The first dress rehearsal of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is about to take place. After 86 technical rehearsals, press conferences and rehearsals of the opening and interval acts, everything is now in place for the full shows.
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The introduction – The show starts with a brass band playing Congratulations, Volare and Waterloo. They are joined on stage with traditional Serbian dancers wearing typical Serbian national costumes in the colour of red, blue and free backing female vocalists wearing white. We are then introduced to the hosts of the semi final, Jelena and Zeljko who give us a very short introduction regarding participants and the voting rules.
Song 1 – Montenegro
Stefan gets the show after a great opener with his song Zauvjek Volim Te. He is joined on stage by five female backing vocalists wearing black leather skirts and red gloves. He gives a charismatic performance, always smiling at camera. He is note perfect and certainly one of the strongest male singers in the competition.
Song 2 – Israel
Boas is dressed in a white tight fitting white T-shirt and gray trousers. He gives a gentle performance of his song. It's a rather understated performance which allows Boaz to connect with the audience and the lyrics of the song. Towards the end five male backing vocalist joining him at the front of the stage for a strong finish of this entry.
Song 3 – Estonia
First up-tempo song of the competition is produced by the group from Estonia. More mad cap antics with plenty of flag waving and merriment on the stage. Wind machine is put to good effect. It all looks very entertaining and the guys seem to be enjoying themselves on the stage.
Song 4 – Moldova
Greta is joined on the stage again with her male trumpet player. She's holding a Teddy bear for this jazzy number. Strong vocals and a nice, touching performance by this year's Moldovan participants. She makes great connection with camera and the audience.
Song 5 – San Marino
This year's debutants get a warm applause in the venue after their atmospheric and haunting performance. The lead singer delivers strong vocals and it looks very sophisticated on the screen. The band is joined on the stage by a blond female ballet dancer who connects well with the rest of the group.
Song 7 – Azerbaijan
2nd debut country to perform today. It's everything you would imagine it would be. A spectacular and breathtaking show from the Azeri part. The good vs. evil concept is brought to life in one of the most amazing and over the top performance that has ever been on the stage.
Vocals were excellent and so is the staging of this song of angels and devils.
Song 8 – Slovenia
Sexy Rebeka hits the stage in a silver coat as she imprisoned by her two male captures, she manages to break free from her prison of neon lights to disrobe to reveal hot outfit of green and purple. Rebeka looks amazingly sexy as she delivers this up-tempo entry. She looks into the camera with natural confidence.
Song 9 – Norway
Another sleek and sophisticated performance from Maria and her backing singers. Deep blue background is filled with stars which enhances this professional performance. There is nothing much Maria could add to this near perfect performance.
Song 10 – Poland
Techical problems with the sound mean that we take a short breakwhilstthe technitians are trying to resolve the problem.
Isis appeared on stage in a sky blue dress with white vails on her shoulders and once again she delivered emotive and stunning vocals for her performance. This is one of the most emotional song in this year's competition.
Song 11 – Ireland
Dustin is wheeled on the stage in a shopping trolly and is covered in a black cape which is removed in true Danijela style to introduce the uptempo part of the song. This song really works as a fun and entertaining number and gets the positive reaction from the crowd. The Backing vocals provided by Kathleen Burke and Anne Harrington enchances the comic element of this song. This is one of the stronger comic numbers in teh competition and certaily the most entertaining act so far.
Song 12 – Andorra
Gisela appears on stage in one of the most outlandish costumes and hairstyle we have seen so far in the competition. Unfortunatelly she delivers a vocal performance which appears to be out of tune.
Song 13 – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Another fun and entertaining number from Laka and his group. This seems to be genuine humour from the Bosnians and works well on the Eurovision stage. Laka and his sister produce natural humour with great connection with both camera and the audience in the hall.
Song 14 – Armenia
Sirusho looks sunning on stage wearing short outfit of black and white. The energetic dance routine with three male backing perform energetic routine which fits the song perfectly. Nice pyros towards the end. The only disappointement to this were that the vocals were rather shouty.
Song 15 – The Netherlands
Hind delivers a classy perfromance of this ethnic pop tune. Her choreography is simplier that many other that we have seen if anything this enchants the presentation on the song. Vocals are strong and very clear, we can hear every word she sings.
Song 16 – Finland
A powerful perfromance by the Finnish band. It's pure heavy metal with perfect vocals and high energy. The pyros and the high note at the very beginning will certainly capture the audience's attention and the energy flowing from the entire performance will probably keep it throughout.
Song 17 – Romania
Astarry Romanian sky follows the Finnish storm. Vlad Mirita's face and voice fills the arena and the song only gets better when Nico enters a littlelater wearing a dark green, leather topdress.Both perform to perfection this very demanding song.
Song 18- Russia
Dima Bilan has lost the ladder and that can be considered to be a good thing as the acthas more cohesion now. Dima, dressed all in white, gives one of his best performances so far. The three of them, Dima, Evgeny and Edwin work well together, with Dima and Edwin standing side by side and Evgeny circling them on his skates.
Song 19 – Greece
There is indeed a longer interval between the Russia and Greece songs to provide time for the removal of the Russian ice set and the entry of the Greek book. There is a sped up visual of the building of the stage in the mean time. Kalomira stars off in a bright pink dress which changes to the gem studded top as she passes through the flowery heart that pops out of the book. She seems to be holding back vocally and visually the act looks very strong.
The voting starts when world #3 tennis player, Novak Djokovic, throws a tennis ball to the audience. This is followed by the interval act. Slobodan Trkulja and Balkanopolis perform Nebo, the 2007 Beovizija runner up song.
The draw for the running order of the 10 countries to qualify will take place at the winner's press conference after the show.
