Copenhagen 2014: Day Two – Rehearsals LIVE

Today’s rehearsals kick off at 10:00 CET and will start with Moldova’s Cristina Scarlat & end with Poland’s Donatan & Cleo. Altogether, the last six acts from Semi-final one and the first five countries for the second Semifinal. Our editors; Brandon McCann & Mihalis Volmer are in the Press Centre today and will tell you all you need to know from Rehearsals: Day two. The blog from the last rehearsal is on top, so you have to scroll down to see what has happened earlier today.

Rehearsal – Day 2: Ended.
ESC Daily will be back tomorrow morning with the rest of this year’s songs excluding the Big 6.
Poland

Cleo is on stage with her ponytail wrapped with fabric while wearing a formal black, shirt with vintage-styled roses. The floor is of cartoon red flowers & petals while supported by 3 females dressed in their standard attire that we have seen from the music video. On the walls/cages follows the red, theme with circular portraits of Cleo. Donatan did not appear on stage for this rehearsal. Cleo sings Polish 75% of the song before singing 25% in English. One of the girls lifts some of the stage’s water with a pail and carries it away. There are two quite particular sexual scenes involving one of the “maids” who washes her clothes in an old-fashioned hand-dryer and another scene involved a maid churning butter between her breasts. The performance gained the strongest, positive reaction from the Press tonight, but we will see if it’s justified.

Georgia

All members of The Shin are dressed in different colours. Mariko wears a light pink flowing skirt with a white flowery top. The male dancer wears a sky-divers suit which is fully opened and “glides” in the air as the dancer stands on-top of his guitar.  Background graphics consist of a simple sky & stars background which fades into bright yellow like the sun, as the song plays on. Vocals are very good but not as perfect as their music video. During key parts of the song, the visuals will fade the past split second to emphasis the psychedelic nature of the performance.

 Norway

Performance opens with a pianist playing the opening notes. Mini spotlights from the ceiling descend onto Carl as the floor is filled with smoke & lightning bolts. Four female violinists perform half-way through while standing on a slanted platform. The song features imagery of ocean waves clashing being displayed on-screen. Carl provides stronger vocals than previous performances however we reckon the performance is missing something that it had gained during Melodi Grand Prix 2014.

Israel

Another entry that opens with an aerial shot. Mei wears a black dress with black thread & fabric flowing down it.  She is later joined by 2 female dancers, as she dances in sync with them similar to her choreography in her official music video. The floor resembles a blue jigsaw collection which becomes red as the song intensifies.On the main staging walls/cages there are circular moonlit skies while the floor is blue. Mei lies on the ground for the bridge, the video ends with and her dancers, at the podium at the edge of the stage. Her vocals were initially quite shaky but  improved greatly at the final run-through, she has great potential for Israel.

Malta

FireLight wear their standard attire with their musical instrumentals more bright & visually attractive.  The background resembles an autumn day with corn blowing in the wind while parts of the caged walls, flash with the sky. The main female singer, has a larger role in the song than before and vocally there was nothing to fault. Images of random people flash on at the back of the cage’s squares.

Hungary

The last act of the first semi-final comes from Hungary this year. Andras is dressed in a t-shirt with a sleeveless jumper & scarf.  The background graphics are of blue skyscrapers which later develop into red bursts of motion during the choruses. Andras sits in a chair while a young girl/woman performs the piano. Andras runs to the podium at the edge of the stage while a male dancer interacts with the girl in a violent style. Vocals are great but not polished yet. At the end, Andras holds the girl and pushes away the man to symbolise the message of the song.

Montenegro

Sergey dresses in a black suit supported by 3 backing vocalists and shockingly, a roller-skater. She dances around the stage  while her movements are marked on the floor with strong saturated colours. The backing is resembles an underwater jungle. Vocals are strong but does the song have the impact to make it to the final? We felt the roller-skater took away the message & connect-ability of the song.

Netherlands

The Common Linnets open with a bird’s eye view of the stage which resembles a roadway in motion. This develops into a charcoal-styled tree branches growing all around the stage’s floor. Ilse DeLange & Waylon sing & perform guitars into a microphone stand which splits & twists into two parts for both singers to sing to each other, not the audience. They are accompanied by a couple of additional musicians. Both singers’ vocals are on par. 

Portugal

Suzy is supported with two female backing singers & 2 male dancers/drummers with their two drums situated behind Suzy like in her national final performance. She also performs with her main drummer who has the drum situated on his waist. Apart from a re-vamp and more use of choreography, there isn’t that much difference from what we have seen before from Portugal. There seems to be a strong tropical, Summer theme presented within Suzy’s graphics. Overall, Suzy’s vocals get stronger throughout the rehearsal.

San Marino

Valentina has a pianist on-stage for her 3rd attempt at Eurovision. Valentina is dressed in a white dress while a large silk fabric backdrop is behind her which may represent her “shell” which is mentioned in Maybe (Forse)’s lyrics. Valentina does a very decent attempt with vocals as she stands on a glittering platform, which slightly resembles Zlata Ognevich’s performance from last year, however Valentina has a much bigger platform. She stands still while waving her arms along with the music. Valentina has long hair alongside her flowing white dress which could symbolise that perhaps she has been inspired by the “Little Mermaid” as she performs in Copenhagen.

Moldova

Moldova kicks off the today’s rehearsals. While her performance doesn’t hint to costume design. We learn more about her staging for her song; “Wild Soul”. Cristina will be accompanied by 4 male dancers who will begin the performance ‘floating’ in the air before they dance rhythmically through Cristina on stage. Lighting & graphics were quite dark while there is an strong use of blue strobe lights which develops to flower-like pink shapes forming throughout the stage.  Vocals were of high quality, so we could expect Moldova to be a qualifier this year, once again.

**

We will start with the first rehearsal of the day from Moldova soon. We will also publish a short video from their rehearsal, made by eurovision.tv, just like we did yesterday with – for instance – Belgium: