Eurovision 2017 – Day 11 Jury Final Dress Rehearsal Semi Final 2 LIVE ROLLING BLOG – START 2100 CET- JUST REFRESH

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You can follow our LIVE BLOG HERE – You know the drill by now. Just refresh the page for our live updates. We start at 2100CET. You will be taken care of by Richard. So if you want an honest opinion of how the rehearsals are going then tune in here.   Some other members of the team could be chiming in from time to time.

Good evening Europe and good morning Australia! The hosts are on stage and going through tonight’s proceedings. The hosts (minus Timur) take part in the opening act playing some classic Eurovision hits including Euphoria and Fairytale.

Before the acts take to the stage, we go through the voting procedure and numbers.

The Running Order is as Follows

Serbia

A vocally and visually spectacular start to the Jury Semi Final 2 tonight. The interaction with the backing dancer works well, as does Tijana’s connection with the audience in the hall and at home. I’d be very surprised if this doesn’t qualifier.

Austria

The first of the big props we have tonight, yet we also have an artist who appears so laid back and oozes confidence. Nathan connects with everyone he needs too. Yes he is a cheeky Chappy, but is one of the most loveable characters at the contest too. Qualifier.

FYR Macedonia

Well, I won’t hide I love Jana and “Dance Alone”. She is still very sultry, yet appears a lot more animated tonight, which adds a whole new dimension to the performance. I am willing the juries to get Jana through to the final – if it was me, I’d give her Douze Points.

Malta

Malta are back with their power ballad. There is nothing wrong with this very competent performance, however as we saw last night, many ballads were eliminated. I hope Claudia gets that place in the final, but the genre isn’t qualifying well this year unfortunately.

Romania

The glitter-cannons aren’t firing on all cylinders yet. The production builds up to it and nothing happens. It’s fun and catchy though. Eurovision all over. Qualifier.

The Netherlands

Nice and simplistic. Yet another strong performance by O’G3NE – something tells me they are in for the win. Great strutting to the forefront of the stage around two thirds of the song. Another qualifier.

Green Room/Break

Hungary

You either love of dislike this entry that Hungary have brought to the stage. It’s very ethnic and cultural – something that Eurovision needs. However, on personal taste, it’s an entry that really doesn’t grab me. I do question it qualifying though as it’s very marmite.

Denmark

Anja is at her limit vocally and is in fact in danger of pushing it too far – in front of the juries too! I’m afraid many here in the Press Centre fail to warm to her and Sweden maybe the only Nordic country to appear in the final once again.

Ireland

I feel like a proud father. Both Dress Rehearsals, Brendan has attacked it well and achieved what he has needed to achieve. We could be seeing a return to the final for Ireland for the first time since 2013 – but it will be tough!

San Marino

A slightly dodgy note or two shouldn’t bother the juries too much. This is a fun disco track that even the more maturer viewer will appreciate. Fingers crossed for our Val and Jim.

Croatia

There is something about a man duetting with himself that really isn’t quite right. I’m so glad the UK don’t have the right to vote for this interesting piece of musical interlude tonight. Overtime we witness this, the Press Centre are in hysterics from start to finish – we don’t mean to be, but you’ll understand why when you watch it. This could go either way.

Norway

Like Latvia, I can see JOWST going in a similar way – non-qualification. It’s very much a youth song for me. There are other songs that deserve to go ahead of this in the results table tomorrow night – even the semi-safe songs from earlier this evening should do better than “Grab The Moment”.

Switzerland

So comes Big Bird from Sesame Street – or a little Canary at least. Unfortunately I have nothing against Timebelle, it’s more to do with the Swiss stage direction of the whole performance. Sorry, but yet again they have a non-qualifier.

Green Room/Break

Belarus

For once Belarus has the whole package. Vocally strong and the overall presentation is very dynamic. This has been a favourite ballad for many since it won the Belarusian national final back in January. A sure qualifier for once in their history at participating at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian delegation have noting to worry about with Kristian Kostov. The juries will love this and “Beautiful Mess” is simply the best entry in the semi final. QUALIFIER.

Lithuania

This isn’t even a marmite song for me – it’s pure, well… Sorry Lithuania, but you’ve lost the plot this year.

Estonia

Koit and Laura have worked really hard to come up with a performance that connects in every possible way. They may have had criticism in the past, but they have worked to gain a strong qualifier.

Israel

What a great way to end this semi final’s participating acts. Imri has a strong vocal and performance overall. This too has a great chance of qualifying. It’ll be hard for the juries tonight!

France

So we have a full run through for the recording of the 45sec clip for tomorrow night’s live show. I think it’s polished up after last Friday – I missed it on Sunday due to our Israeli interview. Still not sure it will bother anyone in the final.

Germany

Levina has it sorted. There was talk about Germany coming last again, but this simply won’t be happening. Yes the staging is simple, but all the connections with the viewers and cameras is there – which is all the Germans need to succeed on Saturday night for a respectable result.

Ukraine

The Ukrainian act is certainly a marmite entry. I’m not a rock fan, but it’ll appeal to many others. Ukraine have a safe entry that will perform well for them on Saturday night, yet won’t worry them about another hosting in 2018.

The voting opens and we have more of Verka and some chatting to the fans in the audience. After another recap, we go to the green room and then another recap.

The voting has now closed. A dance act is now on stage before the ten acts to qualify are falsely announced.

That is all for our coverage tonight. Be sure to join Andrew and John on Jury Final day, this coming Friday for all the build up to this year’s final!!! More articles to come, so please stay with us here at Eurovision Ireland.

So there we have it folks hope you enjoyed. Tune in again at 21.00 CET tomorrow on Eurovision.tv or on your local channels to watch the second Semi Final live.

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Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland

All Photos courtesy of Eurovision.tv

Photo: Thomas Hanses

Photo: Andres Putting