Netta

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..

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.