The first dress rehearsal has just drawn to a close at the Belgrade Arena. It was affected and held up by a few technical hitches mainly concerning sound, and it was interesting to note that the second commercial break was placed unusually just before the the last song, namely between Russia's ice rink and Greece's big heart contraption.

Dima Bilan and his co-performers gave a stunning display, outshining everything in the contest. The other certain qualifiers are Armenia and Greece, but the other places are up for grabs.

I won't be at this evening's rehearsal. Overkill is a terrible thing, and there are parties to attend. It will be interesting to see if any of my opinions change once I have watched the on-screen feed in the press centre tomorrow afternoon.

For those who would put schadenfreude on their list of hobbies, I urge you to watch Eurovision Semi-Final 1 tonight. The last rehearsal, and there were still a few sound and camera problems. Will it be alright on the night? Not sure.

I watched the show on screen this afternoon. Dima will walk it for Russia, especially now he is managing to keep his shirt on. Look out for the Andorran girl's outfit. It is a fashion disaster. Dustin the Turkey's chances have been dented by poor direction, making it far too busy. Sirusho's vocals are still shaky, but I expect the Armenian song is right enough to survive.

I did say I would do a prediction, but I am really struggling this year, so am likely to end up looking foolish. That's never stopped me before, so here goes.
Moldova, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Norway, Poland, Bosnia, Armenia, Romania, Russia and Greece.