Rehearsal

Oto goes on stage in a black outfit. The atmosphere is dark and dramatic. The video art starts with snowy mountains and towards the end of the song changes to a burning fire. The floor has a video art of a big river with a narrow bridge oto is walking on. At the last chorus the backing singers march in and Oto looks at them and sings his lungs out. This is a song of pain, struggle and passion, and the live performance designed to transfer those exact feelings. He is an insanely good performer and vocalist. Wish to see him in the finals, but what are the odds?

Eliot's now on stage. He's wearing a blue and red outfit. With him on stage are two drummers hitting on 3 big drums. Later they join in the simple choreography with Eliot. The stage is lit with a red light. Eliot looks good and engaging as a performer. He's an effective live performer, but the performance as a whole doesn't leave that much of an impression.

Nevena Božović goes on stage with a black strapless dress and some big silver accessories. The stage is dark, with a yellow supernova (?) in the video art. She sounds absolutely amazing vocally. The whole package seems very elegant. Nevena and the backing vocalists making some vocal runs and it could work. People cheered in the press center. I see it qualifying to the final from the 5th-8th position.

Zana goes on stage with a tight colorful top and a torn up white trousers. She looks good and sounds well. At first, she's accompanied by two male dancers, that gives the performance some urban vibe. They're doing some flips on stage. The props are big boxes on wheels, that also supposed to add some more urban feel. With the colorful somewhat artistic video art it seems too much at times. The eye is always busy. Toward the end of the song, two female backing singers/dancers join her on stage. I will say again she sounds very good vocally.

We all remember Joci Papai from Eurovision 2017 when he aced in the Eurovision final and ended 8th for his country. So the expectations from him are high. He gets on stage barefoot, with his black stylish outfit. The video art is filled with golden elements on a black background. It's a slick solid performance of an emotional song. The video art shows faces of Hungarian "dads". I would personally recommend to not include it in the performance; the song is not in English, and this might look weird to people not speaking Hungarian.

D Moll dressed all in white, some with nice folk elements on their lapel. The band members walk from different sides of the stage to meet together in the center. The harmonies are not there yet, but we know from their national final performance they can nail it. At one point they all roar together, which was kinda out of context. The color of the stage is gold and purple. Camera work was all over the place, I'm sure they'll get it together in the next rehearsal.
On their second attempt, they sound much better! Camera work still needs to work on.

Now, it's time for our different perspective on what we just saw:

Slovenia has one of the most unique and enchanting songs this year. Zala and Gašper are on the stage by themselves. They are wearing white outfits, much like they had in the national final. The atmosphere is intimate and spacey video art works very well with the mellow melody and dreamy singing and production. Video art is also featured on the floor. Nothing much going on stage, it's a very minimal stage performance, as it should be. Vocals are on point, and I was thinking for a second I was listening to the studio version. Would love to see them in the final.

Poland first rehearsal. The foursome goes on stage with traditional customs in shining red, wearing head-veils and golden crowns. The veils are being removed and the girls are standing on a rotating small stage. The color is mainly red, with white triangles in the video art, showing the girls' images. Have to say I didn't care too much for it, and it's a shame since I really like "Pali się". We saw them live on other occasions and I know they can be amazing. I believe they'll get better. On their second attempt, they already sound much better. Still, I think this might be borderline in terms of qualifying for the final.

Finland is now on stage. Sebastian is handsome as always. The video art looks much like the one on the national final, iceberg-like. I would suggest that the environmental theme of the song reflects on the melting icebergs... Sebastian wears a leather (?) jacket, with the camera focusing a lot on the dancer, dressed in a green dress on top of an...iceberg? She also appears on the video art, where she's trying to swim away (of the melting icebergs probably). Vocals are not that strong. Darude stands on the side, with a DJ stand looks like an iceberg as well. The performance ends with sunlight in the background.