What a great day we are having in Copenhagen. It’s been a pleasure to see such good performances.

Song six today comes from Hungary. Kállay-Saunders has already proved that he is an excellent singer and very charismatic on stage. Many have talked about the song’s story and the video for it. In their national final we saw him, a girl at a piano and a teddy bear. This time we have an additional performer on stage, portraying her father but no toy. As if the sentiments of the song weren’t strong enough –  this version, visually, is one which you can’t take your eyes off. Kállay starts the song sitting down, as previously, but soon has to run at break-neck speed to the mini-island for the next part. When he returns the dancers are in full flow, acting out the songs serious story. At the end of the song he is protecting the girl on one side from the man on the other.

Malta is the first song of the Second Semi final and is next on stage. Firelight are performing in a very similar way to the Maltese National Final. The main difference is that the backdrop is of trees and the floor like grass. I didn’t realise but one of the Maltese told me that there are also poppy flowers on the screen. During the song some of the ‘selvies’ which they asked people to send in are shown. For a band which was only formed in June 2013 they gel together so well. If there is an infectious three minutes then this must take the prize. It’s hard to forget the preview video and it will be interesting to see how the public will rate the song as a simple stage performance.

This is the first time I have seen the Israeli song performed live. What a treat I was in for. Mei Finegold parades around the mainly gold and blue stage, strutting her stuff. After the first minute she is joined two other girls. They are dancers. At one point she takes a break and lies down on the video floor but, energy restored, she gets up and this time struts a bit more, heading down the walkway to end the song on the mini performance area. Could it be Tel Aviv for the 60^th anniversary contest? It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility.

The simplicity of the Norwegian song has not been lost in its transfer to the stage in Copenhagen. Carl Espen has rehearsed very well and Silent Storm continues to wrap it’s arms around you musically. It’s hard to create a feeling like this in a big arena but somehow you feel as if you are the only one in the audience and Carl is singing just to you. We still have the violinists and the pianist. The only notable difference is that the piano is featured right from the start.

The Georgian song is performed by Shin and perhaps capturing the essence of Three Minutes to Earth is very difficult on stage. I am not sure that they have achieved whatever they set out to do. The centre of your attention is the group member who has a paragliding parachute in yellow and white attached to him. He moves on a small podium as if he is in the air. My compliments to the Georgian team, who have obviously tried to do something different. In the Eurovision world it’s an even bigger challenge. I don’t feel that this will set the scoreboard on fire.

What can I say about the last song of the day, from Poland and it’s group Donatan and Cleo? There is certainly a colourful stage with the ladies dressed in the same style of costumes as we saw in the preview videos. I waited to see how much of it they would recreate live. It takes a while but the girl leaning over the washboard, scrubbing away at those clothes is either one you will love to remember or wish to forget. She has a companion on the other walkway who is churning away. There are some clever sequences, as in when the camera captures the girls spinning from above. It’s very different.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more updates on the rehearsals in Copenhagen at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014