Day 4 Morning - Slovenia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ukraine

UKRAINE

Before the Rehearsal
One of the more controvertial songs this year comes next. Until yesterday Ukraine was on top of the odds to qualify but have been beaten by Australia since.

Rehearsal
Starting out of focus, Jamala wearing black starts slowly walking towards the camera which focuses on her while she starts singing the first verse. Vocally she is spot on. The staging starts quite dark with blue and green tones forming a, what can be called a tunnel effect behind her. Standing centre stage, golden, green and blue formations burst out from under her. For the second verse the stage is lit with light columns and a red tone - visually very spectacular. One of the better effects seen this year comes in the bridge where it appears that Jamala is absorbing energy from the ground and this permiates through her and she explodes creating a tree of light. It brings goosebumps and a large applause from all those present.

Second run - Just as spectacular as before. Unfortunatey this just completely nails the coffin of the Danes.

And the third run is just as good. But now, Lidia Isac will do a tribute to Ovidiu Anton in the press area.
 

DENMARK

Rehearsal
We start off well - they are not lit so the boys stop the rehearsal after a few chords. The second time around goes a slightly bit better but also had to stop. Johannes lost his in-ear and therefore the rehearsal stopped. This was not the only issue. The boys sould have lit-up microphone stands however this only worked for two out of three. Unfortunately Johannes was again the one with the issues.

Take three for the first run through - and vocally the boys are very nervous. Unfortunately no amount of Danish blandness seems to be saving this. The stage seems to be nice enough but again, nothing which would make anyone scream 'wow' at it.

Second run -  This one went through without stopping. The boys are still nervous and it is affecting them vocally quite adversely. For the second time Johannes is the only one who drops his stand before the last chorus. The trio go down the catwalk and dance together while singing the last chorus. The silence in the room says a lot.

Third run - More of the same unfortunately. We doubt that the 'Denmark wins in Sweden' trend will continue.



BULGARIA

Before the Rehearsal
Now this is one we were all waiting for. There is much expectation for Poli to do well and from what we've seen from her in the promotional tour she did, she is more than ready to rise to this challenge. Bulgaria is currently sixth favourite to win although it was higher earlier in the week - brought down by the rise of Malta. Will they be able to climb back up after today? Only a short while to wait! #excited!


Rehearsal
Starting with a close up of poli's facce, we pan out during the first to reveal poli clad in a black leather and fabric with skin-colour centre. A huge chevron earring is on her right ear. The chevron is also repeated on her legs - two on the thigh, two on the lower leg. The backdrop is simple, we have what can be described as 'static' being rhythmically projected with the music. During the chorus, this changes to 10 dancers, or rather, the same image repeated 10 times, 5 on each side. The chevrons also light up since it is now clear that they are also LED. In the second chorus, these end up being 30 since there are three levels. For the last chorus, the backing vocals come out from behind the stage in order to complete the song all together. This has not disappointed at all. Cannot wait for the final run where we will see what extras will be added to the already good spectacle.

Third run - (Yes we skipped second since there was not much to add) The camera angles are getting better. Backing singer error in starting too early for the first chorus. Poli is following the camera which is good at such an early stage. No pyro however we should be expecting this - it is probably that BNT just did not want to spend the money on it at this stage. Definate qualifier.


SLOVENIA

Before the rehearsal
*sings* 'Cause blue is blue and red is red. The stage will likely, in these be clad, but now the colour doesn't matter, we will all just need to suffer! I joke, it's not that bad. But for this time of the morning I would have preferred somethig else to wake up for.

Rehearsal
Oh my god! Blue and red staging! Who would have guessed! ManuElla is wearing a white dress with a very low cut while her 'hope and glory' are tightly packed and trying to escape (not as bad as Mando though). A lot of times she places her hands in the praying position. Angelic. A shirtless dancer comes on stage and starts dancing around a pole and then we see how he got his body. He effortlessly starts doing lots of acrobatics which is nice to see. Vocally ManuElla is quite OK but from the two people on stage I prefer the other talent.

Second run - Apart from the slight audio hiccup (they are still happening on day 4 which is now a bit annoying) it was much the same as the first. We noticed ManuElla is wearing nice heels and the question we also forgot about - will there be a dress reveal? The answer - no, doesn't appear so. Understandably however, the dancer is very slightly not as good as earlier. I guess due to the toll it takes on the body you cannot do this too many times in quick succession.

Third run - And there will be pyro! Much pyro! The middle-eight is when the whole stage starts lighting up much to the admiration of the gathered press. An applause at the end of the song concludes Slovenia's rehearsal today.