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Dusseldorf starts the show. The highs and lows detailed below.

Our 3M staff have taken the night off to enjoy themselves at tonight's semi-final, and I am sitting in my lounge in downtown Malmö, Sweden, capturing tonight's event for you all. Here is a minute-by-minute review of how the evening went.

0.01 Good evening Europe? That's it? I was hoping for some acrobats falling from the sky, or at least a replica of the Hindenburg flying around.

Sweden is popular, Estonia excels, and Ireland defies good taste.

The second semi-final is about to start and I am prepared. I have my laptop, a bottle of beer, some sour cream and onion potato chips, and my friend Johan sitting with me to watch tonight's proceedings. I don't know how on earth I managed to convince him to join me as he's not at all a Eurovision fan. But I think his other options tonight for entertainment were:

1. A rerun of CSI: Miami

2. Contemplating the lint in his belly button

3. Playing "Tetris Battle" on Facebook.

The day before kick-off...

21:00 CET will see Düsseldorf's 2nd attempt at getting the first semifinal free of all technical difficulties. The tension will be rising considering it is 24 hours away from the moment where it is all supposed to happen. Will the Germans astound us, or will the Germans pass us by like in the infamous 1983 contest? Follow it as it happens here...

The marathon continues.

21:00 CET we'll be heading over to Dusseldorf for the 2nd rehearsal of semifinal 2. Many fans believe this is the semifinal with the biggest quality and the possibility of the most intense result. After yesterday's surprise bonanza, will semifinal live up to its expectations? Follow the rolling blog live...

A ballad, a teenager and some car repairmen advance to the Norwegian final.

Tonight was the first of three heats of Norway's Melodi Grand Prix. 24 songs compete to take over from last year's song and perhaps beat last year's entry Stella Mwangi for big hairstyles. The three songs Norway chose were:

1. HIGH ON YOU by Reidun Sæther. A clearly nervous Reidun sang well, and even had a catwalk as part of her song.
2. SOMEWHERE BEAUTIFUL by Nora Foss al-Jabri. General Eurovision chatter says that this song will win MGP. An excellent performance - and she's only 15.
3. DON'T TOUCH THE FLAME by The Carburetors. Rock and roll, slicked back hair and some nice sideburns... that's about it. 

Have a listen to "Somewhere Beautiful" - what do you think?

Key events in Baku and a song for Ivi.

Baku 2012 will finally burst into life this afternoon. Buta Palace, which was the venue for the Azerbaijani Eurovision preselection of 2010, will be the host of several key events in preparation for the contest in Baku in the upcoming 2 days.