The rehearsals from the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 continued in Stockholm this afternoon with Belarus, Serbia and Ireland. Read our reports from this afternoon’s performances below.

Belarus: Ivan – Help You Fly

So Ivan appears naked on stage with live wolves, as promised, but after a few seconds, the camera pulls away and you realize that this part was a pre-recorded video. Cut to live and Ivan is in a white smart suit and an odd choice of footwear for the suit – grey boots. The singing again is on point and the background visual effects are quite spectacular.

The live wolves are shown again for a while on snow topped mountains and then Ivan appears as a hologram playing drums and guitar, before disappearing into dust. The performance is full of stage effects which could have been to distract from Ivan’s poor singing voice, but in fact he is singing very well.

The lighting is primarily blue with lots of flashing lights,and at one point Ivan appears on a virtual rock, similar to in Sergey’s video. The performance ends with the dancing baby making a reappearance from the nineties, with no obvious reason for it but maybe since the lyrics mention Help You Fly perhaps it’s about the baby taking their first steps. Interpret it as you will. All told though Belarus should be very happy with their rehearsal.

Serbia: Sanja Vučić ZAA – Goodbye (Shelter)

The singing here is spectacular. Sanja is dressed in a frock of primarily blue colours on top and green below, but it is decorated with flowers in random places.

The one negative of the performance is that it is over dramatic, fair enough due to the topic , but a little toning down could probably have more effect. A male dancer represents the bullying perpetrator.

The performance starts with a load of spotlights coming up from the floor and Sanja is alone, but before long the four backing singers are gesturing in the background. The dancer taunts the singers too, and when they finally join in on the chorus, they are stooped all over the place, rather than standing in a line. They are lit in red at this point.

However it is Sanja who is the star here and as a front woman she is very compelling. The song has a very rousing ending and on singing alone,my feeling is that this looks like it’s sailing into the finals.

Ireland: Nicky Byrne – Sunlight

Nicky is wearing a red and tan leather jacket. The stage is very red with very strong strobe lights at the beginning.

It becomes apparent very quickly why Nicky was never the lead singer of Westlife. While getting through the first verse seemed quite effortless, by the first chorus, it seemed that any note would do, causing a few grimaces in the press area.

There was a long wait before the second run through, and Nicky seemed to be clipping some of the lyrics together, perhaps to prevent having to hold them for too long. The song has a catchy enough sing a long chorus and is perfect for a summer’s day, but it seems to lack the sparkle needed to win or even qualify.

A three piece band accompanied Nicky in the background on guitars, drums and keyboards .By the second chorus they were lit in blue for a while but were soon back to red. Nicky moved around the stage in the last chorus before finishing centre stage.

The evening will continue with FYR Macedonia, Lithuania and Australia.