Malta and beyond to lunch...

That's my boy... Gianluca (did I tell you I met him in London?) charms us, the arena and every camera with that charismatic grin of his. I'm a little worried he's following two very strong songs in Azerbaijan and Finland and that his song may be overlooked. On the other hand, people wanting a normal song sung by a normal boy with his normal band might just see this as a breath of fresh air after the highly produced songs before. Mmmm, I'd had this as a dark horse before but I'm thinking now yes to qualifying and middling next Saturday. 

Bulgaria

This is a bit of a dog's dinner to be honest. The mask prancing boy is as fit as you like (I know as he just waddled through the press centre with the crotch of his jeans literarily dragging on the floor) yet he doesn't really add anything to this and the ending of the song is very awkward indeed. I'm seeing a handful of jury votes for this as it's traditional but your average televoter is going to be heading for the drinks trolley at this point. I don't think they're qualifying. 

Iceland 

It's the Afghan hound next for Island and this is done very very well. Sometimes less is more and this is a simple and effective presentation of a very turgid and forgettable ballad. Loving the sweeping camera shots and the blue backdrop. He's switched to a white jacket in his second run through which is a mistake, making him look washed out. This is still in my bottom five this year but with this performance coming after the Bulgarian dog's mess, they might be qualifying. Still only a maybe though!