
Welcome back to ESCUnited’s coverage of Eurovision 2025! We’re smack in the middle of the biggest musical contest in the world, and you best believe we’re following every moment as it unfolds. Whether you’re on site enjoying the benefits Basel has prepared for the viewers, or you’re in the comfort of your homes with snacks and drinks, come along with us as this fine evening, we’ll be live blogging semi final 2 second dress rehearsal!
So, let’s see what we have on the schedule for today, shall we?
Opening the show
The opening moment sees a man stride from the front of the stage toward the main platform, holding a Eurovision heart emblem with a Swiss cross. As he places it at the heart of the stage, it symbolically sets Semi Final 2 in motion. This gesture is sort of highligted by a shower of lights and pyro! Wow!
The hosts join us next on stage to open the show.
🇦🇺 Australia:
First up, Go-jo with his “Milkshake Man”. It opens up with a retro TV screen of Go-Jo before it transitions in to the familiar splurge of colors and lights on stage. The floor is checkered, the colors change, and Go-Jo feels like he’s at home in his sparkly costume and uplifting song. The blender prop is behind him, and the dancers follow him seamlessly around it. He interacts with the audience with the “Sweet, sweet” – “yum, yum” portion and brings the whole house on fire. What a great opening!
🇲🇪 Montenegro:
The performance opens up with Nina blindfolded, in white, and the camera pans around her in circle. The lighting behind her is in turqoise, creating this sort of beamy spotlight. Lots of fog comes in, making Nina seem like she’s floating on stage. The backdrop LED forms a sparkly scale in the second part of the song, as Nina strides towards the front stage. It seems she may be holding back vocally, which makes perfect sense given how difficult the song can be at times. She drops a part of her costume, leaving her in her white dress only, to finish off the song!
🇮🇪 Ireland:
Ready for takeoff? We are, too! We see a spaceship in the middle of the stage, and Emmy comes in with a silvery dress and a colorful backdrop. Turqoise and pink colors seem to be the most prominent. She climbs on top of the prop for th second portion of the song. There are 4 dancers who follow the performance with the choreography. On the LED in the background, we see austronauts animation, marching on, and this is where pyro comes in! Sparkles and glitter all around!
🇱🇻 Latvia:
The performance kicks off with them wearing illuminated crowns, casting striking silhouettes against the stage lights that reminds us of rain, in a way? They seem very well coordinated. There is a switch from the overall blue atmospheric lights to the red one, and it almost feels like it lit their crowns on fire. Very fascinating! As the song builds up, we see six glowing tails appear on the LED screen behind them, wow! Incredible coordination between them, this is stunning.
🇦🇲 Armenia:
The performance begins with slick camera angles on Parg who is on the front stage. The background sets of lights are descended lower on the stage, as we’ve seen from the rehearsal photos and footage. He on a treadmill and this must be incredibly hard to execute, given that we don’t hear him get out of breath. The lighting is mostly dark and green. Smokes comes in for the final part of the song, giving us a moment to actually breathe, and the stage lights turn to red and black, before exploding back into its original state, with added pyro. The high note seems stable! Very cool.
🇦🇹 Austria:
Black and white staging, as we’ve seen in the rehearsals. We start off with a close up shot on JJ, he’s singing in falsetto seamlessly. The visual of a lone paper boat is on the screen as it flows away. He gets up as vocally he goes in the opera register, lifting up a prop light and holds onto the ropes from the props. We get wind next, imitating a building storm, as the song builds up, too. We hear an audience reaction as the track kicks off into the electric beat for the final high note!
🇬🇧 United Kingdom:
First of the Big 5 tonight, it’s Remember Mondays with “What The Hell Just Happened”. We start off with an intimate, close up shot of the three of them. It’s all very warm lights and gentle notes. Then the camera zooms out and pyro comes in with the high notes of the chorus. They flirt with the camera and are very upbeat as they strut forward to the second prop, a large crystal chandelier. The colors change from pink to blue and vice versa, and they move to the walkway for the final part of the song. There is a cute, heart shaped prop they end up on, as if taking a picture in a frame!
🇬🇷 Greece:
Klavdia begins the performance on a raised black platform positioned behind a rocky structure, that is reminiscent of some of the previous years’. The arena is enveloped in darkness, with only one spotlight on the singer. Her vocals are incredible right off the bat. On the LED backdrop behind her, it appears as if a door of light opens up as she moves into the pre-chorus. As the chorus hits, streams of fire begin to flow gently, adding a dramatic flair. During the chorus, a burning tree appears on screen, and one dancer joins in. A flock of animated birds comes in, along with the sparkly swirls behind Klavdia, as if hugging her from behind, it’s actually very powerful. The performance ends with the stage fading to black, only for the final shot to reveal her now dressed in white.
🇱🇹 Lithuania:
Similarly to the national final, Lukas comes into the starting shot with a close up and white LED background. This transforms further into turqoise and dark. The screen switches to a field and a house in the back, as smoke and wind come in and the rest of the band is also shown. Lukas’ vocals are incredibly stable and grungy, the whole thing delivers exactly what it promised. For the final bridge (‘tavo!!!’) we see the band moving to the front stage as the track picks up on instrumentation and intensity. The long, high note is fantastic. It’s all darkness and drama!
🇲🇹 Malta:
The staging begins with an eye catching spectacle: an oversized set of lips onstage, holding a shimmering disco ball between them. Her name is written above. As the performance kicks off, the ball rotates to unveil Miriana inside in a vibrant yellow and black dress. When the chorus comes in, a group of dancers joins her and remove her outer layer, revealing a striking red and black outfit beneath! As the second chorus comes in, the stage lights explode into a flurry of color, and bold lyrics illuminate the screen. During the bridge, Miriana strides onto the walkway and gets her own ball. Her vocals are stable even in higher notes. The number concludes with an energetic display of fireworks and a final flashing statement: “Diva Not Down.”
🇬🇪 Georgia:
Mariam begins her performance positioned on a sloped platform at the center of the stage, surrounded by four dancers. She is wearing a massive silvery-white dress. The entire arena is bathed in intense, flickering lights and as the chorus hits, the dancers bring in the flags to highlight the drama. Mariam then slowly steps down during the bridge of the song. At this point, she sheds her voluminous outer dress to reveal a sleeker, more striking reddish outfit underneath. She then makes her way to the front of the stage while the dancers stay positioned at the back. The performance ends on a dramatic note as the stage lights turn to blue.
🇫🇷 France:
The performance begins with Louane lying in the sand, turning an hourglass in her hand. Behind her, a continuous flow of sand begins to pour, creating a visually captivating effect. She starts to interact with the stream of sand, shaping it with her hands, it’s a beautifully framed over-the-shoulder camera shot as she drops back to her knees and then back up. She moves the sand around on the stage floor, and we see a mirror-like effect for a moment. In the second chorus, sand is gently blown toward her, and by that point, sand streams swirl around her, enhancing the performance’s atmosphere. It’s all warm tones and lights, it’s very captivating. For the final part of the song, we see more intimate and close shots. Vocally, she delivers a powerful and emotionally resonant performance!
🇩🇰 Denmark:
Sissal opens her performance standing on a round platform, surrounded by a monochrome setup with the lights quickly flickering on her. This quickly changes into more pink and blue tones. She’s encircled by sheer white drapes, creating a soft, ethereal atmosphere. There is a striking visual on the spotlight she’s standing in, a shadowy figure above her. As the performance unfolds, the dancers remove her coat and begin to twirl around her with the flowing fabric. She is a wearing a sparkly blue leotard now. Then, she moves down the walkway, revealing a cape trailing behind her, which also catches the wind, adding to the drama of the moment.
🇨🇿 Czechia:
The performance opens with a tight camera shot of Adonxs, drawing all attention to him. During the first chorus, he adds flair by tossing his cape into the air for dramatic effect. Vocally, he’s singing in the lower register until he goes into the chorus. He’s soon joined by four male dancers, all dressed in crisp white. The camerawork is pretty slick, follows Adonxs as he struts around the stage, then pans around him. The dancers remove a part of his costume by the second chorus. As the dance break kicks in, the entire stage is washed in bold red tones, creating a striking contrast. The group makes their way to the front stage for a powerful finish, delivering some impressive vocal moments and there is a very good visual shot of the front stage including them all together.
🇱🇺 Luxembourg:
Laura begins her performance lying on her back as the camera transitions to a dollhouse, guiding us through a massive keyhole prop. The LED backdrop features a still image of the dollhouse, grounding the concept but it may not be as visually stimulating as perhaps a real prop would’ve been. As the song progresses, Laura moves down the runway and onto the front stage, seamlessly incorporating choreography with the dancers that she interacts with. A dramatic outfit change reveals a sparkly dress underneath, perhaps symbolizing her transformation and escape. The high note delivered!
🇮🇱 Israel:
“New Day Will Rise” begins with a close shot on Yuval. Everything is in black, before we gradually see some green-ish lights come in. The camerawork shows a wide shot, revealing a gliterry staircase-structure that is there to symbolize a cage. Yuval walks around it, and then climbs it. A visual of the waterfalls in the back is also shown, but Yuval seems vocally a little less stable than expected. As she transitions into the final part of the song, we see the water in contrast with a powerful visual of a pyro curtain in the background, and the performance is ended with a close up on Yuval, just like in the beginning.
🇩🇪 Germany:
The performance opens with Abor standing on the walkway, playing his lit up instrument. A massive curtain then falls, unveiling Tynna perched atop a large boombox. As the verse begins, she descends and moves through the structure (lots of it) before making her way to Abor, eventually resting her head on his shoulder in a tender moment. Vocally, it’s a little bit empty, as if perhaps we need louder instrumentation? Later, Abor climbs to the top of the boombox, and as the performance nears its end, we see a whole party on stage, smoke and dancers and everything.
🇷🇸 Serbia:
The performance begins with Princ enveloped in smoke, while his dancers move around him, as the choreography compliments the atmosphere perfectly. It’s meant to symbolize demons trying to haunt him and drag him into hell. Princ is incredibly stable vocally, delivers powerful vocals, perhaps the best of the evening. As the smoke gradually clears, a reflection of Princ becomes visible on the floor LED. In a dramatic moment, he’s pulled down the walkway by his ankles. The performance concludes with Princ being lifted high by his dancers on the front stage, creating a stunning final image.
🇫🇮 Finland:
To conclude the semi final 2, it’s Erika Vikman! She’s starting off with a tight camera angle, close up on her, holding the mic and its stand and moving with it. The stage soon explodes into flickering blue and white-ish lights, before we move into the second portion of the song where Erika dramatically struts down the walkway to the front stage and the lights change to pink and purple. She appears confident, dragging the mic stand with her the whole time. For the bridge, she drops to her knees and we see camera above her with the white LED background. As the culmination approaches, she moves to the original position, the lights glow bright red, and Erika is on top of the massive mic stand prop, in the air! What a way to finish the show!
The hosts then remind us of the voting rules and open the voting sequence. We get a recap first, before we move into the interval act portion of the evening.
We get a reminder of the 2020 contestants that never got to perform their songs, their statements about being able to get closure by coming back to Eurovision this year. We start off with Gjon’s Tears with “Répondez‐moi”. The shackles around his hands seem like melting lava! Next, we get The Roop back with “On Fire”. This transitions into a snake visual on the LED floor with Efendi taking to the stage with “Cleopatra”. Everything is on fire and a bunch of dancers are there to compliment her. Next, we see Destiny coming out to the walkway to sing her 2020 song “All My Love”. There is a pyro curtain on the backfround, looking impressive. That concludes the interval act for the 2020 contestants!
The hosts remind us again of the voting, this being the final chance to vote, and we get the final recap of all songs in the second semi final, after which, the voting is closed.
You can check out all of the previously-released rehearsal clips on the official TikTok channel of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Who will #YOU be voting for? Let us know on social media (@escunited), Discord, or at our forum.