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Second Dress Rehearsal for Second Semi-Final

AidaK on Wed, 05/09/2018 - 20:10
ESC 2018
Rehearsal
Eurovision
All countries

First at all - why there are only four hostes and will the number grow to eight for the final?
To be continued on that...

And now back to the important stuff:

01 Norway
As I've missed a lot rehearsals, I'm gonna watch tonight as if I've just switched my TV on without knowing what is going on. I totaly agree with Desirée. Fairytale reloaded and Oslo might come back as Eurovision host.

02 Romania
Oh, those masks are scary. Put your kids away from television if you don't want to get a sleepless night. And again, I'm totaly agree with Desirée. "Goodbye" is a song which could work for Eurovision but the performans kills it. Shame.

03 Serbia
Wow. Great, unusual, but with a catchy melodie. Pop meets ethno. Strong voices. I'm afraid it still too unusual for the average national audience, but I really would like to see Albert Einstein with his panpipe in the final again.

04 San Marino
Well. Don't think, it is going through the semi. At least both ladies AND the robots are enjoying themselves on stage, don't they?

05 Denmark
Again - agree with Desirée. A solid show, charismatic artist with a good voice and a strong message (too much make up for a viking though ;) ). My colleague was singing along and the press center applauded.

06 Russia
There are so many questions on that perfomance I won't never get answered. Why the montain, why the dancer, why an outfit from the grandmom's wardrobe? I was so distracted, I couldn't concentrate on the vocals or the song, which is a shame, as they are quite good. Still, the audience liked it. C'mon, Julia, you can do the Final.

07 Moldova
Balcan beat meets Estrada and I must confessed, my slavic soul looooooves it. The performance is maybe a little bit over the top for my taste, but hey, it's Eurovision where sky is the limit. The vocals were fine, dear Desirée :)

08 The Netherlands
Sometimes less is more and that definitely the case of Waylon's performance or rather the performance of his stage entourage. Those break dancers will break your neck in the Semi, hon. However, it is still a cool radio song that I've already added to my spotify playlist. Without the dancers.

09 Australia
A very strong vocal performance, but the dancing seems to be a tribute to "Puppet on a String" and, unfortunately, the camera shots don't flatter Jessica.

10 Georgia
One of my favorites this year. The vocal energy rises with every moment. But I'm afraid the music is too sophisticated and the show too classical for the Final.

11 Poland
Agree with Desirée: quite flat vocals even with some noticeable breaks, but a wide voice range isn't required for dance pop. Cool staging, catchy tune, could work.

12 Malta
Again, less is more. Strange cheesy visuals which distract from the song but, unfortunately, not in a good way. She seems to relax and gain confindence during the performance, but will it help?

13 Hungary
Can't write - need to handbang now. Finally something authentical came up on the Eurovision horizont. This entry shows that the contest IS open for all genres beyond the limited frames of commercial music. I would love to see them at the Final and I'm sure, I will.

14 Latvia
Good vocal performance, but an average performance.

15 Sweden
If Justin Timberlake and Justin Biber would merge together, Benjamin Ingrosso will be the result. Absolutely love it. A radio hit, sung by a very very very charismatic artist and supported with a stunning but still very simple stage set. Less is more, as I said.

16 Montenegro
Smooth, powerful voice, but the entry is too traditional. A modern staging, performance and costumes could have bring it through the Semi, but I'm afraid, he's gonna stuck here.

Semi final one....shocks and surprises?

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ESC 2018
Opinion
Eurovision
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First up we were delighted with Ireland making it to the final - first time for four years and in our opinion it was totally deserved - well done to the whole team involved and especially Ryan for making Ireland proud

Really the show was great, no technical mishaps that we noticed, so again congratulations to the EBU team for another successful live Eurovision transmission and bringing the music to peoples home's to take part in the longest running and possibly the most popular event on television

So the qualifiers;
Austria. One that I missed but Daniel got. Was happy for them in the end, it seemed to be a great performance and effectively staged. Deserved
Estonia. Both of us saw this. I'm not a fan of the song at all. Verdict probably deserved
Cyprus. Again both of us saw this, and calling her the Eurovision Beyonce maybe a bit premature but possibly the winner of the televote. Verdict Deserved
Lithuania. Daniel missed this, but I saw it from the very beginning of the whole event. Verdict, deserved, but some may disagree
Israel. Again we both got this one, again this is probably deserved, but again the song is starting to grate a little now.
Czech Republic. Fantastic from Mikolas - very very deserved
Bulgaria. This is such a grower of a song, so we both out it through but not sure if it was deserved or not in the end.
Albania. I got this, Daniel missed it. From what we heard yesterday in the media room, the delegation were stressed and a little unhappy - but in the end it all came good. Very deserved
Finland. Well she really pulled it out of the bag at the last minute - faultless performance and very much deserved int he end
Ireland. Kinda made our Eurovision week - perfect!

And shocks for us, both Azerbaijan and Armenia missing out. Thought at least one of them would go through. Sad a little for Croatia, and Greece - both of whom we count as delegations that are friends as well as co-workers. Iceland - again we were sad - but really this is because of Ari himself and not the song. Belgium, she did a great job but in the end the song was a little too clever for Eurovision. Belarus - the staging killed this, really poor showing from the delegation that usually gives us such a great show. Macedonia - even though it possibly one of my favourite songs, it did not translate very well on the live stage - so BOO!
And finally don't forget the Swiss. Great performance and they can be really proud of themselves - I think they just missed out last night

Philipp Kirkorov's amazing birthday party....all the news here

Philipp Kirkorov
ESC 2018
City Event
Eurovision
All countries

Philipp Kirkorov's birthday party

Russia superstar, celebrity and performer Philipp Kirkorov celebrated his birthday in style last night at the exclusive club SUD Lisboa

Philipp Kirkorov's birthday party

ESCKAZ.com were invited as one of the few selected media to be on the gold dust guest list. Obviously this was always going to be a party that was not to be missed. Straight from the press centre to the club, we arrived to be greeted and welcomed by Philipp Kirkorov himself, resplendent a one of design by Dolce and Gabbana - looked great and not his age at all….but after all he is only 25 obviously

Attending the party were the delegations from Iceland, Bulgaria, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Greece, Cyprus, Moldova, San Marino, Norway and special guest Sergey Lazarev. We chatted with several of them and got got some some intimate moments in the beautiful surroundings overlooking the waterfront - an amazing spot in Lisbon

Philipp Kirkorov's birthday party

Philipp Kirkorov treated us all to complementary drinks as we arrived and gave several interviews to press and welcomed each of his guests in turn - cameras were flashing all the time, TV crews were tripping over each other to all get the most amazing shots.

Finally we were invited inside to listen to some heartfelt comments from Philipp, Alexander Ryback and Sergey Lazarev as well as Alexander performing with his violin. After this the whole party were treated to an amazing array of Portuguese Tapas - again complimentary from Philipp Kirkorov.

During the food and drink there were performances from Rui Drummond, Eurovision 2005, and we wish that one day he will appear on the Eurovision stage again. Afterwards EQUINOX (Bulgaria) performed, as did Aisel (Azerbaijan) and Sergey Lazarev (Russia 2016)

Once again and amazing party and all the ESCKAZ.com team would like to thank Philipp Kirkorov and his team for the outstanding party…

All footage and photography maybe found at this playlist and on this flickr album

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj9YGQtlfgFrN_ak2NHBVS-vmPqXTBoo

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