Dress Rehearsal LIVE Rolling Blog. Photo : Odyssey.org

You have the pleasure of the company of Andrew James Main for the first Dress Rehearsal of Semi Final at 15:00 CET. So make sure you #JoinUs as this will be the first time we get to see the songs sung side by side. Who will pop out as a potential winner – Andrew will guide you through the hazards of the first dress rehearsal and the mishaps! Andrew will give you his opinions on who rose up to the occasion and who fell at the last hurdle and give you his Top 10 Predictions. Just Refresh the live blog here

LIVE ROLLING BLOG

Good afternoon to you all, Andrew here in the Press Centre in Copenhagen next to the Arena. There is already a buzz about the place as more and more press arrive for the open rehearsal. It is still just over an hour till show time  and I will be watching the show on the screens. So keep coming back for updates.

Ok it is now 15:00 and still no start. Their were large queues outside the arena mainly of school kids who were given tickets.

It starts at 3 minutes past. WE get a quick video recap of last years contest culminating with the winner from Denmark. We then have a video of Emmilie De Forest walking through parts of Copenhagen. A montage of all the video clips sent in by people all over Europe and beyond singing Only Teardrops.

Now we are in the Arena. Emmilie on stage singing Only Teardrops backed by a large choir. Stunning imagery here the stage and backdrop look amazing on the camera.

The hosts are welcomed onto the stage. Except they are not. I think there is a stuck door on the backdrop.

An awkward pause ensues. Lots of camera shots of the crowd to pass the time. It restarts after about 5 minutes back at the Emmilie de Forrest video clips. Emmilie back on stage again singing.

The 3 hosts Nicolij, Lise and Pilou are welcoming us on the stage. They are not mentioning anything about Sweden and the neighbourly rivalry. Oh yes they are. We look at the countries taking part on a graphic table. Explanation of the voting procedure. And so it all begins.

All the postcards have the artists constructing an image of their country flag. Aram MP3 from Armenia embroidered his.

ARMENIA : A slow start slightly subdued  Aram highlighted only by spots. Then the dub beat kicks in with pyros and lots of bright flashing backdrop. More fire as well. Good vocally and a competent start by Armenia.

Latvia bake a cake for their flag.

LATVIA: The group walk onstage together at the opening bars. They stand centre stage and belt it out. All very jolly and catchy, backdrop is a deep blue behind them. Lead singer walks out onto the catwalk. The group come back together to finish the song. Competent but not enough to qualify.

Estonia are moving shipping containers to make their flag.

ESTONIA: They are both in white here and the vocals slightly shaky at the start. Backdrop of bricks and blue. Great dance choreography, almost effortless. Birds flying on the backdrop now, great back beat to this song. Good performance.

Sanna from Sweden creates her flag in a swimming pool with lylos and the pool water.

SWEDEN: Sanna in an all black lacey dress. Slightly shaky vocal at the start. Spotlights shine up to encase her in a cone. Lots of shimmering stars in the backdrop. It does grow stronger as it progresses though. The spots come out and shine over the arena. Sanna sounding good now. Another more than competent performance.

Iceland are in the snow to make their flag.

ICELAND: Pollaplonk on stage together. All wearing suits different colours of the rainbow. Vocally it sounds good. Very colourful backdrop at times. Its cool and wacky all at the same time. I personally do not like it but its performed well.

We go back to the host. Reminder of voting. Eurovision records are now on show, record for highest hair. It is Jedward of course. Jedward are in the audience. Another intro by 2 of the hosts.

Albania create their flag by tattoo on Hersi’s back.

ALBANIA: She is in a intricate ivory dress and is standing on a diagonal platform. This is very pleasant and sung beautifully but does not have enough oomph for me. The rock guitar solo kicks in and goes nowhere. Then it plods gently along once again, just a shame it did not kick through the gears, well staged and sung though.

Russia create their flag in a hall of mirrors.

RUSSIA: The twins start in the centre of the seesaw. They are entwined together by their hair. Still holding onto the pointless Perspex rods. Then they move to either side of the seesaw. It goes up and down a bit. Lots of spotlights shining out of the backdrop here. The backing singer moves centre stage and opens up a golden fan. The girls continue to sing well and it sounds good.

Azerbaijan create their flag with coloured cellophane.

AZERBAIJAN: Dilara is wearing a scarlet red dress and standing centre stage all alone. Then we see the dancer who turns out to be a trapeze artist and starts flying through the air. The backdrop is a large church window. The vocals are not so good today a bit harsh. Not such a great performance overall.

Ukraine create their flag using post its on a train station platform and a blue train pulls in.

UKRAINE: We have a hamster wheel on the stage. We have a male dancer in the wheel. A long intro of almost nothingness. Lots of blue in the backdrop. The vocals are good then she starts to interact with the wheel and the dancer even ending up on top of it. A good performance.

Belgium create their flag by Axel knitting it in a launderette.

BELGIUM: Axel in a black suit , backdrop is a blue/purple paisley pattern. Pattern extends to stage. His vocals are really fantastic. Very musical opera. There is a female backing dancer subtly in the background who moves more to the fore to end up behind him at the end. Very good reaction in the hall.

Moldova create flag using pottery.

MOLDOVA: Dark stage to begin Cristina in a ivory dress with part armour. Great backdrop and choreography with the dancers, very dramatic and moody, flawless vocals. She rips a hair piece from her head.  Great performance.

San Marino paints a picture at an airport hangar for the flag.

SAN MARINO: Big clam shaped fabric backdrop. Valentina in all white dress standing on a podium. Lots of blue in the backdrop. Vocally it sounds fine but the song is not dramatic enough to catch your attention. Ralph Seigel is on the piano.

Host in the green room now with the trophy. Eurovision records again and its all about the fashion. Biggest shoulder pads are Jedward. Two hosts introduce Portugal.

Portugal create flag using paint on herself and the wall.

PORTUGAL: A sassy red a flesh coloured tassly dress from Suzi, Lots of colour on stage in the colours of Portuguese flag. Two dancers two backing singers and the drummer with her. A pleasant bouncy salsa number. Vocally is good today and would love to see this progress but it could be hard to make it.

Netherlands create their postcard using tulips on a boat.

NETHERLANDS: Great opening shot of the stage  turned into a moving road , the Common Linnets standing in the centre of it using a double microphone facing each other strumming away on their guitars. Very moody and country and great vocals it is melodic and subdued and should impress the juries but the public?

Montenegro create their flag using a jigsaw.

MONTENEGRO: Rollerblader skates across the stage at the intro then Serjey moves towards the front and gives us some classic Balkan ballad moves.  Beautifully sung but the skater is a distraction. The backing singers move forward to create a group finish.

Hungary create their flag using Rubik cubes.

HUNGARY: A dark song starts with a dark backdrop with deep blue. He sits on a stool and sings well. Accompanied by a pianist on the stage he then runs along the catwalk to sing the chorus. Then walks back to the stage. The pianist is chased around the piano and the stage by a male dancer. Great back beat to this song but a very dark subject, Should get through.

The voting lines are opened. We get a quick look at the green room again. The clips of all the songs is played.We move back to the green room and then to the interval act. with a reminder of the country numbers on the bottom of the screen. We have some dance in the interval act. It was a performance of The Ugly Duckling.

The second run through of the songs now we also see a clip of the artists leaving the stage behind the scenes. The voting lines are then closed on a countdown. This part is run through twice. We than get a funny guided tour of Copenhagen.

Then we cut back to the green room where we chat to a few of the artists from Latvia, Belgium and Sweden.

Another Eurovision Record is the most silver ever. The winner of that honour falls to……….. Verka Seduchka.

We look at the pre-qualifiers and run through their videos.

We have a chat with the executive producer then another record for longest note, Mary Spiteri from Malta.

Then the results.

First out Portugal then Netherlands.

Moldova then Belgium then Albania.

Estonia then Iceland then Latvia

Montenegro and finally Ukraine.

Andrew’s Predictions

It is a very tough Semi Final to call only six songs will fail so instead of predicting the qualifiers I am going to predict the non qualifiers. Definitely out for me are San Marino, Latvia and Iceland. Then I will call Albania to be out. That leaves 2 non qualifiers. Very tough call as its between Montenegro, Belgium , Netherlands and Portugal. Sticking my neck out here

I am calling Portugal and Netherlands to just miss out.

Thanks a lot for viewing the blog and remember to add your comments if you wish. The rest of the guys will cover tonights Live Jury Semi Final rehearsal starting at 21:00 CET , I will be attending the Irish and Israeli parties. Thanks a lot guys.

Author: Andrew James Main

Source : Eurovision Ireland