News - Eurovision 2008: Second semi final dress rehearsals today | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2008 Belgrade, Serbia 

A report by Stella Floras

Song 1 – Iceland
A great start for the second semi! Friedrik is very correct vocally and energetic, captivating the audience's attention. Regina enters shortly, wearing a little too much makeup maybe, but besides that she is perfectly good. The song is catchy and sounds like a club hit.

Song 2 – Sweden
Charlotte starts off weaker than expected but picks up speed as the song progresses. She is well coordinated with her backing dancers but really needs to work a bit more on the act. Song 3 – Turkey 

Song 5- Turkey
Turkey looks good on stage today. Vocally perfect and cheerful, Mor ve otesi seem ti be enjoying that. Most of the camera work is focused on Harun's, the lead singer's,  face and the back drop is quite right so as not to distract the eye.

Song 4- Ukraine
One more hot favourite follows, Ani Lorak. Not quite on tune at first but that changes pretty soon and Ani gives an excellent performance. The show is breathtaking with her and her backing dancers in perfect synch and excellent use of the props they have brought with them to Belgrade.

Song 5- Lithuania 
Change of pace now,as Jeronimas Milius takes the stage. He starts off well, on tune but seems to be losing it a couple of times in the course. Standing all alone on the dark blue background, in his pirate outfit, Jeronimas improves his performance, concluding perfectly the song.

Song 6- Albania 
Olta Boka sounds vocally correct but weaker than in the Albanian final. Dressed soberly in a dark suit with her long hair down she performs her song with a lot of correct camera interaction. Somehow the emotions that the song usually evokes are not there today.

Song 7- Switzerland
Another fan favourite enters stage, Paolo Meneguzzi. Dressed all in black, his hair around his face, he seems to be a bit off tune during the first part of the song, and later as well. But he manages to give a good ending to the song and gets an enthusiastic response by the fans.

 
Song 8- Czech Republic
The Czech ensemble looks great on stage. Tereza is lively and energetic but not always on tune. One other problem is the male backing vocals that are way to loud, creating a sense of noise you can't really know where it comes from.

Song 9- Belarus 
One more energetic performance by Ruslan Alehno but he really needs to try to maintain consistency as he tends to get out of tune often. The show works well, with the metal balls and the dancers.

Song 10- Latvia
Latvia is fun and different. Aleksandra's vocals are greatly improved with a little help of the rest of the band and the Latvian crew is doing a good job. Well positioned in a circle the get excellent camera shots and this song is bound to have the Arena jumping up and down in sync.

Song 11- Croatia 
One of the different songs of the contest this year. A charming performance by the Croats, but the camera is mostly focused on the pretty lady dancer, who dressed in red twirls and twirls all over the stage until she finally stops to play music out of bottles, filled with a red liquid matching her dress.

Song 12- Bulgaria
The Bulgarians make excellent use of the long intro with excellent break dancing and DJ Balthazar and DJ Dian playing the guitar, or not? actually this is a prototype portable turntable, in the shape of a guitar which allows them freedom of movement. Joanna, the lead singer is looking sexier than ever in a hot red dress and she is holding a feather fan. A fun performance from the Bulgarian DJs

Song 13- Denmark
Simon is having fun on stage and it is contagious. He is perfect vocally all through the song, happy and energetic. He plays well with the microphone, the microphone stand, the camera and the audience.

Song 14- Georgia
Diana is vocally perfect all throughout the song. She starts off dressed in black and ends up in white framed by her backing singers .

Song 15- Hungary 
Another flawless performance by Csezy from Hungary. The artist looks classy and elegant and manages to capture the camera and convey the essence of the song to the audience.

Song 16- Malta
From romantic Hungary, to dynamic Malta and Russian Vodka. Morena is an energy bomb but she makes hardly any eye contact with the camera in most of the song making it look she is singing for the audience in the arena and not the TV one.
 
Song 17- Cyprus
Evdokia has come a long way since the Cypriot final becoming more confident. The Cypriot song is certainly unique in style and the cabaret show works quite well. Two things though, Evdokia's vocals are not consistent all through the song and the backing vocalists are out of tune many times.

Song 18- FYR Macedonia
Lively and entertaining show from Tamara, Andre and Vrcak. Vocally correct and well coordinated.

Song 19- Portugal
A great ending this will be for the second semi final as Vania's performance can bring tears to the eyes. She is vocally perfect as are her backing singers. One thing that struck us is that although Vania is a sweet  person, she comes across rather wild with the sober colours and heavy  make up. Also the wind machine is maybe a little too high.