Great Eurovision semi-final show in details - PHOTOS

Baku yesterday hosted the second semi-final of Eurovision 2012 at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan, where 18 countries competed for just 10 places in the Grand Final. And we already know the holders of 10 places available in Saturday`s final. But first let’s remember the show of last night in detail.

First on stage was the Serbian representative Zeljko Joksimovic, who sang his powerful ballad Nije Ljubav Stvar in a warm setting of yellow spotlights in front of a dark blue and purple backdrop. He and his backing artists were all dressed in elegant black outfits.

The next singer on stage came from F.Y.R. Macedonia, where Kaliopi is one of the biggest stars. She presented Crno E Belo, a ballad that turns into a rock song, in a professional and artistic way. Also here, all artists on stage were dressed in elegant black clothes.

And here is Joan Franka from the Netherlands performed again with an Indian headdress made of feathers, which symbolizes her beautiful childhood memories. Her song, You And Me, has influences from country music, and she confidently performed it with her small band.

The fourth entry was the Maltese one, sung by Kurt Calleja. He and his band wore black outfits, and Kurt was interacting well with the public and the cameras while dancing to his uptempo pop song This Is The Night.

Leather biker outfits with chains and nets attached were the stage costumes of the Belarusian rock band Litesound. With specially designed microphone
stands and technical items displayed on a blue LED backdrop, and pyrotechnical effects in the end of the song, the visuals fit the song We Are The Heroes very well.

After a short break it was time for the sixth entry, which comes from Portugal. Filipa Sousa sang her fado-influenced song Vida Minha in a long black dress, shimmering in golden colour. She delivered a fabulous vocal performance in front of a backdrop showing images from Lisbon.


One big LED backdrop was not enough for the Ukrainian representative, Gaitana - she brought four more smaller LED walls with her on stage, displaying dancers making similar movements like her backing artists. She wore a white fringed dress and a floral wreath while singing Be My Guest, a true football hymn.  

Sofi Marinova from Bulgaria was the 8th singer who takes the stage on the second semifinal of the Eurovision-2012 song contest Sofi Marinova sent her love to all in different languages, also in Azerbaijani - Men seni sevirem!

Then we met the youngest artist of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Eva Boto from Slovenia, who performed her song Verjamem on the second semifinal, and despite her age, her vocals were flawless, and she worked well with the cameras and the audience. All artists on stage wore long white dresses, and Eva's had flowers attached.


The youngest artist of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Eva Boto from Slovenia, is next to perform her song Verjamem on the second semifinal, and
despite her age, her vocals were flawless, and she worked well with the cameras and the audience. All artists on stage wore long white dresses, and Eva's had flowers attached.


One of the favorites of this year is Loreen, the Swedish representative, who made extensive use of the wind machine during her performance of Euphoria. The flickering spotlights, the camerawork and the snow effects used towards the end of the song gave the song a very special appeal, and the audience rewarded Loreen with a big applause.

Anri Jokhadze from Georgia was next with and one of the most entertaining stage acts this year. With him on stage were four backing artists in skimpy
dresses, supporting him vocally during the performance of I`m A Joker. During the song, Anri is changing his outfit, playing drums and piano, dancing, and singing.

Can Bonomo`s song Love Me Back is all about ships and seamen, a fact that can easily recognized already from the LED backdrop, displaying waves, and from the sailor costumes of the artists on stage. Later on, they formed a figure resembling a ship with their capes.
Can Bonomo wrote both the music and lyrics to the Turkish entry Love Me Back.
Can and his five male backing dancers were wearing grey cloaks, which they later hold out to make an image of a ship with a sail. One of the dancers spins on his head part way through the performance.


Kuula is the title of the Estonian entry, sung by Ott Lepland, and the charismatic artist delivered a heartwarming performance of his piano ballad. The stage was kept dark, and only towards the climax of the song, bright red images were displayed on the LED backdrop.

Time has come for the only hard rock song in the contest, Don`t Close Your Eyes by Max Jason Mai from Slovakia, so rock fans - listen up now! With a
charismatic performance and strong vocals, the versatile artist and his performance came across very well on the screens.

Norway`s intoxicating act - Tooji singing Stay - got a warm welcome from the audience in the Baku Crystal Hall. Warm colours, red and yellow, dominated the LED backdrop and the lighting, and the song doesn`t hide Tooji`s Iranian roots.

Tooji arrived at the Crystal Hall for second semifinal where the Persian sounds and impressive dance moves made an impression!

Tooji`s performance went much like before. Once again Tooji is joined on stage by four dancers/singers and another singer who stands to the right of Tooji on stage.
Despite saying his voice was slighty strained, Tooji gave a good vocal performance and remained in tune with the backing singers, who are also very talented dancers and can
manage to carry out quite difficult dance moves whilst having almost perfect vocals.

Maya Sar from Bosnia-Herzegovina wore an elegantly designed black dress while singing her ballad Korake Ti Znam and playing the piano along with it. In the middle of the song, she stood up and walked to the front of the stage, and from then, a wind machine was used as well.

Another ballad was the last entry of this Semi-Final - the Lithuanian song Love Is Blind by Donny Montell. He was wearing a blindfold which he took off in the very moment his song picked up tempo and turned into an uptempo pop song. He didn`t only show that he`s got a strong voice, he also proved his dancing abilities!

With the blindfold covering his eyes, the singer showed the blindness of love visually.
During the slow part of the song, the singer`s eyes were covered by the black blindfold decorated with some crystal stones. In the beginning of the up-tempo part, Donny took the blindfold off and made a somersault. . Donny sang alone on stage and delivered a very powerful performance.

So, in the final of "Eurovision 2012" in Baku will be: Romania, Moldova , Iceland, Hungary. Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Russia, Ireland – from the first semi final, Turkey,Estonia, Malta, Macedonia, Norway, Sweden, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Lithuania and  finalists Azerbaijan, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France.

/AzerTAc/