ESC 2015

Australia has brought some city lights for their first Eurovision performance!And then some more city lights in the backdrop which moves the whole time- like a a drive in the city streets. Guy is the centre of the performance with four dancers accompanying him. There's a play with lights the Jan-Jan way, however i don't think it's coming across as impressive as they would like it to be. Vocals are very good in the first run, holding back in the second. I do like this performance and i find it competent in terms of singing and choreography; however i am missing something to call it a winner.Somehow i can't see the European audience voting massively for this type of performance.

And rehearsing last... possibly Australia first and last ever candidate to take part in the competition; Guy Sebastian.

Bringing the Aussies to the competition with a funky soul track, Guy's ready to show Europe Australia are in it to win it. Red and dragon green are the main colours for the first part until the gold kicks in.

Vocal wise it's more of a technical rehearsal for Guy. So he's not fully singing the entry at times, but he's already getting us in the mood for a serious party!

What a Eurovision this is going to be!

United Kingdom act Electro Velvet Reveal State of the Art LED Costumes for Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final Performance

Electro Velvet will don state of the art LED costumes that illuminate in time to their song ‘Still in Love With You’ for their performance in the Grand Final of the competition on Saturday 23rd May.

Eurovision Song Contest rules state that a maximum of six people can be permitted on stage during each song therefore Alex Larke and Bianca Nicholas of Electro Velvet will be joined on stage by backing artists Ryan Heseltine, Chris Arias, Scarlette Douglas and Sophie Jones who will also light up the stage in their own cutting edge LED outfits. All of the costumes will incorporate brand new technology which has never been seen before.

The eye catching outfits will complement the circular main stage which has been erected for the competition at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria - host city of the 2015 contest. The stage itself contains a 30 metre wide LED screen and 300 metres of LED strips, making it one of the most visually stunning stages in Eurovision history.

Electro Velvet said: “The whole Eurovision experience has been illuminating for us and we can’t wait to literally light up on stage in front of the entire world - it’s going to be electric!”

Guy Freeman, Head of Delegation for the UK says: “The creative team behind the concept have been working exceptionally hard to ensure that the United Kingdom has a visually stunning and memorable performance on the night of the grand final and we can’t wait for the world to see it.”

From Press-r

The graphics and the presentation look really impressive here.It starts up really atmospheric; grey and brown are the main colors and the backdrop shows war ruins. Towards the end of the song drummers appear on stage and walk towards Lisa, accompanied with some more drummers in the backdrop. The ruined city gets slowly "re-built" and transformed, the sky becomes blue and the previously dry trees become green again. It ends up with Lisa and the drummers on the same row raising her fist up. Even if it's obvious that Lisa is holding back, it's still a flawless vocal performance.The bad news is that the purple- dekoltee outfit is less flattering than everything she's had on for her TV performances till now. I am hoping that they'll change it because it kind of ruins the whole performance for me. If they do, this can actually surprise everyone and go high.

FRANCE
I was getting ready for Lisa to go through the motions and for me to write a pretty standard review of this rehearsal but this has been the highlight of the day so far. The only thing I don’t like about this is the rather unflattering and drab purple dress with lace and embroidery sleeves, which make her look like a rugby player in drag, so let’s get that out of the way first. Lisa’s delivery down the camera is a lesson on how to sell a ballad with the perfect balance of emotion and power. A little extra make-up and a more flattering dress and this is perfect. The staging here is just magnificent. It starts by showing a town in war-torn rubble and there are some wonderful camera angles that give a terrific 3D effect. The highlight is when four military drummers come on stage with another dozen others on the screen. They march forward while in the background the village is transformed to a beautiful panorama. This is so simple but it’s the best staged song I’ve seen this year, just ahead of Sweden. Serious Top 10 contender.

Well well I didn't see that coming from La douce France...

and yes it really is La Douce France, Lisa Angell has completely won me over with the staging of her ballad 'N'Oubliez Pas'.

The backdrop, featuring a ruin, flying doves and drummers is so empowering, it just fills your eyes with tears.

Absolutely stunning visually and vocally from France.

I have nothing more to say!

And then there we had the moment... We finally got to see what the UK would be doing.
The UK have gone big. It's very Great Gatsby versus neon fun fair, but there's room for improvement. Stair cases, neon lights, lights on the dresses, you name it and it is there.

Right now, I'm missing real engagement and enthusiasm from Bianca and Alex. I think if they continue to work on that, they can bring the sassiness out of the song and do rather well.

Yes there are still a couple of changes that need to be made, especially for Bianca's outfit. Right now she has on back level, a big bunch of wires and devices on her, which looks like she's some sort of toy with battery pack. So I hope there's a way that's either not being filmed or gets enhanced.

Two female and male backing singers are joining in to, both as singers and dancers.

A much needed injection of fun and kitsch from the UK, which I think Europe is actually going to love.

Well well, this is everything fans imagined it would be and worse. And that coming from someone who actually likes the song.They brought their stairs with them and they are coming down as the song starts. Generally there's lot of going up and down those stairs during the performance. And then there's dancing.The stage goes dark in some parts of the song and the dancers do acrobatics whilst their costumes light up. Pink and purple all over the place. Vocally poorer than previous performances and little chemistry between Alex and Bianca.

Well, we all were waiting for the UK performance and I got very disappointed with their staging done in a clumsy way. Bianca is wearing a bright pink short dress which actually makes her bigger than she is and her movements are not perfect. It all looked to me not like a musical what everybody was expecting put like a poor parody.
At her back, Bianca has some equipment which looks terrible and it is, as I suppose, used to light up her dress when the lights go off. The only thing I really like is the stage effects with a lot of bright colors of a nice design. I hope they have enough time to improve all these drawbacks.

"Taken by a stranger" much?Ann Sophie wears a black catsuit and is going all Femme Fatale on us.She looks straight at the camera, she dropped the weird face expressions of the past and she is competent vocally.She is accompanied by four backing singers. There's not much movement and it comes across a bit too static but to be honest i had an issue with her moves in the National Final so that might be an improvement. Backdrop plays with yellow and black. I quite like what i see and hear here, still unsure if it will stand out.