The second semi final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest will take place tonight at Duesseldorf's Espirit Arena starting at 21:00 CET. Artists from 19 countries will perform live on stage and 10 of them will qualify for the grand final to be held on May 14th.
The show
Since 2008 it was decided that the Eurovision Song Contest will use two semi finals instead of one in order to draw the participants list for the grand final. Artists from 19 countries will perform on the stage ofDuesseldorf's Espirit Arena hoping to make the list of the 10 acts that will advance to the final. The winners will decided by a combination of tele voting (50%) and national juries (50%).France, Germany and Italywill also broadcast and vote in this semi final.
Participants
- Bosnia and Herzegovina : Dino Merlin – Love in rewind
- Austria : Nadine Beiler – The secret is love
- Netherlands : 3JS – Never alone
- Belgium : Witloof Bay – With love baby
- Slovakia : TWiiNS – I'm still alive
- Ukraine : Mika Newton – Angel
- Moldova : Zdob si Zdub – So lucky
- Sweden : Eric Saade – Popular
- Cyprus : Christos Mylordos – San aggelos s'agapisa
- Bulgaria : Poli Genova – Na inat
- FYR Macedonia : Vlatko Ilievski – Rusinka
- Israel : Dana International – Ding dong
- Slovenia : Maja Keuc – No one
- Romania : Hotel FM – Change
- Estonia : Getter Jaani – Rockefeller street
- Belarus : Anastasiya Vinnikova – I love Belarus
- Latvia : Musiqq – Angel in disguise
- Denmark : A Friend in London – New tomorrow
- Ireland : Jedward – Lipstick
The interval act
The Flying Steps from Berlin will perform during this semi final.
Live
Good evening, Europe! The 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Duesseldorf, Germany. The second semi final of Europe's favourite TV show is about to start.
We can now see this year's Eurovision vignette.
The three hosts are now on stage an they welcome the audience using the satellite stage. Anke Engelke, Stefan Raab and Rudith Rakers are the presenters of tonight's show.
The voting lines are now open. Let the show begin!
01 – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dino Merlin from Bosnia and Herzegovina opens the second semi final. The audience seems to enjoy this performance as they started to cheer up the Bosnian delegation from the first musical note. Dino is being joined on stage by five instrumentists all dressed up in a retro style just like the lead singer himself. The vocal performance is at a very good level and this should make its way easily through to the grand final.
02 – Austria
Nadine Beiler performs at the unlucky 2nd spot of this semi final. She performs her ballad entitled The Secret in Love together with four female backing vocalists. Nadine delivers a very good live performance of her song just like she did in the Austrian national final. Her outfit is black and has attached several swarowski cristals. Will Austria be more lucky than Norway and qualify for the final from position number 02?
03 – The Netherlands
3JS from the Netherlands are next on stage. The guys are joined on stage by three backing vocalists who perform a nice routine behind the lead singers. Never alone is a mainstream pop song, very radio friendly which benefits of a catchy chorus. The vocals are great but one could get the impression that the song becoms bland after the first minute.
04 – Belgium
Belgium brings something alternative on the Eurovision stage. Witloof bay perform their acapella song entitled With love, baby. Their voices sound clear but is is clever to send such a song to the Eurovision? Latvia already failed with a similar number even though they brought a robot on the stage. There are no robots for Belgium this year.
05 – Slovakia
The lovely TWiiNS from Slovakia take the stage now. Daniela and Veronika are dressed in similar outfits but with different colours. The girls are joined on stage by a crew of instrumentists and two backing vocalists. The vocals are great although there seems to be a problem with the backing singers. Nice performance overall.
06 – Ukraine
Ukraine is being represented by Mika Newton. She performs a mid-tempo pop song entitled Angel. The 2009 winner of Ukraine got talents, Ksenyia Siminova, joins Mika on stage and she delivers a very artistic number of sand painting. Although the sand animation is great, Mika's vocals are not that good. She sounds off-tune during the entire performance.
07 – Moldova
Zdob si Zdub from Moldova are back on the Eurovision stage but without their grand mother this time. This is a very energetic number that should stand out from the rest of the participants. Although there is no grandma on stage, a beautiful fairy on a unicycle appears during the performance.
08 – Sweden
The Swedish delegation is next on stage. Eric Saade performs his up-tempo schalger pop song in a very interesting way. He is joined on stage by a crew of dancers and two backing vocalists. A big glass box is used as a prop and breaks at the song's climax. This is not that impressive as it should have been.
09 – Cyprus
Cyprus comes out with a new approach as they use a special effective choreography. The lead singer and his backing dancers are all dressed in black unlike the backing female singer who is using the satellite stage. The vocal performance is at a very good level and this could be one of tonight's dark horses. Watch out for this one.
10 – Bulgaria
Poli Genova from Bulgaria is next on stage and she performs her non-conformist number a la Pink entitled Na inat. This is one of the few songs of tonight's show performed in the national language. Poli delivers a very good and confident vocal performance and she is also making full use of the catwalk. The light show is very effective and could help Bulgaria qualify for the grand final.
11 – FYR Macedonia
The third national language song in a row is next on stage representing the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. Special voice effects are being used for the performance but the audience seems a little bit bored already. Not even the dancers can save this song.
12 – Israel
The 1998 Eurovision winner is next on stage. Dana International represents her country again at Europe's favourite TV show hoping for another victory. Dana is wearing a special dress designed by Jean Paul-Gautier special for her Eurovision show. The audience seems delighted by this act. Will Dana qualify for the grand final?
13 – Slovenia
The stage turns from red to lila as Slovenia's representative Maja Keuc started performing her rock ballad entitled No one. Four backing vocalists take the stage aswell and deliver together with Maja a very confident live vocal rendition of their song. Considering the fact that this is the 13th song in tonight show, it could either fail or win it all.
14 – Romania
Romania is next on stage and this is one of the few countries that have always qualified for the grand final. Hotel FM, a rather unknown band in their country are waving the Romanian flag in Duesseldorf. The vocals are simply great as David is one of the best singers in this year's competition. Two dancers join Hotel FM on stage performing a special choreography.
15 – Estonia
One of the huge favourites of this year's competition is now on stage. Getter Jaani performs her magical fantasio trick at the begining of her performance. An amazing backdrop is used for this act featuring a typical Manhattan landscape. The vocal performance is at a good level and everything seems to be pushing Estonia to the grand final.
16 – Belarus
One of the cheesy acts is next on stage. Anastasiya from Belarus performs her energetic pop number entitled I love Belarus. Even though the lyrics of this song speak about Belsrus, one could get confused by the 'Got it deep inside' line. Anastasiya's vocals are shaky here and there, but overall this is not indifferent to the audience. If this is a dark horse, then it is the darkest one in the history of the contest.
17 – Latvia
Musiqq from Latvia take the stage now. Angel in disguise is the title of their contemporany pop song, but is this performance contemporany enough to impress and qualify? The audience seems a little bit bored by what they see on stage.
18 – Denmark
The second last song is performed by the Danish band A friend in London. This performance reminds us of several well known songs and one could question the originality of this act. The vocals are decent and the boys create a concert atmosphere on the Eurovision stage.
19 – Ireland
Ireland is the last country to perform in tonight's show. Twin duo Jedward won the Irish national final back in February and now they are ready to set Europe on fire with their poppy song entitled Lipstick. The stage backdrop is pretty impressive and this act should sail into the grand final thanks to their popularity and the late draw.
This concludes tonight's performances. A recap of the songs is being shown now.
The voting lines are now closed.
Now, let's have a look at the results. To the final :
- Estonia
- Romania
- Moldova
- Ireland
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Denmark
- Austria
- Ukraine
- Slovenia
- Sweden