The first dress rehearsal of the final for the Eurovision Song Contest has just taken place. 24 countries performed in the new running order, however sound still seems to be an issue. Malta had to have a restart when there was no sound at all on Julies' microphone. Ukraines' Ruslana decided to mainly just perform the dance routine, and save her voice, singing just a line or two when lifted high up by the dancers.

Helicopter ride over Istanbul
The Te Deum tune begins, and the Eurovision Song Contest starts. The audience is given a bird�s eye view as if they are in a helicopter travelling up towards the arena over major sites, until finally we enter through the doors of the Abdi Ipecki Arena. We then see the helicopter projected on the cyclorama of the stage and then out come Sertab Erener and her dancers who perform Everyway that I can as well as her album track Leave, joined by the Semazen�s (whirling dancers).

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Spain opened the show and made an impact with his strong entry. Ramon was followed by Austria and then Norway who gave sound performances. Jonatan from France performed A chaque pas, still keeping the big globes and the dancer on stilts. Jonatan gave a strong vocal performance but many are dubious as to whether the dance routine takes away from his voice and the simplicity of the song. Serbia & Montenegro, now fifth in the running order, once again gained big applause. As usual, the vocals and the performance were of the highest quality.

It was Malta who firstly suffered due to the sound. Julie�s microphone failed to work, and she was forced to stop and restart. Then when starting for the second time, it happened again. This time they continued and her microphone came back towards the end. Germany�s Max slightly struggled vocally, finding it hard to hit the higher notes. Albania�s Anjeza has gone for an image change, now in a Latino influenced red and black dress and straightened hair.

Ruslana from the Ukraine was greeted with big cheers, however she was saving her voice and didn't sing, she continued to give an impressive dance routine and simple mouthed the lyrics. Finally she managed to sing the last few words of the song.

Bosnia Herzegovina�s Deen seems to have slightly tamed down his raunchy performance, now wearing a tank top and holding back a little bit more.