1st Dress Rehearsal - Semi Final 1 (P1)

The show opens with a recapping the last show, showing parts of the show including the lesbian kiss of Krista, Bonny Tyler and more. Words appear saying that last year was a great show "but one girl was spectacular" which leads into a fast sweep through of countries voting for Denmark with Only Teardrops in the background. We also hear "The winner is Denmark" as announced by Petra Mede last year. We then move into a sequence of Emmelie walking down country roads, into a chapel where a wedding is being held, more roads, a metro train, transforming into Lego Emmelie and more. She then stops at the harbour and emits a sound blast which creates a beam shooting out of Copenhagen into space. This leads us to take a journey across Europe and the globe where videos of various people start appearing with the flag of their nation in the bottom left corner and who all start singing the chorus of the Danish winning song. At the end all the images are being sucked in towards Copenhagen where they then form the word JoinUs which is also the only sung phrase by the chorus of voices. This leads to Emmelie appearing on stage singing Only Teardrops and is later accompanied by a chorus. This brings us to an announcer welcoming us to Copenhagen. That is as far as we are at the moment...

Second run of the initial sequence and the videos are also making an appearance as floating holograms in the arena, and then they form part of the backdrop. Chorus and videos are the harmonic backing for Emmelie singing her winning entry from 2013.

The three presenters, Nicolaj, Lise and Pilou, are announced on stage by the most Danish sounding voice possible! The obligatory "Good Evening Europe!" is screamed at us and then we start with the cringe-worthy introduction script starts. We are told that we are not mentioning the magnificent win Denmark had in Sweden last year, nor the fact they (Sweden) finished 14th, nor that the last time Demark won it was also in Sweden, nor Euro 92 ... and so on. No not mentioning it at all. But we do get asked to give a big applause to the world's greatest neighbour - once again, Sweden.
We then get told how to vote (which just like the pre-take off announcements on airlines has become as useful as toilet paper to a bear in woods) and after the reminder you cannot vote for your own country in French, we can start.

Armenia
Their intro video starts in an artisanal workshop where Aram is making a broach out of various elements. He then puts it on his suit which he then wears on stage.

On stage it has not changed much since the previous viewings. Simple staging and lighting effect, pyro and lots of flashing which would need to come with a warning for people who suffer from epileptic fits (but why would they be watching Eurovision, have they not learned anything by now?). The song works well but a winner it is not. Should be secure for the semi-final though.

Latvia
And surprise, we are baking a cake! And we have cherries for the maroon and marzipan for the white of the Latvian flag.

Well, if you were watching this for the first time I expect it would be a sensation of WFT? Not much effort was put into the attire either, it seems they just grabbed the first clean thing in their closet - but it keeps true to them does it not? Even if you are not sure what to think of this song it still makes most of us tap our little (or not so little) footsies and we all know the "cip cip, cip cip cip..." part of the song which we don't mind joining in. Before long you also start snapping fingers and find yourself wanting to join along. Hard to call on this one, will need to take some time.

Estonia
Tanja knows how to operate heavy machinery don't you know! The Estonian flag is created by putting three shipping containers on top of each other which Tanja is being guided how to do by her dancer Argo Liik; starting with the white, then black and then blue.

No issues with the mic pack today and the due execute a well performed routine. The chemistry between the two is working well on camera. There seems to be a slight slip up in the choreography after the bridge where Tanja nearly hit the floor but it all controlled.