Between Serbia and Poland you've got Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

I can’t stop thinking about Croatian outfits they all look so beautiful and cool with that modern and traditional mix

WOW Ukraines visuals are WAY above anyone else. LVL 100! It could be a renaissance painting

Ireland hitting it out of the park with that staging upgrade - so unique and cool, I love it! And Ukraine being an absolute class act as always, Jerry's dress is absolutely INCREDIBLE

Ukraine is just giving winner vibes. Visuals are stunning.

In the TikTok, just noticed there's shadows walking behind Alyona Alyona during her rap and it looks absolutely haunting. I'm really excited to see the full performance.

First, so proud on my Croatia🇭🇷 is Marko. He absolutely never disappoints and can't wait to see him in real performance in ESC. We are so proud of him, his outfit has even more Croatian etno decorations, like "čipka" (pattern on his sleeves, heads of guitar players and also on guitars and drums) and "zlatovez" (golden decorations on his coat and the legs of a female dancer). The most famous "čipka" in Croatia are from island of Pag, but there are also some other places which have this decoration. He and his team really promote our country in the best possible way. Congratulations to all, we love you.❤❤❤. Also in the case of his victory, there is no way that Umag could host ESC. It's a small town and the only place which could host ESC is Arena in Zagreb. Theoretically, I think that Split (second biggest city) which is on Adriatic could be the host, but their Arena is currently closed. From other countries surprises are our neighbours Serbia🇷🇸 and I'm very happy with her performance, also pleasant surprises were Ireland🇮🇪 which really should Q. And country a bit underwhelmed is Cyprus🇨🇾

Congratulations Ireland because you just secured your first qualification in 6 years (and my votes) 🎉

Thanks from Serbia, Tom! Agree the mystic rocky scenery enhanced by smokes adding layers, works really well for this musical masterpiece. Teya Dora is stunning vocally. Hope camera angles do her justice for a full immersive effect. Please vote for Ramonda! 💜🎼

I like how everyone says that Ukraine is investing money in Eurovision or has expensive show , when it's just the opposite. Usually the artists themselves pay for stuff. There are very good specialists and low salaries in Ukraine, that's it. For example, the entire Vidbir with numbers, costumes, production and everything cost less than 200k Euro (I'm shocked) when other countries selections cost millions and don't look that good

If u look at Bambie’s outfit very hard u can see that they have another costume underneath the black one. I smell a costume change during the performance!!!

Baby Lasagna is really slaying on this reherseal, everything we saw and hear was so exciting, I cant wait to see semifinal!! 😀

Yeah! I saw Ireland's rehearsal photos yesterday and went "Ireland is soooooooo going to the Finals!" It's a pity I can't vote for them in SF1 as I'm in Spain and I will definitely do in the Finals WHEN they qualify. ❤

Your questions to croatia: 1.) Yes, the puffy sleeves are part of the folklore of the region of istria 2.) The details on his/their costumes are all handmade and are having traditional meanings. Its all done/designed by Valentina Plisko 3.) They will have different costumes in the second rehearsals which are in the same style, just more darker than the first ones. They will decide later which one they will use for the actual performance. 4.) The city of Umag is sponsoring them because it's Baby Lasagna hometown. They are not considered to host because its to small, only 12.600 people live there and theres also no Arena. 5.) If croatia wins its going to be Zagreb by now, but I think Rijeka (near Umag) is also a good contender or even Split

As a Norwegian I'm now slightly worried that several other countries are bringing rocks as well, and theirs look bigger and cooler 😭 Oh well, at least we're not in the same Semi.

Thank You Tom! Hugs, kisses and meows from Croatia! ❤

definitely voting for ireland from serbia! praying they qualify

Ramonda is a dark horse 💜

Go Bambie. Really happy with this Irish entry. Croatia 🇭🇷 I believe will do well with the juries.

😻from 🇭🇷🔥🔥🔥✌️

I'm an Irish woman now living in the UK so I will be voting for Bambie 🇮🇪❤ I enjoyed watching your analysis as always Tom 👍 Grand final here we come! 🎉

It's noticeable that Bambie has some sort of pink outfit on under her black dress - there may well be some costume change on the way mid-song that we haven't yet been told about yet.

I do feel that all things being equal. The fact that Croatia have never won ESC in their own right will be a factor. All the other favourites have won. I also think the story of Baby Lasagna not being in the Dora final and then getting in and winning by a landslide is a great story- which will doubtless be told during the final. I feel Portugal a few years back had a similar storyline and Salvador won convincingly.

Bambie's dancer is Matt Williams, who is also the choreographer. Overall, I am very impressed. All I cared about yesterday was "does this look good based on the (very limited) footage that we have?" and the answer was yes. Vocally not spectacular based on that footage but we *KNOW* Bambie will deliver this live when they need to. No worries there. In the second rehearsal, I want to see really dynamic camera angles that bring the story to life and I want to be able to say "YES, WE ARE QUALIFYING!" All in all, very good start for Bambie. Let's keep it up and let's keep getting better.

Since Croatia is my fabourite to win this year, it was so nice too hear your reflection on BLs performance! My wow moment of the 1ar reherasals was definetly Bambie Thug. That esthetics are insane. Heads down for the creators (witch i guess includes Bambie!)

Thank You!!!❤🇭🇷❤🇭🇷

Unfortunately, Umag is a small town and I don't see a possibility of them hosting Eurovision there😅 but the whole Croatia is on this baby lasagna crazy hype train, so I believe that there were many who chipped in with money. Even Rimac automobili, a famous Croatian car factory, gave something (Marko came in their newest car to the airport, do I'm making my own conclusions😂😂

One of the Lithuanian delegation members did an interview yesterday and he said that bambie will have an outfit change, he also said the performance gave him top 10 vibes.

Lithuania really surprises me. Serbia, Croatia and Ukraine are also on point.

Baby Lasagna is from Umag, a small town in Istra / Istria (the biggest Croatian peninsula), which is a region with its largest part in Croatia, a very smaller part in Slovenia and a really tiny part in Italy. So, to answear your question Tom, it's the Istrian region 😊.

One of my favorite parts of the Croatian performance is the shots with the neon animals. HRT released some more photos today and one shows green neon bulls on the LED and while that segment happens, everything is dark and green lights is lit up from below and gives everyone on stage this really cool look! That will for sure be very effective, especially if it changes every time the neon animals appear! Also generally love the outfit! That red with the golden flowers look SO good! Apparently there's gonna be some other outfits that he might wear during the 2nd rehearsal (one with black pants and a black jacket-like shoulder cape). I'm really excited to see that one in action! Him being the only one in red makes him stand out on stage as well!

This really got me super excited for Semi 1! I was most excited about Baby Lasagna's new outfit and the upping of details 😄 I'm hoping during the dancing bit, they show camera shots of the crowd because I feel like everyone will be doing that dance in the arena, it's simple enough that everyone will join in like at the pre-parties.

I saw some images on twitter and apparently baby lasagna will have like 2 more outfit variations to try, so that seems pretty exciting

BAMBIE 💙 you have just nailed it . 💯 Qualifying

I love Baby Lasagna's new costume, and the female dancer's too, but I think they could do even MORE with the folkloric decorations on the dancers and musicians to give it, as you say, that fashionista, luxury look which let's face ot, is important now in Eurovision. BL has the tune, the charisma and the vocals now, the visuals and camerawork are what are going to tip it over into a total winner's package. Cannot wait to see the neon animals, I absolutely fell in love with those at DORA. It's funny though, we all criticise the initial DORA performance in retrospect but it WAS that performance that made us all fall in love with the act, wasn't it? Obviously it all needed a level up for the ESC, but it's why I have a problem with the naysayers who are coming out now saying it isn't a winning act ... we all adored it from when it was a DORA act. If he could win international hearts then, with so little frontman experience, fairly crappy camerwork and staging etc, and vocals a lot less strong than now, think what will happen at ESC?

I’m trying to understand why some people don’t like Croatia’s staging because to me everything looks improved from Dora

Ukraine's entry has been wearing off of me since the NF, but those rehearsal pics BLEW ME AWAY! I'm excited for them again and hope they get another Top 5 finish.

These rehearsal pictures are getting me so excited! Bambie Thug wowed me the most - I love the dancer's demonic hand reaching up!

I love Ireland! You must be so excited this year! 😁 Unfortunately I cannot vote from the Netherlands

If you look on the left hand side of Baby Lasagna's waistcoat you'll notice the pins on the waistcoat form a checkered pattern. a nod to the Croatian coat of arms

Thank you! Greetings from Vilnius💛🧡💛

Call me crazy, but I think Ukraine can still win. It would be narrow, but they do have a shot. I definitely think that Croatia has a much better chance though. I just don’t think that Ukraine is not totally out.

Serbia is the Best ❤

Most of these pictures looked awesome! Can't wait to see the show!

Lasagna!

Such respectful and thoughtful commentary. Thanks for your detailed insight!

Excited to see Ireland because it looks amazing!!!!

reading a doorstop Dennis Wheatley biography at the moment so very much here for Bambie's "Crown the Witch" / circle of candles / hex shenanigans.

No, Lasagna has several sponsors now, many people saw an opportunity. Zagreb is still the most probable host. As for the dance part, they will probably be showing the audience.

Marko's from Umag, but it's a small town and there's no venue there (or anywhere near) that'd be big enough to host. There are only two potential venues in Croatia, one in Zagreb and one in Split. The latter would make more sense as Marko's from the coast not from inland (albeit the other end of Croatia's very long coastline!), but it's been shut for a few years and it might not be be possible to revive it in time. But where there's a will, there's a way.

My prediction of the narrative of Bambie's performance, based on what I'm seeing through these pics and clips - as well as the meaning of the song and also the music video narrative: I think the first verse up until the first chorus will be Bambie casting this spell to create this demon lover, or resurrect him. Then from the first chorus onwards i think they will go through ups and downs of romance, positive in the second chorus, negative in the second verse. Then I think the bridge will be a culmination of a possible realisation of conflict and toxicity. Then I think Bambie is going kill this demon lover off, raise the candles to the sky with this powerful act and mourn their tragic love through the epic screams at the end. *Slight edit to this* I actually think the demon lover will only be animated during the choruses upon further watching, which is actually great - the verses are the incantations - the choruses are the dreamlike ballet moments. #crownthewitch

I don't understand some people...Poland looks great. Definitely my favourite together with Ireland, Ukraine and Croatia

Such an great video as always, Tom. Keep up the good work !

18:50 I'm not a chess genius , but I know that the way they opened chess game in Music video is definitely not the opening you want to go for

i am absolutely loving all the fantasy elements we're getting, so much creativity!

Excellent analysis 💜 i agree with you on everything.

hahahah we don't know either... Umag Hrvatska televizija Hrvatska paid.. Electric car factory Nevera.. Shopping center Kaufland hahaha. look at the name Rimac auto Nevera and everything will be clear to you.. Marko is our treasure

Really exciting first day, I agree with most points except Poland, it's giving amateur hour, not a fan. I like Cyprus' entry but like most of their entries before it's really difficult to elevate that type of girlboppy song in a staging concept, like what do they do, have a dance break and 4 dancers and 1 backing singer off-stage? Exciting! /s Crossing my fingers super hard for Teya and Marko 💜❤💙🤍

I was impressed with Ukraine and polands staging

Im so proud of marko and his team, all the improvements that they made is looking fantastic! Im so proud of marko because how improved himself both vocally and mentally is amazing! Im so happy for all the croatian people, im so happy that finally croatia get chance to shine. I hope baby lasagna will win this years esc, because i need and the contest needs new winners.

So excited for Joost Klein his rehearsal tomorrow :O

23:56 The town of Umag paid the costs of the performance because Baby Lasagna is from Umag, and the whole town is proud of him and supports him 100%, because it is a small town, which has never had such a big star. 😉 Of course, Umag has no plans to organize the ESC, there are more live viewers at the Eurovision Song Contest than there are people living in Umag (around 7,000 inhabitants, 12,000 if we include the surrounding villages). 😁 If Baby Lasagna wins, ESC will be held 99% in Zagreb Arena. 😎

Croatia aren't even in my personal top 10 (just not my kind of music), but I wouldn't be mad if they won. It would be well deserved! Bambie looks promising too. I was worried about staging because I actually thought the Eurosong performance was a bit naff and amateur. But I'm soooo happy with what we're seeing so far. Much more mature and artistic. The addition of the male dancer and intimate routine was an excellent choice over the monster things from the Eurosong performance. I think Bambie really knows what they're doing and I'm glad they are being given the tools to put on a great show. Teya Dora looks absolutely amazing and her vocals are flawless. I have no fears of her not qualifying. Iolanda's song is beautiful and she also has flawless vocals, but it's lacking a certain something that draws in an audience. I think Teya Dora has her trumped. I don't like Poland's staging at all. The goofy is too much for me. I really like the song and I think something more slick would suit the song more. It kind of feels like they're slapping a bunch of related imagery together and hoping for the best. There's just too much going on. Cyprus is fine. I don't think it's going through. Love Lithuania. Don't fix what's not broken. I knew Ukraine would be great. I need Jerry Heil's dress, it's gorgeous 😍

I'm so excited for Croatia, I really want them to win now! My problem with Poland; both the styling and stagning are very cool, Lady Gaga-esque, but it doesn't fit with the song. This was my problem with the music video as well. It looks very avantgarde and interesting, but then you have this very safe, disney bubblegum pop song that is completely opposite of what you'd expect from the aesthetic. It doesn't work for me. But it makes more sense when you say that she actually wanted to compete with a different song. The tower probably isn't her style either lol

I agree with what you are saying. The only thing I would add is BL silver grey hair. It looks more towards the vampire theme or middle age guy. The song talks about leaving the countryside so I think he should keep his hair from national final. Hopefully Croatia will win. I’m really routing from them as they haven’t won yet and yes they have a huge chance. ❤️

CROWN THE WITCH TO THE FINAL 🇮🇪😈❤️

Croatia🇭🇷

Thank you!❤very very fantastik ❤Luktelk❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

The trend of the year: masked dancers/players? Thank you for the great wrap up!

Great analysis of Serbia 💜

Croatia ❤. Baby lasagna the best. PHENOMENAL ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Irland ….wow..🔥

We now know a lot but at the same time we also know very little. For example, when you said you liked chess you are very serious about it and not a casual fan since you followed the Candidates Tournament!

11:30 ‘it was all about connor’s cameltoe’ I died right there and then Tom 😂

When it comes to Poland, I like Luna's styling but I think the staging is too much, and after seeing the snippets from today, I firmly believe most of the Q's are coming from the first half of this semi, and Cyprus/Poland are the weakest from that half, so this is gonna be tough. About Croatia tho, I saw a drawing of BL's outfit where his trousers were black and I personally prefer that one but alas, I hope it looks good on camera.

Tom it seems Ireland may have a dress reveal under their black clothing you can see pink and blue!! ❤❤

Baby Lasagna is from Istria (i stree uh) and yes..bigger sleeves are traditional clothing (not as big though :) )

Poland's Luna essentially recreates The Moon tarot card, with the two towers and the moon in the middle. Nifty little detail.

🇭🇷🐯

I can't decide which one is my favourite between Ireland and Ukraine

Bambie is kind of reminding me more of Dawn from this last season of Drag Race, Season 16.

"they want to protect the artists" 👀👀👀👀👀 Sure the EBU have proven, this year moreso than any others, that the artists and fans safety and sanity is above money 😂 Irony aside, thanks for the video, I think I'm pretty much on the same conclusions as you about day 1

11:29 I spat out my drink 😂

Watched the tik tok for Bambie and it’s incredible

Poland needs this! It’s nice❤

What was that about Copenhagen in August?

Omg that great fairy jump scare! Hahaha I was so afraid of them when I was a kid 🤣

Everyone looked good, visually this was great. Cyprus was a bit bare, but it is impossible to have a proper impression without camera cuts because they make all the difference. I would have liked Croatia's performance to be a bit different and slicker than what we saw on NF, but it looks like they copay-passed that one. Then again, different camera cuts could make all look better and this performance is not about stunning visuals, it's about energy so...

Baby Lasagna is the most talented and charismatic performer this year he dont need enything on stage only him self 🎉😊❤

All of my votes for Ireland 🙌

CROATIA❤🎉🎉

I'm not huge on Poland's staging, but I noticed that the ground is checkered like a chess board in addition to the giant rook towers so maybe they will be playing chess on stage???

Luna gives me such Luna Lovegood vibes! ✨ Like she just decided to enter the chess battle in the sorcerer’s stone and decided to build a tower 💥

Is it just me or both the Ireland’s (11:06) and Poland’s (17:25) LED visuals look similar? I wonder wherever the delegations’ gonna see this and change it somehow so the public would not confuse them (although they are VERY different acts so that’s unlikely) It kinda makes more sense for Luna to have the moon imagery monopoly tho 😅

Croatia is a winner no doubt.

It’s Istria - if you look at a map of Croatia, in the north west next to the border with Slovenia/by northern Italy there’s a heart-shaped peninsula. That’s Istria. Umag - isn’t what you’d think of as a city - it’s more a really gorgeous seaside town, it definitely doesn’t have the capacity to host Eurovision, they do SeaStar festival there every year (BL and Angelina Mango already booked for this summer) but it’s open air. Some people suggest that the Roman Amphitheatre in Pula (the only ‘big’ city in Istria, where the airport is - and where James Joyce taught English for a bit and hated every minute of it) could host, but again it’s obviously open air and the capacity is only about 2-3k for live performances (I think - I might be wrong). The deal with Umag is more he’s officially ‘collaborating’ with the town in terms of promoting it for tourism (Umag/Istria as a whole is already major tourist destination - especially for Central and Eastern Europeans - but surely BL repping will help with its growing popularity with folks from further afield). In practice it probably means they do some events together and he does some promotion for them somehow - but definitely not that they’d get to host Eurovision. Realistically only Zagreb has an arena with the capacity to host, there’s a dormant arena in Split that has an outside chance of working too - but very unlikely, HRT already moved Dora to Zagreb this year (it used to be in Opatija - also in Istria, on the opposite coast from Umag, it was basically the St Tropez of the Austro-Hungarian empire back in the day). Thank you for listening to my TED talk. And THANK YOU for your awesome content Tom - loving your channel a lot this year! P.S. Certain Bambie’s dress is a ‘quick change’ dress and that’s why the clip was so short as they’re keeping it a secret, if you look closely at the TikTok video you’ll see little bits of baby blue and pink poking out of the top - especially when she arrives on stage to get setup.

Only Zagreb has a venue big enough to host Eurovision. Umag is probably doing that because he lives in that area and they are proud of him being the first Croatian from their area that is having big european success. You can not pay for better promo.

I think some are underestimating Poland's qualification chance. Poland has a dream draw of televote friends. With Ukraine, the UK, Ireland, and Lithuania all voting in their semi, I think Poland is a very likely qualifier. They will most likely also receive points from Iceland and Germany. I honestly feel that Poland is closer to being a definite qualifier than a borderline qualifier. 8-12 points from at least 4 different countries and mid-table points from a few others is an amazing head start.

Cyprus: This is fine and perfectly serviceable, if a little "girl-bop by numbers". There doesn't seem to be any real vision for this. Will be interesting to see if the camera cuts elevate it. Serbia: Those photos look gorgeous. I like that they've kept the concept from PZE but have elevated it. Really excited to see how it looks with the camera cuts. Lithuania: If it ain't broke, don't fix. The national final staging was great so I'm happy to see that they've transferred it to the Eurovision stage. I'm sure that they've elevated it further too. Ireland: This looks really good. I just hope that they're not going to be confined to the circle for the majority of the performance. I worry it would look a bit static if they did that. Ukraine: They just understand how to stage. Love how this is looking so far. Absolutely adore their costumes. I also like that they photos and clips aren't giving too much away and are leaving some surprises for us. My winner of the day. Poland: I'm not sold on this one. The staging looks far too busy for the song. You can definitely tell that the team who gave us the giant trumpets for Embers are behind this. Croatia: I really like that they've kept the concept from Dora, but this looks a lot cleaner and put together. Interested to see this in motion as I imagine that the energy will really come through then. Overall, this is a very strong half. However, I still don't think that all 7 are getting through, especially in a televote only semi. I personally feel that we're going to get 5 or 6 making it through to the final. I think the second rehearsals will give us more of an idea as to who is most at risk of missing out. Thanks for yet another great video. Really enjoyed your analysis. :)

No sequins a hundred years ago? Funny that, Tutankhamun had them! (Okay, not plastic ones)