The semi-final...

Wow. The semi-final of the 51th Eurovision Song Contest as just taken place in the AOKA Stadium in Greece and it was trully an exciting show.

Congratulations to the EBU and to the ERT for a great show. The opening act was, in my opinion, one of the best ever. A nice mix between History, Eurovision and comedy. Very fan friendly. 12 points for that. The intervall act as always wasnt broadcasted in Portugal.

The hosts, Maria and Sakis, were relaxed and very professional. The Portuguese comentator, Eládio Climaco, did is usually job, without any silly mistakes this time so 10 points for the 3 of them.

The stage was/is also very nice, simple but very effective. Much better on tv them on photos. 8 points for the stage. And now lets talk about the songs...

Disappointments:

Armenia - very nervous performance. The voice was not so strong. The clothes were awfull and the choregraphy doesn't came across on tv. Still, i'm happy they qualified.

Andorra - what was their costume designer thinking... Jennifer didn't dress like a porn actress but... The singing wasn't nothing much either, she seemed to have troubles breathing.

Belgium - I didn't like Cate's voice and the choreography was too messy. The song sounded very weak on tv.

Monaco - this was probably my biggets dissapointment. The song was fresh and cheery but unfortunatly Severine cant sing very well. The choreography was ok, but nothing much and it didn't help to sell the song at all. Why was the black dancer doing those robot movements???

Portugal - I gave Nonstop the benefit of the doubt and waited to see what they could do in the semi-final. Unfortunatly I'm forced to say that we had probably the worse song of the evening. The chothes were nothing special and the vocals were also very, very weak. I'm curious to know our final place, wouldn't be surprise if we ended up in the last 3 places...

Surprises:

Cyprus - Against all odds Annete gave a powerfull performance.

Poland - This was the last place off my personal chart but tonight they had a nice performance.

Lithuania - They defeated Iceland and are in the final. Silly song but nice performance. Anything can happen in the final, even a top 10 score.

The Netherlands - The girls seemed happy on stage and performed their song very well. Pitty the song was so repetitive.

Sweden - We all know Carola can sing, but today she was really Invincible. This is my sister's favourite song.

Bosnia & Herzegovina - We also knew this was gonna be something special. Their act was pure class. Sophisticated, simple, romantic... I hope to see this in the top 3 in the final.

And finally congratulations to:

Slovenia - terrific performance. Anzej can really sing. Didn't make it to the final but for me its still one of the best songs of the year.

Ireland - Brian will sing in the final and deservingly so. The song is a bit old-fashioned but Brian sang it perfectly.

FYR Macedonia - Elena has a very nice song. The choreography was simple but it suited the song perfectly. Watch out Macedonia in the final...

Russia - definatly one of my favourite song this year. Good performance.

Ukraine - Strong voice, strong choreography and Tina is just GOURGEOUS...

Finland - for bringing a new style to the Eurovision. The performance was ok, just ok, but I still love Lordi.

...

The other songs form Bulgaria, Belarus, Albania, Turkey, Estonia and Iceland were ok. Iceland is also a bit of a disapointment.

Overall it was a good show, mucht better them I anticipated. Now let's wait and see what happens on Saturday.