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Alma is alone on stage with a very attention grabbing LED backdrop. The staging left me a bit underwhelmed and confused. For the 3rd run a lot of the camera work got tighter, so there was progress.
France will still need to fix quite a few things to ensure a return to the eurovision top10.
In comparison to UK slightly disappointing, but there is still enough time to work on it.
I quite like the visual concept of UK's staging this year. Lucie is in a multi-mirror constellation that creates an effect of infinity. As does the powerful supernova of golden stars in the backdrop that effectively creates moments of climax.
It is a bit cheesy, but certainly interesting to look at. And Lucie stared down the camera, singing for her life. UK are potentially in for their best result since 2009.
Wearing a yellow wrap around dress, Lucie looks great on stage. But then again she is used to this. The vocal will need some work but hey it's just checking the microphones today right?
Some sort of fan effect prop on stage with her, but from my angle in the press centre it's not too clear what this does other than provide some colour behind her
She is working the camera much better than we have seen her do before though. And when we get to the big notes at the end the camera pans out and the stage looks great.....
Levina starts lying on the floor in a mesmerizing shot from above. The look of the presentation is very modern, although not much happened after that opening shot.
She also gives much better camera than what we have seen in the German National Final, she also shows more stagecraft and confidence.
The Germans have been putting a lot of effort in this as they clearly don't want to finish last for the third time in a row.
For the third run there is a pyro curtain behind Levina which doesn't add anything really in my view.
With very low expectations we can actually call Germany a pleasant surprise.
Mixed feelings for me on the German rehearsal. It's all very grey, I'm not only talking about the song that is not one that will easily stand out on the night, but also about her dress (long in a lighter shade of grey on the top and darker on the skirt) and the backdrop.
Levina starts her performance lying on the floor with some great camera work. She's still alone on stage, and could do with something to fill it.
Good reaction in the press hall but then there are quite a few Germans here ..
I needed a bit of time to process what to make of the Italian staging today since the contest favorite requires special scrutiny.
Not much has changed from what we know from San Remo, so I'll just focus on the differences:
- the backdrop has a few more 'esoteric' images to highlight the meaning of the song, westerner's obsession with eastern philosophy, everything is very colourful still.
- Gabbani is joined by backing singers who are wearing different coloured sweaters. They also wave their hand during the dance choreography.
Every run through looked a bit different, and it seems to me like Gabbani is a bit freestyling through his performance.
It's a very fun performance suitable for Saturday night audiences and very family friendly.
On 12 May, on the eve of the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv, a large-scale stylish party will be held in one of the largest entertainment complexes of the capital of Ukraine "Olmeca plage", which in honor of the contest will be organized by young Ukrainian performer, TV host, participant of the Eurovision 2015 Eduard Romanyuta!
The artists of the international finals are yet to become Europe's stars, while Eduard Romanyuta has invited to the Grand Euro Party his best friends - who have already glorified their countries for the whole world.
They are:
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1998 Dana International (Israel)
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Emmelie de Forest (Denmark)
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Eldar Gasimov (Azerbaijan)
Their new hits will present European stars from Romania: Morandi Official Page and Alexandra Stan.
2016 and 2011 Eurovision participant, Junior Eurovision 2015 host Poli Genova (Bulgaria), the brightest Eurovision 2015 Eurovision contestants Nina Sublatti (Georgia) and Bojana Stamenov (Serbia) will prepare surprises for the Ukrainian fans.
Anna Nikonova (Ukraine), special guest DJ M.E.G. will also perform at the celebration of diversity. Number of contestants of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will attend the show as well!
Eduard Romanyuta himself will please the audience with his Eurohit I Want Your Love, already popular among music fans Reckless, I'll Never Let Go, Get Real With My Heart, Conspiracy, Bad Thing and the premiere of the new radiohit Million!
The stage of the show in the beach complex "Olmeca Plage" will not be inferior to the main stage of the Eurovision in the IEC, as Feyeria is also involved in its creation! It will include 100 sq.m screen, more than 300 best lighting equipment units, professional VJ and Sonic L-Acoustics, VDOSC, pyrotechnics, laser show.
The concert will be broadcast live on Youtube in HD quality. Professional television filming will be aired by the national public broadcaster UA:Pershiy.
Eduard Romanyuta invites all his friends to the party, which means YOU! Come to catch the atmosphere of the Eurovision!
Hurry up to get tickets the price is from 200 to 5000 UAH.
1) https://kiev.karabas.com/grand-euro-party
2) https://kasa.in.ua/grand-euro-party-kyiv
3) https://www.concert.ua/eventpage/eduard-romanyuta
The first 100 girls will get a Lillet Melody cocktail as a welcome gift!
Manel Navarro is still keeping the summer vibe in his performance. It looks a lot better than in the national final but a lot of work still needs to be done on the camera shots.
Manel has a band with him now so the stage looks nicely filled with 2 guitarists and drummer (who's also a backing vocal) joining them on stage. Whether the vocals have improved from earlier iperformances is hard to judge as the sound is unfortunately very low at the moment.
On the third run the amera work already seems to be improving. What I still notice though, is that on close ups half of Manel is very dark. I wonder if that is deliberately or an issue to be solved later.
For what it is, I think it's looking ok but the song is still the same, which means a lot of repetition of the title. With no matter what staging, I doubt this is going anywhere near the upper areas of the scoreboard.
So here we finally have what has to be THE most anticipated rehearsal of the day: Italy!
We saw Francesco Gabbani arrive at the airport yesterday and now he is here in the IEC. Does it look like a winner after one run? I think not. It sounds well and the graphics have some nice elements but overall it is kinda messy. Many eastern symbols (in that sense it reminds me a bit of the Armenian performance but of course the song is completely different).
The dancing gorilla is of course still there and we have also four backing singers who join in the choreography. Compared to the San Remo performance Francesco uses the stage more in between, less standing at one place.
Ukraine have have a big head sculpture in the middle of the stage that lights up differently.
I think it works pretty well as it gives the entry a visual anchor without losing credibility or appearing particularly gimmicky.
O. Torvald are very believable as a rock band, not just some eurovision schlagerrock. There should be an audience for this.
This is just a first rehearsal, but the instrumental bridge is shot with very nice camera work already. We haven't had many first rehearsals that looked so polished already.
I would suggest featuring the female backing singer in the camera feed, as she is hidden at the moment, but should add a nice touch.