ESC 2015 FINLAND: #UMK15 SECOND SEMIFINAL

ESC 2015 FINLAND: #UMK15 SECOND SEMIFINAL - THE LIVE BLOG

22.22 Time for results! First finalist is..... Shava! The second one is... Jouni Aslak! Siru is out. That's all for tonight. Join me in Sanremo!

22.18 Televote is over. It's time for Laura Voutilainen, Virve Rosti and Krista Siegfrids and Nuku pommiin, the Finnish null pointer of 1982. If only it was performed this way back then....
22.15 The atmosphere in the studio is very noisy and wild! I read somewhere there are about 300 fans so it is not such a big studio but YLE has created a great stage that does looks very different for every act. Well done. Another recap.
22.07 After recap we have a chat again with Siru and Shava, the biggest favorites tonight and what do they think about it. Talk continues with the others. For Eeverest being here is "dream come true". Opera Skaala's Essi is a real diva, in a good sense; funny and witty and lovable! She'd love Eurovision and Eurovision would love her for sure!
21.58 Back to green room and we talk to Eeverest, Opera Skaala and Jouni. We are told Twitter exploded when Opera Skaala was on stage. Good! And I'm having again tecnical probems, my poor laptop can't handle these live blogs it seems :-(

21.51 Jouni Aslak - Lions and lambs. He started alone, then two backing singers joined in and the more. Vocally good, nice staging but not my favorite tonight anyways.

21.45 Opera Skaala - Heart of light. Get ready for some props, me thinks! Her dress is made of over 10 meters of stuff. There are dancers. On the way to the stage Essi opens her voice.... There are colums. She loses her dress. Dry ice. All the gimmicks are there and her vocals are spot on! Windmachine! This is Eurovisison heaven. Much better live and on stage than I expected! Vienna!!!!!

21.43 Raakel tells shocking news: Australia will participate!
21.37 We are in greenroom with Siru. And then Shava. They have a lot of fans in audience judging the screams. If they win they will drive their hippy bus to Vienna. Yep. And then Otto. He could besides singing help you invest your money....

21.31 Eeverest - Love it all away. Axl Smith takes them to improvised international interview backstage. The band's lead singer is only 16 and they met in McDonalds while working there. If they win they wish to have an Eeverest burger on menu. Oh, there's Darude for them backstage, too! And this is their first ever gig as trio! We are taken to a disco with their entry with flashing lights and spots. Dancers lying on stage. She has an interesting voice but she seems quite nervous and loses it a few times. The two DJs behind her. All on all pretty good but is it strong enough as an act?

21.24 Otto Ivar - Truth or dare. He's alone on stage with no thrills. Vocally very good but the song isn't that strong and interesting really. He was greeted backstage by Johnny Lee Michaels. Check your Euroviisut history to find out who he is :-)

21.15 Shava - Ostarilla. They brought their gig van on stage and play inside it with Bollywood babes on rooftop. Very, very colorful! Vocally a little disappointing and I think it just didn't work as well as it should have. But colorful.....

21.08 Siru - Mustelmat. The latest The Voice of Finland winner in purple trouser dress. She performs very well vocally but she has a choreography; sudden changes of facial impressions, sudden movements. It leaves me feeling a bit akward.... Dry ice on stage for her. A rain of fire. Her mom and grandmom were for her backstage.

I am having a rest from Sanremo for the first part and live blog #umk15 instead. But do join me in Sanremo once this affair is over. Another six songs, three of them will qualify for the final in the end of month. Guest performance by Virve Rosti, Laura Voutilainen and Krista Siegfrids. And a lot more from techno opera to bhangra, pop rock to pop and EDM.

JOIN ME AT 8pm CET!

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