And that completes the first part of today’s rehearsals, and hence this particular blog post. We break for lunch for an hour now, and in that time I’m going to do something particularly radical and un-press-centre-like: I’m going to go and sit in the sunshine for a bit. Back later!

NORWAY
Debrah’s hair is down, long and gorgeous today, though she’s still wearing the enamel sink. Mørland doesn’t look like a murderer, but they never do, do they?

This still confuses me, staging-wise. They really are doing an incredibly minimalist job on it – no dry ice, no complicated shots, no acting out the narrative. Just letting the song speak for itself. Which is fine, considering it’s a good song! But you feel like there’s more they could be getting out of this while still not over-Eurovisioning it. It’s an interesting strategy, though – if they do well, a few countries might decide to scale back their pyro budget next year.

I said the other day that Stig Rästa looks like Stewart Lee, and I’m increasingly finding that Mørland reminds me of Andrew Collins. So who’s the Richard Herring in the 2015 line-up?

Is it qualifying? Even with the minimalist-verging-on-boring staging and the fact that nobody in the south or east of the continent will vote for it (as predicted here, anyway), it would be a proper, active shock if this didn’t make it. The only thing that might be a problem is the running order – it’s a veritable sea of dark and downbeat stuff around here, but Norway ought to have enough to keep its head above the water.

MALTA
Oh! I’ve finally worked out what the first few lines of the Maltese song remind me of. It’s “Love Is Life” by Lovecrush! That can only be a good omen for them.

It’s the same Conchita rip-off in the staging department (she had no choice but to become a plagiarist, she had to steal it). Amber’s voice is still occasonally buh-reaking on the big note in the chorus, but she’s otherwise pretty strong in the vocal department, and what little movement she does is being picked up well by the cameras now.

Her stage outfit is like a classier version of Andorran Jenny, not that that’s saying much, but the whole lace-y black thing suits Amber’s curves well enough.

The press release we’ve been handed today says that Amber is “studying for a Bachelor of Education in early childhood”, which is quite impressive considering she’s 23.

Is it qualifying? It should be far too average to progress unless arrangements have been made. Remind me who else is voting in this semi-final? Ah.

MONTENEGRO
Still the dark blue/black/red staging that we saw on Wednesday, with no hint of additional lighting or anything to brighten things up a bit. Can’t San Marino lend them a chain of lights?

Knez is in good form considering he was deeply involved in a cocktail-party scenario yesterday evening. Absolutely no question he’s one of the biggest professionals in this field, and that comfortable assuredness could take him further than his song necessarily deserves.

I’m still not entirely sure why they’re showing a long overhead shot of the hopping girls during the instrumental break – they’re not particularly choreographed or in formation, they don’t spell out a number “1” or the phrase “you haven’t heard this song fifty million times before, honest” or anything like that, so what’s the point?

Is it a qualifier? I have to admit I said “no” in the press centre poll, so I might well be an idiot too. This is generic as hell, which makes it a tough one to call, since the average viewer won’t have the same sense of déjà vu as we do. It isn’t a “Nije ljubav stvar”, but neither is it a “Verjamem”, so maybe it squeezes into the final after all…?

SAN MARINO
It was the Sammarinese party last night, at the venue that will become EuroClub from Sunday onwards. They promised us “1,000 pizzas”, prepared in front of our very eyes, and they certainly made a good attempt at delivering on that promise – I wonder how many the assembled fan-press managed to get through?

In any case, I’d love to report that Anita and Michele got pissed on Bacardi Breezers then disgraced themselves on the dancefloor to “La Coco-Dance”, but of course Uncle Ralph would never allow such a thing to happen – and instead here they are, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to share with us their chain of farts hearts.

I don’t want to be mean just for the sake of it (although god knows that can be fun), so I’ll point out quite honestly that these two kids are getting more confident with every performance. The underlying problems remain in place – the structure of the song, the lack of strength in the vocals, the ear-damaging last line – and they’ll end up being insurmountable, but you know what? This is a genuinely quite sweet and endearing performance of a fundamentally ridiculous song, and it’s far from the biggest waste of three minutes in this semi-final.

Is it qualifying? According to the press centre poll, 29 people in this building think it will. They are idiots. I can see San Marino avoiding last place in the semi, though.

IRELAND
I know we’re rapidly approaching peak forest in terms of the staging ideas this year (now just watch Edurne have her tiger emerge from a thicket of trees), but the ethereal woodland backdrop for Ireland really is pretty gorgeous. Just saying.

Molly is in good voice here, but she appears to have resolved the “which camera to look in?” quandary by simply closing her eyes throughout the entire song. I suppose that’s one way of doing it. She improves on later takes, at least, finding the camera once during the opening lines (which is an important connection to make).

I feel like her piano stool could be a tiny bit taller. The opening shot in particular makes it look like she’s peeking out of a wooden box. But crikey, once the second chorus kicks in and the backing singers are giving it some welly, plus the new orchestration, this sounds very, very strong indeed.

Is it qualifying? It should. It really should. I’m still worried about the lack of camera contact, but this is otherwise nicely staged and a very “real” three minutes. To put it another way, it’s rare for a song of actual quality to get left behind in the semi-finals, particularly in the jury era – so Ireland would be unfortunate if it were to happen to them.

LITHUANIA
It could just be me (and I’m sure it is), but I feel like the backdrop for the Lithuanian song is a little less eye-hurtingly garish today. It’s still very magenta/purple, but possibly a tiny bit less “all the other colours too”.

Lovely, friendly performance from Monika and Vaidas that’s starting to come together quite nicely now – you really couldn’t ask for a better opener, although the producers will be wishing they’d had three Lithuanians to dot throughout the otherwise dark and downbeat first half of the semi.

There could be a few more close-ups for my liking, considering their chemistry as a duo is so central to the song, but by and large it’s all filmed quite effectively. Vaidas closes his eyes on the “every time I close my eyes” line while reaching for Monika’s hand, which ends up looking a bit fumbling and awkward.

Second time round, the five-beats-to-the-bar “one kiss” moment with Vaidas was evidently so intense for Monika that she forgot to sing again. Can’t say we blame her.

Is it qualifying? It’s lightweight and fluffy, so there’s a risk it might be forgotten by the end of proceedings – but I’d be a bit surprised if it didn’t reach the final.

Introduction
Morning everybody! There are a few sore heads around the press centre this morning after last night’s onslaught of parties from Montenegro, Serbia, San Marino and the Nordics – do be sure to check out our Gallery of photos from the latter event, by the way.

Regardless, a steady flow of coffee and crisps will surely see us through to 19:00 CET (argh), by which time we’ll have viewed the second rehearsals of all of the countries in this year’s second semi-final. Stay tuned for our continuous updates right here!