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The Meet and Greet started differently with a videofootage. And questions from 3 people around the world. The last one was from an American guy who said: "To me it sounds like you are singing: Gonna take America... what does it mean, and as an American, should I be worried?" Definately the most interesting question I've heard so far at this ESC.
I was of course excited to see Juri's Meet and Greet, since he spent a year in Denmark as an exchange student. And Denmark was also mentioned, because he went to a music school and it helped him a lot with where he is today as a singer. Naturally when I gave him my little flag, I greeted him in Danish. He was asked about his deep voice, and he mentioned that in his early years, he voice was rather high, and he had to sing soprano with the girls in the choirs.
Zöe from Austria was of course asked about following the big victory of Conchita Wurst. And she talked about how happy she is to be in the contest, because just as Conchita she has also tried before to be in the Austrian national selection. And it's all about keep trying. There was also talk about how it is to work with her father, who is both the composer of her song and also her manager. Sometimes they disagree, but it's only what can be expected.
Minus One from Cyprus are 5 energetic guys with lots of humor. That is clear in their meet and greet with the press. As a coverband their ESC entry is their first "original" song. However they have covered Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland and In my Dreams from Norway, since it's similar to their music style. They were asked what they would cover from this years entries. And they mentioned their good relations with the Spanish singer Barei as a possible cover. I think it could be fun to hear them cover the Czech Rupublic entry.
First Meet and Greet of the day was with Gabriela from the Czech Republic. She was ver relaxed and happy about being here. The main goal of course for the Czech Republic to qualify for the final this year. And to avoid the mistakes from the past entries, which means better lightning and staging. With the nice ballade from Gabriela it may seem difficult to imagine, that Gabriela mostly do rock music. But the ballade only proves, that she masters more genres.
GERMANY
I have to be honest here and say that this is one song I really didn’t want in the contest, as the song that the public overwhelming chose was so much better. It’s such a shame that the singer didn’t feel up to coming to Vienna to represent his country.
Ann Sophie is dressed in a black figure hugging jump suit with a gold belt and is singing over her shoulder for her opening lines. We don’t however need to see her bottom filling the camera shot especially when her posture suggests some intestinal discomfort. However her rather annoying smugness from the German national final is thankfully gone and she really delivers the song very charmingly. Four backing singers and some old style film lights with the familiar black smoke lighting set off the performance nicely. Vocally it’s fine and this performance is winning me over. There’s a lovely comfortable confidence coming from this performance and while I don’t see it as a challenger for victory, I think it could well be closer to the top than the bottom of the scoreboard next Saturday night.
Daniel from FYR Macedonia has really showcased his vocals during the rehearsal.
There's not an awful lot of changes in terms of the backdrop. However the little dance routine Daniel and his former Blackstreet guys did in the previous rehearsal are no longer included. Possibly for the best.
It looks a lot better that way.
Powerful vocals, I like this a lot!