Rehearsals & press conferences 18.05.12

High octane message of love from Bulgaria

The Bulgarian team were the last to rehearse at the Crystal Hall today. Sofi Marinova took to the grand stage and made her way through several performances of Love Unlimited.

Virtual dancers for Ukraine

The Ukrainian representative Gaitana had her second rehearsal today. She delivered a powerful performance full of colours, joy and happiness. Gaitana still has to decide what dress to wear on the Semi-Final night but she is sure it will be in white.

Portugal: From Baku to Lisbon in three minutes

After a first rehearsal that was already almost perfect, Filipa Sousa from Portugal went on the stage in the Baku Crystal Hall again today. On the LED backdrop, beautiful images from Lisbon are shown - a fact that Filipa herself loved when she saw it the first time, as she told us in the make-up room before their rehearsal!

The Belarusian heroes enter the stage

Litesound is a young band from Belarus, but considering that fact, they are already pretty experienced! In today's rehearsal, they confidently performed their rock song We Are The Winners for the press audience in Baku.

Kurt is the star of Malta

The ninth song on stage today to rehearse in the Crystal Hall, is the entry of Malta, This Is The Night sung by 22 year old Kurt Calleja. He is a former air steward, and he is hoping that the song he wrote the lyrics for will fly him into the Final on the 26th May.

An inspiring childhood song from The Netherlands

Everyone has their best childhood memories. For Joan Franka from the Netherlands it is a play "Cowboys and Indians" with her boyfriend. The artist sings about these reminiscences in her song You And Me.

Kaliopi nails her high notes for F.Y.R. Macedonia

With her charming personality and friendliness, Kaliopi has become a bit of a darling of the press in Baku. Today, she took to the stage for the second round of rehearsals for F.Y.R. Macedonia.

                                                 Black dresses and soft lights for Serbia

Željko Joksimović is already a Eurovision legend: He came second in the Eurovision Song Contest as a singer in 2004, third as a composer in 2006, and he presented the show in 2008 in Belgrade. Now the multi-talented artist is back on stage, trying to conquer the hearts of the TV viewers yet again with Nije Ljubav Stvar.Željko Joksimović today arrived backstage together with Jovana Janković, who presented the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest together with him and who, since January this year, is his wife. She had come to Baku only last night, and Željko said he was very glad to have her support now.

Jedward get closer to the Waterline

Ireland is represented by Jedward for the second time in a row in the Eurovision Song Contest and today it was the twins second rehearsal at the Baku Crystal Hall in front of their own Waterline, the first fountain ever on a Eurovision stage.

The Lăutar's big heart

Today, Pasha Parfeny from Moldova rehearsed for the second time in the Baku Crystal Hall. In his song Lăutar, Pasha tells the love story between a traditional musician and a high-society girl.

LED costumes for Austria

Trackshittaz went on stage for their second rehearsal today, and already before that, they promised us some exciting changes! They showed their LED costumes for the first time in full function during today's rehearsal!

                                               Get connected with Hungarian harmonies

The second act on stage today in Baku, were Compact Disco who are representing Hungary in Europe's Favourite TV Show with the song Sound Of Our Hearts.

                                          Russian babushki continue their party in Baku

There has been huge press interest in Russia's Buranovskiye Babushki ever since they won the Russian national selection earlier this year. In Baku, it is no different with a huge media entourage following them everywhere. Today they had their second rehearsal of Party For Everybody.