1 – Latvia – Per with “Here we go” – they certainly got the crowd going with their jumping and energetic track. I actually really liked it and hope it goes through to the Final. If it does, I predict a top 5 finish.

2 – San Marino – Valentina Monetta “Crisalide” – she started laid on the floor holding a light and slowly rose. I can only guess it was an expressionist dance number of a flower or a butterfly emerging. Unfortunately I can’t see Valentina emerging in the final.

3 – Macedonia – Esma & Lozano – “Pred Da Se Razdeni” – it means “Before The Sunrise” and the lead singer looked way too much like a Macedonian Peter Andre. Will make the final on his looks. He ha a decent voice….then SHE came out dressed like god knows what and ruined the song completely. Hopefully this won’t go through!

4 – Azerbaijan – Farid Mammadov – “Hold Me” – Having won two years ago, I expected good things from Az, and they rolled out a singing Colin Farrell stood on a glass box with someone dancing underneath. To be fair, it was a nice song, very much along the Enrique Englesias line. The lead also did a VERY good mirror act with the dancer in the box. Will make the final and could do alright. The more I listened to it, the more I found myself actually thinking it was really good. Best staging so far.

5 – Finland – Krista Siegfrids – “Marry Me” – it was all VERY Las Vegas. Cheesy pop was the order of the day here with Krista wearing a wedding dress. It was very Katy Perry and I am partial to some cheesy pop. I want this in the final for sure.

6 – Malta – Gianluca – “Tomorrow” – Ukelele to start things off and a very cheesy-grinned Gianluca singing about a guy called Jeremy. It was a cute story-telling song with every word displayed in the screen behind. I really liked this and hope Europe put this into the final. Not sure how it would fare in the final though.

7 – Bulgaria – Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov – “Samo Shampioni” – translates as “Only Champions”. Lots of drums kick started this one then the drummer girl started singing. It wasn’t quite Phil Collins. Poor effort from Uncle Bulgaria.

8 – Iceland – Eythor – “Eg a lif” – Looked like Tim Minchin crossed with Jesus. He crooned. That’s all there is to say.

9 – Greece – Koza Mostra – “Alcohol Is Free” – if only it was! And let’s face it….is ANYTHING free in Greece??? As is expected from the Greeks it was very Greek. Hope they don’t win…and so do they…they can’t afford it.

10 – Israel – Moran Mazor – “Rak Bishvilo” – very much rocking the “Sexy Secretary” look, it’ll go through to the final on that alone!

11 – Armenia – Dorians – “Lonely Planet” – it was a war song…dear lord. Way too much Denim on the stage. It’s like the early 90’s threw up on stage. Can’t see Armenia being in the final. It will be a “Lonely final” without them…

12 – Hungary – ByeAlex – “Kedvesem” – don’t know what he was singing about but he did it with a husky, smokey voice. Got the crowd clapping along.

13 – Norway – Margaret Berger – “I Feed You My Love” – Norway going mental and dancey this year. Margaret wore a very tight outfit and a ponytail. Could be a contender.

14 – Albania – Adrian Lulgjuraj – “Identitet ” – Lots of smoke an lots of fire. Lead singer looked like a very odd little man and he sounded like the lead singer of Lordi. Jury out whether it was alright or very shit!

15 – Georgia – Nodi Tatishvilli – “Waterfall” – with a title like that, I wanted water…Jedward did it last year! But we just got a couple singing. Boring. Will make the final.

16 – Switzerland – Takasa – “You And Me” – Oldest EVER contestant on the Double Bass. He looked like he didn’t have a clue why he was there!

17 – Romania – Cezar – “It’s My Life” – Wow. Erm. I don’t know what to say about this…main singer was erm…interesting.

And going through to Saturday’s final is – Hungary, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Norway, Iceland, Armenia, Finland, Malta & Greece