Live Blog: Saturday 6 May

So that’s live blogging DONE for Week 1 – a huge thank you for joining us over the past seven days, as we've been your eyes and ears in the arena for 53 HOURS of rehearsals. The next Live Blog will be accompanying the first Semi-Final on Tuesday - we'll kick off in the afternoon for all the backstage news, then live blog the whole show so you can read along as you watch. 

Don't forget to subscribe to the official Eurovision YouTube channel so you don't miss our latest rehearsals round-up later today - you can see how all six performances from today will look on camera during the Grand Final. 

Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend - we're off to check out the Eurovision Village and all the other great stuff going on in Liverpool. See you next week! 

Forget the coronation, the UK already has a sass queen.

¡Reina! ¡Guapa!

...and we can confirm that 🇪🇸 Spain will perform in the FIRST half of the Grand Final. 

This might be the coolest photo of the week.

*Chef's kiss*

C'est magnifique...

...and we can confirm that 🇮🇹 will perform in the FIRST HALF of the Grand Final. 

Mae Muller is back on stage, giving it (as we say in the UK) plenty of welly. No changes that we can see from Thursday, other than Mae seems to have brought a whole new level of sass and attitude this morning. Hold that thought for another week, Mae. You'll have a huge home crowd singing along with you. 

...and we can confirm that 🇫🇷 France will perform in the FIRST HALF of the Grand Final.  

It's on YouTube. It features Rylan and Clara Amfo chatting to each artist, asking your questions and playing daft games. 13 episodes are already available on this playlist, with lots more to come. It's crazy, it's party, it's pure Eurovision. Enjoy. 

...and they're serving rock god realness

We've been listening to Blanca Paloma warm up her vocals in her dressing room this morning, and she really does have the most extraordinary voice. No changes to costumes or staging from Thursday's first rehearsal - wherever this ends up in the running order for the Grand Final, it's going to be a MOMENT. 

...and we can confirm Germany 🇩🇪 will be performing in the SECOND HALF of the Grand Final.

We've had a unique perspective of being able to watch these rehearsals both in the arena and on the big screen, and this one from TVORCHI is a great example of how the different elements come to life on TV. The whole routine has pinpoint precision, from Jeffrey's choreo with the two backing dancers to the use of graphics on the LED wall and the on-stage light boxes. The whole thing has a pulsing energy from start to finish, and it's hypnotic to watch.

One costume change to this - on Thursday Andrii was wearing a a giant metallic silver coat, but today he's in a black trouser suit with silver detailing on the top half.

She's one of the arena police dogs, and may pat you down in search of unlawful snacks. 

Marco Mengoni is back on stage, and he's swapped out Thursday's silver vest for a different (and longer) silver vest, that has a more silver-fading-to-black ombre effect. Matching sparkles have also been added to one side of the leather trousers, so it all looks like it's part of the same vest but we've been reliably informed that they trousers have been sparkled separately. This performance is still looking and sounding really special - we'll share some photos shortly.  

...and everything is VERY sparkly. The plinth, the swathes of fabric that make La Zarra look like a human Eiffel Tower, the dress, the hat, the twinkling LED wall. The whole thing has been rolled in glitter and festooned with sequins, because Eurovision. Évidemment. 

During their Tea with Timur today, France, Germany, Spain and Italy will all draw to find out if they're performing in the first or second half of the Grand Final. We already know that reigning champions Ukraine will perform 19th and host nation United Kingdom will perform 26th, but by the end of the day we'll have a better idea of how the remaining Big 5 are likely to be spread out across the Grand Final. Don't forget to watch live on TikTok from 11:55 GMT/12:55 CEST. 

There's LOADS going on in Eurovision village over the coming week - you can find out details of the full line-up below. We're definitely planning to pop down to Pier Head later and soak up some fan atmosphere. 

Germany's Lord Of The Lost are back to rehearse for a second time, and we've very much enjoyed leader singer Chris wandering round the delegation bubble in full latex costume this morning, like that's perfectly normal for a Saturday.  Not the wings, though - they're added backstage. 

Having watched all the Big 5/Ukraine performances in the arena on Thursday, we're really interested to see how they look on the big screen today. This is even more of a spectacle - there are 23,000 light sources in the Liverpool Arena, and it feels like Lord Of The Lost have deployed most of them. We're looking forward to seeing their studio portrait later. 

The final six acts will be having tea with Timur Miroshnychenko today - you can see the schedule below, and watch live on the official Eurovision TikTok channel. Germany's Lord Of The Lost up first at 11.55 GMT/12:55 CEST.

It was a big day of second rehearsals yesterday - here's a six-minute round-up of everything that happened.

Bonjour, buongiorno, good morning, buenos días, guten morgen and добрий ранок to the Eurovision fan community! It’s Eurovision Day 7 in lovely Liverpool, and it’s Heidi here to take you through the final day of 2nd rehearsals. Today the Big 5 and Ukraine are back on stage – here’s the schedule, starting at 10:30 GMT/11:30 CEST:

🇩🇪 Germany
🇫🇷 France
🇺🇦Ukraine
🇮🇹 Italy
🇪🇸 Spain
🇬🇧 United Kingdom

We’ll be here to keep you updated on all the on- and off-stage goings-on, as well as sharing some pictures and exclusive video clips of today’s rehearsals. Don't go away...