The Shin and Mariko are the penultimate artists tonight to take on the B&W Hallerne stage and get to know the stage on which they will perform in front of Europe May 8. Read how their first rehearsal went.
I find it really hard to believe but one of the Shin members appears on stage dressed as a sky diver, and I'm not entirely sure why. Yes ok, skydiver is mentioned in the lyrics, but for me it comes across as very distracting for a song which already is so unique on different styles, that the addition of such a prop empowers the staging.
There's actually no need for the sky diver prop, simply because Mariko's voice and the male vocals from The Shin are absolutely perfect. They carry the song throughout. Add to that the cloudy sky backdrop with it's emerging sun rays towards the end, and you have a pretty solid performance there.
The one thing that would improve the performance for me a little bit more is the fact that at the moment each person seems to be standing on their own 'island' on the stage, leaving hardly any room for interaction with each other. Have Mariko interact with the other members, go up to them and it would make the staging so much more different.
Georgia has taken a big gamble with this ensemble and I'm not sure if it will pay off. The public will either love it or hate it. Vocally it's all there, Team Georgia, but really ditch the sky diver prop and more interaction please!