Day 5 comes to an end, so what has been happening today? Well, we’ve had more rehearsals, this time the first 5 performers in Semi Final 2 did their second rehearsals, while the Big 5 plus Ukraine took to the stage at the M and S Bank arena for the very first time. You can see very short clips of the second rehearsals via You Tube below :

As with the other first rehearsals,you may find some brief shots of them via Tik Tok . So,…..having seen the snippets of the second rehearsals today, what are my thoughts ( bearing in mind we only got 30 seconds) ?

DENMARK

Reiley has kept with the pink as his outfit colour but this time looks like he’s in the suit he will be wearing for the live shows. It’s a good opener to Semi Final 2 , staging , green with white hearts LED backdrop. It’s all very sugary sweet and this could have the younger generation giving it a few votes. However, I do feel that the song might not have enough in it to make the big impact needed to keep it in people’s memories long enough to consider voting for it, especially given that Reiley is performing so early. I would love to be proved wrong as I would really like to see Denmark in the final this year.

Armenia

Brunette is still sat on the oversized block which has changing swirly colours. It’s a lovely song but it has a bad position in the running order.

Romania

Theodor has changed his suit from yellow to pink . Not sure if he’s still got Pikachu socks though. It will be interesting to see the full version , although I suspect this may not make a difference to Theodor’s chances with the voting public.

Estonia

Alika is in a very stylish blue trouser suit , with long flowing veil at the back .Hair tied back in a pony tail .LED backdrops show white/green images . This is quite classy and I feel this would have been better with a later draw. Looking forward to seeing the full performance.

Belgium

To quote the late Sir Terry Wogan , I have a “sneaking regard” for the Belgian song and from what I saw in the 30 second clip, Gustaph looks to be really enjoying himself on that stage. He’s dressed in pink and white and joined by three backing singers in black and a female backing dancer cavorting around him. I am looking forward to the full performance and based on the bit I have seen, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Belgium qualify .

Now onto the Big Five plus Ukraine first rehearsals. Unfortunately as with yesterday’s rehearsals , footage on Tik Tok is very hard to come by, so I’ll just give you my first impressions of the staging as seen on the official Eurovision website pictures.

GERMANY

The song is called “Blood and Glitter and my first impression of the staging is that this is what Lord of the Lost have brought us . There’s red colour in the backdrop, presumably representing blood , fire and it looks like there could be pyros there too, representing the glitter . It’s going to be interesting to see actual footage of the performance.

ITALY

Looks like Marco has chosen to keep simple but what can be effective staging. Wearing a spangly sleeveless top and black, leather trousers.There’s darkness, spotlights and a bit of smoke effects on stage. Very typical Italian staging by the looks of it .

UKRAINE

Ukraine have brought some interesting looking staging .There’s backdrops of the face of one of the guys with one side if the face having a steel plate on it . Costumes look very futuristic. This is one that will be interesting to see the full performance of.

SPAIN

Looks like Blanca Paloma is keeping very much to her national final performance. Not sure if the outfits will be what she and her backing singers will wear for the live shows

FRANCE

Wow! La Zarra has what looks like some classy staging ! She’s in a long , all black sparkly dress ,with matching hat, stood on a large round podium, it does remind me of acts that we have seen before , doing a similar thing at Eurovision. Looks like there’s some pyros there too. I can’t wait to see the full rehearsal of this .

UK

And finally the host country. It looks like Mae is going to be bringing us some very modern staging.There’s an LED backdrop of her face which splits as the song progresses, then we see lots of Mae Mullers. Mae is joined by 4 backing dancers .Some very bright colours which an uptempo song like this needs.Looks like the UK just might have nailed the staging . It will be interesting to see the performance.

So that’s my thoughts on Day 5 .Tomorrow , we are on to Day 6 ,w hen the remainder of Semi Final 2 do their second rehearsals . We will bring you our usual round up tomorrow evening, so keep a look out for that and other great articles all things Eurovision that we have, including our interviews with some of the acts in Liverpool .You can find us on our FACEBOOK and TWITTER feeds, as well as our website.

Author: Sarah Rudman

Visual Sources: Eurovision.TV, EBU/ Sarah Louise Bennett/Chloe Hashemi