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And here I go...An absolute dead-heat at the very top! 11 points each for Croatia and Italy (9.71) 8 points for Switzerland (9.69) 7 points for France (9.66) 6 points for Norway (9.64) 5 points for Ireland (9.62) 4 points for Greece (9.61) 3 points for Ukraine (9.59) 2 points for Estonia (9.58) 1 point for Austria (9.57) Portugal 9.56, Armenia 9.56, Luxembourg 9.50, Latvia 9.49, United Kingdom 9.49; Lithuania 9.48, Georgia 9.47, Slovenia 9.45, Spain 9.45, Sweden 9.44; Sweden 9.44, Serbia 9.43, Israel 9.40, Cyprus 9.40, Finland 9.39, Germany 9.39. When I score this contest, I use 10 criteria. I apply the scores and I never look at them again when I move on the the next performer. As it turned out, every category matched, score-for-score, between Croatia and Italy.

I knew it was coming. When word got around that it got physical, I knew he was going to get booted, especially after he was kicked out of rehearsals. Unfortunate how tense situations can make someone snap, and in this situation, bring all that goodwill built up during the course of this quest, if not an entire career, to a screeching halt.

There's word going around that Joost and the Dutch team may have been suspended entirely.

I got a feeling that error might have been repeated in other places; which is why Israel got a bump up to #2 on the bookies' boards; which defies logic because the bookies rank them 8th in the jury and 5th in the televote.

And now, my take on the second semifinal... 9.37 (14) Malta Sarah somehow sounded way better than her studio recording; but nonetheless, she and her team were way in over their heads with what was to come down the list. 9.36 (15) Albania In the past, changing the lyrics and going English were a detriment to Albanian entries (cases in point; 2014, 2016 and 2017); but this time, I don't think it mattered here. Besa was quite probably forgotten as a slew of better, more creative songs came. 9.56 (5) Greece Here now the fun begins. A little bit of dance, a little bit of sass, and a lot of entertainment. Marina was my overall #6 going into this contest, but the one thing she could change was the outfit, which somehow felt like a mismatch with the performance, compared to her outfits in the video. She should use a headset microphone next time, so that she can move more freely. 9.65 (1) Switzerland Like a carousel ride, Nemo made us dizzier than "Dizzy". Easily the best of the semifinalists in this round. 9.41 (13) Czechia You have to wonder if Aiko would have sold the performance better if she had brought the band. The song is originally 2:23; so, I imagine the extra time didn't help. 9.54 (7) Austria I thought it would have been a bad idea to bring the guys in the video to the stage; but fortunately these guys danced along with Kaleen; and the lightshow was appropriate for a mini-rave. She will get to close out the show on Saturday; though I can't say the same for Alyona and Jerry, who get the dreaded #2 spot. 9.44 (11) Denmark For a good minute, I thought Saba might have had a chance. For me, the song was meant to be longer. She could have used more dramatic CGI effects behind her. 9.55 (6) Armenia Short song, fun song; culture shining through from beginning to end. Ladaniva need not change a thing! 9.51 (8) Latvia I wish the production team had saved this announcement for last. In the last decade and a half, they qualified only twice! It took a pop power ballad from Dons to break a 7-year-long languish (and I do believe they would have failed in 2020) and possibly prevent them from taking a break. He was my overall #17 before this contest started. 9.35 (16) San Marino Megara chose poorly on several fronts: The outfits didn't exactly go well with the song, and they were basically all over the place. At one point, Kenzy nearly lost herself with the lyrics. The CGI and CGI effects at one point overwhelmed the band on stage. 9.48 (9) Georgia If not for the virus in 2020, Tornike Kipiani's "Take Me As I Am" surely would have qualified, and the wait for another qualifier would not have been 8 years. For Nutsa, the music, the dances, the vocals, pretty much sold the song. 9.46 (10) Belgium As the first artist to be entered into this contest (in August), and pretty much every bookie predicting he would qualify, you have to wonder how Mustii failed so dramatically, despite bringing most of the elements in his music video to the stage. Could it be because the quality of the lyrics took a hit by ending the song with the same 4 words repeated 8 times? Nobody saw any trouble with that before the contest. 9.58 (3) Estonia I wondered if 5Miinust and Puuluup were going to bring that crazy dance to the stage! Even though qualifying is serious business, they were having lots of fun, and yet still not a major misstep, even though the song was about drugs and dance lessons. 9.43 (12) Israel Eden was my overall #20 (#10 qualifier) going into this contest; but watching this performance, I thought there was something missing that made it look lackluster. Could it have been that it was void of any special effects (like wind)? The sooner I heard Latvia qualifying, I thought this was the one going by the wayside. She will be sandwiched between the Netherlands and Lithuania early in the final. 9.62 (2) Norway Even though truncated down from 5:44 to under 3 minutes, with a few altered lyrics, Gåte still made an impact with their presence on stage and the energy they brought with them. They are my overall #4, and I expect that they will land in the top 10 when this is over. 9.57 (4) Netherlands A dream fulfilled; his parents would obviously have been delighted. The last of the 5 rave tunes (with the U.K., Finland, Switzerland and Austria), and Joost closes out the night with a bang and a whimper, with reflections on what his father said to him. Dirty shame he ended up with the 5th spot on Saturday. ---------- 9.65 France I don't know if it was a good idea or not for Slimane to start the song on the floor. But to get up into a sort-of begging position was interesting. That surely goes with the lyrics. His voice obviously carried with the acappella segment they put into the performance. 9.42 Spain A different kind of synthwave, more on the early-'80s dance-pop side than the outrun side (like Luna's). Nebulossa's performance didn't exactly impress me the way the last 2 Spanish performances did. This one seemed just a bit too cliché for me. 9.71 Italy Easily one of the more interesting performances of the night. Angelina might not have had a dance routine that displayed power, but she more than made up for that in charisma. Italy already had a higher benchmark score (going into this contest) than anyone else here except for France and Croatia.

And here I go... 9.40 (11) Cyprus My benchmark for the contenders yet to come; and when all was said and done, I thought Silia was riding the razor's edge more toward defeat. Not every performance centered around dance gets an easy pass. 9.45 (8) Serbia Teya was a razor's edge non-qualifier for me before this contest started. I have little doubt the stage setup changed her fortunes here. 9.52 (5) Lithuania Where I think Silia was on the borderline, Silvester clearly was miles ahead simply because he put on a more convincing show; not to mention the music was more unique. 9.58 (2) Ireland Should it be any surprise that Ireland qualified for the first time in 6 years? Bambie Thug's performance is an example of theater done right on the Eurovision stage! Will Bambie's sorcery earn Ireland its first top-5 spot in eons, if not steal the show? Never again will they have to rely solely on generic pop tunes to qualify! 9.55 (4) Ukraine Neither Alyona nor Jerry had to mention even one word in reference to the war to reinforce the concept of resilience; and this time, with a message to the girls and women fighting their own personal battles. Lyrics definitely matter when the music is almost monotone in nature. 9.37 (13) Poland This is the second time in 3 years (Rafał, 2021) that Poland sent synthwave to the Eurovision stage; and yet, they fail once again; and yet, Luna was way better. I am disappointed with her stage, set design and wardrobe team, because they took the subgenre just a bit too far with that Flash Gordon outfit. On top of that, they would have been better off bringing the dance routine from the music video to the stage. 9.70 (1) Croatia When you have a rock song like this, always bring the band with you! Should it be any surprise that audience participation was a foregone conclusion with the lyrics? Baby Lasagna quite likely won the televote, and will probably do so again on Saturday. 9.37 (12) Iceland The Söngvakeppnin voters played it safe (maybe too safe), snubbed Bashar Murad, sent Hera with a generic song, and it was quickly sent packing. Would her backups on stage have helped? Probably not. 9.45 (9) Slovenia Someone on YouTube likened Raiven's music video performance to that of a vampire queen, much of which she brought to the Eurovision stage. Bookies were ready to write her off. 9.34 (15) Finland I sort of expected a repeat of the UMK stage performance; but I also expected that maybe Windows95man in the buff would chase away many of his would-be voters, with Henri's vocals unable to save them. Be that as it may, the rave contingent has 2 in the final, with 3 more to go. 9.42 (10) Moldova Given the stage design (which fit perfectly with the performance and violin solo), I thought Natalia would squeak in and steal a spot. She might have had that chance if her team had also brought along her backup violinists. 9.49 (6) Azerbaijan Big mistake it was for Fahree and Ilkin to leave their band (the keyboardist and 2 violinists) home. It would have made for a much nicer and more convincing setting, just as those 2 videos (presentation and official music video) did. But then again, did politics enter into the thoughts of the voters? In any case, it is becoming quite a foregone conclusion that Azerbaijan can't qualify on televotes alone, and it remains to be seen if they participate next year. 9.35 (14) Australia There is little doubt that Electric Fields' entry was being thoroughly compared to their 2019 national contest entry, "2000 And Whatever"; for which "One Milkali" failed on too many aspects. 9.56 (3) Portugal Once again, with Portugal, less is more; and Iolanda and her team delivered; and I once thought the dance routine by the backups didn't fit the song. 9.47 (7) Luxembourg Not quite the dance routine that was in the music video; but the song was strong enough that I expected Tali to qualify. ---------- 9.53 United Kingdom Taking a page from the Sergey Lazarev (Russia 2016) playbook, they kept the camera on the room for most of the performance, with the guys being tossed one way or the other when it tilts (or simulates a tilt). Pretty appropriate for the song, and a big plus for Olly. 9.42 Germany A burning steel barrel (later the whole room) goes quite well with the lyrics in the song. But how will Isaak fare? Right now, it's a toss-up between barely missing the top-half of the board (I doubt that it will finish as high as did Michael Schulte in 2018), and coughing up another bagel (as did Malik Harris in 2022). 9.45 Sweden The fact that Marcus and Martinus are having trouble hitting the top 10 on the bookies' boards shows that not all dance-heavy performances (even by longtime top-contending nations) are guaranteed to finish that high. As entertaining as it may be, this entry does not compare with Sweden's last 2. Middle-of-the-pack is probably where they will end up.

Well, here it is. The good, long wait is finally here. Of course, I'll be too busy to watch the contest live, but I will catch the replay sometime after midnight. I will not view any sites (including this one) that might reveal the results. I did not watch any rehearsal clips. My picks to qualify (which I made on April 27): Croatia (my overall #2), Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Portugal, Luxembourg, Ireland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Poland, Cyprus. If a VPN doesn't work, go to SVT (www.svt.se) and watch.

With my evaluations having ended (Saturday), here are my top 10; and as always, I use 10 criteria, evaluating the entries 3 times, mostly during the month of April; and this time, before rehearsals: 9.77 France (1,1,1) (Slimane was my #1 in all 3 evaluations) 9.69 Croatia (2,3,2) 9.66 Italy (3,2,3) 9.64 Norway (5,4,4) 9.62 Switzerland (9,7,5) 9.61 Greece (8,6,6) 9.59 Estonia (4,5,7) 9.53 Azerbaijan (13,13,8) (I made an exception for their official music video being released after rehearsals began, replacing their presentation video) 9.53 Ukraine (6,8,9) 9.53 Portugal (7,9,10)

When last I checked, Iolanda was not doing very well on the bookies' boards, even though I believe the song "Grito" to be top-10 material. The choreography at the Festival da Cançao does not fit the song. Too overdone for a song as emotional as that one. They need to get rid of that dance routine and replace it with something more subdued; or maybe get rid of the dancers entirely and utilize a CGI background that is appropriate for the song.

Methinks Kaleen should lose the guys, point-blank; and bring dancers, the lasers and the flashing lights! That video was so obviously un-rave-like, and should not be repeated on the Eurovision stage, if she wants to finish in the top 10!

Is it just my imagination, or is this year's Eurovision about to become one big rave revival? Here we have Olly Alexander (U.K.), Windows95man (Finland), Nemo (Switzerland), Kaleen (Austria) and Joost Klein (Netherlands), entertaining us with songs and music worthy of a 1990s rave party... ...On top of that, we have 1980s-style synthwave from Luna (Poland) and Nebulossa (Spain); not to mention some house from Hera Björk (Iceland) and art-pop from Mustii (Belgium). 🎛

Anticipation is so much more thrilling when you don't look or listen until it's the right time. Once again, as the national contests and internal selections came and went, I didn't listen to or watch a single song or video (or videoclip) until they established the performance order in the semifinals and I was ready to evaluate them... ...I started two Saturdays ago; and after one round of evaluations (I do 3 of these), my top 10 are the following: France, Croatia, Italy, Estonia, Norway, Ukraine, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland and Latvia. I don't know why Portugal is so low on the bookies' boards. Iolanda's "Grito" is reminiscent of Maro's "Saudade, Saudade".

Putin's henchmen knew exactly what they were aiming for and when.

And Loreen won without a single 12-point score from the televoters! All of her 12-point scores (14) came from the jury. Käärijä got two 12-point jury scores and 18 from the televoters! He got a televote point from every country and the world voters. He needed to be a lot closer on the jury side, though (I was counting on him to get at least 200), but he got no points from 14 juries.

10 minutes before Tvorchi took the stage, Russia launched a missile attack on their home city of Ternopil. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65586701