Australia had a big blue box. Serbia gave us tasteful drama and Belarus brought holographic wolves. And this was just three countries out of ten that took to the stage today in the first rehearsals of the first half of semi final two here at Eurovision 2016. But who out of today’s acts – Australia, Belarus, FYR Macedonia, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and Switzerland – had the best rehearsal for today?

You can watch our reviews of today’s first rehearsals below. Then vote in our poll. You can vote for as many countries as you like, but you can only vote one time, so make it count. Be sure to click the box next to each act you want to support before pressing submit.

FIRST REHEARSALS: MAY 4

Australia: Dami Im with “Sound Of Silence”

Belarus: Ivan with “Help You Fly”

FYR Macedonia: Kalipoi with “Dona”

Ireland: Nicky Byrne with “Sunlight”

Israel: Hovi Star with “Made Of Stars”

Latvia: Justs with “Heartbeat”

Lithuania: Donny Montell with “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night”

Poland: Michal Szpak with “Colour Of Your Life”

Serbia: Sanja Vucic ZAA with “Goodbye (Shelter)”

Switzerland: Rykka with “The Last Of Our Kind”

[polldaddy poll=9406469]

FOR MORE EUROVISION POLLS, CLICK HERE

127 Comments
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gem
gem
8 years ago

Goo Dami!!! the best ..

manete
manete
8 years ago

Hovi, Michael, Ivan.

Jowita
8 years ago

Michal Szpak has the best vokal all participants! Today I missed only fire in this performance, in the sense of visualization but it is to fine-tune! How it manages to improve it will be number one!

Brit_bit
Brit_bit
8 years ago

1) Poland
2) Ukraine
3) Australia

Love to all of you guys!

Salman
8 years ago

LOL

lenny77
lenny77
8 years ago

Latvia ,Serbia and Poland

bella
bella
8 years ago

Does anyone know who is doing well that moment in itunes?

LIZ
LIZ
8 years ago

Bella – 20 or maybe 50 thousand esc fans/people cant decide for whole 200 million people. N Frans n his song has got the swag factor which normal people at home would obviously vote for and yeah i think this could win. N don’t worry , not only me but many people are gonna vote for Frans !!!

simon
simon
8 years ago

Poland is awful!! so old fashion song , for me NO.
for me:
1 Israel
2 Australia
3 Serbia
4 Latvia

dan
dan
8 years ago

Israel was the best yesterday, Serbia was good as well

Loo
Loo
8 years ago

For me, after a lot of research, we have four potential winners left. (In no particular order) Sweden, France, Russia and Australia. I don’t think that’s how the top four will look like, because Ukraine, Armenia and some other countries will scor high as well. But one of these I mentioned has the edge to win. Still hard to predict who, though.

NL
NL
8 years ago

1. Australia (Dami can win this)
2. Latvia (Simple and good)
3. Poland (Those live vocals)

Ireland, Lithuania and Israel didn’t worked for me, like the songs less now…
Its nice to see that Rykka is doing her own thing and the wall of the Belarus entry is really good. Shelter is gonna get a 15-8 place in the final, i like it. I hope Kaliopi is going to the final, but i still can’t say if the live performance is good, or not?

Loo
Loo
8 years ago

@EugeneESCUK Okey I have certainly not been following this contest as long as you (I’m much younger) HAHA and with all the respect to you and your knowledge I have seen that the contest have changed a lot the last five years. Especially after 2013. I’m very young, but I have been a fan of Melfest and ESC since birth basically. My first memory of ESC was when Dana International won in 1998. I’ve been stucked with this ever since. For I have been writing about ESC a lot for a local newspaper and I have predicted the winner every… Read more »

bella
bella
8 years ago

Eugene In my aspect Australia cant win this year.The song is the classic ballad we have heard many times and
it is repetitive.And I dont think that fans want Australia to win.Some like Australia some not.It seems that Amir
have more supporters than anyone else.After the second rehearsals we will know for sure who are the clear favorites.Maybe we will see some changes in top 4 in bets or maybe not.

OR
OR
8 years ago

@EugeneESCUK. Hi, what u say about israel odds since hovi won yestarday?is it improve? Thanks

Vassiliki
8 years ago

Mmmmm, sounds like there are some jealous bloggers on this forum regarding Australia’s song entry this year. You can try to be overly critical, judgemental, negative and even down right nasty when you go as far as demeaning Dami’s character (tsk tsk tsk) but you can’t hide the fact that this song has all the markings of being a winner. It’s contemporary, classy and sung with a lot of emotion. Dami is the human form of a nightingale who has you mesmerised from start to finish. I think it’s a case of sour grapes for some people on this forum.… Read more »

Giedre
Giedre
8 years ago

Well, as I am Lithuanian, I support Donny as much as I can and I can only hope that in the next rehearsals he will improve so much that all of u who left him at the last place with only ONE point will be embarrassed. Really. Was that so bad or were u not listening to him or what? Why just ONE point?????

Hi
Hi
8 years ago

Australian song its so boooring. She only sing ” sound of silence” over and over again.

nnnaaa
8 years ago

Belarus!!!!!!

Famous Look
Famous Look
8 years ago

Honestly*

Famous Look
Famous Look
8 years ago

Honesly I don’t like Australian song. It’s so boring and ordinary. In my opinion Polish song is the best! Michal’s voice is awesome! I think that he can win and it will be WARSAW 2017! (BTW. I want to go to Warsaw cuz it’s beautiful) The song is very touching and powerful.

Layla
Layla
8 years ago

Why belarus is so low? He was amazing yesterday!

George
George
8 years ago

Guys, personally I don’t like Sound of Silence, a song without anything new to offer. In my opinion the best rehearsals were of Israel and Poland. Dami may be a cute girl but her song is soo ordinary

Agata
Agata
8 years ago

I can’t understand why everybody is co crazy about Australia. The song is average and leaves simply nothing inside me. I’m afraid that it’s all because its Australia, our guest, and the girl is so Asian. If for example Belarus had such a song, it would get forgotten.

bella
bella
8 years ago

I wont give up.I will support my favourites to the end.i think that this year is a bit strange and unpredictable.We have some favorites
but we cannot predict exactly the winner.i think that we will see some surprises in top ten like Hungary and Norway . Cyprus can also achieve a place in top ten.

bella
bella
8 years ago

Eugene, Loo im very young like you said, but I have been watching eurovision for 16 years.

Nancy.
Nancy.
8 years ago

OMG Lithuania was last with 1 point in the press poll! How underrated! Their rehearsal was very good! Also Switzerland is extremely underrated! Look at those beautiful colors! I agree with this poll australia was the best! Belarus was a hot mess! Ireland was very very bad! So why so many say that these rehearsals are better than the rehearsals of the first semi final? Why the LED screens and the visuals bother you? Remember , nowadays technology is the biggest part of our lives! Why it can’t be involved at Eurovision? Do you want cheap dancing by 4 dancers… Read more »

Andy
Andy
8 years ago

Australia baby! we don’t need to see more

Panda
Panda
8 years ago

Hands and feet down, the best rehearsal of the day is Australia’s Sound of Silence by Dami Im

DMS
DMS
8 years ago

Better semifinal this one just from the fact that the best ones are not doing stupid things in front of a LED panel. Let’s for once performe and let the natural body expressions flow on that stage.

I liked Israel just because I think nobody expected such a fantastic staging. The song is still not one of my favorites, but hey, give it some time.

Loo
Loo
8 years ago

Bella don’t give up! Like Eugene says, you sound very young and also a bit naive x) Sweden might not win this year, no, but there’s still a big chance we might do it. I still believe and will believe to the bitter end that Frans will steal the moment next saturday. Just like in Melfest. Together with the home crowd that will be a magic TV moment. Don’t give up the faith, don’t give up the hope! @EugeneESCUK Shall we surrender our recent war and knock our heads together? We both seem to have followed this for quite long.… Read more »

TyffanyJade
TyffanyJade
8 years ago

*Correction Semi Final 2* (not 1)

TyffanyJade
TyffanyJade
8 years ago

Semi final 1 (1st half)-
Australia, Israel & Serbia no doubt will qualify but the rest I’m not sure. Ireland & Lithuania had the weakest 40secs to shine compared to the rest. The full rehearsals might be better.This is just my opinion 🙂

Sonya
Sonya
8 years ago

1)Australia
2)Serbia
3)Israel
4)Poland
5)Belarus
6)Latvia

Danish
Danish
8 years ago

LATVIA is the winner for me. Good job Justs!

Australia and Serbia is following in the second and third position.

silvester
silvester
8 years ago

Sweden continues to drift in bets because they don’t own this contest and don’t deserve to win every year only because it’s Sweden. Especially not this year, when they copied Justin Bieber and put no or very little effort in staging. Not to mention vocal abilities of their singer Frans. 😉

Frysk
Frysk
8 years ago

Don’t like power balads from screaming women. Australie for me is a big NO! I recognize het talent but it is not me. But, I do like Serbia!!

bella
bella
8 years ago

Loo I really like Frans and if I were sorry but most of the fans hate if I were sorry nobody seems to like that song and Sweden continues to drift in bets .She she is 6th now.Perhaps she drifts due to the fact that people dont bet much for sweden because of yhe last years win.For many fans many countries have possibilities to win except from Sweden..I dont know…I wish that they are wrong…

silvester
silvester
8 years ago

Every single contestant wants to win. 😉

David Who
David Who
8 years ago

Wait, Donny Montell got only ONE VOTE from the press poll?
In his interviews he keeps saying he wants to win this year. Oh dear. 🙁
Well done Hovi Star for winning that poll; it was a close top 4.

Nick
Nick
8 years ago

<3 MADE OF STARS <3
LOVE IT FROM GREECE

boyan08
boyan08
8 years ago

10/10: Macedonia,Serbia,Poland
9.5/10:Australia
8/10:Israel
5.5/10:Latvia,Switzerland
2/10: Belarus
0/10:Lithuiania,Ireland

I can’t wait to see Kaliopi with her dress!

Chris UK
Chris UK
8 years ago

Day 3: Latvia – good song, not sure if he will wear his voice out before the day! I hope not because it is a great song and he has a strong delivery. It was a good rehearsal and staging seems effective. Poland – Michal gave a good vocal performance again. I think the staging needs to be looked at as the text across the backdrop was not necessary and PLEASE if the text is to be kept get the spelling correct. Colour in the English language has U in it! Serbia – good strong vocal again, good staging –… Read more »

Layla
Layla
8 years ago

1. Macedonia/ Latvia/ Israel – they sounds the same as their audio version.
2. Serbia/ Australia – just perfect.
3. Belarus – very interesting performance. He’s live is better than before.
4. Poland – boring visualization. Besides, I know that he can sing better, but I know he was sick.
5. Lithuania – I’t not bad, but I thought it would be more vigorously.
6. Ireland – just boring.
7. Switzerland – no comment.

silvester
silvester
8 years ago

Australia, Serbia, Israel and Belarus. 🙂

OR
OR
8 years ago

@georgekirkas
GOOD NIGHT 🙂

georgekirkas
georgekirkas
8 years ago

@OR

Thank you, I will think of it tomorrow. Good night and lots of kisses from beautiful Greece!

cheesecake
cheesecake
8 years ago

Serbia was miles ahead of the rest today. Strong vocals, good choreography, good staging in general, good looks, no technology. I never expected it to be so good.

OR
OR
8 years ago

@georgekirkas
how about : Tom ?

georgekirkas
georgekirkas
8 years ago

@OR

I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you to suggest me something.