The next rehearsal is Austria. We start with a dark closeup from César who is also wearing a dark leathery shirt. He is standing on a very high platformm with lights all over it, making some beautiful shots. Behind the stage we can see the backings. Later on the platform is lowered and César jumps off and walks around. Those shots need a bit of work, but just a first run.

Vocally he sounds on point. Huge reaction in the press hall.

On the far away shots we see a projection of César as well, which for me is always a bit unnecessary, so the banning of led screens doesn't mean we won't see them this year.

We just saw the first run of Croatia and I am really really impressed. Franka's wearing an incredibly beautiful tight black dress and conquering the stage all on her own with hidden backing vocals. Vocally she's impeccable and it all just looks very stylish and classy.

She is very charismatic, the camerawork is really good. I know it's just a first rehearsal but this is going to do so much better than everyone expected beforehand.

Croatia up next and Franka's first outing. She sounds good and is dressed in a dark, sequined, full-length, figure-hugging dress. She stands alone on stage but has the presence to more than carry it off. The energy she put in to the performance was contagious and meant there was a great reaction from those in the Press Centre as well.

Macedonia kick us off today (even if slightly delayed) and Marija looks and sounds the part. Her and Bojan and joined on-stage by three backing singers and the drummer and the overall effect is very promising. Dressed in pink (but a different outfit from the second half of the video), she sounds and looks good and as first rehearsals go, it was impressive. The bouncy, joyous element of the reggae-tinged part of the song translates well on the stage and she moves freely across it. A performance similar on the night will see them trouble the qualifying places.

As there are new rules this year, and a total of 2 minutes of rehearsals may be used in any one day why not check out some of the artists who performed on the promo tour in these playlists

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj9YGQtlfgEA22EzF6FFlNjgD9j-t6Ms
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj9YGQtlfgEn_KkWP9PSUvxVIVvyyHeJ
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj9YGQtlfgFAl-QRKv4DyDSy0bcOCNwF
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj9YGQtlfgEz-scSzDbwq6dEXnoe2VUr
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj9YGQtlfgGgRHOmkmxzhLn90iXjV_Zx
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj9YGQtlfgGPDkn5wiljsh3ea2RyN51L

With only 4 minutes left on schedule for the Macedonian rehearsal, we are still waiting for footage from the hall. Earlier we only heard a few seconds when they were about to do the first run, but then the screens showed again promotional images of the Tourist board of Portugal.

So for now the rehearsal from Macedonia seems to be lost, let's see if it will be found!

Just as I wrote that we got the stream, and after a few minutes we were just in time to see their last run, so first and only impressions for now:

We start with a shot of Marija in closeup with Bojan in the background, seconds later she is next to him, don't know yet how it's done but it looks really good. It's not the only effect here, we also have multiple shots of the screen going all white or black.

Marija is wearing a short red dress, Bojan has a suit and there are also 3 backing vocals and a drummer on stage. They are all included in the performance.
Vocally it sounded pretty good to me, however during the chorus (or the last song if you prefer) Marija is hardly heard at all.

Ukrainian singer released the music video for his Eurovision entry song ‘Under the Ladder’. The shooting took place in Kyiv and lasted about 24 hours with challenging fire scenes nearly stop the whole process and left the singer with burned hands.

After his fiery staging at the national selection, no wonder MELOVIN wanted to carry on the burning theme in his mysterious music video. The saying goes “If you play with fire, you're gonna get burned” which had almost literally happened with the singer on the set. According to the director’s idea, witchy femme fatale, played by Top Model of the World 2017 Julia Gershun, wants to seduce MELOVIN and convert him to the dark side. However, the singer is strong enough to her enchantment and breaks himself from bonds closer to the end of the music video with spectacular playing-the-piano-on-fire scenes. For greater reality team used the real fire on hands with special protection.

“At some point, I just felt like my hands are actually on fire and asked to check if the protection is still working. Needless to say, it all nearly gone by that time due to the endless takes. Out team fixed everything, we finished the shooting without burning flash and I love the result. What is this video about? It’s about the resistance and the re-birth, growth and releasing your inner power,” - MELOVIN says.

So, here we are for day two of the first rehearsals. A first opportunity to see Croatia, Greece and Cyprus, none of whom took part in the promo parties in the last month. We'll also be seeing how Macedonia, Austria, Finland, Armenia, Switzerland and Ireland have adapted their songs for presentation on the Eurovision stage. Stay tuned for updates throughout the day from the team.