Soon we will see Israel rehearse for a second time - however the stage director just casually mentioned that after Lithuania there will be a (commercial) break and hosts on the catwalk, which means THE big favourite to win at the moment will perform after this break. Will this affect their chances? We'll find out soon.. stay tuned for the update on this post when the rehearsal starts!

First run - no changes and no issues here - but in the hall the beginning really comes across as very messy. Not that anyone will notice in less than a weeks time as most likely everyone will be screaming and shouting over it anyway.

The rest however does look and sound good - lots of fireworks always are appreciated in the hall, and not to mention the fog in the end..

The first to rehearse after the break is Lithuania. Ieva looks very beautiful today in what looks like a light pink dress - however the colours in the arena may be a bit betraying. It takes a long time before we get to see her on screens.

The last words from the second chorus echo here - not sure if that's intentional and is heard on tv screens too.

Vocally it sounds very well. Ieva now only sings the 2nd last line in Lithuanian and switches back to English for the very last line, unlike in the national final, however she started with this already at some point in the promotour.

In the 2nd run she's back to both last lines in Lithuanian, so it seems they are still trying to work out what works better for them.

Applause from the present press in the hall as Mikolas Josef appears on stage after his injury and hospital visits due to an injury after his first rehearsal back on Sunday.

Some difficulties in the startup here as Mikolas can't hear himself and they have to start again twice.
The third time there's a problem with the microphone and Mikolas interrupts again. Time flies like this!

First notable change today with Sennek now holding her hand in front of her eyes - then when she takes it away the visible spot widens as we have seen in the first rehearsal as well. The camera and/or lighting still isn't steady however, which makes it look a bit funny.

Sennek's performance is really good, she looks more confident and very relaxed on stage. It's still all dark - but I think it suits her and her song.

Last night ESCKAZ was lucky enough to have witnessed a unique event that pretty sure very few people in the Eurovision bubble have ever been to. The Lithuanian participant Ieva Zasimauskaite participated in a Mantra Chanting workshop in the Mantra Yoga lounge in the centre of Lisbon, not far from the Praça do Comercio.
The workshop was organised by the local Hare Krishna community, whose faith plays a central part in her life. Everyone was free to join and indeed the atmosphere was absolutely welcoming, with the scent of incense approaching from a few meters distance. Everyone sat on the ground and chanted along to the sometimes just relaxing but at other times very uplifting and I would almost say catchy music!
Apart from mantra singing by the community members there were speeches from special guests and from Ieva herself, who followed her speech by mantra singing herself. In the video below you can get an impression on how the evening went on. Just to add, the light in the room was very dim which is notable in the video quality.

Afterwards we had a quick chat with Ieva who explained us a bit more which you can see in the video below.

Iceland 2nd rehearsal. Switched slots today with Albania due to being caught up in traffic. It didn't affect him. #Eurovision

— ESCKAZ Chris (@EsckazChris) May 3, 2018