Another long of rehearsals at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. We will inform you about everything that is going on in Kiev today, with countries from all shows on stage!
In the following blog, you can find the latest Eurovision news from Kiev with the newest update appearing on top. For in-depth rehearsal coverage and full rehearsal videos, check our rehearsal blog. This blog will feature the snippets of EBU-footage.
18:52 – End of rehearsals, end of the blog
We are calling it an early night tonight, finishing right after the last rehearsal. Lots of more editing to do, to work on more Eurovision coverage for you. Stay tuned to the website and do follow our liveblog again tomorrow!
ps. The remaining three videos will be uploaded later tonight on the EBU’s official Eurovision Youtube Channel.
18:36 – Positive reaction to Italy’s performance today
It1stR: as Sanremo + colourful dancing gorilla & umbrella graphics. 4 backing singers. Polishing camera angles but nowt lost in translation.
— Daniel Gould (@sofabet) May 5, 2017
18:20 – Alma takes us around the world in French rehearsal
The final of the un-seen rehearsals is France. They focus most of their attention on their background graphics which is an impressive, Google maps journey across the world onto Paris which then goes into birds-eye-view turning into a rotating lighthouse light. Alma is wearing a white and black dress with circles within it along with ruby red lipstick. At times quite disorientating to watch however vocals sounded near flawless and a strong positive reaction in the press centre.
18:16 – Spanish TV-clip footage released
18:00 – Mirror fan makes U.K. a contender for left side of results
Lucie Jones is next up for UK, she is wearing a dark gold pleated dress with a nude lip making her appear innocent and pure. The major prop is a massive fan that extends from the centre of the stage out towards the audience. It is mirrored allowing two diagonal projections of Lucie to appear alongside the actual one. Through enclosing Lucie it’s created more emotion and should allows her vocals and facial expressions to take the show while still being interesting to look in the background. For the song’s climax, some alteration should of been done to the fan however. During the second run-through Lucie stopped singing mid-way due to not hearing her voice. They add pyro during the last run-through and it does benefit slightly from it.
17:40 – Big favourite Italy now online:
16:40 – Australia considering national final for 2018
We gained an exclusive interview with Australian Head of Delegation Paul Clarke who discusses SBS’s interest in producing a national final format for future Eurovision contests. Read and watch the full article HERE.
16:24 – Final hour break before UK and France perform
One more hour break before we return to the remaining two rehearsals from United Kingdom and France along with the remaining press conferences. Stay tuned for an exciting announcement in five minutes!
15:58 – Germany looks amazing amidst song choice
Levina opens laying on the floor as the camera slowly pans down from the lights onto her, it looks incredible. Visuals focus on white and grey geometric shapes e.g. triangles to cylindrical cut-outs. Levina has her hair up into somewhat-Jedward hair with a curl. She is wearing a white dress with a cutout on one shoulder with a long grey kilt-like skirt. Surprising positive reaction from the press centre. During the final run-through they add a spark waterfall however it doesn’t need it.
15:28 – Romania’s TV-style rehearsal released
15:24 – Spain’s Manel Navarro goes Hawaiian
Manel for Spain is on-stage and brings us to the beach as him and the backing singers are dressed in Hawaiian shirts and ride a projected surfboard during the bridge. The visuals showcase a beach landscape with sand and sun. During the final chorus a red and yellow world is shown. Vocals sounded decent even though it doesn’t connect well to the press centre.
15:10 – Check out the Maltese TV-clip footage
14:42 – Francesco proves his winning potential
Big favourite Italy is finally next and Francesco is on-stage wearing a slick, silver suit with a white shirt underneath. Four backing singers wear a red, orange, yellow and blue jumpers each. Graphics look great and sync to parts of the lyrics. Gorilla is utilised like in national final. Wasn’t perfect with camera angles and choreography but for a first rehearsal, it proved itself as a big favourite. Press centre gave largest applause yet.
14:28 – FYR Macedonia have TV-clip released
14:20 – Big announcement about Australia at 16:20 CET
ESCDaily has recently interviewed the Australian delegation and we have gained an exclusive announcement regarding Australia in Eurovision. Return at 16:20 CET for the news!
14:10 – Ukraine completely change performance
O.Torvald are up and they’ve changed entirely from their national final performance. The members are wearing black leather jackets apart from the lead singer who wears a silver blazer. In the centre of the stage is a massive, silver mosaic face statue that at the end has the visuals showing a sunset with light radiating behind the face onto the band members creating an impressive silhouette.
13:30 – Thirty minute break until Big Five and Ukraine
Return to see Ukraine, Italy and Spain perform next with their first rehearsal.
12:56 – Romania starts with tech issues, ends better
Illinca and Alex Florea are next up for Romania. During first take, Illinca can be heard saying “I can’t hear my ears” and the floor manager cuts it. Other issues include Illinca’s vocals shockingly and Alex jumping on the moving cannon. By the final run-through it again looks like a strong yet very kitsch entry with the nutcrackers, glitter cannons and comic book-style graphics. If they perform flawlessly on the night, should qualify.
12:40 – Austrian TV clip posted online
12:36 – Claudia Faniello is looking more her age
Malta is up and they’ve got her looking much younger. Her hair flows down with potential adjustments done to her white, dazzling dress. Vocally superb however whether the song can connect to the audience will depend on the night. Visuals remain of clips of her with a blue hue in sync with her lyrics.
12:18 – Check out the Serbian TV-clip
Tijana Bogicevic – In too deep (second rehearsal).
12:10 – Jana tries sexy with her black tassles outfit
FYR Macedonia is next up with the cityscape background encompassing Jana as she wears black tassles across one shoulder and skirt. Her choreography is meant to come across as sexy but elludes to extremely risque that might not help the audience connect with her. Vocals have improved but some more work could be done.
12:05 – Ten minute delay until Jana hits the stage
We’ve been informed there will be a ten minute delay while setting up FYR Macedonia’s stage. Stay tuned for the next rehearsal!
11:54 – Latvia’s TV-clip hits the internet
11:53 – Alma strategises by releasing her debut album
MERCI @NazimOfficiel @LabelRoseWarner @Benjmarciano d’avoir cru en moi????❤️ retrouvez l’album ici : https://t.co/smBKZGzQ9I
— Alma (@almaofficiel) May 5, 2017
11:41 – Slovenia’s TV-clip footage now online
You can check out Omar Naber’s second rehearsal in EBU tv-feed HERE.
11:30 – 30 minutes until Isaiah and Kristian Kostov Q&A
Bulgaria’s @KristianKostov_ & @isaiahofficial will be doing a #Eurovision Q&A at 12pm CET / 7pm AEDT. Tweet q’s with #IsaiahAndKris pic.twitter.com/CNyL3ivd73
— SBS Eurovision (@SBSEurovision) May 5, 2017
11:00 – Hour lunch break before Big Six perform
We’ve moved onto our hour lunch break but look forward to the final three semi-final songs before the first rehearsal of the big five and Ukraine
10:58 – Armenia’s TV-clip footage uploaded
10:42 – Austria close the first show in style
Nathan Trent is back on with his moon prop and very little needed to be changed as it was near flawless during the first rehearsal. Strong chance of qualifying and camera angles work well with his charismatic personality which he showcases on-camera with ease. Definite qualifier.
10:16 – Serbia’s Tijana wears see-through white
Tijana Bogićević is on now with the performance featuring the blue lights and extracts of her music video. The dancer wears white and appears after the first chorus. During the final chorus, a sparkling mini chandelier can be seen above Tijana. Vocals were good until the high notes in which she still struggles.
09:54 – Latvia adds more neon, removes phallic image
Latvia are back and we see the official outfit. The band members wear black whereas the lead singer wears neon-strips across her whole upper torso that can be described as ‘neon bones’. Performance very similar to NF but bigger with the previously aforementioned ‘phallic object’ removed from the background holograms. Vocals decent, more work on choreography could be utilised.
09:40 – EBU tv-footage
EBU will today again release a snippet of the official tv-footage for all semi finalist performances. That includes Artsvik! We can’t wait to show you the clip for the Armenian rehearsal so that you can enjoy it as much as we did. However given the www.eurovision.tv webteam’s usual working speed, this might still take a while.
09:27 – Slovenia goes fully holographic
Omar Naber is next up and we see major graphic improvements to the hologram screens encircling him which look like windows. Stage looks incredible in a mix of white and black with the lights white. Naber wears a tweed, grey blazer and sounds stronger vocally than his previous rehearsal.
09:02 – Artsvik becomes LoveWave: the Sequel
Armenia opens today and did they put on a show! Creative director Sacha has worked her magic and camera motions are slick and sexy. Artsvik is lit in purple hue and wears a black jumpsuit. The two backing dancers support her well while keeping the attention on her. Vocals superb yet again.
08:45 – Not so crowded yet
We are usually the first ones to enter and the last one to leave the press center. This morning it shows, because there are not a lot of people present yet. They have to hurry though, as Armenia will be up in fifteen minutes.
08:30 – A suggestion for you…
May we suggest you to watch episode 2 of our infamous talkshow The ESC Daily Show? The second episode of the ESC Daily Show gave us a lot of discussion, on several topics. For instance, Icelandic commentator Gísli Marteinn Baldursson and Aftonbladet journalist Torbjörn Ek talked about the chances for Bulgaria to win in Kiev.
08:00 – The schedule for day six
What an awesome day this is! We have a couple of countries from semi final one and semi final two that return for their second round of rehearsal. And the big 5 plus host country Ukraine will perform for the first time. Here is the full schedule for today. Please note that these are the local times in Ukraine, which are CET+1.
