After an impromptu tribute to the Romanian song, Moment of Silence in the press centre, the rehearsals continued this afternoon with the final four countries from the second semi final.

You can read how these went below.

Norway: Agnete – Icebreaker

First off this afternoon was Norway. Agnete was dressed in the same white costume, complete with the long white nails, in which she won the Norwegian final. ,The lights gave Agnete a glow.

In the first rehearsal the singing started of a little quiet but returned to full blast by the time the chorus kicked in. Subsequent performances did not have this issue.

On Agnete’s right a dancer dressed in a silver flashy long-sleeved leotard, had to be admired for her ability to dance along, on a raised glass floor, to the songs ever-changing tempo.

The stage was aglow with blue lights to give the impression of an icy atmosphere. Spotlights shone down from the ceiling to give an extra dimension.

Georgia: Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz – Midnight Gold

The Georgian song started out with the four piece band in black silhouette. The performance has a mirror effect showing the band in duplicate and in places quadruple.

A row of pipes which looks like a radiator is lit up at the front of the stage.

There are pink and blue lights in the background which are not colours you would associate with an indie band. The lead singer is wearing a trilby hat which he removes prior to the chorus.

At the chorus when the tempo changes a mass of yellow lights flash to give a more energetic effect. The camera work flashes between colour and black and white at random moments. On the third rehearsal  the stage had more colourful lighting towards the end of the song.

Albania: Eneda Tarifa – Fairytale

Albania starts with a bit of a technical problem – we can hear the music but not Eneda herself, who appears to be giving it all nevertheless (another incident occurs during the third run when she loses her earphone and the performance has to restart).

When the first run restarts and for the first couple of shots, the stage is sub-lit save for blue spotlights, Eneda is lit from behind and today is wearing a smart casual white jacket matched with a light coloured flowery blouse and black leather trousers, her hair dyed in a more coppery tone of blond than that seen in the country’s national selection.

After the very first few lines of the song are delivered, the stage changes into blue with the ‘path’ graphic used before by other delegations being lit in white here. Eneda’s vocal performance is consistently strong, very strong in fact. Her face is expressive without the little tension that was evident during her performance for the Albanian national selection.

subsequently, there is an abstract impression of a sun or flower (or sunflower for that matter) around the point where Eneda is standing. Soon, both the floor stage and backdrop display the impression of a blanket of golden star-dust. All the while, the stage spotlights are kept in a light blue colour whereas the tall thin panel found on the backdrop is lit in light green.

One would expect something more lyrical perhaps for a powerful ballad called Fairytale but the Albanian delegation are allegedly on a very tight budget. Nevertheless, this is a simple yet rather elegant presentation that benefits from Eneda’s stage presence and vocal ability.

Belgium: Laura Tesoro – What’s The Pressure

This is a funky little number presented in an appropriately funky way. The presentation starts with Laura and four dancers, two men and two women, walking down the central corridor of the stage with a swag to the uptempo beat of the song and waving handkerchiefs.

The stage is lit in yellow with red spotlights in the background. On the central vertical panel of the backdrop there are large yellow discs that, collectively, resemble floodlights. The discs are repeated on the stage floor, too. On it, there are long rectangular boxes, lit in smaller flashing discs, that form two steps on either side of the stage.

Laura and her dancers walk through the opening between them to reach the front of the stage. All the while, they are performing an energetic dance routine quite effortlessly. Laura, who is also a dancer, smiles all the way through and her vocal performance is not affected at all by all the energy needed for the dance routine.

Towards the end of the song, the young singer makes use of the runway while her dancers are now performing on top of the rectangular boxes before all joining again for the finale.

Suitably light, this gets a triple ‘f’ – fun, funky and fluffy – even if a bit reminiscent of the junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.