We continue following the first round of rehearsals coming from Malmö Arena.

Today the rehearsals deviate from the actual running order of the first semi-final next week in that Belgium and Lithuania have swapped places.

But even so it is becoming clearer how the running order decided by the producers of the show rather than by draw of lots makes sense from the perspective of the TV show.

The atmosphere is building up as the show progresses and there is little chance of viewers switching off because they are bored.

After the lunch break the first country to rehearse was Ireland. Here the theme on the stage was celtic patterns which were also seen in the bare upper bodies of the two male backing dancers as tattoos. Ryan Dolan himself is wearing a glittery silver outfit. There are two female backing singers for this number. We do get a crisp and clear vocal from Ryan himself and the act is also very visual.

Time to clam things down, as Despina Olympiou takes to the stage. Her only prop seems to be a wind machine sweeping along, as she stands alone on the stage. Here the production team employs video effects to live the act up, like blending double images of the singer from different angles on the same screen. A mellow ballad like this is a welcome break from the more hectic happening that precede it.

Next up to rehearse is Andrius Pojavis from Lithuania. The tall singer is wearing a black leather jacket and jeans. The team seems to be experimenting with sunglasses, whether Andrius will wear them next week remains to be seen. The singer seems still a little bit awkward standing on the stage, and there is an added video effect similar to the preview video making things worse. The four backing singers are left in the background. We can hope the second rehearsal will solve the issues evident today with the Lithuanian performance.

To finish off we have the Serbian trio. Moje 3 is now all candy colours, polka dots and bobbles. The three backing singers are in similar outfits. The Serbians seem to have moved away from the angel and devil theme into a more girly fairytale image, but the dance routines are still very much like we saw in the preview video. Whether this will be what the Serbian have decided to perform in next week remains to be seen.