Will it be 6th time lucky for Andorra?

We really like the Andorran song, which proved to be a good thing last night, when we shared a shuttle bus back the Cosmos Hotel. One of the composers - a Dane - was sitting across from us. So we spent the 20 minute journey back to the hotel talking about the Andorran selection and previous Danish national finals. What fun!

Anyway, we do hope that Susanne qualifies, as we really like the song. The performance looks fresh, with everyone dressed primarily in white against a backdrop of reds, purples and blues. The vocals, though, aren't always spot on.

As far as qualification to the Final is concerned, our heart says yes, but our head says no.

ANDORRA - 2nd Rehearsal

Armenia and Slovakia swap, and Belarussian vodka

For reasons unknown to us, Armenia isn't rehearsing today. Taking their place is Slovakia. Unfortunately we missed their performance as we were at the Belarussian press conference.

As always, Belarus has really gone to town on its promotional materials. The press kits included a diary, a pen, a keyring, chocolates, photos and vodka. Oh, and a cd.

Sweden's press conference lasted all of 5 minutes, but Malena came across really well - friendly and relaxed. She's been jetting all over Europe, as she has other opera commitments as well as Eurovision.

Next are 2 of our favourites: Andorra and Switzerland.

SLOVAKIA - 2nd Rehearsal

Uphill struggle for Sweden?

Second rehearsal for Malena from Sweden, and the performance just doesn't seem to be as polished as the Melodifestivalen one. Certainly, the goose-feather dress wasn't given an airing today, as the singer was dressed very causally. The vocals are a little weaker than they were in rehearsal 1, perhaps our songstress is holding back, but there's not much time left to come up with the goods! We still think this performance is a bit static.

Apparently, there is a new screen due to be inserted in the backdrop which hasn't arrived yet, so maybe that will make a difference, but some people are thinking the un-thinkable - that Sweden may not qualify!

SWEDEN - 2nd Rehearsal

A Belter from Belarus

The song from Belarus isn't one of our favourites, but you can't deny that Petr is a great singer. Indeed we're more convinced than ever that "Eyes That Never Lie" will qualify for the final.

Everyone on stage is dressed in white, and there's a windmachine switched to Gale Force, aimed at both Petr and a female caught in a massive sheet. The screens show what look like giant cats' eyes - appropriately enough. Overall it's a good presentation.

BELARUS - 2nd Rehearsal

Eurovision Express hotel is "legendary"

Just back from the Belgian press conference, where Patrick was asked what he thought of his breakfast. Probing questions, eh?

Anyway the moderator asked Patrick which hotel he was staying at. "Cosmos" came the answer, and the moderator laughed, and then said "The Cosmos is legendary". Quite what it's legendary for, we don't know, but we're actually finding it a pretty good place to stay. Decent room and breakfast, and only 3 metro stops from the venue.

Top Cat?

Belgium's up next, and the Stage Manager tells us that Patrick is going to hold back a bit on the first two run throughs. Apparently he's been either partying too much or giving too many concerts.

The stage looks good for this song, with the COPYCAT logo and cartoon cat used on the upper screens. How this will look on TV, we're not sure. It's a fun song, but we don't anticipate it will qualify.

We only managed to see the song once before we went to the shortest press conferences in Eurovision history for Montenegro - the moderator had to go for his lunch, apparently. Well, when your tummy rumbles...! One question and it was over.

It's lunchbreak time, so we'll be back with Belarus a little later.

BELGIUM - 2nd Rehearsal

Gipsy Cream?

For reasons that escape us now, Eurovision Express put a bet on the Czech song winning the Eurovision. We thought the manic nature of this entry might set Europe alight....

This morning's rehearsal looks fine, and there haven't been any substantial changes since Sunday. It's colourful and reminds us a bit of Turkey's entry from 2004 (For Real) with a little bit of The Real Slim Shady thrown in for good measure.

Everyone on stage seems to be having fun, but we think this will struggle to make it through to Saturday.

CZECH REPUBLIC - 2nd Rehearsal

Will Montenegro "get outta, outta, outta" the semi?

We got our first looks at the stage this morning at the rehearsal for Montenegro. The stage is one of the best of this decade, definitely the most impressive since 2003.

We like the song from Montenegro, but can't help feeling it would have benefitted from more dancers on stage. The routine with Andrea being chased around by the John Travolta wannabe is ok, but overly camp at times.

We've now got a better feel for the video backdrop being used. It includes blingy padlocks and chains, which fit in well with the theme of the song.

It's a good opener to Semi 1, but will it qualify? At the moment it's still borderline.

MONTENEGRO - 2nd Rehearsal

Euroclub - We're Loving It!

Our first night in the Euroclub - and what a place! Channel 1 have certainly blown the budget on this venue. Lots of Eurovision paraphanalia bedecks this huge lavish centre. Who would have thought that you'd pass by the Kremlin on your way to the "Eurodom", but that's exactly what we did last night.

After several complimentary drinks, the Eurovision music was in full blast mode, as were the delightful dancing ladies (and gentlemen) on the stage and on various podiums.

At the stroke of midnight, out came the floor show - three cossack girls and two guys dressed in full Russian regalia including the obligatory white fur hats. What was their first routine? - Rasputin by Boney M. It was at this point that we knew - this club was going to be a success!

Later on, to our delight, we discovered Euro-shuttle buses back to our hotel - where we chatted to the lovely Andorran delegation - we do hope their song gets through to the final!

So, we're off to a good start in Moscow! Let's see what the venue is like now as we await the second rehearsals of the semi-final!

Welcome to Moscow!

We have arrived! It feels great to finally be in Russia. We are currently in the Press Centre catching up on today's rehearsals, and lots of opinions and comment across various websites about the performances.

Our first impressions of Moscow and the organisation of this year are very positive indeed! The volunteers are extremely helpful and we haven't experienced any of the queues that others had earlier in the week.

The Euroclub (Eurodom) opened its doors last night and by all accounts is a great venue so we are looking forward to sampling its delights later!

Time for dinner and then Euroclub! Back to full blogging tomorrow.

Eurovision Express.. You are cleared for landing!

We're en route to Moscow and looking forward to a memorable Eurovision! We should be back online soon...thank you to our spies in Moscow for keeping us up to date on the rehearsals so far.

Meanwhile, check out what's happening now with our friends at the excellent All Kinds of Everything blog. Just click here

Can "Believe" win "Again"?

Eurovision Express likes the Danish song, and it's not just 'cos we won £80 when it pipped Hera Björk and the equally good "Someday", to take the MGP crown in January. So thanks for that, Brinck.

No we like "Believe Again" because it's a fantastic, modern pop song from one of our favourite Eurovision countries. Hot Eyes are our heroes and got us into this whole Eurovision malarky.

Today's Danish rehearsal looked pretty laid-back. The stage is quite dark and in the background there are lots of strips of white light, which come together at the end of the song to make the words, BELIEVE AGAIN.

It's a hard song to sing, especially the chorus, but it looks like Brinck is managing to reach those high notes.

"Believe" won for Russia last year. Can it win "again" for Denmark? Probably not, but it's a definite qualifier and deserves to do well in the Final. If it did win, we'd be delighted, and lobbying for Kirsten and Søren to be next year's hosts.

DENMARK - 1st Rehearsal

Light A Candle with Slovakia

It's ten years since Slovakia stood on the Eurovision stage, but now they're back.

We'll be honest. We don't like the Slovakian song much, but we have to admit that Nela and Kamil are excellent singers, and the presentation is very good. The video screens feature candles (just like Malta 1998, Ireland 2000....we could go on....).

The song starts with Nela centre stage in white, joined a little later by Kamil. They ooze confidence and look totally at ease.

If the Contest were judged by the professionalism of the performers, this would definitely qualify, but songwise it doesn't just cut it for us.

SLOVAKIA - 1st Rehearsal

Sigh-prus

After the excitement of Norway comes Cyprus. Dressed in white, Christina performs the song on a white block that looks a bit like a big sugarlump. She's flanked by 2 dancers, also in white and also with their own blocks, and in the background there are 3 backing singers. The backdrop is a sort of blue swirling effect.

You have to feel sorry for Christina. This is not a particularly good song, and seems to take an age to get going. When it does her block rotates, and she ends the song climbing on to the other 2 blocks (which have been put on top of each other).

The vocals seem ok, but coming after Norway and a commercial break, this could well only get votes from Greece.

CYPRUS - 1st Rehearsal

Fairytale start for Norway!

Up next, one of the most talked-about songs of the year. It's the Norwegian Fairytale! We can easily see why this song is the favourite. Great vocals, good dance routine (cossacks) and the set is a night-time small-town with starry fairytale images. This is certainly the one to beat.

The fresh-faced Alexander showed no sign of nerves in his first rehearsal. We're also pleased that they have kept the two delightful dollies wandering across stage! Oslo 2010 anyone?

Here is the Norwegian rehearsal...

NORWAY - 1st Rehearsal

The ballet can't help Poland!

Poland's Lidia has enlisted the help of a couple of ballet dancers during her performance. The backdrop is yet another dark blue set with some clouds. This was such a polished preview video, it was going to be difficult to emulate it on stage. Unfortunately, Lidia is having some real vocal problems during her first rehearsal. Let's hope she can iron them out by the next rehearsal. For the moment, however, it does look bleak for Poland.

POLAND - 1st Rehearsal

Help! Help! Here comes the Kon!

For those of you who remember the Hair Bear Bunch cartoon, you will wander down memory lane when you see Serbia's performance. Marko Kon is of course, Hair Bear, and the cartoon backdrop of this performance makes the animation complete. Not to mention the three bald comrades of Marko who at times hog the limelight with their slapstick efforts.

This song didn't make an impression on us when we saw it first, but it has to be said, this was one of the best rehearsals so far today (mainly down to lack-lustre performances from others).

SERBIA - 1st Rehearsal

Latvia points the way!

The Latvian song is not one of our faves by any means, but they gave a credible rehearsal this morning. The backdrop was a revolving pole pointing to many different cities. We still don't see this getting into the final, but it wasn't as bad as the preview video. Nonetheless, an uninsipring song.

LATVIA - 1st Rehearsal

Terminal One, Flight's Not On Time....

Ireland performs in the dreaded Number 2 spot this year. Sinead is positioned centrally with the Black Daisy girls spread quite widely across the rest of the performance area.

Fast moving letters race across the screens positioned in a circle above, making the words ET CETERA at the start of the chorus. There's some lightning effects thrown in for good measure, and - you won't hear this very often when writing about an Irish entry - some pyros on the key change, and a wind machine at the end. Carola, watch out!

The staging is ok, but we'd have preferred the words of the song's title to be a little more prominent on the back screen. That said, it could look a lot different on people's TVs at home.

The feeling coming from Moscow is that the rehearsal was a tad disappointing with Sinead struggling with some of the song. That, however, may be to do with the fact that the Irish delegation flew out yesterday and were delayed 5 hours at Heathrow.

We have high hopes that Ireland will qualify, although at the moment, there's some way to go with the performance before we'd be confident about this being the case.

IRELAND - 1st Rehearsal

No red ribbon dancing from Croatia

The first of today's rehearsals comes from Croatia. Igor is very much to the fore, accompanied by Andrea and 4 other female backings singers.

Unlike in the national final performance, Andrea is not given quite as much prominence, and there's little interaction between her and Igor. Gone too is the red ribbon dancer.

The stage colour is blue with the video screens depicting little moving stars of light and white flowers.

It's a pretty, well-performed song, perhaps more at home in a 1990s Eurovision, which, of course, alas means it will struggle to qualify.

CROATIA - 1st Rehearsal

Meanwhile in Poland Jade tries to bag a few more points

You've got to hand it to Jade - she's racking up the airmiles in a bid to gain a few more precious points. Poland was the latest country on her hitlist of European nations. She appeared on the Polish version of Strictly Come Dancing, and went down a storm.

Maybe, come Saturday 16 May, we'll be hearing "And finally from the Polish jury, 12 points to the United Kingdom." Let's hope so!

Will Regina reign supreme?

Today's rehearsals ended with the song from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and what a great song it is.

Regina are all dressed in white against a primarily red backdrop, using some of the visuals from their preview video. Vocals are excellent, and throw in some drums and a red flag and you've got a stirring performance.

This is probably the safest bet to qualify of all the songs in this first semi-final, and is a definite contender to take this year's Eurovision crown.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - 1st Rehearsal

Deja Vu from Chiara!

Some things remain constant in Eurovision - quirky performances, key changes, frock horrors, and Chiara standing still on stage belting out a ballad!

This could be 1998 or even 2005...and if only it were. "What If We" is a pale comaparison to her two previous entries. She does exactly what you expect though - performs very well and doesn't need any backing singers. The backdrop had an underwater city theme to it, which didn't add anything to the performance and we've heard that the Maltese were unhappy with it. So, no doubt it will be changed.

Malta have arranged and re-arranged this song to try to bring it up to Chiara's previous high standards, and they have done very well. It's strong, but still lacks a certain something. This will qualify thanks to Chiara's incredible vocals, and will be up there on the night.

Here's Chiara's 1st effort....

MALTA - 1st Rehearsal

All the fun of the fair with Portugal

Eurovision's a funny old game, isn't it? For us the Finnish song is head and shoulders above the Portuguese one, but we're pretty impressed with how Flor-de-lis' entry came across today.

The setting is spot on - bright colours (yellows and pastel shades) and the video projection almost gives the impression that you are standing by a big carousel at a fair. It's carnival, it's fun and after a number of entries who performed in subdued lighting, this really stands out.

For us this was always on the cusp of qualifying, but now we think it's pretty much a dead cert to get through to the Saturday night.

Rehearsal video here....

PORTUGAL - 1st Rehearsal

Juggling with fire....it's Finland

We love the Finnish song from Waldo's People this year. It ranks up there with "Eläköön Elämä" as one of Finland's best ever entries.

The problem, of course, with this rap/dance track is that it's hard for the live performance to sound as good as the recorded version, but we know Waldo and his mates will give it their best shot.

At today's rehearsal Waldo is accompanied by the 3 female vocalists who sing the chorus, all 3 of whom are dressed in very short skirts (Gina G would be proud). There are also two bare-chested guys doing some impressive fire-juggling.

It's difficult to work out what's on the video screens behind, but the main colours seem to be white, red, gold and black (very 80s). We're not quite sure whether this is the right look - we were hoping for something a little more 'street'.

This is one entry that we can't wait to see on screen.

FINLAND - 1st Rehearsal