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ESC2019

Romania - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 12:07

Ester Peony is back. The rehearsal stays the same. Her dancers start off on the catwalks and work themselves to center stage. The vocals are good, she's a pro, but the harsh facial expressions still need to soften a bit, in order to appeal to televoters. The graphics are dark and mysterious. There are also fire pyrotechnics, that contradicts the waters appearing in the background, drowning the scenery in the video art. The flames in the video art at the end of the song with the pyrotechnics are a bit much in my opinion

Latvia - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 10:35

Carousel took the stage. Sabīne wears her hair down and now wears a green hat, it pops on a stage that is mostly in black and white. They got rid of the bright yellow in the video art, it is now much more subtle sunset gold, which adds to the American vibe this song has. The video art then has a big red sun coming up from the bottom of the screen, which actually blends with the song narrative about a woman waiting for her loved one until the sunrise.

Switzerland - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 10:10

Luca Hänni apparently feels much better. He's back on stage, hoping to make just as good as a rehearsal he had last time. This is so slick, it looks like a video. Camera work is perfect; dynamic, yet so solid and consistent. The color of red rules the stage, and the flickering lights in the video art make the dancers bounce even more. Luca sounds good, considering all the choreography he has to do.

Moldova - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 10:00

Anna Odobescu is taking the stage. Moldovan delegation surprised everybody with their first rehearsal featuring the sand artist Kseniya Simonova. This rehearsal starts off wrong when it seems the camera work doesn't work... it's completely static. Only later it works out, only to go completely blank, so they have to stop the rehearsal in the middle.
On the 2nd attempt, it works. The stage is mostly dark with a light that focuses on Anna. There are a lot of long shots so we can see the Kseniya's work with the snow (apparently it's not sand). Her work also being screened on the LED floor. Anna still needs to work on the way she pronounces the words "Stay" and "Way".

Ireland - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 09:29

Sarah McTernan is now on stage. Another strong rehearsal for this song. They're sticking with the same routine, and I think it works for them. Additional things I noticed: The video art has now more effects in it, mostly vivid colors bursting from the center outwards. The diner bar is rotating and the backing dancers spin Sarah on the last chorus. This looks a lot like a typical X Factor performance. Will it work in Ireland's favor? The vocal performance wasn't accurate and Sarah missed a few queues.

Armenia - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 08:59

It's now time for the 2nd semi-final 2nd rehearsal. Srbuk, the Armenian entrant, who will open this semi, hets on stage. She has changed her outfit and hair; she has now silver shoulder pads, which give a sense of movement when she dances. She also wears braids. At the c part climax, there's a graphic of glass breaking. At one point she finds it hard to find her place on stage but recovered quickly. This song will suffer from being first in the running order and will struggle to qualify in my opinion.

San Marino - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 08:39

Serhat takes the stage for his 2nd rehearsal. Maybe this grew up on me, but it looked and sounded more endearing. The team with Serhat on stage is very professional, both the dancers and the backing singers. The video art is upgraded with more elements being added to it, including on the LED floor. Letters are flowing in pink and the video art really makes the stage looks huge. When Serhat counting down in Turkish, the words in Turkish appear on the screen. It's nice to see it since Turkey has a long Eurovision heritage, and we all miss it. With all that being said, I don't see a lot of chances of this qualifying to the final.

Greece - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 08:08

Greece is opening this long day of rehearsals. The camera goes from the backing vocalists/dancers, to Katerine, and to the audience. It helps the performance flow, and it seems the stage director really got the essence of the song. I understand people who claim it's a bit kitschy, however, this one works, and as I said before it walks on a thin line, but make sure not to cross it. Katerine was very good vocally. There's a point where she does a high falsetto, which needs to be worked on, cause it doesn't sound quite right yet.

Portugal - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 15:25

Conan Osiris 2nd performance seems to be a tad more engaging. It seems there are more movement and energy, with Osiris himself takes on a few delicate moves. The green outfits and the red video art remained the same, with a black terrace like frame. Conan sounds great, just like in every performance he gives. Unfortunately, this still seems to be a borderline qualifier...

Estonia - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 14:58

VIctor Crone getting on stage for his 2nd rehearsal. The Swedish singer, who represents Estonia is delivering his Pop-Dance track "Storm". His vocals are not the strongest and he missed the queue once or twice... The virtual storm actually worked this time and Victor performed with the pre-recorded part, in which he's seen in it. It's much like what we saw in the national final. The rest of the video art is as we saw in the first rehearsal, and I'm afraid it's not impressive.