Friday afternoon rehearsals (part 1)

So the task on reporting the next batch of songs is mine! Yay. Here we go:

DENMARK
I'll say one thing first; the dress is NOT very flattering for her legs. Or maybe it's her legs that just aren't very flattering in the first place. But she does come across slightly like an etherial wood nymph (waist up) with treetrunk legs.

Anyway, the colours are the same as before. She sings well but doesnt give it all her energy, which makes sense.

It's all hard to judge because we have seen this exact same performance a million times by now. But it was effective the first time, back in the danish final, so there is no reason why it wouldn't be now

RUSSIA
Nobody else has internet now but me! The internet seems to have gone down in the press center, but I'm just using my 3G anyway. One of the advantages of having Eurovision in your home country. :-)

Anyway, Russia just started. But we now have almost no sound. Hmm
I'm gonna sound really superficial now, commenting on people's bodyparts, and I apologize for that. But she really has quite hairy arms. Sleeveless dress and a massive screen in the press centre is not a great combination then...

The lights does seem all off at the moment. It looks quite unfinished, and the backing singers throwing white XXL gooseberries into the audience is a quite lame anticlimax.

Dina and the backing singers sing it perfectly though.

Second run through, the lights make a bit more sense now. It's all very pink.

UKRAINE
We now got to see them in their outfit. Zlata in a multicoloured metal christmas ornament mermaid tail, and the giant dressed up as Roger Pontare.

Somehow it really doesnt look horrible though, but kinda works. The colours in the dress and the stage backdrop blend well together. It might not be everyones taste, but it is sure going to get noticed.

Vocally there are no problems and Zlata seems to.know what she is doing. One of the backing singers seems to be hungover and is missing, with a standin taking his/her place.

Secong runthrough. Zlata is still looking like she knows exactly what she is doing, and as she really has fun being on stage. I do suspect this could do quite well, if it gets a very late draw in the final. It's slightly like Ukraine 2011... memorable!

They keep "forgetting" to turn on the screens for the first 30 seconds. But one of the times we did get a brief peek of the intro. Sam says it seemed like they were doing some sort of camera effect when the giant walks. The picture flickers with each step he takes, as if the ground is shaking.

NETHERLANDS
I still wonder what this will be like when there is audience in the hall. Standing on the satellite stage, she will naturally be surrounded by heads, flags, boas and happy people. And its just not that kind of song...

Anouk looks a bit tired today (rough night?) and seems to basically just do what is required but not more. Which makes sense considering she has already rehearsed this and there just isn't anything to rehearse for her, having the possibly simplest staging of all.

She sometimes does manage to look at the cameras... but it's as if she's looking AT the camera, not INTO it. She could definitely connect better with the viewers.