Hello all! Welcome to the LIVE blog of the first dress rehearsal of the GRAND FINAL! Stay tuned to this page for all the goss on what’s happening in the Crystal Hall! Since I’ve already blogged the semis, I will only comment on changes or how I feel the song fits in the running order.

17:30 And we’re off! Show starts on time opening with ANOTHER shot of the Flame Towers. Then we see the stafe with a man on a carpet wailing something Azeri – it looks the same as the man in the Azerbaijaini song! Then we have a dancer who flies around the arena, followed by traditional Azeri dancers and drunmmers. It’s a nice energetic start to the show!

17:36 Now we have last year’s winners Ell and Nikki on stage, miming to “Running Scared” – that’s why they didn’t do it last night then. Nikki is in a rather interesting outfit in the colours of the Georgian flag and HUGE sunglasses. Was she out on the piss last night or something? She looks like Ell’s mother!

17:38 Oops…now we have a technical fault as thge feed from the arena stops and we go back to the photo collage on the screen. We get patches of sound again and then nothing. Let’s hope we get it back in time for the first song! We will keep you posted!

17:43 Still nothing from the feed, we’ll have missed the first few songs at this rate. We can hear Englebert singing from somewhere though. He sounds ok from what we could make out. No one seems to be doing anything about the feed though!

17:47 We now have a video feed back but no sound, just in time to see the last 5 seconds of Hungary.

17:49 ALBANIA Rona is up next, no change with her outfit from the other night. They keep playing around with the video screens and then we lose it again! Apparently we have been told the EBU are “Working” on it. Wish they’d get a move on!

17:53 We lose the video feed again, then we get the sound on for a couple of seconds before going on and off again a few times! Right at the end of Lithuania we finally get everything back, but then they start playing around with different shapes covering the screen, still it’s better than nothing!

17:58 BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA Another one of last night’s surprise qualifiers is up next, I think the juries got this one over the line. Maya is sounding great. This is just far too early in the running order to have any impact though, and is likely to be near the bottom of the table.

18:01 RUSSIA The Grannies are next. They get a big cheer from the people in the hall. It will certainly wake up the hall after a rather slow start to the contest. I’m sure this is gonna do very well in the televote, but is it on a bit too early for people to remember to get enough to win?

18:05 ICELAND Not sure I like Jonsi’s outfit here, he’s looking a bit tired, must be after all that partying in EuroClub. The sweeping camera shots in the violin solo are really great. Overall, a fine rehearsal from them here. Nothing outstanding, but they should be happy with that.

18:08 CYPRUS Ivi and the girls are not in their stage outfits, wearing simple T-shirts and jeans. They look good though, I’d keep them for the final! Choreography is slick and Ivi sounds fine, not perfect but fine. She gives us an “Everybody here we go!” cheer towards the end of the song and the ending is strong. Keep doing it like this Ivi, and you’re going to give Cyprus their best placing in years!

18:13 FRANCE Now the first of the direct finalists I can finally see! The staging looks good with the screens in the background showing gym images. It doesn’t seem quite as messy now either. They’ve stopped the slomotion bit when one of the dancers jumps over her, and I think it looks more effective. Vocally it sounded not too bad, and the wind machine with the trails on her dress floating in the air looks great. Certainly an improvement on the previous rehearsals.

18:17 ITALY Nina is wearing a nice shiny dress and some sort of turquoise thing through her hair. Really not sure about that at all! The screens flashing black and white make it look really 60s. She has sounded better I think in previous rehearsals but it’s strong enough to be right up there. Maybe sort the hair out and she will have a chance at winning!

18:21 ESTONIA They keep messing with the feed so we have lost the sound for most of this. Ott is wearing jeans and a top with trainers, so has obviously decided to go for a casual look today. From what we could see, it sounded good!

18:24 NORWAY Still no sound here at the start, we get it back in time for the first chourus and then it goes again. I’ve no idea why they keep playing with things as it’s obviously working fine. Really annoying! Can’t really tell how good the vocals were but he did sound better than last night.

18:28 Now it’s time for a break, I think 12 songs is too many before one, people will be knackered by the time Norway finishes, let’s hope they get back in time for Azerbaijan. There’s a quick interview with someone in the Green Room before Sabina gets a big introduction from the presenter!

18:30 AZERBAIJAN This starts off with a close up of Sabina and we get the wind machine. It looks really good on screen with the changing colours of the dress but something is up with Sabina’s vocals as she is rather screechy today and there are some duff notes in there. Also the man wailing doesn’t really add to the song, I think. Not a good rehearsal for Azerbaijan, sadly. Their top 5 placing could be in trouble unless they improve.

18:34 ROMANIA Elena is in a simple jeans and T-shirt and looks stunning. I love some of the casual outfits more than the stage ones today! Her vocals are on point too. After the ballad from Azerbaijan this is really strong. I’m definitely sensing a top 5 position for them, and a big cheer from those in the arena for this at the end.

18:39 DENMARK Soluna isn’t wearing her captain’s hat today, and has gone for a simple scarf and jacket combo. She’s obviosuly saving her vocal for this evening as she doesn’t sing the choruses – fair enough as tonight is the jury final and she’ll want to be at her best. So its rather difficult to judge this one from that rehearsal. Hmmm…..

18:42 GREECE Eleftheria is one who IS in her stage outfit today. The vocals for this are much better than they were in the semi, she’s stepped up her game a bit. It’s nice and bright and catchy and there are loads of people around Europe that will vote for this sort of thing, so I think it could maybe squeeze into the top 10?

18:46 SWEDEN Loreen isn’t wearing her full costume and her arms aren’t covered so you can really see the choreography and how intricate it actually is. She sings it fully though unlike Soluna and sounds fantastic, she has really got into her stride. No actual snow though, but that’s fine. The bit where you see the backing dancer pulling her up is actually really effective and she gets a big cheer and applause at the end from the Press Centre. Overall, great rehearsal for her, Sweden should be VERY happy with that.

18:49 Short break where Eldar tells us about the first winner of Eurovision and introduces Lys Assia, seems like she gets wheeled out every year!

18:51 TURKEY Can is up next in full stage gear. It sounds fine, and after the reaction in the hall last night, is sure to do the same. Not sure it’s going to do well as other Turkish entries in the past though, but top half is likely.

18:55 SPAIN We finally see Pastora’s stage outfit and it’s a long flowing dress, which looks better than most of the things she’s worn so far. She starts the song on stage alone with blue lighting behind her, and is joined by the backing singers as the stage turns red. Her vocals arejust outstanding and gets a round of applause after the money note, even from the non Spanish fans! A fantastic rehearsal from Spain here, and has just walked all over Azerbaijan for me.

18:59 GERMANY Roman is looking as cute as ever and sounds great. This is a really nice song, and I know quite a few people are tipping this to win but I am not sure it has enough oomph to do it

19:04 MALTA Kurt is wearing a black top and jeans and wearing large black glasses. He’s sounding fine, but seems to be doing the dancing a bit half heartedly. Overall, a fairly adequate performance. Not sure how this one will go.

19:07 FYR MACEDONIA Kaliopi is wearing jeans, a white cardigan and what looks like an Azeri hat which she takes off at the first chorus. She has barely any make up on but she still looks lovely. The scream was amazing, yet again. I don’t know how she manages to pull it off every time. This has a fabulous draw, and could do well, you never know!

19:10 IRELAND They’re singing better on this one, well as well as they can I guess! There’s no water feature for this rehearsal though. Not too bad for them, I think they will do fine but I don’t think they will be able to beat their 8th placing last year.

19:15 SERBIA I’m starting to flag a little now, but we’re nearly there! Zejlko is wearing jeans, and sounds really good. As this is the last ballad of the night, I think it’s going to stand out and will do well. Not sure it has enough mass appeal from around the west of Europe to win though, but it will certainly be up there!

19:19 UKRAINE For once, Gaitana isn’t wearing her pink head dress, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before here in Baku without it. She’s all happy and smiley and sings well, I think she changes the ad-libs of the song every time she sings it. Overall, decent performance from them, and you can never discount Ukraine to do well…

19:23 MOLDOVA And we’re finally here, the last song of the night! We have casual costumes here today and the dancing doesn’t quite seem as manic, but it’s a great end to the show and Pasha is singing well. I think he could do quite well tomorrow night!

19:28 And that’s it! The last song is over and now the hosts are back on stage giving us the usual voting rules and phone numbers before we get the recaps of the songs. I’m struggling to come up with a top 10 at the moment, I definitely need to think about it a bit and get back to you!