Thursday and it's Montenegro and Israel up first....

Rehearsals have started a little later today, giving everyone time for a lie in.

What can you say about Montenegro, who were on stage first today? It's fairly well performed, but the song itself seems to be failing to light anyone's fire.

Boaz (pictured above) from Israel has a better entry (although Eurovision Express much preferred Butterflies from their national selection).

With five blokes behind him doing a bit of a routine, Boaz's song is ok, but it's not blowing anyone away.

A word on Cyprus, FYROM and Portugal

Alas Eurovision Express needed a little lie down yesterday afternoon so we didn't get to see Cyprus, FYROM or Portugal rehearse. Word on the street is that Portugal is pretty fab.

Senhora Do Mar (Negras Águas), sung by Vânia Fernandes, could be the first song to get Portugal into the Final since the major shake-up of 2004. It's not a Eurovision Express favourite, but good luck to them. One day we'd love to have Eurovision in Lisbon.

VOADA - we've deciphered the code!

At yesterday's Maltese press conference chirpy Gerard James Borg (lyricist) explained how Morena's song came into being. Gerard was on a flight to Sweden and in mid air decided he'd love to write a tune about espionage. Well what else would you be thinking about thousands of miles above Stockholm?

And we can now reveal what VODKA means. Of course we know it's nothing to do with the drink. Apparently it stands for Voice Of a DarK Agent. Now correct us if we're wrong, but doesn't that really mean the song should be called VOADA?

I spy with my little eye something beginning with V...

After the Olivia Lewis debacle from 2007, can Malta get themselves back on track with Vodka?

This Carry on Spying-esque track by Maltese minx Morena has a good draw in the 2nd semi-final, coming after two slower songs.

Flanked by 4 male dancers in black and sunglasses (and a few torches), Morena belts the song out with confidence. The dance routine is pretty polished, but - at least during the first runthrough - there are no big props!

Maybe after the gongs, fans and sheet waving from last year, Malta has decided to go in for a spot of decluttering.

Having a tipple before Malta

Eurovision Express is getting in the mood for Malta with a little drinkie...

Hungary for success

Csézy for Hungary is up next. Playing it simple and letting the song do the work, Candlelight comes across well.

Although no big surprise, the set looks good too with lots of flames projected on to the backdrop. Like Denmark, this is another gimmick-free entry that could stand out amongst the boxes, balls, ladders etc.

All in all, a good song, well sung, without too many distrations. Eurovision Express likes that.

Bulgarian Bloomers!

Well, it takes almost a minute into the song until we hear the Bulgarian singer Joanna from Deep Zone & Balthazar with DJ Take Me Away. She looks radiant in a flowing red dress but something is showing underneath the dress - hopefully they are leggins!

One of the pre-sontest favoutites, Bulgaria hasn't changed much and is still expected to qualify for the final. We'll wait until all the songs have been rehearsed to see if we agree with that.

Can Denmark bring home the bacon?

Denmark's Simon Mathew is on stage now. It's all going well - a gimmick-free performance of a good solid song.

Eurovision Express, of course, has a soft spot for the Danes - Hot Eyes were the epitome of everything Eurovision in 80s, but recently Denmark has struggled to know in which direction to go.

Anyway, we'd love Simon to qualify, and can certainly see Sweden, Iceland and the UK dishing out some points. But beyond this, alas, votes might be hard to come by.

You've all done very well!

Croatia was 2nd on today. Don't tell anyone but Eurovision Express quite likes this one.

The stage has a dancer on a revolving platform, and 75 Cents (probably the oldest person to have graced the Eurovision stage, although maybe that honour goes to Moldova's Grandma from a few years back...) starts the song sitting on a bar stool. He then moves around shaking his stick excitably. Finally he goes over to a gramophone and does a bit of record 'scratching'.

Who knows - perhaps we'll see ol' 75 Cents at Glastonbury next?

Shiver me timbers!

Wednesday morning..and after a hugely enjoyable Eurovision karaoke session last night at the Eurocafe, organised brilliantly by OGAE Serbia, it was time to wake up with the pirates!

No props for Latvia's Wolves of the Sea yet (they are stuck in customs), just the usual outrageous costumes. We knew Roberto from last year could sing, but, unfortunately his co-pirates were a bit weak vocally, especially his female co-singers.

Having said that, a catchy chorus and a very energetic performance was the order of the day for our Latvian pirates.

Ball-A-Rus!

Ruslan had to battle his way around the large spherical silver objects all over the stage during his rendition of Hasta La Vista. Of course, the routine came with the obligatory dollop of dollies gyrating around during the song.

Typical understated performance from Belarus again at Eurovision!!

If you wanna have some fun....Remix!

The new remixed version of the song from the Czech Republic, Have Some Fun has a very Balkan feel to it. Perhaps Tereza is hoping to pick up some South-Eastern votes to get her through to the final!

Some scantily clad female dancers and a male vocalist help Tereza change this American sounding song into an energetic european pop song. Still not sure about its qualifying potential though in this tough semi-final.

Oh No! Switzerland in Coco-Dance shocker!

We were all settling in to listen to Paolo from Switzerland with one of our faves from this year - Era Stupendo.

We weren't prepared for what happened next. Paolo's vocals were very weak and we were quite shocked by how weak! We had this as a potential top 5 but now we doubt it will qualify. Unless he can pull it together in the second set of rehearsals, we see a DJ Bobo all over again.

So far, Switzerland has produced the weakest rehearsal performance at this year's contest that we have seen, and we so didn't want this to happen. It was almost reminiscent of the Coco-Dance vocal disaster in 2006.

Come on Paolo, sing your heart out, and get that lovely song into the final.

Boxing clever with the Ukraine

(picture:www.allkindsofeverything.ie)

Eurovision Express missed the Turkish rehearsal, but have caught the Ukraine on stage. And it looks great!

Ani Lorak has a four panelled box, each segment of which can light up to reveal backing dancers or highlight key moments in the song. It's a very clever idea, certainly adding to this already high quality entry. A top 4 finish surely.

During her press conference Ani Lorak revealed that her real name is Karolina, but she was advised to change it because there was already a famous singer in Russia of that name. So Karolina just turned her name around and Ani Lorak was born.

Iceland outshines Sweden?

First day of the rehearsals for the 2nd semi-final, and first up were Iceland. Euroband put in a very polished and powerful performance and certainly woke evreyone up this morning.

Initially we were not sure that this would qualify in a very competitive semi-final, but after today's perfromance, this must now have a very strong qualifying chance.

And then came fan-favourite Sweden.

Charlotte Perrelli performed her song Hero very well. There were no surprises and she did "exactly what it says on the tin". However, coming immediately after a very good Icelandic pop song, could she perhaps be forgotten? Could Sweden cause a huge upset by not qualifying? We have a terrible feeling this might happen. Let's hope we're wrong!

Russia - on thin ice?

It's Tuesday, but just a quick word on Dima Bilan's rehearsal from yesterday.

Dima starts the song at the top of a ladder, and then slides his way down, whilst a violinist goes crazy by his side. At the same time an Olympic ice skater does a double salko and a triple Lutz (well he probably doesn't, but they are the only ice skating moves we know!)

Of course Russia is the favourite, but Eurovision Express isn't really sure about this winning. One thing's for sure - Dima and his team are certainly throwing everything at the song to ensure that next year we are in Moscow. Time will tell.

What's the combination?

Greece is rehearsing now. Kalomira starts the song balancing on a big glittery stick, before going into some well choreographed moves. Her vocal on the first run through seemed a little tinny, but second time through it's improved.

Here at Eurovision Express we're not certain that Secret Combination will qualify - it's an ok song, but is similar to Armenia's Qele Qele, which we're pretty certain will be a finalist.

Next up will be Dima Bilan, this year's hot favourite....

Dustin shines at Press Conference

Undoubtedly, the best press conference so far was the Irish one. Dustin the Turkey pulled no punches during his first encounter with the press. Here are some quotes:

Press: I can't believe I'm speaking to a dummy.
Dustin: Neither can I.

Press: Tell me about Terry Wogan's wig.
Dustin: How dare you call it a wig. It's his own hair, and he has a receipt for it!

Press: Are you a cock or a hen turkey?
Dustin: I take anything I can get!

Press: What do you think of the UK entry?
Dustin: Andy Abraham used to collect rubbish, now he just sings it!

Bring on Press Conference no.2 Dustin!

Eurovision Express has arrived!

Eurovision Express has landed in Belgrade! And so far it's all going smoothly.

We arrived at the Sava Center, the presshub for this year's Contest. It's a rabbit warren of small rooms but has a pleasantly 1970s feel to it. Our first Eurovision experience was the Armenian press conference. Sirusho (pictured above) came across really well, and speaks excellent English. She knows she's got a hard task following Armenia's first two successful entries, and is looking forward to doing her best.

Next we watched Romania rehearse - and this has to be a definite qualifier. The song and performance by Nico and Vlad are both strong. If this won, Eurovision Express would be celebrating!

A quick word on the stage - it looks impressive, especially on screen, although, as has happened since 2003, every successive stage design has had a very similar feel to it. Eurovision Express would be keen to see a real retro looking set sometime over the next few years, and how about a big clunky scoreboard?

Greece is about to rehearse now (they have swapped rehearsal times with Russia), so we'll report on that later.

We haven't ventured into the Arena yet - it's a 15 minute walk away from the press centre, so it looks like we'll store that visit up for a treat - maybe to witness Charlotte giving it her all tomorrow.

Terminal 5 - flight's on time (we hope!)

Eurovision Express is making its final preparations for Belgrade. Tomorrow morning we'll be braving Heathrow's Terminal 5 (alas not Terminal 3), and heading off to Serbia.

All being well, we should arrive in time to see Romania, Russia and Greece give their first rehearsals tomorrow afternoon - if not we'll definitely be there for the second semi-finalists first rehearsals on Tuesday.

Word has already reached us about today's first rehearsals - apparently Israel and Belgium have disappointed with too much movement on stage; Estonia however looks great; and San Marino have given a very polished first performance.

Anyway, keep your eyes on the blog for our updates, from tomorrow.

Ladies, start your engines!

And they're off!

All roads lead to Belgrade, as fans, journalists and delegates make their way to the beginning of the rehearsals for ESC 2008. The official start of rehearsals in the Belgrade Arena is tomorrow (Sunday) with the songs from the first half of the 1st Semi-Final.

Eurovision Express will be Serbia-bound on Monday so we hope to catch the afternoon's rehearsals and glimpse that all-important stage!

We will, of course, be updating the blog frequently during the rehearsals and keeping you up-to-date on all the happenings in the Eurovision capital over the next two weeks!

Let the party begin! May the best song win!

The Eurocafe is now OPEN!

Today, 9th of May, sees the opening of the Eurocafe in Belgrade.

OGAE Serbia invite you to join them in the Eurovision Living Room from 9 till 27 of May.

Eurocafe' - the Eurovision Living Room is a special place, open to everybody, where you can meet fans from all over the world, take part in a quiz, sing to eurovision karaoke, surf the net or write an article, have a coffee or a lunch in the beautiful balcony with a view on the city core centre, dance until late hours, enjoy live eurovision gigs, watch videos from past and this year's contest, have a chit chat, fall in love, relax at the wellness spa center, admire beautiful eurovision decoration and so much more...

So come to the place prepared for the fans by the fans!

Eurovision's latest member...GREENLAND?

Well, it would certainly be a BIG addition to the Eurovision family. According to media reports, Greenland is considering full independence from Denmark. This would allow them to do all sorts of things, from adopting the euro to entering the ESC!

To those of us who only ever see Greenland from the air en route to the U.S., it looks chillingly inhospitable: a snowscape, stretching across 836,000 square miles, with no roads, no cities and only sparse settlements along the rugged coastline, home to 57,000 hardy inhabitants. But hey, if Iceland with only 250,000 people can produce such wonderful songs for ESC, why can't Greenland?

Good evening, NUUK calling!

You can read the info on possible independence here

Eurovision Rehearsal Schedule

One week to go until rehearsals begin, and the schedule has been published.

You can download it here.

Full details are also available by visiting www.eurovision.tv/page/press .

Boom-Bang-a-Manchester!

EUROVISION fans in Manchester are getting ready to sample all 43 songs at this year's Eurovision Song Contest at this week's (May 2) sell-out Boom Bang A Bang event.

The event, which is organised by Eurovision fan Paul Marks-Jones said this year's response had been overwhelming and follows the "mega-success" of last year's first pre-Eurovision party held in the city.

Paul says: "On the night we are just going to have lots of fun and wave lots of flags, drink a few cocktails, and decide on our favourites at this year's Eurovision in Belgrade. Everything will be topped off by the ever popular Eurovision disco"

The event is happening at Bacchanalia, Chapel Walks (off Cross Street). Attendees can enjoy special offers on food and 2 for 1 cocktails all night.

More information is available by emailing eurovision@eventuality.com or by telephoning Eventuality on 0870 300 9510