Rehearsal

After twelve years Omar Naber is back at the Eurovision Song Contest so we are obviously talking about someone who knows what happens and what can be expected. These twelve years also immensely improved his vocals (even though he misses a few notes, so he has to be careful).

The staging looks great, similar to what we saw in the national final with many spotlights and a romantic blue starred sky and panels all around. However, his song might not be exciting enough to get him to the final.

Also I can exclusively reveal it now seems to be some kind of team favourite... Videos may or not appear.

For such a unique song as Armenia sends this year, they have gone for a simple staging. Artsvik is on stage with just two dancers (the other people presumedly hidden backing vocals). Vocally the runs are great.

The background is very colourful with Eastern inspired visuals (a nice complement to the music) but overall I expected a lot more of the performance. In other words, I have a feeling Armenia is not showing everything yet in this first rehearsal. Not much to say about the costume either, unless Artsvik will perform with a leather jacket (which looks really nice by the way).

The third run revealed a hologram in the form of a bird that flies around after the performance. There will also be fireworks and hope to see a lot more of them in the next Armenian performances.

Armenia have hired Sacha Jean Baptiste again for their staging, like last year. And there are quite a few elements reminding me of Iveta from last year, the quick camera cuts at the start and the overall message of female empowerment.
The choreography will certainly look even better once they are wearing the real dresses. It fits the song and keeps the focus of attention on Artsvik. Very solid and polished performance for a 1st rehearsal.

Hovig starts alone on stage, or so it seems as the dancers are already on stage but only shown later. He's dressed in black with white studs on his blazer.

When it comes to the choreography, I think it's one of the best thought through and clear acts. The whole act goes around the idea of gravity - walking over lines as if to keep balance. Vocally it's ok but nothing outstanding.

A nice moment in the bridge when the screen goes black and we find Hovig laying on the floor. What I also like is that the dancers are not too dominant in the whole performance. They are there to enhance the performance, not for the sake of it. Nice rehearsal!

Quite a lot of stage gymnastics involved in that choreo. It is very demanding, and Hovig doesn't manage all the required moves just yet. But it was only the first rehearsal, so things will clearly look different in a week from now. At the moment it is difficult to imagine how it will come across, once all the pieces of choreography are more polished. Right now there are promising fragments. A work in progress.

I have no doubt that Martina Bárta is singing live, but I could as well have been listening to the studio version as it sounds just identical, which proves how good a singer she is.

She's wearing a golden suit of which the blazer has a deep cut. It might be just a little too much for this kind of subtle song. Some effort was clearly put on the staging. She begins sitting on the floor in the back and when she gets up it's like she walks over a golden carpet. Martina's alone on stage even though it doesn't always look like that as the led-screen show people standing like we saw in the video.

Even though there's not something specific for me that goes really wrong, it still doesn't convince me and it might be hard for the Czechs to improve their result from last year.

Martina believes in her song and it shows. A very sensual performance that might be a bit too eccentric and introverted for some viewers. She is a jazz singer after all.
I'm not quite sure the staging helps selling that image. The bronze (or is it copper?) pantsuit might be a bit too shiny for a song that would need a stripped down classical presentation. Colours of yellow mixed with purple also seem like a mismatch and I don't quite get the overall concept at the moment. But Martina seems like a lovely girl and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her that Europe will think differently about the visual aspects of the performance.

Iceland is aiming to pick up votes from Star Wars fans all across Europe this year. Svala is styled like the blonde twin sister of Princess Leia and the staging looks very much sci fi inspired.
I quite like the song, but presentation is still missing something. Hard to point the finger on it really, since vocals are very good and Svala certainly has the stagecraft and experience.

Just as I expected - and also hoped - for Iceland: a completely different performance compared to the national final, which is about the only thing we got to see so far. She's still dressed in white, but this time in a lot more flattering costume than she was wearing earlier. Not a conventional dress of course. The back has a large cape, the top's black as well and then she's wearing a pair of flowered leggings/pants. She also has the same two buns we have often seen with Ksenia from Belarus (NAVIBAND). Her backings are hidden, as we already knew they would. They could be a bit louder for me to add even more strength to this.

Vocally Svala is excellent, the visuals - mainly blue with lines and dots all over - look great and I should mention the ending of it, resembling Northern lights. A great performance and this entry that was already forgotten before it took part could do a lot better than everyone thinks now!

Another big contrast between this and the previous song on stage. I'll have to admit right away that Moldova is totally one of my guilty pleasures this year. One of the big fun songs of the year!

No big surprises when it comes to the choreography of the performance - the same as we saw in the national final and promotour performances. The three backings are once again in their wedding dresses. The big difference is that they are really making all of it when it comes to the visuals. In the first part led screens show square arches, which is different from what the other countries have on stage. During the 'walk dance' if I may call it like that Anton and Sergei (the violinist and saxophone player) are duplicated on the led-screens, a real nice touch.
Another small change is that 'she'll be back until sunrise' just before the instrumental break is now not sung but replaced by a still of Sunstroke Project and the backings.

Vocally Sergey (the singer) is great as usual. So I'm afraid I might be a bit alone in this but I really hope it's going to do well!