Unlike Tuesday’s show, which kicked off with a stirring rendition of ‘Heroes’, tonight’s program delves directly into images of Europe (and Australia, it can be assumed) all converging into the giant dandelion puff that is the Globe. (Maybe that explains why my allergies have been off the charts since I’ve settled into the arena?)
Statistics junkies, ahoy!
Måns and Petra are both in silver tonight, batting the banter back and forth betwixt them before diving into a full-on song-and-dance number explaining what the heck Eurovision is to all of the newcomers. Major props for name-checking literally every language ever used on the ESC stage (seriously, what on earth rhymes with “Samogitian”?). The theme of “Eurovision Facts and Figures” carries on late in the show as well, in a segment before Måns and Petra introduce Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
So shiny… (Credit: Anna Velikova, EBU)
Unlike Tuesday’s show, where we started with a high-energy dance number, opening honors for Semi Two go to Latvia’s Justs and his throbbing…bassline. (Turn up your subwoofers for this one, just be sure you’re on friendly terms with your neighbors!) We don’t really get a truly high-energy song arguably until Ireland in slot seven (and gets generally more danceable as the night goes on), but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of Eurovision fabulousness to go around. We end the night’s entries with Laura Tesoro from Belgium’s funktastic ‘What’s the Pressure’. Between Justs and Laura, we’ve got upbeat country, gritty Brit-pop, elegant ballads, and jazz-mugham fusion…there’s really something for everyone in tonight’s mix.
Delicious Distractions
Throughout the course of the evening, our daring artists use massive sparkly plinths, spinning hoops, trampolines, pole dancers, holograms, and smoke machines..not all in the same song, sadly, but we have to spread out the gimmicks, don’t we?
Of course, the biggest “will-he-or-won’t he” comes from Belarus’s Ivan, whose production team have insisted will appear nude onstage with wolves, breaking two of the EBU’s rules on the contest. However, as we saw during the First Semifinal, the Globen’s potential for staging has allowed for some pretty spectacular things…what kind of surprises will the man from Minsk serve up, and how will our intrepid hosts Petra and Måns respond?
What’s Ivan hiding up his sleeves, if he’s wearing them at all? (Credit: Thomas Hanses, EBU)
Lookalikes
Your eyes may be playing tricks on you for a few of this year’s entries. Michał Szpak, decked out in his red jacket and flowing hair, may bring to mind a Polish Jack Sparrow. ManuElla from Slovenia could be Taylor Swift’s Balkan cousin. Agnete from Norway bears a passing resemblance to Renee Zellweger, Albania’s Eneda Tarifa could pass for an Emmy statuette, and Rykka from Switzerland’s choreography makes her looks like one of those drinking bird toys…
Tonight’s interval act, which starts right after the televoting closes, basically features robots and humans in a dance-off. You probably haven’t seen bots this lovable since ‘Wall-E’ or possibly even ‘Short Circuit’.
At the end of the evening, we’ll say goodbye to eight talented acts, and as we saw on Tuesday, surprises are sure to happen. Stay with us at ESC Insight for our reactions and responses to this evening’s winners!