Overview: Semi-final 2

The second semi-final is something of a blur as I have been trying to erase much of it from my mind. We haven't seen so many poor and/or otherwise cringeworthy performances in one contest in a long time and it left me doing little other than shaking my head and thinking: to a lot of people this is the level Eurovision operates on every year.

The show started well, with performances from Iceland, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine that generally lived up to expectations. Ani Lorak and Shady Lady came across flatter than I expected, but still oozed class. I was appalled at the hostile reception Albania received from the Serbian audience - ironically made all the worse because the hall was actually full this time - and therefore ecstatic that Olta Boka performed so well.

Things after that took a drastic decline, with little respite during the rapid downhill journey that followed. The Czech Republic was simply dire, but Switzerland wasn't far behind: Paolo Meneguzzi came across very insecurely singing Era Stupendo. Belarus and Latvia were also bad in their way, although at least Wolves Of The Sea provided some spectacle, however moronic. I was also disappointed that Croatia and Bulgaria didn't come across as well I had hoped, but that in turn made Denmark seem very together and a surefire qualifier for the final.

After Georgia singularly failed to impress me (perhaps because I'm such a cynic) I thought Hungary performed well, although stuck with a very dated song, and was not surprised to see it not qualify. Malta was almost as much of an off-key train-wreck as some of the earlier entries that I was relieved to see Evdokia Kadi make something of Femme Fatale, and FYR Macedonia and Portugal rounded off the semi - at long last - with quality performances. Vânia Fernandes was particularly strong.

Overall though I was very underwhelmed by the second semi-final. I managed to predict seven of the ten qualifiers (after scoring 9.5/10 for the first semi!) but was largely unmoved by the fates of most of the songs. Still, the final was shaping up to be a good one, and the two semi system seemed to have proven it could work.