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ESC 2017

Ukraine Second Rehearsal

ChrisB on Sun, 05/07/2017 - 08:34

We only saw a glimpse of the second run for Ukraine, but saw the first and third run in full.
This looks very good on screens. The production is expensive and polished.
The highlight probably being the part of the instrumental, with a lot of dynamic camera shots.
It is also the strongest rock song of the year, which doesn't say much as it is the only rock song of the year.

I would not be surprised if the Ukraine somehow manage to sneak into the top10 once again.

The Netherlands Reception

Desiree on Sun, 05/07/2017 - 08:22

The Netherlands Party

Yesterday the delegation from The Netherlands held their reception at the sophisticated Premier Palace hotel in a nice atmospheric restaurant at the roof. The splendid weather and the attending delegations added all that was needed to make it a great evening. OG3NE really took their time to speak to all the press, both national and international as the sunset made the view from the rooftop even more stunning than it already was.

We also met with Slavko from Montenegro, Brendan Murray from Ireland and Martina Bárta from the Czech Republic and spotted Lindita from Albania who joined Slavko to sing for the birthday of Itai Eithan Shamir.

All in all a wonderful evening and we'd like to thank the Netherlands delegation for inviting us.

Check all our photos here!

The Netherlands Party

Day 7 Review

ChrisB on Sat, 05/06/2017 - 18:26

Here are the Day 7 rehearsals winners and losers of the day.

MOVED UP:

- The Netherlands. Strong reception in press centre indicates some real momentum for NL. Will it transfer to votes?

- Bulgaria: The high concept stuff considerably improved from 1st rehearsal and they removed some flaws with staging and styling.

MOVED DOWN:

- Denmark. The fan favourite red dress makes the act look too ordinary and old-fashioned. Sometimes it is better to ignore fan opinions.

- Israel: You got a pass for off-key notes in the 1st rehearsal. Not fixing these problems for the second rehearsal is not good.

Estonia Second Rehearsal

ChrisB on Sat, 05/06/2017 - 14:43

I must say, Estonia is hilarious and entertaining. Not sure if that's the intention. For my report on the 1st rehearsal I focused on visuals like backdrop and lighting. This time I would like to leave a few notes on their facial expressions. What exactly are they doing? Koit is grinning at Laura who stares back at him, almost paralyzed. What is the narrative here? I do not know, but it's keeping me entertained from the moment he walks onto the stage. In the latter part he caresses her face, we didn't see that last time around. Does it work? I'm not sure, it's somewhere between cringe and cute.

Bulgaria Second Rehearsal

ChrisB on Sat, 05/06/2017 - 14:07

Last time around I was very skeptical with Bulgaria, the staging leaving me rather cold and disappointed, partly because of the huge expectations the delegation created and being less authentic, raw and original than what the official video clip promised. Kristian also felt distant and not really relatable in which was a modern looking but ultimately underwhelming concept with video effects that are not really adding anything to the performance.

A lot of these issues remain and the overall impression of the act feels very staged and artificial.
But they did rework some aspects for the better today.
Kristian was styled differently which helped a lot with connection. He also dropped most of the ghostly faces into the camera he had in the 1st rehearsal, so he was improved overall. His falsettos he visibly has to put a lot of effort in and it doesn't always sound great, but solid enough.
The backdrop has some new elements and they have some much stronger camera angles now to create the illusion of space more efficiently, same can be said for the camera during the rain. It is a visual masterpiece of nonsense.

Not everyone will 'feel' this entry, but it doesn't have to convince everybody to do well in the contest.