ESC 2017

Alma is in better form today than for France's first rehearsal, but the staging is still vertigo-inducing, nauseating even.
Requiem is a modern sounding french pop song, but the staging seems very arbitrary to me.
I feel like last year, just a bit more creativity with concept would have helped to do really well on the scoreboard.
At the moment I do not see France aiming for a top10 finish, but I'm keeping open-minded to the idea IF Alma can really carry it alone with an outstanding performance we haven't seen from her so far.

Quite a contrast to see France, that seems to be going for a very simple approach again, right after the UK who went all out with their staging. From afar Alma's dress also looks like a plain dress with polka dots but the screens shows it's actually silver coloured.

It's a pity she's alone on stage as it could transfer the atmosphere of the song a lot better with some dancers. However, there's some great camera work towards the end of the song. In general I really love the backdrop, the only parts I think need to be cut out are those where we see flat buildings flying through the sky as it does not transfer that what we see are buildings.

In the first run her vocal started of quite weak during the first chorus, but later on in the song she improved and the second time sounded very well. The theird run sounds great as well.

The UK's staging of golden stars is really effective.
Lots of gold, even Lucie's dress is golden today. Would have been better to have some element of contrast in there perhaps, but it still works very well on screens.
Lucie pulled out of one note in the first run, but gave a very strong and passionate performance on the second run.
And her acting skills certainly help with providing the drama.

The performances from the UK and France (the next and last one of today) are completely new for me as I missed them the first time a couple of days ago.

So thi sis my first impression of Lucie Jones' performance. Vocally she' sounds very good even though she had a little hiccup during the first run. The stage is quite dark despite the golden backdrop. Lucie brought her own led-screen / mirror which shows her from the side on top of the prop. I don't think this really adds anything to it.

Great use of pyro, has to be my favourite this year in this aspect!

Germany probably have the best opening shot in the competition, unfortunately the staging doesn't build a lot from there.
But this has improved from German NF on so many levels.
Levina gives much better camera, vocals still could be a little better though.
But the overall feel of the entry is uplifting and cool, even though the song is not.
In contrast to Desiree I have the opinion that the outfit is pretty much perfect. Many delegations tried to go for sci-fi inspired costumes. Most of them failed, Germany did not.
Very surprised about Germany, as I did not expect them to do anything. And they will still struggle, but should avoid last place this year.

Have the Amish gone through some revolution and now decided that it's ok to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest? Oh forget it.. it's just Levina on stage in her long 2-shades of grey outfit.

Vocally it didn't sound well in the hall the first time but also Levina is improving the second time. I still think it's all too grey, would be nice to hav esome colour added to this. Or to the song, but it'll probably be too late for that. And just as I write this a pyro rain falls from above and we get pyro fountains. It adds something, but not sure if it can save Germany from another result in the gutter of the scoreboard..

This time the pyro came on the 2nd instead of the third run. Would this mean that it has not been decided yet whether it will be used next week?

Manel and his band are still wearing their hawaii-shirts of course and try to get us all in a summer mood. Vocally in the hall it seems ok, but what I noticed a lot during the first run is that we don't get to see Manel singing until well ahead during the first chorus. He and the guitarists start in the back of the stage facing the screen that is still quite dark.

Just as they turn around for the chorus we also get the colourful beach backdrop.
Even though the drummer and the guistarists have a microphone and sing from time to time, it seems most is done by hidden backings that could just as well have joined them on stage.

My issue with Spain's staging is that Manel is in the dark for the first verse, making it impossible for viewers connect with him.
The colour explosion beach party therefore almost comes as an irritating surprise afterwards.
The surfboard LED effect is entertaining, but makes it difficult to take this entry serious as a summer pop song.

The hall has never been as full as during this rehearsal but that is nothing to be surprised about of course. It all seems to come together a lot more for Italy this second time that they're on stage. Vocally he didn't make much of an effort the first time, but with the second run it sounded a lot better.

The camera work has also been sorted out so Italy is definitely still a favourite...

The camera angles are better for Italy today. And it's a very colourful visual treat.
Francesco is vocally a little bit all over the place today, but we know he can sing, so one shouldn't read too much into this rehearsal.
He is moving a lot around the stage, the gorilla appears and the song and staging provides real party atmosphere. I'm not quite sure yet, if he is winning it all.