Live Blog: Tuesday 3 May

So that’s it for Day Four, and we’ve now seen all the first rehearsals for both Semi-Finals. Tomorrow your Live Blog team will be going mobile around the arena to keep you up to date on all the backstage goings-on around the Pala Olimpico in Turin, as well as sharing the 30-second YouTube clips of all the second rehearsals.

And of course we’ll be back in the arena on Thursday afternoon for the first rehearsals of the Big 5, so stay tuned for that excitement.

Thank you for joining us, and we’ll see you tomorrow from 10:00 CEST (ish).

Check out our final rehearsal TikTok of the day, from Czech Republic!

Hold me closer, before you watch this clip on TikTok…

Here’s our final gallery of the day, from Czech Republic’s first rehearsal.

Here’s a clip of Belgium’s first rehearsal – enjoy!

Here’s some lovely photos of Sweden’s first rehearsal – please enjoy.

Well this is a HUGE finish – I think We Are Domi have deployed every light rig in the arena, and suddenly we’re quite keen to go clubbing. We’ve also learned that the guitarist made his cello-string guitar himself – he plays it with a bow on stage, and that might be the coolest thing we’ve seen today.

Bonus points for a) rhyming 'lovers’ with 'bed covers’ and b) excellent use of the word 'peripheral’. You don’t hear that in pop lyrics every day, and we should definitely celebrate it.

Our final rehearsal of today is Czech Republic, with We Are Domi singing Lights Off. This is a really chart-friendly bit of electro-pop that will wrap up the second semi-final in style. And a nice way to finish our fourth day in the arena too, before they turn the lights off for the day.

Swedish screenwriter, director and Eurovision god Edward af Sillén popped over to spread a little love, love, peace, peace in our liveblog pod. Legends only in this arena.

We’ve just been reliably informed on Twitter that Amanda Tenfjord from Greece had the first bare feet of the contest. We stand corrected (with shoes on).

Do we have the best photographers ever? Yes. Is there a gallery of great pictures of Belgium’s first rehearsal? Also yes.

Latvia’s Citi Zēni have been let loose in Turin, and have used the time to learn the moves from Chanel’s Slo-Mo. An offer of Spanish citizenship will surely follow…

Here’s a sneak peek at Montenegro’s first rehearsal, only on TikTok.

Hold Me? (Azerbaijan 2013)

Hold Me Now? (Ireland 1987)

Hold Me Closer? (Sweden 2022)

You can only pick one, and we’ll hold you to it.

Cornelia has brought the same circular projection screen she used in Melfest, and it’s the same outfit too – black trousers and a silver top with lots of sparkly fringing. And our first bare feet of the contest – we can’t believe it’s taken this long for someone to take their shoes off.

This has such clever movement and camera work, which makes it feel like a really intimate, intense performance. The Sweden delegation should be really happy with that.

Next up it’s Sweden, and this year’s Melodifestivalen winner Cornelia Jakobs. Sweden always bring something special to Eurovision, and Hold Me Closer is no exception – it’s a huge, orchestral power-ballad that’s already earned a lot of fans. Cornelia showed how well she could use the cameras to connect with the audience during Melfest, so we’re interested to see if she’s bringing similar staging, or something new.

Time for a very short break, then we’ll be back for first rehearsals from Sweden and Czech Republic. Don’t go away!

Check out this exclusive clip of Poland’s first rehearsal, only on TikTok.

Some photos from Montenegro’s first rehearsal, just because we can.

Is this most laid-back song in this year’s Eurovision? We think it might be. Jérémie has an incredible voice, and he and his four male backing dancers make this whole performance look effortlessly cool.

We love the silver jacket too, not that we’d ever give up our official Eurovision hoodies. OK, maybe a swap.

It’s time for Belgium’s Jérémie Makiese, who is singing his bluesy number Miss You.

Jérémie comes from Antwerp and won the 2021 series of The Voice Belgique. This song starts out as a cool, stripped back ballad and builds to a huge, orchestral finish – it’s a song made for a big arena stage, and we know just the place.

Please enjoy these photos of Poland’s first rehearsal, we made them specially.

Vladana is wearing an elegant blue dress that’s very much in keeping with this year’s high fashion styling – we’re having our own Met Gala over here in Turin.

The lighting effects throughout this song are stunning and make the whole performance really memorable, and Vladana’s extraordinary voice is taking the roof off. Once the drums kicked in we kind of forgot to…breathe.

It’s Montenegro’s turn to rehearse, and this year they’re represented by Vladana singing Breathe. Vladana is an established star in Montenegro, so she’s no stranger to live performances on a big stage.

Breathe is a soaring, powerful ballad that builds across the full three minutes, so we’re really looking forward to seeing how Vladana plans to bring the drama.

…and waiting for the world’s Eurovision press to arrive. Opening tomorrow, so we’re taking a moment to enjoy the calm.

Loving Brooke’s fabulous floral footwear. They’d be right at home in the Pala Olimpico Green Room.

Ochman’s wearing a very stylish black suit, with four contemporary dancers in black outfits with masks. The fringing gives them a ethereal quality, like ghosts – it’s visually really powerful, particularly when combined with flashing lighting effects and Ochman’s huge vocals.

This is our first song about water, sung over the Turin stage waterfall, with watery graphics. Luckily we remembered to visit the bathroom over lunch.

We’re back from lunch and Poland’s Ochman is up next, singing his big range power ballad River. He rose to fame as the winner of The Voice of Poland, so it’s no surprise he’s putting his vocal talents to good use at this year’s Eurovision.

River definitely gives us Arcade vibes, but can Ochman replicate Duncan Laurence’s success in 2019? We’ll find out next week…

Here’s a TikTok clip of Romania’s first rehearsal.

Because you asked so nicely, here are some fabulous pictures from Romania’s first rehearsal.

We’re taking a short break to eat carbs and drink coffee, but we’ll be back at 1330 CEST for Montenegro, Belgium, Sweden and Czech Republic. Don’t go away!

Here’s an exclusive look at Estonia’s first rehearsal, thanks to the good people at TikTok.

Photos of Estonia’s first rehearsal, you say? Happy to oblige.

If we get the Moldovan train from Chișinău to Bucharest, will we find WRS at the end of it? And if so, where do we buy a ticket?

Your Live Blog team will be greeting everyone with 'Hola, mi bebébé' from now on, and only one of us is Spanish.

Here’s a sneak peek of North Macedonia’s first rehearsal, exclusively on TikTok.

Please enjoy these photos of North Macedonia’s first rehearsal. You’re welcome.

WRS is in wet look sparkly trousers and a red frilly shirt that comes off at the end to reveal a silver sequinned vest – our first outfit reveal of the competition! His male backing dancers are wearing tops so short it looks like they’re each wearing a Speedo as a t-shirt.

This ticks lots of Eurovision boxes – great dancing, fabulous costumes, lots of different musical influences and a proper party tune. Incidentally Llámame means 'call me’ in Spanish. Call us, WRS – there’s a Euroclub dance floor in Turin with our name on it.

A change of pace and style now, with Romania’s WRS singing his uptempo bop Llámame. WRS is a dancer and boy band veteran, so we could see a battle between him and Israel’s Michael Ben David for the slickest dance routine in this Semi-Final. We are absolutely here for this, obviously.

Here’s an exclusive look at Ireland’s first rehearsal, only on TikTok. Enjoy!

Want to start your Eurovision day with some pictures of Ireland’s first rehearsal? Oh, go on then.

Stefan kicks this performance off on the B Stage, with just a guitar for company and a retro filter on the visual. But as the song builds he goes mobile, covering the whole stage in three minutes and making a really nice connection with the audience.

We wondered if he might bring the two cowboys from the Estonian national final, but he delivers a really great performance all on his own, and the Estonian delegation seem very happy with how he comes across. Sing your heart out, Stefan.

It’s Estonia’s turn on stage, with Stefan singing Hope. Stefan is a big star in Estonia, where in 2020 he was voted the country’s sexiest man of the year. No information on who the current sexiest man is, but we’ll try to find out.

This song definitely has a country vibe, but to our ears there’s a bit of Måns Zelmerlöw and Aviici in there too. These are a few of our favourite things, so we’re all good.

Apologies, Eurofans – we had to leave the arena briefly during Brooke’s final run-through, but we could definitely hear fireworks going off. Also the words 'live live blog’ replace 'bye bye boy’ perfectly, and now this is our official signature tune.

This is a really classy, stripped-back performance from Andrea – she’s alone on stage, dressed all in black, supported by nothing more than pulsing graphics and dramatic lighting. She also uses the lift bridges over the water feature as graphic screens, which is only the second time we’ve seen them used this way so far – Moldova was the first. It’s really impactful, and the staging definitely gives Andrea’s powerful voice space to shine.

Next to rehearse is North Macedonia’s Andrea, singing her pop ballad Circles. Andrea has done some really nice performances of this song at the various Eurovision pre-parties, so we’re looking forward to seeing how she brings it to the big stage here at the Pala Olimpico in Turin.

…Malta’s Emma Muscat is enjoying a bit of pampering from Eurovision sponsor Morroccanoil. You can find out more about their partnership with Eurovision here.

Here’s Achille Lauro working the cameras in the Delegation Bubble last night. No sign of his red velvet bull – maybe it was grazing in the Green Room?

Brooke had brought our first fabulous outfit of the day – an electric blue ensemble that includes hotpants with a chiffon overskirt. Chiily for Ireland, but perfect for Italy.

It’s a confident performance that makes great use of the floor projections and overhead camera rig, with four backing dancers and a playful dance routine. It’s also a a strong vocal performance – Brooke has a really distinctive voice that sounds great in this big arena. A fun start to the day.

First up today is Ireland’s Brooke, singing her sassy bop 'That’s Rich’, which is just the kind of song we need to kick off our Tuesday. Brooke was a finalist on The Voice UK in 2020 and cites Blondie as a major influence on her music.

For the non-native English speakers reading this Live Blog, 'that’s rich’ is a quite specific English language idiom – it means 'what you just accused me of is unreasonable, because it’s something you do yourself.' We’re here all week for your advanced English lessons.

If you missed yesterday’s first rehearsals, fear not – we’ve got a little TikTok recap for you. Enjoy!

Buongiorno, Europe!

Greetings from Turin, where it’s Day 4 on the Eurovision rehearsal stage at the Pala Olimpico. Heidi and Victor will once again be your hosts for the day, giving you an EXCLUSIVE glimpse at today’s first rehearsals.

Today is all about the acts scheduled to perform in the second half of the second Semi-Final, and as usual we’ve picked a prime spot in the Green Room to watch as each delegation makes the most of their half hour rehearsal slot. So we’ll tell you a bit about what’s happening, then share a gallery of photos and a 30 second clip of each rehearsal, which this year will be hosted EXCLUSIVELY on TikTok.

Here’s a reminder of today’s schedule:

🇮🇪 Ireland

🇲🇰 North Macedonia

🇪🇪 Estonia

🇷🇴 Romania

🇵🇱 Poland

🇲🇪 Montenegro

🇧🇪 Belgium

🇸🇪 Sweden

🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Kick off is at 10:00 CEST, so please join us then!