News - First semi-final dress rehearsal | Eurovision Song Contest News - Azerbaijan 2012 

The first run-through of the complete first semi-final of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest is underway at the Telenor Arena in Oslo. There are all in all three full dress rehearsals of each show. The juries in all the countries will vote after watching the second dress rehearsal tonight at 9pm CET.

Song ten – Belgium

Me and my guitar is a song that wants to bring Belgium back to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest and Tom Dice is the best choice for it. He sings with emotion and conviction making the song very effective and easy to like. He is dressed in light-blue and with the stage being very dark with bright-gold lights it makes a good chromatic combination. It's a very strong performance and almost certain qualifier.

Song eleven – Malta

Thea Garrett is next on stage. The Maltese singer is dressed in a long grey-white dress with crystal stones. Her vocals are good and she looks great on stage together with the giant bird which rises from behind her in the final chorus. All in all, the feel of the song was good and the performance confident enough.

Song twelve – Albania

It's all about you is singing Juliana Pasha on a dark Eurovision stage with blue light elements. She was wearing black outfit with a touch of  ethnic Albanian decoration. And boots. Her vocal performance was very strong and together with confident backing vocals and very energetic violinist this is very likely to qualify for the final of the Eurovison Song Contest 2010.

Song thirteen – Greece

Yiorgos Alkaios & Friends give us a very Greek performance of their song Opa. They are dressed in white and there is lots of traditional Greek dancing in the performance. They use some white drums that light up as they play them in the chorus. Greece is counting on energetic performance and Hellenic charm to make it to the final, many people in the press centre were quite enthusiastic about it.

Song fourteen - Portugal

This gentle ballad performed by Filipa Azevedo gets a pink-coloured stage here in Telenor arena in Oslo. Dressed in a wide white dress with a black belt she gives a nice performance of Há dais assim. The stage turns blue towards the end of the song. We could tell that Filipa was holding back at the rehearsal, probably saving strength for the big night.

Song fifteen – FYR Macedonia

The performance of the song Jas ja imam silata by Gjoko Taneski and his 3 backing dancers was quite a surprise for many of us in the press centre. It turned out to be a very confident and well effective performance full of strength, just like the song title applies. The 3 female dancers were covered with white veils which they drop as the song develops.

Song sixteen – Belarus

Butterflies is the title of the Belarus song this year and also an evident inspiration for the costumes. 3+2 start of very gently with their performance on the stage that is dark with golden elements and golden spotlights. As the song develops the girls pull the strings and open the glittery butterfly wings on ther backs. Will the wings fly them in to the final is yet to be discovered.

Song seventeen - Iceland

Hera Björk is the last one to perform in the 1st semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The choreography hasn't changed since the performance at the Icelandic preselection but the dress has. It's a long, red bordeaux dress with several layers and floral decoration at her shoulder. Her flawless vocal performance and effective choreography together with energetic camera shots and lively staging give Hera a very good chance to qualify for the final.

The show has now come to an end. Before getting a recap of the 17 entries we hear from the three hosts of the show. They seem well-rehearsed enough and are for once not being too shouty. They also flavour their commentary with subtle visual jokes through the show. Having three hosts in the semi-finals feels a little bit crowded however, even if each of the three hosts does a few links on their own.

For the interval act we get a humorous tour of Oslo that goes horribly wrong, when a too enthusiastic mob of fans ruins the presentations. This seems to follow the theme art of flashmob and groups of fans in the postcards.

Another recap of the songs follows when there is only five minutes left of the voting.

Before the voting we see a collage of small inserts called Voice of Europe and people in these inserts eventually come on the stage for a dance number. There is also some humorous references about the volcanic ash problems and how people have been inventive about their travel to Norway. Then a short clip of the five qualified entries is shown.

Then we see bits from the green room, that is mostly white and blue. An advert for the CD and DVD is shown and the result will be revealed by Nadia on the main stage. Svante Stockselius announces that there are now 10 magic envelopes with the names of the qualifiers, that are revealed in a random order.