Today’s rehearsals kick off at 12:00 CET and will start with Armenia’s Aram MP3 & will end with Hungary’s András Kállay-Saunders. Altogether, the whole of the first semi-final will take part in their second rehearsal. Our editors; Liam Whelan are in the Press Centre today and will tell you all you need to know from Rehearsals: Day five. The blog from the last rehearsal is on top, so you have to scroll down to see what has happened earlier today.
Hungary
I cannot get my head around the fact that there will be flags waving as these disturbing lyrics are performed. And more unnecessary and in this case very out of place dancers. András sounds wonderful though and I am jealous of his hair.
Montenegro
Ice dancer is on stage from the very beginning now. Seems like they only made the gimmick bigger this time, despite the fact many still worry whether it works for this song.
The Netherlands
Slight changes after the first rehearsal: more close shots at the end, and the white floor in the instrumental part has been deleted. The beautiful road movie staging stays the same.
Portugal
Not a lot of changes compared to runthrough 1. Singer looks a little old on stage – too old for a happy song such as this one.
San Marino
The dress of the singer has changed. A couple more close shots in this second rehearsal to make everything look a little more intimate. Difficult odds for San Marino though, after not having qualified last year with a better song.
Moldova
Now we see the address. Cristina was in casual clothing for the first rehearsal. The dress is Gladiator style like at national final but this time not as dramatic. There is a blue dress that is covered on her right side with what looks like leather armour. She is a little out of tune in places.
Belgium
I cannot see any differences, even since we saw the song at national final. Axel seemed to save his voice until the last run through.
Ukraine
No changes here except for the dress. It was red, now it is silver. The dancer is now in a black shirt and pants. I personally think Marija looks scared on the wheeel and her notes shake when she jumps off.
Azerbaijan
I think the only thing that has changed here since first rehearsals is camera angles.
Russia
I think those sticks will be lighting up on the night. Alex Sparrow’s name didn’t show in the lights of the jackets during rehearsals if I remember correctly.
Armenia
Aram is wearing Eric Saade style leather gloves and a leather jacket. He runs through the song several times, nothing eventful happens. I think he is holding back on vocals a little. He is confident on stage. The thing that makes me wonder about Armenia is, which part of the song will be chosen for the voting recap clips?
Latvia
Jöran collides with the microphone a few seconds into the first run through and they need to restart. “It’s not a piece of cake… that’s what you call Danish humour” is what the stage director said! I think the vocals are shouty.
Estonia
On the second run through Tanja’s battery pack dropped and the run through was cancelled. “It was a tricky one” the stage director commented as Tanja finished her rehearsal and left the stage. I think she sounds great. She seems to want to finish the Performance with a big smile into the camera (while in her dancer’s arms).
Sweden
I find her vocals shaky. The stage director obviously disagrees commenting on the infamous bridge “because we’re going back!”
Iceland
They have changed the background from the first rehearsals, there seems to be a lot more colour now.
Albania
I loved the original version of Albania but I was not at all a fan of the revamp. But after seeing this now, I liked it again! It is probably the strongest performance I have seen so far today. I am surprised because I read many not so good reviews of the first rehearsal. The delegation are now wearing the actual clothes and I think I am right in saying the backdrop colours have been changed slightly to compliment these. If I was to make any criticism, it is that Hersi looks stressed, not so relaxed.
No review of the Netherlands? Boycot??
Sorry, technical issues made the text dissapear for a while. It’s back up now! No worries mate 😉