Everything is becoming a bit of a blur...

Well, here we are.  It's Day 3, and already the number of similar entries are beginning to all blur together into one neon lit, disco bop bangathon...

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm absolutely LOVING the fact that we have so many great, proper pop songs this year.  It's just that after three days, an awful lot of them are becoming a bit indistinguishable from one another.  Either that, or their producers and stage directors have decided to to so far over the top that a lot of the performances might get you thinking you had overdosed on the Sunny D at breakfast!

Take Senhit from San Marino, for example.  We knew from the video that this was going to be every shade of whacky under the sun, but boy, does our girl bring as OTT with sprinkles on!  Look at this pic, for goodness sake, which is from the first 10 seconds of the performance!

A golden headdress featuring the Madonna and Child alongside men in gimp masks and shiny red leather boots is all just a bit much, really.  I mean, it's a fun performance, but does it really need everything plus the kitchen sink thrown at it?

Same goes for Greece, which is overly reliant on green screen effects that didn't work particularly well and just ended up looking like a pale pastiche of what Sergey did in Stockholm (without the need for green screen!).  Great vocals, and I really love the song, but again it was all just TOO much!

Of today's "busy" performances only Iceland stood out as being really great.  Not overly flashy, just well thought out, colourful, witty and charming and not OTT.  Yes, the song is weaker than last year's, but in this case the whole package came together exceptionally well and I think we're looking at Dadi being back in the running.

The other song which stood out for me today, and which had a much more understated performance, came from Victor Bueno.  The Austrian/Filipino singer delivered a strong, memorable performance of his power ballad, which stood out a mile amidst all the bells and whistles that seemed to accompany virtually every other entry today.

The gorgeous Uku from Estonia also put in a solid delivery that more than satisfied...

Of the bops, I think the best one for me was Moldova.  She sang well and the dancers were effective without being off-putting.

So, Semi 2 is shaping up to be interesting in terms of seeing how the juries and voting public are going to differentiate where their all-important votes are going to go.  Gawdy, trashy and OTT, or simple, powerful and effective?

Hmmm....  I expect there will be loads more of the same tomorrow!

Photo credits: EBU / Andres Putting