Today the rehearsals started in the Friends Arena in Stockholm.

Unlike my last experience of Eurovision in a multi-purpose/football arena this feels warm and not cavernous.

The day started with a photocall of the artists followed by a speed-dating type set of interviews where everyone queued to get as many done as possible.

This was followed by the start of the rehearsals and then another set of interviews, this time with the Presenters and Executive Producer.

The sound is excellent and no artists appear to be having problems with their performances.

The performances seem to have only minor alterations to those from the heats apart from more usage of the catwalk/runway that runs into the audience.

It was a long day as the last rehearsal ended at approximately 21:30.


I attended my first Eurovision Song Contest in 1995, and from 1996 presented daily live reports for radio stations from the event. Since then I have been providing material from everywhere the contest has been held. I also enjoy compiling most of the video materials for three UK ESC events each year. In 2010 I first provided material for esctoday.com.