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  • July 9, 2025

Richard West-Soley

Richard’s ESC history began way back in 1992, when he discovered the contest could fuel his passion for music and languages. Since then, it’s been there at every corner for him in some way or another. He joined the esctoday.com team back in 2006, and quickly developed a love for writing about the contest. In his other life, he heads the development team at the learning resources company Linguascope, and writes about all aspects of language learning on the site Polyglossic.com.

Articles By This Author

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Live semifinal rehearsal coverage

Tonight sees the second dress rehearsal of the Eurovision Song Contest semifinal at the Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, and esctoday.com brings

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28 Songs Later: The First Dress Rehearsal

Journalists and fans have just had their very first chance to the see the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 semifinal as

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23. Branches of love: Armenia's big ballad

In one of the most beautiful sets, Hayko performed Armenia's Anytime You Need at the Hartwall Arena today, the last

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20. UPD Planet Romania: Todomondo on stage

The Earth still dominates Romania's show on stage in Hartwall, providing a beautiful, globally relevant backdrop to a song which

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19. Flag reinterpreted for UK act

Out goes the full Union Flag, and in comes a new, stylised version for Scooch's performance of Flying the Flag

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18. Verka fever: Hartwall all a-glitter UPD

It's official: Verka fever has hit Helsinki. Fans went crazy for Ukraine's performance in Hartwall this afternoon as glitter took

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10. Summer's out: Red is the order of Greece's day

The Summer vibe is out for Greece, and Sarbel's set has been replaced by vibrant, hot reds swaying behind him

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01. Beautiful performance art: Bosnia rehearses

Marija Sestic gave the first performance of the day in Hartwall this morning, delivering with her team a beautiful, emotive

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16. Fly me to the top ten: Germany's Roger

With his name in gold, sparkling lights three metres high, Roger Cicero transported the hall back to the fifties once

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02. D'nash looking flash: Spain on stage

Confident D'nash are looking like they mean business after several charismatic and strong performances at their second rehearsal in Hartwall

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15. Funkier than ever: Russia rehearsal

Serebro are looking and sounding like a group with a great deal of experience behind them after a funkier rehearsal

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09. Smooth retro vibe: Lithuiania maximises potential

Lithuania perfects its retro, bluesy style on stage today at the second rehearsal for Julija and 4Fun. At today's rehearsal,

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04. Dervish daisy: Dramatic change of Irish staging

Dervish's Cathy appeared on stage for her second rehearsal this morning barefoot, in a flowing white dress with crimson trimming.

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13. Playing with pinks: French experiment

Like Greece and Spain, France had a change of heart today and began to experiment with different styles of lighting