Eurovision 2023 Liverpool: Semi Final 2

[RedToothBrush]

BBC1 8pm Thursday

10 to qualify. 6 to bin.

1 Denmark
2 Armenia
3 Romania
4 Estonia
5 Belgium
6 Cyprus
7 Iceland
8 Greece
9 Poland
10 Slovenia
11 Georgia
12 San Marino
13 Austria
14 Albania
15 Lithuania
16 Australia

Top picks to look for: Austria (though rehearsal looked underwhelming) and Australia (very heavy on the props!)

There's a few more typical Eurovision songs in there than semi one. This semi is more your guilty Eurovision pleasure than your Eurovision winner.

The Ukrainian entry, UK entry and Spanish entry also get a preview. The Ukrainian one is surprisingly good - when I first saw it I thought it was awful but it's really grown on me and the staging looks good.

I have been to a LOT of gigs over the years. (I dread to think how many). But it's up there with the best simply because there is nothing else even comparable. My friends all thought the same (all of them hardened gig goers and with experience at huge shows / backstage etc the lot)

If you ever get the opportunity it's worth it just to see just how much goes into Eurovision and how huge the show is. The light show was out of this world and the details of everything just wow. You kept looking around and noticing something else new. There was so much going on. Just stupid stuff like cushions and lights by the side of the stage. The stage itself gets cleaned every so often because it's a massive screen too. You CAN tell why they need six weeks for the venue. Everything behind the scenes is so incredibly slick.

The venue itself is pretty intimate for such a large venue too which makes it special for anyone lucky enough to get tickets. I think it's about 7500 cap due to size of stage / backstage area. Ironically, I think because of the way they are staging / the actual stage being a screen - that the standing tix are not necessarily the best. You are close and the atmosphere will be good, but I do wonder just how much you can actually see (I'm the type of person who queues at silly o'clock to get on the front row of U2 to give you an idea of where I am with this).

And yes, the presenters were incredibly professional and really bloody good which I wasn't expecting. I think they will irritate the hell out of me on TV tonight, but that's clearly scripting and stupid dresses. I think that's one of the ones that will take a while to get my head around!!!

It will be dead interesting to see what everyone thinks about the show tonight and who they think is good / how it compares with semi 1 and how it comes across on tv.

DH is just grabbing fish and chips before we settle down to watch on the TV at 8pm. At home. On my sofa. Perfect.

Hannah's dress was amazing. V fitted. It was interesting watching her floating around regally to her next presenting position to be ready to be on camera. Those heels!

Amazing @RedToothBrush thank you for sharing that. My dd has vowed she will see it live one day and knowing her, I think she will.

Do you really think Finland will win @RedToothBrush? I think they probably won SF1, and I can see them winning the televote, but I’m not sure how they will get on with the juries. And I see that the bookies still have Sweden as firm favourites (50% chance of winning, with Finland at 19%).

We rain away at the rain. We were going to the fan village but decided against as there wasn't many bands before Jamala (we needed to leave before then to get home for DS).

Bucks Fizz on EastEnders is weird!

The reaction in the stadium to recaps of semi 1 was interesting - Finland were more well received. By some distance.

The betting was based on the voting by the international fan clubs - and the money went according to that. But I don't think that's reflecting where the fans are now.

I think it will be closer.

The jury vote is interesting. But the Finnish entry is interesting, well staged and different. Loreen is a rehash. Well polished but a rehash. And it's not as good as Euphoria.

Hannah looks stunning (again)

Much better dress from Alisha

Placemarking

The Danish entry looks very young

Agree that Sweden's is a rehash. My bet is on Finland.

We think Reilly has lost his voice...

I'm so over the cutesy young man acts. It worked a few years ago; it doesn't now.

@RedToothBrush Is the sound "iffy" with this one? Or did it sound similar in arena?

Red It's not very strong, is it?
I kind of like him, song not the greatest.

Nice hair.

Why does he have holes in his outfit. Did it melt because his iron was too hot?

Is he meant to sound like that?

I really really wanted to love this guy, he looks adorable. But his voice is not sounding good at all. What a shame. The song is very K-pop isn't it?

Oh no Denmark was really good at the preview last night one of my favourites but not sounding good on this live at all

That was dull.

Is something wrong with his microphone?

He sounded much better earlier. We were quite shocked by that. We were speculating whether nerves have got to him.

Sorry, but if the rest of the world gets to vote in Eurovision then we should be able to vote in their general elections.

Maybe he overdid it earlier?

Scott's right about the lying down...