The qualifier round of the 49th Eurovision Song Contest begins at 21:00 CET, which is 22:00 local time! Esctoday.com made some pictures of the last hour around the Abdi Ipekci arena.

The first qualifier round ever started, esctoday.com is running too! Our photographer is walking around in the arena, three reporters are watching the show from the press centre, three of them are in the hall watching the show live!

You can watch the show live by clicking on the red banner at the esctoday.com frontpage!

:: Check out the gallery of the last hour here!