Day 6 - After Dinner: Denmark, Ukraine, Norway, Georgia, Albania, Belgium

Sum Up
And with this, we wrap up another long day at the press centre. Nothing left to do than pack our things, check our holes and go get food, glam up and go to the Euroclub! Good times!



BELGIUM
The sparkliness of that top!!! Laura is accompanied by her four backing vocalists/dancers who are dressed in white with a black sparkly line going down their arms and legs. The staging is like it was in the first rehearsal, although some of the camera angles have been improved. There is still one shot where the previously discarded 5 handkerchiefs are visible which is a bit random. Vocally I would say Laura was not as good as she was in the first rehearsal but still good enough to not need to doubt qualification on Saturday.


ALBANIA
LOOK AT THAT DRESS! You can see the videos/pics so take a moment to go and see them. Eneda is looking fierce in it - yes I know I had said I would not write that any more but I may have possibly lied. The issue however is that her staging used a lot of golden tones which in a way makes it too golden. Vocally, although she is decent enough, I would not say she is exceptional, nor would I say that the staging is anything to write home about. Neither would I say that we shall see this again on Saturday. The bookies agree.
 


GEORGIA
I think this has been one that has grown on me the most - song wise anyway. I don't hate it as much as I did before. But then again, I had not heard it much before coming to Stockholm. The presentation of the song however is still extremely visually confusing. Lots of strobe lighting and cut-away shots and mirror imaging. A bit too much I think - I never know where I'm supposed to be looking, no idea of what is going on on stage in full. Having said this however, there is usually that one random entry which completely blind-sides everyone. If this is the one I don't know but I do know a particular member of the ESCKaz team who will be ecstatic about it if it happens!



NORWAY
Did not hear this from the beginning since we were advised on the loud speaker of the delayed Danish press conference. When we do get to hear the audio in around line three of the first verse, the camera shot shows a cameraman. SVT really need to work on these, there shouldn't have been so many shots going wrong at this point - almost all of today's songs have had some technical or visual issue.

Agnete however is singing ok-ish, and is looking relatively pleased with herself. The dancer seems to be missing by the end of the show but that could just be my bad attention to detail. Nope, it is for sure, in the second run through I made sure to pay attention and can confirm the dancer is no longer there by the end of the song. In fact, she disappears after the bridge which is sung with a close up of Agenete.


UKRAINE
This one gave us goosebumps the first time round and we are just hoping that we get goosebumps again. Jamala is still favourite to qualify from semi final 2. Will we be just as affected by her performance this evening?

Well, dressed in a dark blue dress with trousers underneath, Jamala did not fail to impress us. Singing with much more passion that she did on the first rehearsal, the room was just captivated by her voice. Although there were still slight misjudgements of positioning on the stage, this is not something which cannot be overcome with the time that is left in order to preform. The effect with the tree of life coming out from the struggle and blood of the land is still an amazing effect - even for those who have seen it more than once. For those who will be watching it for the first time, and if the camera angles are on point, then the effect should captivate the breath of those who are watching it just like it did ours for the first time. I personally do not think that there is any other country who can beat this in the semifinal - this after thinking, before coming to Stockholm, that it could even possibly not qualify due to the difficulty, then perceived, of conveying the message which is trying to be told by the song.


DENMARK
What a difference a few days can make! This has improved a hell of a lot over since the previous failures we were watching on Thursday. Although Johannes is still the only one who drops his microphone stand, the rest of the song is quite flaw-free. Could we have been too quick to dismiss this song? Let us see how the other runs are!

Second tun through and all the microphone stands are still upright!! HURRAH!