Moldova left me so unimpressed that I had to get some sugar elsewhere, and so I’m now back with waffles and cookies, and my second mug of coffee for today. If you’ve missed it, I have blogged about Austria, Poland and Moldova earlier this afternoon, and my colleague Shi has covered the rehearsals from San Marino to Greece in the morning hours.

Remember to refresh this page for new updates over the course of the afternoon.

8. Iceland

We first see a silhouette of Daði og Gagnamagnið standing on stage. After the strings intro, the spotlights are switched on and lighten up Daði and the group. The three keyboardists have curved keytars (that’s a portmanteau of “keyboard” and “guitar”, and the proper term for keyboards that you hang around your neck like guitars).

Daði first holds the mic in his hand, and then walks forward to the mic stand, accompanied by the group. In the chorus, the backdrop switches to violet, pink and orange cubes.

“You’re so fascinating” and a rainbow appears on the backdrop, then lots of old-school-computer-figures appear on the semi-transparent screen, as they move towards the catwalk. In the instrumental synthesizer lead part, the three with the curved keytars unite and combine the keytars to form a circle, them stand within and playing this now combined circular keyboard. Hard to put in words, but it’s is very striking and the best part of it all.

Right, having watched it in its Eurovision stage version now, it still doesn’t make me a fan of Iceland this year (nor of Daði og Gagnamagnið in general), but I think they can be happy with what they’ve shown here.

Vocally, it’s absolutely flawless, and it’s very refreshing to see people – other than the lead singer – singing into microphones. Still, prerecorded vocals exist here, too. Approximately 10 seconds after the final note and the end pose, we’re getting pyros and steam geysers. Not sure whether the delay is deliberate, or whether something went wrong with the timing there.

However, the overall impression I have from it is good. Again, not a fan, but Iceland is definitely good enough (for what it is) to be considered one of the favourites for the trophy.

EBU / ANDRES PUTTING

9. Serbia

The Hurricane girls wear black with a few shiny applications, surprisingly looking rather classy.

In the beginning, HURRICANE appears in black letters on the bright backdrop. The girls are first placed very far apart from each other, each having her own bright column behind her. Then they walk forwards and unite for the chorus. Up until this point, it’s kept very simple, but still slick and striking, to the point that I am really, really surprised. This works very well.

Red is added to the stage in the second verse, “LOCO LOCO” pops up on the screen every now and then. In the second chorus, the stage turns into a very colourful one, leaving the black and white palette from the first verse far behind.

Vocally, it’s really decent. but again, prerecorded vocals, and not sure how much they really sing.

But overall it’s a very fun, captivating performance, definitely a bit of fresh wind here (and a good use of wind machines, obviously). I wasn’t a fan of the song, but I’m rather positively surprised here.

EBU / ANDRES PUTTING

And that’s all in terms of live coverage today. Shi will take over the next morning shift again, to cover the first rehearsals of Georgia, Albania, Portugal and Bulgaria. Thanks for reading us today!