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Germany - First rehearsal
Germany's S!sters are the last act to go on stage for today. Carlotta and Laurita walking towards each other on the catwalk and meet each other on the 2nd chorus. Their faces appear on the video art and later words like "Sorry" and "Respect" show up on it. The camera work circling them, falling at one point, zoom in on them and then take a shot at the audience. On the last chorus, there are different images of sisters on the screen. There are some things to work on regarding the camera work, the staging seems to be not tight enough.
That's it, we saw all 41 acts rehearse on stage at least once. Can you spot the winner?
United Kingdom - First rehearsal
It's Great Britain now! Michael Rice, the young guy with the big voice, goes now on stage. The stage is filled with smoke and Michael wears black, including a leather jacket. The image is in monochrome in the first part of the performance. The video art shows falling stars. The color comes in and the video art changes to images of galaxies in space (Slovenia and Australia had something similar). Michael is joined at the last part of the song by his backing singers, all dressed in white. They all create a circle. I would sadly say it is one of the most ineffective stages we saw this year.
Italy - First rehearsal
Mahmood took the stage for the first time. With him 3 dancers. The colors on the screen and stage are mostly dark blue and red. The backdrop shows images of people from the video clip, including the child. Some sentences from the song appear in English at the backdrop (hey, it worked for them last year). Mahmood wears a nude colored buttoned-up shirt with some print on it. His dynamics with the dancers are good, but it's not the most effective stage I've seen this year. Oh, and there's an image of burning money and the words "Money Can't Buy You Love". It's a strong message that can speak to a lot of people, but how will European react to Urban trap?