The late afternoon rehearsals

After delivering af spectacular and powerful performance last Tuesday, Iceland's Euroband were on stage for their second rehearsal this afternoon. Regína and Friðrik were once more convincing. Even on today's very first try, it was hard to put a finger on anything. It seems like that Regína and Friðrik are on top of things and ready for the first dress rehearsal. The choreography was perfect, and now just the different camera angles needed to be adjusted for the upcoming dress rehearsals and semi-final on the 22th of May. Despite maintaining a high level of professionalism there were time for a few laughs and having fun. The theme is still black with a touch of pink: Regína wears a fluffy skirt and Friðrik wears a black sleaveless outfit. At the press conference, the Euroband expressed their satisfaction with today's rehearsal. Euroband also gave many performances, such as former Eurovision Song Contest entries A-ba-ni-bi (Israel 1978), My Number One (Greece 2005), Hold Me Now (Ireland 1987), Eitt Lag Enn (Iceland 1990) and a Serbian version of This Is My Life. The last-mentioned was followed by a huge applause by the accredited press and present fans.

Sweden's highly anticipated second rehearsal was characterized by full professionalism, and former Eurovision Song Contest winner Charlotte Perrelli seems to be in for a second victory again! Charlotte's Hero is leading the prediction organised by the international Eurovision Song Contest fanclub at this very moment. The infectious song was brilliantly perfomed by the Swedish singer and her five backing singers this afternoon, and the LED projections consisted mainly of dramatic black and blue with lots of white-lighted shots being used. The Swedish team revealed their final clothes as well: Charlotte will be wearing a short silver dress and the backing singers are in black and grey. At the Swedish press conference, an unusual, accordeon version of Hero was being presented to the fans, and Charlotte revealed that she is full of plans for the future with more albums being in the waiting line. Christer Björkman also jokingly added that he wouldn't mind having Charlotte Perrelli as host of next year's Eurovision Song Contest! 

The peculiar dolls on the LED screen came back in the Belgrade Arena this afternoon, and that means that Turkey's rock band representatives Mor ve Ötesi were on the stage again. Mor ve Ötesi kept impressing the audience at the arena, and their rehearsal went just as smoothly as their first one. It is obvious that the Turkish group are experienced performers and they are ready to continue on to the upcoming dress rehearsals. Mor ve Ötesi's performance is typical for rock groups, but like the Finns it makes the group stand out compared to the other countries' contributions. Turkey rehearsed their song three times, and during the last the pyrotechnics were tested. During the press conference after the rehearsal, lead singer of Mor ve Ötesi, Harun Tekin, said to to the press that they are happy to be in Belgrade and that they felt the second rehearsal today went much better than the first one. Moreover Mor ve Ötesi sang a song in the Turkish language in front of the cheerful audience.

Shady Lady by Ani Lorak, Ukraine's entry this year, is currently considered as the number one fave for the trophy this year! Watching Ani's rehearsal this afternoon, everyone was immensely impressed with the beautiful woman from Chernivtsi: her vocals were perfect and her dance-routine with her four international dancers was immaculate! The Ukrainian is having one of the most memorable acts this years with a silver and lit box on stage - at one part of her performances, she was even standing on top of it! Ani Lorak will be wearing a beige-silver dress in the second semi-final which has been rumoured to have cost lots of money! The colours used for the Ukrainian performance were red and black corresponding really well with the theme of the song. Ani Lorak's press conference had a surprise for all people present: a video-message by Verka Serduchka, the Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest entry from last year which came 2nd! Ani Lorak also explained her interest in charity projects for AIDS victims and that she's very active to help these.