ESC 2016

First blood to Rykka for the (semi-) effective use of the now classic pyro waterfall

Ok, so the vocal is better than we have heard before, it finally seems to have come together a bit for her, which is where it counts I guess

But really the Blue hair is not really working for me....

First rehearsal for Rykka, who has dyed her hair for the occasion in blue.

Vocally Rykka is getting really comfortable with her entry. She keeps getting stronger vocally as her rehearsal progresses.

I'm however not completely keen on the outfit she's currently wearing for a variety in reasons. One of them being it's not very flattering this black sequins top, with a smokey grey/purple see through skirt. It's more the material really which looks like the type of material used for ribbons used on wedding chair sachet covers. ( Really sorry Rykka)

Considering there is a blue blackdrop, the dress really does not work here and I do hope Rykka reconsiders the outfit, perhaps going for something more elegant, as she was wearing in the national final. A white outfit, would make the performance look really elegant and stand out in that sea of blue.

I do like the song, and Rykka seems very lovely too. I think styling here is the main issue though.

So ok this is a technical rehearsal....hence vocals are not on point this morning

That said the look at the staging is great, there violinists, a pianist and Michał in the middle delivery as he does, similar to what we have seen on the promo tour.

Not too sure on the sliver waistcoat though

Kicking off day 3 rehearsals is the ever so charming 21 year old Justs from Latvia.

Just like the Czech Republic yesterday, Justs is treating us to an absolute power vocal on 'Heartbeat'. You can not fault him there.

The overall staging is kept pretty simple, staying true to the feel of the national final. Dark blue colours, with hints of red during the chorus, set the atmosphere for this uptempo start. Justs is also appearing on stage alone. A little change in the outfit however, as the brown jacket has been swapped for a black one.

The negative is really the camera work at this stage. There's too many strange side angles, especially first verse, which I hope the Latvian broadcaster will make SVT aware of. Im also not very sure on some of those long shots, as it really puts an emphasis on Justs being all alone on that big stage.

Not that that should be much of a trouble, Justs is a great performer and throughout the runs, he's proven to have pitch perfect vocals and fantastic stage presence.

Great first rehearsal!

Well I am feeling his heartbeat

Love this song from the very beginning, even though we are to realising anything on stage that is different too much from the National `Final or the promo tour

Nice leather jacket, colours work on stage soooooo much better than the Estonia mess from yesterday. Full use of the stage and delivering the energy of this song perfectly with a mean and mood stare right at the end to finish off the whole thing...

Sailing through this semi....

www.esckaz.com were privileged to have been invited to the Armenian community event this evening held at the Konstnars Huset, Konstnarsklubben.

This annual event organised by the Delegation from Armenia is meant to connect the local community with the artist from that year and to give local Armenian fans a chance to meet the performer.

The evening started with the gathering go local VIPs from the local community and approximately 50 local Armenian fans of both Iveta and Eurovision. The atmosphere was quite quiet in the the room, until I made a short interview clip with the backing singers, in which they sang part of LoveWave. This got the audience in the mood of some of the nice moments to come....

The Iveta arrived, to applause and the speakers playing LoveWave, there was a short speech and then while refreshments were served, Iveta spent 20-30 minutes meeting all the people there and giving one-to-one selfie style photos to all her the fans gathered there.....

Then onto the performances...

First up were the backing vocalists themselves former Junior Eurovision Song Contest contestants Masha Mnjoyan (backing vocalist in JESC 2008 and national final participant of the same year, as well as participant of New Wave 2013) and Sona Gyulkhasyan (national preselections of 2010 and 2011 and New Wave Junior 2012), as well as Anushik Ter-Ghukasyan and Christina Mangasaryan. These were joined on piano by songwriter Lilith Navasardyan. They performed two traditional Armenian songs; Yerat Im Yerkir and Kilikiya.

They up came Iveta to join the backing girls and Lilith in a piano rendition of LoveWave.....

We also had a great opportunity to chat with Iveta for some minutes after the show;

Finally the evening was completed some traditional dancing from the troupe Alik Barakhoump (Members are Seri, Arsen, Mego and Nareg) and also from young Setali in a solo performance

Please also enjoy our photo gallery here;

Finally our grateful thanks to both Gohar and David from the Armenian for the invitation to cover this event organised by the Armenian Delegation here in Stockholm

Bosnia Herzegovina have returned to Eurovision and they are doing so with some of the most talented artists of the country.

Really like the song, but not entirely sure about some of the costumes that have been chosen. Ana is wearing this really strange cape. There's also razer wire, separating Dalal and Deen.

I like the staging, the entry is well sung. I really think Bosnia Herzegovina are going to maintain their 100% qualification record.

Gallery:

The Meet and Greet started differently with a videofootage. And questions from 3 people around the world. The last one was from an American guy who said: "To me it sounds like you are singing: Gonna take America... what does it mean, and as an American, should I be worried?" Definately the most interesting question I've heard so far at this ESC.

I was of course excited to see Juri's Meet and Greet, since he spent a year in Denmark as an exchange student. And Denmark was also mentioned, because he went to a music school and it helped him a lot with where he is today as a singer. Naturally when I gave him my little flag, I greeted him in Danish. He was asked about his deep voice, and he mentioned that in his early years, he voice was rather high, and he had to sing soprano with the girls in the choirs.