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Not a fan of Lighthouse X I'm afraid. Second run was much better than the first one, which was stopped three times. The boys are competent singers but the song is just too middle down the road.
The performance here in Stockholm is pretty much the same as the one we saw a few months ago in the national final. Backdrop colour scheme: You guessed it right... Blue and white again... Come on SVT be a bit more adventurous.
I simply can not get excited about Denmark, sorry.
Bulgaria are one of the three countries to return to the Eurovision Song Contest this year and they are doing so with a bang.
They have a great song to start with and a great performer. Poli has such charisma which oozes from the screen. During the intro verse, we have a close up shot from Poli, who then starts singing, before she unveils her gladiator outfit.
For the chorus, she's dancing a routine, which at first looks a little weird, but is in fact pretty cool as well.
The backdrop consists mainly of a silver, blue and gold scheme, with snow effect all the way through the backdrop and LED floor. Two panels however change to silhouettes during the chorus, showing silhouettes doing the same routine as Poli does. For the final chorus, the four backing singers have also joined Poli to the front of the stage.
Vocally it sounds ok, a few shaky points at times, but nothing really to worry about.
Qualifying should be very easy.
ManuElla from Slovenia gets to open the first rehearsal of day 4.
Her outfit has changed from the national final. She is now wearing a long white dress with black touches and long split. The biggest change is of course the revamped song, which opens now with a slightly different opening than its original. That's a pretty high note to sing first thing in the morning. Vocals are good and keep getting better as the song progresses.
As many songs, the backdrop is mainly blue and red during the verses, which is the only fitting colours for this song really. I really think SVT have to rethink the backdrop used for a lot of countries, but this blue and red scheme is getting very annoying now. Not a criticism to Slovenian delegation team however. Bonus point is however that in the chorus, the backdrop has several stills of ManuElla's eyes featured.
In terms of the act, ManuElla is on the stage alone for most of the time, but she's joined halfway through by the Danish acrobat Jannik Baltzer Hattel, who's basically twisting his body around a pole. Not entirely sure what it exactly adds to the message of the song though.
In the third run, pyros have been added to the performance, which kick in during the key change. Those are all around the stage by the way.
Pretty good first rehearsal.
Today Nordiska Kompaniet trade center in Stockholm has made an exhibition in a windows of its store. It was dedicated to Swedish Eurovision winners and some of them have actually attended the event. NK has offered some charity items (basically photo prints and also giant silver boots) connected to ESC winners selling. All receved money will be sent to different funds like Unicef and Children Cancer fund.
The first question to Dami from the floor, was if Australia wins, which country would she like to go back to next year. Dami replied: "I was hoping you would come to Australia. Don't you want to travel?" "However the problem with ESC in Australia would be that all the singers have to perform at 5 am in the morning".
So Kaliopi is definately the Candy Queen of Eurovision. Besides the sweetest personality and a compulsive urge to hug us all, she actually brought doughnuts for the whole press at the Meet and Greet.
Obviously Nicky has already been performing in Globen with Westlife several times before, so for him it was very nice to be back. Since he's also been giving the Irish points at Eurovision the past two years, he is very familiar with the contest. Even when he were with Westlife, he did think about participating one day.
At the Meet and Greet Sanja chose, who got to ask a question. And with the energy of a stand up comedian, she told how she nearly fell into a hole next to the catwalk, when first entering the stage. Fortunately she avoided a fall and a broken neck.
Didn't really see much of Macedonia's first rehearsal, but what I did notice was the four backing vocals and a drummer.
Vocally, Kaliopi is just outstanding as she has proven before. Soft blue colour scheme during the verses, flames and gold/yellow colour scheme during the chorus.
I like this a lot, and as one of the only nations to sing in their native language, I do hope Macedonia make it to the final.
At the Meet and Greet IVAN was asked about, why winter is his favourite season. His answer: "No mosquitos". And he was of course also asked about the wolf, that he wanted on stage. It is not allowed with live animals on stage. But they did ask if they could. Instead they ended up with one in a hologram.