Netta is currently the clear cut favorite with the bookies, so I had high expectations for her rehearsal. Sound-wise it lived up to the studio version. She has a great presence on stage and several USPs. While some might see her as being polarizing, I am convinced that she will attract enough televotes to remain at the very top of the competition. Juries should recognize her relevance, message and unique style too, so I am confident that she will make some headlines after she qualified for the final.
She has the looper, chicken dancers and chinese fortune cats. Fun!

It took quite a lot for this performance to get started, so we are probably getting behind schedule here while the looper and other items were being adjusted.

So, first run-through, very first impression.

Netta is wearing a Japanese-style dress again like one she wears in the video and promo photos as well, however, this time in purple/red/white/black. The Japanese theme is continued in the yellow panels behind her which on a closer look feature many 'maneki-neko' (yes I had to look that up) - Japanese fortune cats.

There's a lot going on on stage, of course there's the aforementioned looper and the three dancers/backing vocals that start on the bridge on the side and later join her in the middle of the stage. In the last part of the song Netta walks all over the stage and ring in front of it.

It sounds and looks very confident, they're not gone yet by far.

We got two runs more which show that there is still some work to do - but of course it's only a first rehearsal. Some missed camera's, some wrong shots by the director, but overall very solid. The last run revealed a lot of smoke pyro's - in yellow and purple effects, it does complete the performance.

So, Israel...the very-much-talked-about favourite and our first opportunity to see how it will appear on-stage. The intro, as expected, has Netta behind her mixing desk straddled by two flashing toy cabinets filled with nodding Chinese toy cats. Don't get the feeling she is on full battery for this first outing but the dancers were there (choreography seemed a little make it up as you go along rather than slick) and also a "stupid boy" in his t shirt, vaguely followed her around on stage as the song neared its end. It's a wait and see for now, but easily the biggest reaction in the Press Centre so far today.

The staging of the Lithuanian entry is largely as understated and mellow as the song. A very dark stage with merely a spotlight or two on Ieva while black and white moving images of couples and families come up in sequence (the first being of her parents). Softly sung and vocally sound for the first attempt.