Hallo Kopenhagen! What an amazing evening yesterday. And now we get to rehearse for another one taking place tomorrow. This is the first dress rehearsal of the second semi-final. The show begins at 15:00 CET and I hope I will have the pleasure of your company.
Most of all today I look forward to more wonderful postcards!
Te Deum is followed by a recap of the show last night (showing many non-qualifiers!)
There is now a short video of Copenhagen at night, which leads us to the arena for music and dancing.
Enter the hosts. “Good evening Europe!”
And there is an announcement about Australia and the interval act (and a joke that they are there to cook us sausages and the camera moves to a barbeque).
Now an explanation of the rules and voting. Lise is in a black dress this time and it is not as big as the dress yesterday.
“Let the Eurovision Song Contest begin!”
01. Malta
For the postcard the group takes a trip to the beach with what looks like a metal gate into which they insert rods and they use lighting effects to produce the Maltese flag.
To me, the group is practically whispering the song. I hope they are just holding back for the real thing tonight and tomorrow night.
02. Israel
Mei is surounded by snow and ice in her postcard. She plants two sticks in the ice and creates the bands of her flag with material going from one flag to the other and simply hangs the Star of David from the top one to complete it.
She is not holding back in her rehearsal. She gives it everything and has a great reaction here.
03. Norway
It looks like the Norwegian flag is created in a stained glass window.
This performance was simply flawless and again there is a large applause in the press centre.
04. Georgia
The Georgian flag is made with glasses of wine. Very cute.
I thought everyone hated this but it is gaining a small following! And to be fair it has developed very well over rehearsals and certrainly since we saw the initial presentation video!
05. Poland
The Polish postcard got an applause. The group is in the recording studio trying to record a note that is so even that the white and red are level to form the flag. So simple but so great.
A very good performance. I still feel it is a little lost on the big stage but the vocals are great today. Poland could not have wished for a better draw between two ballads.
A quick hello from Nikolaj before a look into that book of records again. The record for most claps goes to Austria 1976.
Lise and Pilou speak a little and acknowledge the audience. There are many gay innuendos in the scropt again this year.
06. Austria
Conchita makes her flag from dresses but I think we all already know this postcard.
The singing is enough to bring a tear to my eye. I have just realised how sometimes the backdrop looks like there are wings coming from her. Everything looks sleek and great and sounds even better. Graz or Vienna 2015?
07. Lithuania
Vilija gathers a group of people and arranges them in a rectangle and gives them each an umbrella. She then goes to the top of a building and asks the group to open the umbrellas to make the flag.
08. Finland
Finland makes their flag out of ice but you might also already know that one because it has been released online.
Finland is one of my favourite countries in the history of the contest, never afraid to bring originality and variety. Krista was amazing again last night in Euroclub. I love what she brought to Eurovision. This year Softengine brings a truly amazing song, so strong, no fault can be picked.
09. Ireland
Well I realised from posters around here that the Irish flag was made from balloons but what I did not realise is that the girls filled them with hellium and sent them floating to the ceiling to be arranged and photo. That is impressive.
The song isn’t. I spoke some people in the queue for the show last night and they said “When the Irish song comes on on the CD I think ‘Oh what is this one?’ but a few seconds in there is nothing there to hold my attention and it is instantly forgettable.” The staging is better than first rehearsal but it still feels like a song in its early stages of development compared to for example its predecessor.
10. Belarus
Teo makes his flag on ice from ice hockey puck.
He has turned muck into gold with this song. It is more than bearable for three minutes now.
11. F.Y.R. Macedonia
Tijana is playing a cello connected to some sort of measuring device and uses the vibrations of the sound waves to move yellow balls on a red plate to create her flag. I am sorry for the very bad explanation. I am clearly not a scientist!
I do not get the performance. I love it when I look away, her vocals are nicer live than on CD. But what is she doing with this guy in white? I do not get it.
12. Switzerland
I am such a big baby. My eyes are in tears here looking at the postcards. Sebalter arranges dominoes. From the top they all look red but when they are toppled over they make the Swiss flag. It is very beautiful.
The performance is the same as first rehearsal, second rehearsal… national final. This is just a group of true musicians who really know what they are doing. Unfortunately a rarity in the contest these days. Whether you like this song or the Finnish song or not, they are professionals.
Lise is back, advertising the website and app. And now the trophy, like last time.
Most number of licks. That is the latest record. Johnny Logan’s 1987 performance wins.
13. Greece
The guys collect shells and arrange them on a beach towel to make the flag.
This song is like massage to my brain this year. The beat is a welcome break from so many ballads and songs that need to be thought about. I do not like what they are wearing and Risky Kiss cannot sing and be on that trampoline but if it wins I would be so pleased.
14. Slovenia
Tinkara rearranges books to make her flag.
These backing singers are so expressive!
Flutes have never done well in the history of the contest but this song is slowly growing on me. Tinkara’s vocals are shaky in places.
Now we have a gap, some technical difficulties. This is not the first time we have seen the video of Paula that plays in the back on our screen up front, as if it causes problems for them to play. I hope nothing goes wrong tonight.
15. Romania
Paula & Ovi drive to a lake and make some fireworks and photograph the reflections of the light onto the water to make their flag.
I think the performance is as polished as it can be. I am not a fan like I was in 2010 and I do not like this piano.
Like last time the voting is opened, with a recap and so on. But looking at the recap this is a strong semi and together the songs form a lovely quilt of sound.
And here comes Australia’s turn. It is quite a nice video introduction, a large helicopter flies above planet earth, lifts Australia and replaces it beside Europe.
There is a short stage act, which I on my Facebook have called The Australian Smörgåsbord!
Jessica Mauboy does a lovely performance of Never Be the Same.
We get a reminder of the songs and now the dancers chosen from the online contest.
The lines are closed and Lise speaks to some countries in the greenroom, ending with Finland.
Another record. This time the longest note. Malta 1991.
Now Lise is joking with the contestants like last night, matchmaking this time.
The video clips of the Big Six are shown again, and again Lise chats with Jon Ola Sand.
In the order they were announced, the ten qualifiers from the first rehearsal of the second semi-final are: Ireland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Austria, Romania, Norway, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Finland.