Can you believe we’re here already? It hardly feels like a moment since Rambo Amadeus christened the Baku stage with a massive cardboard donkey last weekend, and now we’ve reached the end of the technical rehearsals for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.

At a personal level, I’m glad to be able to report on them at all. I should have been on duty yesterday, but my ESC-week holiday in Lanzarote had a shaky start – our flight was diverted via Madrid to offload an unwell passenger and his party’s luggage, which somehow took them several hours to achieve, then we didn’t have a password for the internet at the villa until late in the evening. Things are running more smoothly now, though – many thanks to Felix and Shi for stepping in yesterday!

So, where do we start with today’s events? With the finalists, I suppose, since I haven’t seen any of them yet!

Unlike yesterday, the United Kingdom rehearsed in the right place in the order today, so it was Engelbert Humperdinck who started us off with Love Will Set You Free. You don’t need to ask whether a showman with his experience delivered a professional performance. The key issue is whether it looks right, and frankly it’s so hard to tell without seeing the camerawork, because it all depends on whether Engelbert is connecting properly, the dancers are filmed well, and so on. There is, of course, also still the concern over the big final notes – he hasn’t particularly hit them yet, but he doesn’t need to until the night itself, so it might just be a question of crossing our fingers and hoping when it really matters…

The first thing all of us here thought when we saw France‘s stage setup was “Josh Dubovie”. (The boxes, you see.) Not a great sign really! Well, obviously Echo (You and I) is a better song than That Sounds Good To Me (even if the latter has developed into something of an ironic dancefloor singalong classic). I’m still not convinced that Anggun is bringing it over particularly well vocally, though – you can take it easy in rehearsals, of course, but I don’t get any real sense of assurance about her performance – and the staging looks like it could be terribly messy. Then again, it also looks like the kind of thing that needs rehearsal to get it just right, so it might start sitting perfectly in the first dress rehearsal and make us wonder what we were so worried about in the first place. Also there are SHIRTLESS BOYS. This is important.

I can’t quite decide whether Italy‘s staging works. The background seems too modern and busy for what is, after all, a retro-fashioned song. Then again, maybe none of that will matter as soon as Nina belts L’amore è femmina (Out Of Love) down the camera at us – she has plenty of charisma and powerful lungs, there’s no doubt about that. She also encourages us to clap our hands at one point. Now how’s that supposed to work when I’m clutching a beer? Anyway, it all holds together pretty well – I’m still not smelling “winner”, but then nothing really has that aroma for me this year, so that’s not a particularly helpful insight!

I suspect Azerbaijan have realised they have one of this year’s best song/singer/performance combinations and might be at risk of winning again. There’s surely no other explanation for the addition of a mugham singer towards the end of the song. I mean, show off your local culture by all means, particularly when it’s as famous a name in his field as Alim Qasimov – but do it in a context where it doesn’t ruin the mood of a completely unrelated song, please? On the other hand, you’ve probably decided whether to vote/not vote for this before the last minute happens, so it’s more the kind of thing that will ensure When The Music Dies appears on Eurovision clip shows for the rest of all time. Hm… so maybe that’s their plan!

My initial notes for Spain‘s rehearsal are as follows: “Pastora’s vocals yes, Pastora’s outfit no”. And I stand by that. She belts it out, she seems to be tracking the cameras well enough, but I hope she isn’t crippled by a wardrobe misjudgement on the big night. I’m also far from convinced about the moment when she’s magically joined by her backing singers – the way they’re all strung out across the stage reminds me of none other than Anna Bergendahl in 2010. Warning bells! But no, really, this should get Spain a pretty solid mid-table result at least, and if viewers and jurors find Quédate conmigo to be contemporary rather than contrived – something I’m not yet sure about myself – then it could go a great deal higher.

Germany may not have summoned up anywhere near as much enthusiasm for Roman Lob as it did for Lena, but Standing Still is one of my favourite songs this year. The problem is perhaps that it’s more of a Danish radio song than a Eurovision vote sponge. Performance and presentation will be key to making this one look more interesting, and I like to think it’s working as it should, particularly if the aim is to attract the jury’s traditional favour for “real” music performed with instruments on stage and a serious approach. Roman is sounding good – not that the song is particularly demanding – and looks relaxed and content. We won’t be heading back to Germany next year, but this should do perfectly well really.

The finalists’ rehearsals were, of course, preceded by the last
run-throughs by the remaining second semi-finalists. So what new insights did we learn there?

For me, Norway has cemented its status as a top 10 contender in the final. The routine is slick and controlled, the singing is good enough (with the same provisos about Tooji’s upper register as previously), and it’s exactly the kind of package that can pick up votes from around the continent. Similarly, Estonia was as solid as before, with Ott trying a few different approaches to his notes during the various run-throughs. Different backing singer today as the regular one is ill, apparently – get well soon!

In terms of those with work to do, I was anticipating an improvement in Slovakia‘s performance, and it might look better on camera, but for the moment it seems like they’re throwing the Whole Big Rock Thing at the wall and seeing what sticks. Meanwhile, I was hoping for (but not really expecting) a bit more excitement from Lithuania, but it’s the same routine and the same background – Donny’s Måns Zelmerlöw jacket combo might be the highlight of the whole thing.

And speaking of clothes, Bosnia & Herzegovina. There aren’t nearly enough fashion disasters this year, but we might just have one with Korake ti znam if that’s really MayaSar’s final outfit. I can best describe it as a blend of Morticia Addams and Amila Glamocak with ridiculously protruded shoulders. Well, take a look at it for yourself – and see if you think it distracts from anotherwise perfectly decent performance.

What else?

There’s an inflatable crocodile in our swimming pool. We’ve christened her Schnappi Sandén.

Oh, you meant news from Baku? Well, there’s been further organisational confusion, this time involving last night’s opening party and an apparent ban on all Eurovision music being played at EuroClub for the rest of the week (and not only Armenian entries). As always, rumour and counter-rumour abound – but whatever the truth of the matter, at least some of the broadcaster websites, such as the NDR blog, are finally highlighting the various issues affecting the Baku Eurovision fortnight. And not before time.

As each day passes, it’s becoming clear that some of the problems with this year’s organisation can be simply put down to the fact that ESC is the first international event of this nature and scale to be arranged by Azerbaijan – that’s perfectly normal, and the enthusiasm of the “ordinary” local people involved on the ground is to be applauded – whereas others are inextricably linked to the political, societal and cultural situation that prevails in the country. And this is something the EBU needs to seriously address with regard to future host countries.

Tomorrow is a landmark moment in the on-season – Eurovision week can begin! This is where the remote coverage by Felix and me will take a back seat. Danny will be live-blogging from one of the dress rehearsals for each semi-final and the final, as well as providing his daily diaries from Baku. Meanwhile, the rest of the team will be issuing our predictions and generally keeping you in touch with all the news. So let’s raise a glass to Eurovision week – bring on the music!