Thursday rehearsals: Greece and Israel

GREECE
There are some sore heads around the press centre this morning - we weren't the only ones out partying last night! - but Koza Mostra quickly cleared the cobwebs with a set of lively, dynamic rehearsals. The key to this one will be in the camerawork, since the band and their hairy old uncle are perfectly capable of delivering the song, and the rehearsals duly focused on capturing the energy and motion of the performance.

So far so good, I think. The boys bounce around as you'd expect, using the full width of the stage and the catwalk, while Agathonas remains rooted to the spot throughout. There are some neat tricks, such as when the lights go out during the instrumental break and the boys' instruments are illuminated, and there's something about the way it's filmed that makes the acceleration in the last 30 seconds towards the ending seem particularly effective.

All  in all, a good start for the Greeks I'd say!

ISRAEL
There were no huge surprises here, but "Rak bishvilo" certainly comes as an effective change of pace and style after the Greek entry preceding it - and that'll probably benefit both entries.

Moran is still wearing that rather unflattering outfit that manages to show off her boobs, her arse and pretty much everything in between - but it's a look she's clearly comfortable with, and the contrast between the visual image and the elegance of the stage presentation (dark blue lighting, piano, backing singers, all very "ESC as it used to be") is... if not necessarily effective, certainly quite striking.

Quite a lot of long shots and sweeping crane shots being used here, and I'd say they could do with a bit more eye-to-camera action from Moran, but I suppose it's not exactly the most cheerful of songs so that could come across a bit fake, I don't know. Anyway, it's been a strong enough start to the day from both countries so far, so I'm sure Yami is delighted that I'm handing over to him for Armenia!