Live Blog: Friday 14 May

Tomorrow it's just the Big Five and the host nation to rehearse, and then we move into Week 2 and the build-up to the live shows. Are you excited? We're very excited.

Rehearsals start tomorrow at 10:00 CEST, so join us then!

Day 8 schedule

Italy 🇮🇹
Germany 🇩🇪
The Netherlands 🇳🇱
France 🇫🇷
United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Spain 🇪🇸

Watch: Denmark Second Rehearsal

As rehearsals near their conclusion, it's been a relatively quiet day (by Eurovision standards) in the Rotterdam Ahoy... but perhaps there's something brewing... 👀

Keep an eye on Eurovision.tv this evening.

Mwuhahahahahahahahahahaha...

Watch: Switzerland Second Rehearsal

Here's the gallery of Denmark's performance - a video is coming soon!

So nice to have a visit from The Black Mamba to sign our official programmes. Excellent knitwear too.

Take a look at some photos from Gjon's second rehearsal - video will be up soon!

Watch: Latvia First Rehearsal

Rehearsals are coming to a close and Victoria is hustling everyone on the ping pong table.

Here's the gallery - video coming VERY soon.

Get your questions in for Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer Event at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021; he's responsible for all the creative and event programming...

Sietse will be responding on Reddit from 15:00 CEST.

We are DESPERATE for a couple of members of Daði og Gagnamagnið to play table tennis, just so we can use the headline 'PLAY JA JA PING PONG'.

They're back in the arena on Monday, and we will be waiting...

We all want an Icelandic suitcase, but how did you fit them in the Daði og Gagnamagnið tiny car?

Watch: Finland Second Rehearsal

Watch: Bulgaria Second Rehearsal

Watch: Portugal Second Rehearsal

Rehearsals have paused for lunch, but they'll be back at 13:00 for Latvia, Switzerland and Denmark. We can already hear Samanta Tina from Latvia doing vocal warm-up exercises in her dressing room...

Enjoy these pictures of Finland's pyro-tastic rehearsal, video coming soon!

Here's some photos from Victoria's performance - the video will be up soon!

Watch: Albania Second Rehearsal

Switzerland's Gjon's Tears has taken over a spare Live Blog laptop to share this message with his dog:

OMG what should I say?

Hey Gohan, I hope you're good - and you'll enjoy my next rehearsal!

Please eat your croquette this time and stay healthy.

Next time I will bring you on stage with me, even if they don't allow me.

Gjon.
🐾

Watch: Georgia Second Rehearsal

And now Portugal! Video coming soon...

The galleries are coming thick and fast...here's Slovenia!

Talking of Georgia, here's a gallery of Tornike's second rehearsal. Video coming soon!

Eurofishion is also in a mellow Friday mood this morning - he's a big fan of Tornike Kipperani of Georgia.

We're watching second rehearsals on the big screen in the Delegation Bubble this morning - so far we've seen Tornike Kipiani from Georgia and Anxhela Peristeri from Albania. Right now The Black Mamba are on the stage, and Victoria from Bulgaria is next. We're loving this mellow start to a Friday morning...at least until Finland bring ALL the pyro.

G'day Eurovision fans - have we got a surprise for you!

Australia's Montaigne is hosting a special Instagram Live with her pals TIX, Destiny and The Roop!

Head on over to the Official Eurovision Instagram account now, as it'll start at 10:00 CEST.

A really interesting event happening this morning - the Norwegian Ambassador to the Netherlands is inviting several young people with Tourette's Syndrome to his residence in The Hague to meet and chat to Norway's Eurovision entry Andreas Haukeland, better known as Tix.

Andreas has Tourette's Syndrome himself and was bullied as a child for his tics. He is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness, and wants to talk to Dutch youngsters about their condition and encourage them to embrace every part of who they are.

The event will be live-streamed on the Embassy's YouTube channel here, starting at 11:00 CEST.

Good morning, and welcome to Day 7 at Eurovision! It's a shorter day today, with eight Semi-Final second rehearsals scheduled for the the main stage, starting at 10:00 CEST. Tomorrow will be second rehearsals for the Big Five and host nation, then things will quieten down a bit before we head into a HUGE Week 2.

But we're here today with all the news, updates and gossip from around Rotterdam Ahoy, so stay tuned...