Dress Rehearsal of the Second Semi-Final!

Starting from 17:00 CET, the Second Semi-Final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest was rehearsed in full length in the Malmö Arena for the first time. A total of 17 countries will be represented in this show, which will go LIVE tomorrow, Thursday May 16th, at 21:00 CET.

This is the full line-up:

1. Latvia: PeR – Here We Go
2. San Marino: Valentina Moneta – Crisalide (Vola)
3. F.Y.R. Macedonia: Esma & Lozano – Pred Da Se Razdeni
4. Azerbaijan: Faird Mammadov – Hold Me
5. Finland: Krista Siegfrieds – Marry Me
6. Malta: Gianluca – Tomorrow
7. Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova, Stoyan Yankulov – Samo Shampioni (Only Champions)
8. Iceland: Eythor Ingi - Ég Á Líf
9. Greece: Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis – Alcohol Is Free
10. Israel: Moran Mazor – Rak Bushvilo
11. Armenia: Dorians – Lonely Planet
12. Hungary: ByeAlex – Kedvesem (Zoohacker Remix)
13. Norway: Margaret Berger – I Feed You My Love
14. Albania: Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko – Identitet
15. Georgia: Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani – Waterfall
16. Switzerland: Takasa – You And Me
17. Romania: Cezar – It’s My Life

Opening act: Urban Orchestra

For 42 year it was a part of the Eurovision Song Contest. The live orchestra supported contestants and gave traditional value to Europe’s Favourite TV Show. Back then, all participating countries were invited to send their best conductors.

Urban Orchestra (An Orchestra of dancers) demonstrates traditional orchestra in Eurovision Song Contest and how the modern way of making music made an entrance in the show. In other words, it’s a tribute to the past and welcome to the future!

After the intro, Petra Mede, the host of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest enters the stage, wishing all the viewews across Europe and fans in Malmö Arena warm welcome. Then the Latvian entry is introduced, and the TV viewers get to see the first postcard in the Second Semi-Final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. This year, the postcards were recorded with each artist in their home country.

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17 songs to be performed

The two Latvian artists, Edmunds and Ralph collectively known as PeR (Please explain the Rhythm), were first to perform. They make full use of the catwalk stage, and those members of the audience who are standing in the arena will really feel that they are interacting with the performers.

Valentina Monetta is representing the republic of San Marino for the second year in succession, after having just missed out on qualification for the Grand Final in Baku last year. She performs second in the second Semi-Final, wearing red dress and for good measure she has two female backing dancers on stage to accompany her with the song Crisalide (Vola).

Esma and Lozano, the two superstars from F.Y.R. Macedonia, performed third. The Queen of Roma music  looks stunning, while wearing bright a red dress with Swarovski applications and a special traditional Roma headscarf on the stage and Lozano wore a black suit. The stage was set in blue colour.

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This year’s Azerbaijani entrant Farid Mammadov will obviously conquer hearts of a lot of fans with his charming smile and his beautiful ballad Hold Me. During his performance there are some interesting props like transparent box in which a dancer performs on stage and which also serves as a podium for Farid.

Happiness flows surrounding Finnish contestant Krista Siegfrids and the Team 'Ding Dong' while being on the Eurovision stage. The stage is filled with colour for the performance of Marry Me. The backdrops welcomes us to the fabulous ding dong Krista who wears her wedding dress during the three minutes proposal.

The song Tomorrow, performed by the Maltese singer Gianluca, got a lot 'oh oh' responses reverberating around the arena. With his irresistible smile, he encourages all the guests in Arena applaude and to join. His "collection of smiles" is definetily going to warm hearts of many Eurovision fans during tomorrow's live show.

Drums, beats and ethnic sounds - those are some of the main ingredients of the Bulgarian entry Samo Shampioni (Only Champions). Elitsa and Stoyan brought their rhythms to the Malmö Arena again today. They already secured the best Bulgarian placing to date in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 with Voda (Watter). Now they have chance to achieve even better result.

Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson from Iceland has a very strong personal charisma. But it’s not only about looks. As soon as he starts to sing, you just need to hear his story till the end. His song Ég Á Líf is about life, experience and those who give а meaning to our lives.

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Koza Mostra and Agathon Iakovidis are representing Greece with their ska-rock song, flavoured with the "rebetiko" folk music. Koza Mostra are dressed in black with white stripes, their shorts being covered by a kilt, an image that has accompanied the band since their formation.

A powerful expression of love from Israel performed by Moran Mazor, joined by a piano and two backing singers, starts quite, but then it builds up to reach a very powerful finish. The camera work is concentrated on conveying the emotion in Moran's body language and her vocal expression.

Armenian singer Gor Sujyan always manages to be laid-back, charismatic but convincing, also while performing. Gor entered the stage in jeans, white shirt and grey vest. The rest of his team wore jeans symbolising they belong to each other as one band. 

The Hungarian representative ByeAlex performed his laid-back song Kedvesem. On the backdrop viewers could notice displayed parts of the song lyrics translated into English along with colourful sketches designed by the singer's sister.

Margaret Berger brings supercharged electric atmosphere from Norway on the Eurovision stage. The projector screens were displaying highly charged white noise images following the beats of her song I Feed You My Love. She is wearing white dress similar to the one she had for Norwegian final, but it has some additions to the shoulders and further sequins added.

After electro-pop sounds, heavy ethno-rock sounds from Albania took control. Adrian and Bledar’s plan is to rock the Eurovision stage tomorrow. There is quiet a lot of heavy fog on stage, strong red-orange lights and of course some pyros.

Georgia is represented this year by Nodi and Sophie, a mix duo of powerful voices with the song Waterfall, and while the backdrop is showing the water falling, a fire cascade of pyros appears from the top of the stage building up to a grand finale.

Switzerland is having a quite unique band, Takasa, which includes musicians ranging from 21-year-old Sarah Breiter to 95-year-old Emil Ramsauer. The latter is the oldest artist ever to perform on a Eurovision stage. They showed yet another great performance today in Malmö Arena.

Romania was the seventeenth and final country to take the stage today. Cezar was keen to give a very good performance of his song It's My Life, which definitely made an impact in the hall again. The second Semi-Final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest really goes out on a high note, literally!.

Lynda Woodruff reports for duty!

EBU’s spokesperson Lynda Woodruf is going to continue giving her version of Sweden. Lynda is very celebrated humour character from the Swedish national selection Melodiefestivalen, played by Sarah Dawn Finer, mainly known as a singer. During the Second Semi-Final, she is going to bring Malmö to the rest of the world closer. However, it seems she ends up talking about her hero Zlatan.

Eurovision History - Chapter Two

The Eurovision Song Contest has quite a big milestone – 57 years. But how did it all begin? This years Eurovision Host Petra Mede is giving all the fans a real treat. She is taking us all on a journey through the history of the contest.

You can expect a walk down memory lane like you’re never seen before, especially because Petra is even going to step into TV frame, becoming part of some legendary Eurovision moments.

In the Second Semi-Final story continues with the chapter about the 80’s, when the contest was taken over by spandex and pop music.

Interval act: Swedish pop

Sweden has given the world a lot, from Ingmar Bergman to meatballs, but one of the biggest exports is actually pop music. Sweden even has a new museum in recognition of this – Swedish Music Hall of Fame. 

Since the 70s, we have talked about the Swedish pop miracle and legendary Eurovision winners, a group of four young artists called ABBA.

In the Second Semi-Final we are also going to enjoy the performances of Darin, Swedish pop star, who is hitting the charts since 2005 and Agnes Carlsson, who was only 17 years old when she released her first album. Her biggest European hit was Release Me. It turned into a huge clubbing anthem in 2008.