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ESC2019

Germany - First rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 17:24

Germany's S!sters are the last act to go on stage for today. Carlotta and Laurita walking towards each other on the catwalk and meet each other on the 2nd chorus. Their faces appear on the video art and later words like "Sorry" and "Respect" show up on it. The camera work circling them, falling at one point, zoom in on them and then take a shot at the audience. On the last chorus, there are different images of sisters on the screen. There are some things to work on regarding the camera work, the staging seems to be not tight enough.

That's it, we saw all 41 acts rehearse on stage at least once. Can you spot the winner?

United Kingdom - First rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 16:51

It's Great Britain now! Michael Rice, the young guy with the big voice, goes now on stage. The stage is filled with smoke and Michael wears black, including a leather jacket. The image is in monochrome in the first part of the performance. The video art shows falling stars. The color comes in and the video art changes to images of galaxies in space (Slovenia and Australia had something similar). Michael is joined at the last part of the song by his backing singers, all dressed in white. They all create a circle. I would sadly say it is one of the most ineffective stages we saw this year.

Italy - First rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 16:11

Mahmood took the stage for the first time. With him 3 dancers. The colors on the screen and stage are mostly dark blue and red. The backdrop shows images of people from the video clip, including the child. Some sentences from the song appear in English at the backdrop (hey, it worked for them last year). Mahmood wears a nude colored buttoned-up shirt with some print on it. His dynamics with the dancers are good, but it's not the most effective stage I've seen this year. Oh, and there's an image of burning money and the words "Money Can't Buy You Love". It's a strong message that can speak to a lot of people, but how will European react to Urban trap?

Spain - First rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 15:33

Miki wears black fitted shirt and pants. On the stage, a house like the construction of 6 rooms, spread on 2 floors. Miki dances around with 4 dancers and has 1 backing vocalist. The video art shows colorful images, fingerprints, triangles and more. A big robot tries to shake the house down, with Miki and the dancers in it. Miki looks amazing and sounds good, the colorfulness is created joy, but the robot is superfluous in my opinion.

France - First rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 14:50

The rehearsal starts with a shot on Bilal's face wearing a mask. It screens different faces on the mask. Bilal steps to the center stage (without the mask by now) and so does a "real size" dancer, who gets a lot of applause from the press. A second dancer joins in later. Bilal is dancing with them separately and then together. The video art colors are purple and gold, which goes along great with Bilal and co's white outfit. The beat of the new arrangement is smart, cause it made for a "show". Bilal is not accurate all of the time vocally but sounds fair throughout most of the performance.

Israel - First rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 14:20

Israel, the host country, my country, is now on stage for its first rehearsal. Kobi wears a black suit. He's surrounded by big a-symmetrical screens that show images of him from the video, there are also lights across them, which gives them an old school theatre vibe. 5 backing singers stand behind him in the first chorus. He leaves them and walks on the catwalk. The backing singers each stand in front of one of the screens. The colors ruling the stage are black and white. He sounds amazing, I would dare to say like in the studio. However, the staging is underwhelming.

Austria - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 13:15

I was so impressed with PÆNDA's vocal and visual performance on her first rehearsal. She once again opens the performance sitting down, wearing black strapless and black pants. The LED pillars are lightning up one by one and give the stage a very special appearance. It also looks like she's sitting on air. The game with the lights and the dark stage makes it hard to say where the stage begins and ends. They didn't use the black and white effect this time. Her vocals once again gave me goosebumps. Very good rehearsal.

Sweden - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 12:47

After a very good first rehearsal, the expectations from John Lundvik are high. I'm getting more and more convinced the arrangement was mixed for the performance, to give it an extra oomph. Camera work focuses a lot on John's face, and rightfully so. I think this wasn't as strong as the first rehearsal. There was a problem in the backing vocalists' balance and John seems distracted.
The 2nd attempt was better. There was a point where smoke covers the stage, and the LED projector makes it look like John drowning in a golden sandstorm.

Denmark - 2nd rehearsal

Eran on Fri, 05/10/2019 - 12:21

The Danish staging is basically the same as it was in the first round. Leonora climbs the ladder to the big chair. Her two backing vocalists now wear black shirts, with white collards and see-through sleeves. The male dancers wear black and white as well. It's a happy go lucky song, that might benefit from performing right after Romania.