Eurovision Heat 1 – Copenhagen, Denmark –

<p>Last night in the first two hour show of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast LIVE from the B&W Hallerne, Copenhagen, 16 countries took part in the First Semi-Final in order to qualify for 10 places available in Saturday's final.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thegayuk.com/AaronHolloway">by Aaron Holloway</a> | 7th May 2014</p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4609460036.jpg" width="460" height="306" alt="" title=""/></p> <p></p><p></p><p>As part of the show we got our first glimpses of the ‘ESC Choir’ made up of voices from around the world, singing a part of the winning song from last year’s show, Only Teardrops. </p><p></p><p>For those who missed the show, the staging is amazing with a full LED screen behind and under the singers, taking the TV experience to a whole new dimension. </p><p></p><p>Copenhagen has returned to the tried-and-always-clumsy three-host platform, complete with cardboard-style reading of cue-cards and really, really bad jokes. It wouldn’t be Eurovision without it, so enjoy! </p><p></p><p>Highlights of the show included Russia getting a place to a chorus of boos so loud it was all you could hear for a few seconds, followed quickly by Ukraine gaining a place (one of my favourite songs) to a very loud screaming crowd. Iceland seem to have taken fashion tips from the Australian reporter Sonny Spells, who was seen at Dusseldorf’s show in a similar bright blue suit; there were cheers all around when the walking Pride Flag of Iceland made it through in the last spot. </p><p></p><p>After Russia and parts of Ukraine and Belarus petitioned to have the ‘too-gay’ parts of Eurovision edited out, it’s nice to see so many other countries are pushing the LGBT imagery as far into their households as possible. </p><p></p><p>We have ten winners, and they are as follows, in the order they were announced.</p><p></p><p>• Montenegro</p><p>• Hungary</p><p>• Russia</p><p>• Armenia</p><p>• Azerbaijan</p><p>• San Marino</p><p>• Ukraine</p><p>• Sweden</p><p>• Netherlands</p><p>• Iceland</p><p></p><p>Much more lies in store for Thursday night’s show, with another 10 places up for grabs at the final on Saturday night. We’ll be hosting a live blog for the final show, and I’ll be tweeting along as well. Follow me on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/adhollowayart">@adhollowayart</a> to keep up, or check back with <a href="http://thegayuk.com/Eurovision">theGayUK.com/Eurovision</a> on Saturday. Be sure to grab a copy of our drinking game, so that you can really enjoy the show! </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p>