We are back at the Expo Tel Aviv, as the second rehearsals for the 35 countries competing at the two semi-finals have now well and truly kicked-off! Today sees the first 15 acts of the first semi-final again on-stage, ready to perfect their upcoming performances!

Opposite to the first bunch of technical rehearsals, where all delegations have a 30-minute stage session, this time is now shortened to 20 minutes. Afterwards, each country’s delegates will be attending their staging, vocals and lightning in the viewing room and any necessary changes will be requested. Besides their second rehearsals, all delegations will be giving a 20-minute press conference to the accredited press at the arena.

The day closes with the rehearsals of Iceland, Estonia and Portugal, all competing at the first semi-final, from positions #13, #14 and #15.

13 | Iceland

One of the most controversial entries of the year has taken to the stage for a second rehearsal. The heavy metal group Hatari will sing… Hate will prevail in their own language. A great number of fireworks, the group’s and dancers’ extraordinary clothing with BDSM-style ensembles and a huge cage with the third singer and one of the dancers inside will not let this performance go unnoticed. It all seems that this year Iceland will compete again at the final, for the first time after 2014. What do you think?

14 | Estonia

Let’s go for a calmer song and performance, the Estonian one. Pretty close to his Eesti Laul performance, Victor Crone is here to represent Estonia and achieve one more successful result for Estonia, following Elina Nechayeva‘s 8th place last year. With his beautiful guitar and his smooth vocals, can he be among the 10 qualifiers of the night?

15 | Portugal

The day closes with Conan Osiris, who is the representative of last year’s host country, Portugal. Conan appears together with his shirtless male dancer, opting for a pretty similar staging and choreography with their national selection event Festival da Canção. However, he has now replaced his gold face accessories with black ones. Portugal will be close to the last act of the first semi-final and aspires to be again at the final. Will they make it?

Tomorrow rehearsals continue with the second rehearsals of the two last acts of the first semi-final, and the first rehearsals of the automatic qualifiers Big 5 (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) and host country Israel.