds into the song, and they have to start again. The staging is much the same as before – starting centre stage before going down the catwalk and then back to the stage again. Vocally on the first run through it’s a bit rough around the edges, Joran’s vocals are not really hitting the spot and I think it all comes across a bit amateur. I now think this is in trouble, I had it as borderline before and I think I’ll still keep it at that for the moment. Let’s see how the others perform today first.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

12:50 ESTONIA

Tanja’s up next and starts again lying on the ground with her dancer – we can see the text where they are meant to be placed, as it fades away too slowly. The routine is much the same, it’s very complicated, and Tanja has issues with her mic pack to the extent that it falls off towards the end of the song! She gallantly carries on though. Vocally, it’s not as good as the first rehearsal. I think being thrown around so much is tiring Tanja out and overall I’m not quite as impressed as I was on the first rehearsal, but then perhaps that’s because I have seen the routine so many times now. The audience on Tuesday night will be seeing it for the first time, so won’t have this issue. I still think it’s qualifying, but it’s more of a maybe than a definite for now.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

13:20 SWEDEN

Sanna’s next on stage – they are really rushing through them today! She’s in her stage outfit which is a black dress with touches of lace. She looks good and much more appropriate for her age. No real changes in the performance, it looks effective on screen. There’s a few bum notes from Sanna in the first chorus though but nothing too noticeable. She really gives it 100% in each performance. For the second and third performances, I went to watch them in the arena, which I will let you know my opinions of in the LiveBlog to the side. I must say, this looks VERY impressive in the arena, especially when the spotlights come down. A definite qualifier and I feel this is going to be up there on Saturday night.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

13:50 ICELAND

We’re moving north west to Iceland and the boys are in their trademark coloured suits – I would LOVE the yellow one for myself – not sure I could wear it in a business meeting though! Performance wise, it’s exactly the same as before, they do it well. I think they are much better than the song though, and I think they would have a chance to do well with a better song, but with this, I think their audience is very limited, and it’s on too early to get the “drunk” vote. At the moment, I think their run of qualifications are likely to come to an end.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

14:10 ALBANIA

Hersi’s in her stage outfit which is a cream coloured long floor length dress made of lace. This looks good on screen and vocally, she is on point. Overall I think this is a better rehearsal for her than the first one as she is connecting much more to the cameras. Is it enough to get her through though? Sadly, I’m not so sure as this is a tough semi and I feel that this might just get lost in the mix. The juries will like this but I just can’t see it getting many televotes at all.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

14:40 RUSSIA

The twins are up next and they’re now wearing their performance outfits too, which are white coloured robes. Another one where the performance is much the same – the sticks, tied hair, see-saw and fan are all there, but this rehearsal is a marked improvement from Monday – the Russian team must have worked on this over the past few days. On the second rehearsal, the girls are now sporting little white hats under their hair which is tight buns – they remind me a little of Princess Leia – and I can now tell the difference between them because the hats are on different sides of their head – before I thought one of the girls sang both verses, but they each take a verse! There has been quite a bit of negative reaction to this song from the fans, but I feel that this is because it is Russia, and if this was Sweden, it would be a HUGE fan favourite. This is sailing through to the final, no question, and I think it could possibly make the top ten.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

15:10 BREAK TIME

We now have a break for half an hour but we will be back at 15:40 for Azerbaijan! See you soon!

15:40 AZERBAIJAN

Dilara’s up after the break and she is wearing a beautiful red dress with black lace on the torso. She looks gorgeous. The acrobat is back on the trapeze and it all looks much better this time around. There are images of a city skyline behind her as well as gothic windows and this is very effective. There whole thing comes together and it is classy and understated – the acrobat doesn’t feel shoehorned into the performance like the Greek trampoline. As always, she was excellent vocally and I think that this could do VERY well. It’s not a winner, but Azerbaijan’s impressive record of top ten finishes is not under threat.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

16:00 UKRAINE

We’re staying in the East and heading to Ukraine now – Mariya is wearing a black and silver dress and has her hair in a tight ponytail. We’ve still got the guy in the hamster wheel and I think this time Mariya seems to be interacting with him more, she spins him round and – when she climbs onto the wheel she goes almost to the other side. She also seems to be singing a little in the intro which helps because it’s such a long intro and it breaks it up a little. Her vocals improve on each run through and there’s also a wind machine and we could hear her asking for them to use the wind machine from the beginning now. She’s also giving it more attitude and overall, I would say it’s a very competent and I think they have a good chance of making the top ten, and possibly even higher! Well done Mariya!

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

16:25 BELGIUM

Axel is wearing his signature black tuxedo and there’s still the female dancer. The staging is dark blue, nothing has really changed much for this and he sings well, though I still think he over sings it a little as if he is trying to show off his voice. This song is a bit of an acquired taste, and admittedly, it’s not really mine, but there are plenty of people who love this kind of thing – you only have to look at the success of Paul Potts and Susan Boyle to see that there’s a market for that, and therefore I think this has a chance of doing well. Just how well, I am not so sure, it’s very difficult to call.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

16:45 MOLDOVA

Christina is wearing a blue dress with one of the sides in gold armour and a long blonde ponytail. The staging for this is quite similar again to the last time but there was more wind – it’s all very frantic with the dancers appearing behind her dressed in gold. There’s a bit where she rips off a part of her hair piece and the wind machines go crazy. Overall, it was an ok rehearsal but I think that they are really up against it in this semi final and I think they could miss out which has only happened once before. Though I think this is borderline so it could go either way.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

17:10 SAN MARINO

Oh Valentina. You have to love someone who is a trier. This is all very simple with Valentina still on the same podium with the Grecian fan behind her. The blue lighting turns to gold It sort of comes across as a performance from a musical, and not only has she improved her stage presence but her vocals are better than they ever have been before. But the problem is the song. I just feel it’s not strong enough, it’s nice enough but for a country like San Marino to have a chance of qualifying, they need to have something more memorable. It’s such a shame as I would LOVE to see them finally in the final.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

17:40 DINNER BREAK

We are now on a break for one hour, but stay tuned as I will be updating the Live Blog to the right. Back for Portugal at 18:20!

18:20 PORTUGAL

We get things started again with Suzy and her gang doing their thing on stage. There’s some strutting and dancing and smiling going on. It’s looking much more held together on this second rehearsal, though the vocals aren’t quite there yet.  I totally wrote this off the other day but now I am not so sure. There’s a real lack of fun upbeat songs in this semi, and for many people, this song represents what Eurovision is all about, so it could get votes from people around Europe thinking about their summer holiday on the beach. After seeing her perform at EuroClub last night, I have really warmed to Suzy, and I think it would be great to have her in the final. She’s another one I would add to the ever growing list of maybes.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

18:52 THE NETHERLANDS

Quite a drastic change in tempo after Portugal, this comes across as rather classy and understated. I really do love the moving road effect on the this floor. I’ve noticed there are barely ANY camera changes for this, around 12, with one of them lasting for over half the song. Compare that to around 80 for Greece! They are great vocally and I think the juries are going to go for this in a big way. I could even see it winning the jury vote! Televote wise, I am not so sure, but I think The Netherlands good luck is going to continue for another year.

© Thomas Hanses (EBU)

19:10 MONTENEGRO

The penultimate song of the day is from Sergej Ćetković bringing us his Balkan ballad. We still have the skater and she is being used far more effectively now, and the camera shots have also improved. I’d say this was a competent rehearsal and I do think that Montenegro have a good chance of qualifying, but I do think this is more of a jury song than a tele vote song, and if anything hinders it’s chances of qualification it might be because there aren’t really any other Balkan countries who would normally vote for this type of song in the semi. I still think it will squeeze through though.

19:35 HUNGARY

Last up on this rather long day is Hungary! We still have the choreography which I think looks very powerful and looks great on the screen. Vocally it is strong too and it’s all coming together nicely for this one. The message of the song really hits home, and this might be a bit off putting for some but interestingly, this is winning the press centre vote, and who knows? Maybe the press will be right, but whatever happens, it’s a definite finalist!

20:00 AND THAT’S ALL FOLKS

So that’s it! We have seen all 16 countries in the first semi-final perform for the second time and we should be starting to get a clearer picture of who will qualify. Today, I think there were a lot of definite improvements from many countries, so a lot of the delegations should be happy. In particular, Azerbaijan and Ukraine stood out for me. I still have to whittle down my list of potential qualifiers, but come the first-dress rehearsal I will be able to give my predictions. So now I am off to catch the last shuttle bus back to the apartment, and will head to EuroClub later to check out the goings on! Keep an eye out on the Liveblog on the right side, as I will be posting some more gossip and pics on there!