The rehearsals are over now and we are in the Dress Rehearsal stage of the week here in Minsk. I had the pleasure of sitting through the first Dress Rehearsal this afternoon and I’m now here to bring you the goings on during the Jury Rehearsal.

You know the drill, join me, Richard from 16:00CET by regularly refreshing the page for all the up-to-date commentary from here in Minsk!

Refresh From 16:00CET

And we are off! Te Deum has played and after a quick tour of Belarus, we are ready to #LightUp and open with the traditional flag ceremony!

Ukraine

Ukraine have taken to the stage and bring a song that will grab the attention of the viewers and will keep them watching for more. While there is a political message of sorts here, it is aimed at the target audience and future generations to come.

Portugal

The full impact of entry I seen on screen for the television view rather than in the audience with the social media overlays and filters. As an audience it was very bland this afternoon, but on stage my goodness it’s amazing, especially for the social media generation.

Kazakhstan

With such a dramatic and dynamic start, this entry really gets going when the back projection starts to appear – while I don’t understand the language, the visuals help tell the narrative. Kazakhstan are the one to beat,

Albania

If you like, pink, purple and cartoon characters, then this is the one for you. But even the audience in the arena looked rather confused with the Albanian performance. While I don’t favour the song, I never expected that reaction.

Russia

While Russia is vanilla and safe, Anna could potentially be this year’s accidental winner. They have really worked hard on this entry and it has been refocused since their first rehearsal.

The Netherlands

And now to the tribute to Scott & Chalene’s 30th Wedding Anniversary on Neighbours. Everything from the back projection to the font of the wording on the projection oozes this Australian soap from the 1980s. Fans of the soap opera will know who to vote for.

Azerbaijan

Fidan sings, “I Want To Be Like You” – does she really know what our lives hold? Another vanilla and safe song I’m afraid. It’s obvious who stand out amongst the pack this year – although from the target audience’s perspective, we may see a different result.

Belarus

Really clever visuals used with this performance. When moving between props, the back projections swipes as if it was a social media platform. While the backing dancers interact with the props, Daniel performs the song confidently and should do well on the home stage.

Ireland

Taylor has brought the entry that is considered the ‘Guilty Pleasure’ within the Press Centre. It’s fun and bubbly – basically completely harmless and deserves well.

Serbia

For the Disney fans amongst you out there, here is your princess stuck in front of a castle in a far, far away distant land (i.e. the back projection). Sadly another song that will get forgotten about as things stand in the running order.

Italy

Italy shows The Netherlands how it is done when it comes to show connectivity. I let you wait until tomorrow evening to see Melissa’s dress rather than spoiling it through poor adjectives. This could be one of Italy’s leading songs used in weddings in the future.

Australia

Jael knows how to pull out all the´stops. While some may see a bit of Bella Paige’s “We Are” within this performance, the Australians can be very proud this year.

Georgia

Another classic Eurovision start to a performance – lying on the floor. Tamar holds herself through a competent performance – standing in front of a screen of full on dual carriage traffic – don’t worry, she doesn’t get run over.

Israel

We’ve raved about this all week, however when you watch this tomorrow, you may feel the performance is lost amongst others. This is a strong enough Hebrew song that could sit well and do better at the Eurovision Song Contest.

France

Another pre-Contest favourite that could see the Junior Eurovision Song Contest return to Western Europe. This performance epitomises children at the junior age enjoying themselves in the park. Typically Parisian, typically great. France want this.

Macedonia

Marija delivers the performance of her life. She visually shows drama and emotion. Possibly the greatest balkan ballad delivered by a Macedonian act in recent years.

Armenia

A fun and colourful entry – something you can’t hep but tap your feet too, whether you like it or not. The bugle even plays a part! Harmless entry from Armenia who tend to do well at the Contest.

Wales

While Gwen, the backing dancer with sass is missing for tonight’s rehearsal – her replacement isn’t as good – Manw delivers a perfect performance for the debut nation in front of the welsh valleys.

Malta

Ela is delivering on point tonight for this Jury Final. Very competent and confident, Malta should be very pleased. If they win, PBS have hinted that they will host in 2019.

Poland

Visually a bit of a mixture, however vocally Roksana is on point. If you want to vote for Poland, do what your heart says. A pre-conetst favourite many is sadly dwindling down the odds table.

Polina is back reprising last year’s winning entry from Russia.

We now have another recap for the pretend online voting – of course you are able to vote online until 14:59GMT/15:59CET tomorrow afternoon, when the Live Final kicks off.

The pretend online voting has now closed – of course you are able to vote online until 14:59GMT/15:59CET tomorrow afternoon, when the Live Final kicks off.

After the fake online vote, Italy won with 333 points.

Don’t forget you are able to vote online until 14:59GMT/15:59CET tomorrow afternoon, when the Live Final kicks off.

While I won’t have a #LiveBlog for you tomorrow, I’ll have many tidbits coming throughout the day from Minsk.

Please can I take this opportunity to thank you all for reading my coverage here in Minsk and the team’s coverage back in the United Kingdom. Enjoy our finale day coverage tomorrow!!!

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland