Rehearsals1 SF2 (Part 4)

No breaks allowed and moving swiftly on to the next entry:

Greece
What is going on? I mean the song is what it is, and yes, it's not usual for Eurovision but really, are we sure there was a choreography here? They all just seem to be doing their own thing and it's the camera's job to find them. This song really polarises people, already comments being said about Greece winning the semi-final (and no, the comments are not coming from Greeks or Greekophiles) and others saying it will struggle to qualify.

Vocally it is not good - very messy and parts seem to be just shoved in. Rise Up is not a song that really needs good vocals but there needs to be some harmony. The rehearsals seem to be a mish-mash of keeping to the lyrics and adding impromptu words and phrases during the parts which were previously instrumental.

One bit of amazing news: The trampoline makes an appearance on the Eurovision stage. Nothing like three grown men on a trampoline to really get your attention. And no, it's all the three members of the team, it's two plus a Greek gymnast (or at least we assume he is). This gimmick is just as polarising as the song itself. Some thinking it a great fun idea and others just mesmerised at the randomness of it all. There will be much discussion in the land of the Hellenes later on today I believe.

 Nikos Fortune

 Theo Fortune

 Risky Kidd

Slovenia
Dressed in blue, Tinkara is hitting the notes well. The stage, as you could have guessed, is using many circular moving motifs continuing the 'round and round' theme. The steady-cam also goes round Tinkara many times, allowing all camera shots to flow into each other quite well. Three female backing singers are to the left of the screen. The song presentation is quite simple but just like Switzerland and others, it fits the song. Starting off in blue hues it then goes to gold after the bridge and into the last chorus. The wind machine also makes an appearance as it should. As per my wild prediction, this will probably make it to Saturday.

Update: There seems to be indecisiveness in the Slovene camp on what kind of microphone to have. We've had two runs with a mic stand and one with a headset. The headset seems to work better visually but it seems to be impeding Tinkara with her flute. They seem to be running through as many as they can - probably will have decided by Saturday 3rd which to go for and rehearse all those with the mic of choice.

And in addition, it seems Tinkara is having problems with the mic stand. She seems a bit annoyed about it too. She had problems putting the mic back in order to do the late flute solo and then looked 'agitated' (read: pissed) when having to grab it again after not ten seconds later. Will this have an impact on the stand or not to stand situation?

Romania
They are trying to have a super-imposed image of Paula at the beginning of the song - like the hologram which they had in the national final, but the timing didn't work in round one. We also see that this time, the piano is in a circular form and is... well... innovative to say the least. The backdrop is mainly of golden butterflies and heart shapes. Not the cleanest of routines we've seen but remember it is the first rehearsal so things are never polished at this stage. Waiting for the next rounds to see improvements.

Round two also sees audio issue in the press room in the beginning of the song. Paula's image still didn't work correctly and people are starting to openly laugh at the entry. There seems to be an intention to make us believe that they are a couple - but although they undoubtedly work well together, it is obvious that there is no romance off stage between the two. Excited and delighted to see what happens in the next run!

Run three and IT WORKED! THE HOLOGRAM WORKED! We're still not sure about Ovi in the circle piano but oh well, we've seen it enough times now to not be so shocked by it any more. This already seems to be coming together much better than it did before. Don't dismiss this entry just yet, Romania have not missed out on a final spot ever and don't think this will be their first.

And that is me for today! All rehearsals are done and it is just left to try and find out which will qualify and which will not. As we did for semi 1, my prediction at the moment is:

Qualifying (in performance order)
Malta
Israel
Austria
Lithuania
Finland
Ireland
FYR Macedonia
Greece
Slovenia
Romania

Non-Qualifying (in performance order)
Norway
Georgia
Poland
Belarus
Switzerland


See you all now on Friday for another day of blogging and maybe more! It's a miracle!