The next country is Michael Schulte from Germany. I was quite sceptical about the first rehearsal, so let's see if this second one will feature any changes and/or makes me change my mind by seeing and hearing it live.
There have been no changes to this rehearsal as far as I can see and hear. Michael is wearing black and sounding well in the first run. Still not sure what to think of the visuals in the last part of the song, but the first part beautifully makes clear what the song is about for those who may not speak the English language.
New outfits for Alfred & Amaia today - Alfred now wears a black suit and Amaia is in a classic long and wide black dress. These outfits are more traditional but also more romantic so in that way it could suit the song better, even though I also liked what they were wearing during the first rehearsal, being less standard.
Vocally it sounds very good and being the Portuguese neighbours there will probably be quite many Spanish fans in the audience to give them extra support. Still find it hard to guess where this will end up as it could be too sugary as well.
A lazy cozy Sunday morning - that is how you would describe the second rehearsal for Cláudia Pascoal. The white dress stepped aside for a hip outfit from a H&M catalogue, disturbing the impression of the relaxed fado-pop-composition. Nice, but Salvador Sobral’s heart-touching “je-ne-sais-quoi” is still missing.
Another day - another event to learn more about Portugal and it's brilliant music stage. We went psychedelic again, even space-rock rather with the band Saturnia who were doing a presentation of their new album The Seance Tapes in Musicbox venue in Lisbon. A trip through the 6 previous albums, revisited by its creator, the renowned musician and producer Luís Simões. According to the press-release, with rare live appearances, and a creative process always enveloped in secrecy, this Saturnia concert was one of the must-sees of 2018 - and it definitely didn't disappoint.
The concert surprisingly got going practically on time (22.30) allowing to get back on the night bust at 00.30.
Trance music of Saturnia is dominated by the layers of organ, synthesizer, guitar and sitar that bring sometimes calm, sometimes eruptive environments, hypnotic effects with the soft voice of Luís Simões adding to the athmosphere. After experimenting with electronic influences, band is now back to the late 60's / early 70's space-rock-psychedelic, proto-progressive; with some similarities to Pulsar, Can, King Crimson, Tangerine Dream and sometimes even touches of Ravi Shankar.
Band had complete discography on sale, and I've got the new album for 13 Euros. For others I again went digital.
UK 2nd rehearsal. Better camera, smoke and lighting giving the stage prop a bit more purpose than before. Esc nerds visual reference: Sanna Nielsen in 2011 melfest with I'm in Love. #Eurovision
SuRie's up next for the United Kingdom. No notable changes here. It sounds good in the hall, but from what I can see on the screens here some of the wide shots are very dark with just a bright square in the middle, so that's something to work on.
The last day of rehearsals - before the dress rehearsals - has started with Portugal. Cláudia Pascoal and Isaura are on stage. They're still not giving away what their stage outfits will be in less than a week from today. In the hall the performance is very atmospheric with all the spotlights and lanterns and Cláudia sings well.
It was a shorter day at rehearsals and the only substantial move in the market was on Australia, that drifted further.
The betting markets are confident in ruling out an Australian win now and it drifted on all other markets as well like the Top10 and even qualification doesnt seem to be as safe as previously assumed, which might be a temporary overreaction.
The winner of the day in the market is Moldova which continues to get great reception at the press centre.
