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rehearsals

New City, New reporting rules - important post

New Host City, new Eurovision reporting rules

In an unannounced new move yesterday, the EBU and RTP, in conjunction with accreditation provider Accredion have published new rules concerning access rights and what media can and cannot use in regard to performance clips filmed during open rehearsals

At ESCKAZ.com we have long advocated a cessation to these clips being prepared and published, and have only continued to do so as the reduction in statistics would mean we would lose almost all accreditations and be unable to bring you blogging, press conferences, reports from the parties, eurovillage and euroclub, and interviews with the artists. So while we welcome and embrace these new rules we are cautious of their sudden appearance 48 hours before live rehearsals start.

In summary the new rules in regard to rehearsal footage are as follows

No material from rehearsals - either photos or video - maybe be released to personal social media accounts from members of the press. Material maybe be released to company social media accounts but subject to restrictions
Media which are EBU members are permitted to use up to three (3) minutes from the rehearsal content per day. Non EBU members may use up to two (2) minutes per day.
Post contest it would appear that material maybe released in full - but we will try to clarify this
There is little or no information of how many photographs maybe be published or used
The use of the Press Conference Material and of the Opening Ceremony Material is unrestricted.

We are actively seeking answers from the EBU/RTP on what we may or may not do with any material we have collected after the dates indicated in the new rules - which correspond to the the end of the shows. We will bring you this information as and when we have it

These new rules are published on Eurovision.tv and given to all press members as they collect accreditation passes.

Therefore this year ESCKAZ.com will only bring you very limited footage from the rehearsals - not something we are unhappy about if truth be told - but will of course bring you all our usual coverage from Press Conferences, Interviews, live reaction videos as the rehearsals are seen in the press centre, reports from Delegation parties, Euroclub, Eurovillage, blogging and finally as many photos as we can get for all the fans to see.

Sweden First Rehearsal

ChrisB on Sun, 04/30/2017 - 09:01

Robin Bengtsson is the first one up to rehearse for Sweden.

I can't go on won Melodifestivalen with a slick choreography on treadmills. Sweden, as they usually do, did not change a lot with the presentation other than a few technical details. When Robin enters the stage there are no stairs, a new backdrop, flashing images of neon pink, the backdrop reminds me at times of the movie TRON. It's a slick package with some retro

We did not have sound for the first two run-throughs, the third run-through revealed that Sweden will have to work out the soundmixing a bit to recreate how it sounded in Melfest.

Semi Two rehearsals as seen by Keith Mills

After a rather long adventure in getting to the arena this morning, I only just made it for the second run-through of Malta. I am really worried as to how people make it out here and back to the city on the show nights.

MALTA has some lovely backdrops giving an outdoor feel. Firelight are lined up and there are some nice panning shots from the front. It’s vocally perfect, and while I don’t think the photos in the backdrop add anything they aren’t as distracting as I thought they might be. This is very competent and a better show opener than Armenia in the first semi and should qualify pretty easily.

ISRAEL is much stronger than I thought it might be. Mei is a woman of amble thighs and we’re certainly seeing a lot of them in this performance but the semi-oriental staging is fantastic and the choreography is slick but at times not caught properly on camera with too many shot changes. Vocally it’s very strong but something here reminds me of Cyprus 2008 and Bulgaria 2011, neither of which qualified. However with only five songs to beat, this should make the cut. As good as I could have hoped for.

NORWAY is just a perfect contrast to Israel. It’s dark, moody angst-ridden and intense. Carl is good vocally, engages with the camera in a much better way than before and the violinists on the stage pedestal provide some variety of shots. Call me old-fashioned but I’d prefer not to see the tattoo on his arm. I’d prefer more use of the storm cloud motif in the background, but these are all minor quibbles. This should qualify easily.

GEORGIA is not only different from anything today but probably different from anything we’ve ever had in the contest. It reminds me of the folk/prog fusion and bands like Steeleye Span and Jethro Tull from the early 1970s. I’m not a fan of the paracute gimmick but otherwise I really like the staging. The female singer in lurid green is really pushing this up my ranking but I have the feeling that it might just be too different to appeal on just one listening and could lose out on qualifying.

POLAND has gone 100% ethno-pop in the staging and costumes. Cleo looks and sounds great and while I don’t see the point of having two girls doing nothing bar pretending to wash clothes. It’s got a pumping beat and the basic dance moves work very well and while the staging is just too busy in the arena it works on television. I think this benefits hugely from coming after Georgia and it could well qualify.

AUSTRIA is the bloke with a beard wearing a frock that everyone has heard about. The song reminds me of a rejected Bond them from 1974 and the backgrounds has the flame cliché that Azerbaijan didn’t go for. Vocally it’s a little shaky on the chorus and after a 25 second lead in before you see the singer, once you get over the shock value, it becomes rather dull very quickly.

LITHUANIA is another contrast with very minimalist staging and lighting and clever (possibly over-thought) choreography. Vilija is very strong vocally and really looks strong on camera. I could do without the leg wobbles and hands coming through the skirt and the 40 shades of blue staging lacks variety but otherwise I see little wrong with this. This is different and strong enough to sail into the final.

Just a brief look at the current bookmakers list for the semi finals.

Hey guys,

I know I know, I should be in bed really... Big day tomorrow.... but what do you do when you can't sleep? You have a cuppa and jot some thoughts down.

So I thought... why not have a look at the Eurovision odds as they currently stand, just before they change completely after the first rehearsals tomorrow: