Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  First impressions and comments: Italy is straight from Italian prime time Saturday night entertainment television. Sal looks a bit excited but I'm sure he will nail it when it matters and charms the pants off half of Europe. Accusi! Germany is what it is, the most generic unoriginal song and staging that can be titled Fire. Hard to think this will go anywhere in top-10 and gain points, a possible zero points France seems to bring the French revolution on stage and they indeed don't give us bread but cakes! Looks great, sounds good. Indeed another contender for the win - if the televoters aren't already tired of opera. UK is one of my personal top favourites against all odds and I'm so curious to see how it will do in the end! Staging seems pretty much as expected.  Austria - what to say? I preferred his national final outfit. To start with. The song is what it is. Maybe it won't score a flat zero like last time in Vienna. And indeed it deserves a bit more. 

  First impressions and comments: Australia looks and sounds fantastic. Delta is such a good and seasoned performer and the staging looks stunning. Is it a winner? If not Finland let it be Australia! Ukraine ... what to day? I like the song and then I don't. For me its kinda schizofrenic somehow, like two different songs in one and one I like, the other I don't. Hard to explain. But what's that dress? and that make up?! Ukraine is Q anyways no matter what. And deserved.  Albania sound majestic and the little we have seen so far tells a story. I have a feeling this will do a lot better than expected. Or at least I hope so, That it all comes together in final and people connect with this, not only diaspora.  Alis is fantastic singer.  Malta is one of my favorites and I hope Aidan and his Versace vest will have a lot of success. Norway is a big question mark. This could go very well or ... not. Jonas is another great vocalist. For me this is this semis Estonia, proba...

  My first look opinions, here they come! Belgium is looking very very nice I must say, still don't care for the song but I do like the visuals. Lithuania is another song I don't care for and the staging does nothing to me either.  San Marino . Colorful. That's all I can say. Even Senhit sounds off.  Poland has upped its game. Yet another song that does nothing to me but at least they have made an effort with the staging that looks pretty cool! Still all these four seem like NQs to me so far. Serbia . Whoever decided to put that bit of the song in this preview needs a raise immediately! The funniest preview clip I have seen in my Eurovision history - and that's a long one!

What can I say? Not much judging these short videos. But I say a few words anyways by the first impression that can be very misleading anyways. Moldova is a bit let down, not at all so powerful and energetic as I expected. Vocals seem to be off, too. Sweden . Same as Moldova. Which makes me think these vids are on purpose a mess. Croatia seems very busy and a bit too serious and angry. I have said before and I repeat myself: angry women don't do well in Eurovision . Greece .... Oh well, looks rather chaotic and his voice a bit weak. But then again it's a rehearsal. Need to see the whole package but doesn't look like a winner despite all. This said my favorite performance of them all is the Greek national final preview with only one hanging mic. That was fab and let Akylas show all his charm. Now he disappears into his visuals.  Portugal stands out with the pretty staging, calm song and good voices. They're so sailing to the final! Georgia was on my list to qualify b...

  Norway - Jonas Lovv - Ya ya ya Malta - Aidan - Bella Albania - Alis - Nân Ukraine - Leléka - Ridnym Australia - Delta Goodrem - Eclipse Denmark - Søren Torpegaard Lund - Før Vi Går Hjem   Latvia - Atvara - Ēnā Cyprus - Antigoni - Jalla

So it started. You can follow Eurovision Reddit here that is the only source of real information of the rehearsals so far.  As I have nothing to say as I've seen nothing I spare my comments until I do. If there's some other comments or media worth adding to I will do so right here.  Their new dresses are designed by Teemu Muurimäki as usual btw. And Pete's trousers are not too tight anymore to effect his vocal cords as the headlines screamed earlier.  This is what The Social media Guy wrote about Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen's Liekinheitin and Finland: 16:40 - He's ready to sing and she's ready to string 🎤 🎻 Linda Lampenius stands alone on the deserted stage of what was once an orchestra. Now, it’s been littered with the overturned chairs and sheet-music stands of Linda’s former musician colleagues. But what could possibly have happened here? Shall we head to the confessional box to find out? There, we find Pete Parkkonen, and he’s been in touch with the ...

Saturday May 2, 2026. The start of the rehearsals for Eurovision song contest 2026 in Vienna after building the stage and having the stand in rehearsals the past week after weeks and months of planning and rehearsing the staging, lights, choreography and special effects and creative ideas by the artists and their teams at home while Vienna team has been programming and putting everything on computers second by second as so it is these days. If back in the day the nervous bit was could the local orchestra play the song the way wanted now it is Can they handle the visuals the way the team has planned? Times change. As usual there are several teams or people doing the creative work for various teams and behind the stagings there are many already very familiar names. Let's have a look. Black Skull Creative , a British show-making company is behind several acts this year.   Albania is among them and there won't be the signature red color this year for Albania but a prop and subtit...

Just like the ones for semifinal one ( here ) here come the first three photos of the first rehearsals of the ones in semifinal two with a short little comment what to expect compared to what was expected judged by the Ebu commentary. Day 3 features Australia and much anticipated Austria as they are internally selected ones so there's no idea how the song is planned to be staged. And apparently both do deliver big time. Australia follows the lead of the music video as does Austria but they couldn't be any more different from each other; Australia fun and colorful, Austria dramatic in black and white. Montenegro seems to follow more the original Montesong staging rather than the music video, while Ireland and Latvia have updated their national final stagings. Armenia follows Croatia's lead and brings a whole new staging in Basel as does Greece. Lithuania sticks to the same old.  Day 4 features the rest of the semifinal two. And it seems to be a lot of fog, props, BIG props, ...