First rehearsals - the Semi 2 winners and losers

The big winners of yesterday weren’t any of the acts in Rotterdam; rather it was the meme creators. Whether it was Senhit’s, um, headdress (?), or Natalia Gordienko sitting silent on Filip Kirkorov’s lap in a webchat with wiwibloggs, the internet had a field day.

 

Back on stage, the first real winners of the day were Austria, with a simple, effective staging and a strong vocal performance by Vincent Bueno. In contrast, there weren’t any huge losers, but we’d hoped that either or both of Poland and Czech Republic would bring something remarkable to their staging that would boost their songs’ chances. Unfortunately it seems like both have gone for the kind of standard performance we were expecting, and they’ll likely both struggle because of it.

One country doing something different from what we expected was Serbia. Gone are the trashy, multi-coloured outfits of the preview video, in are classy, sparkly numbers, and the presentation is all the stronger for it. They’re giving a strong vocal performance too (arguably one of the biggest beneficiaries of this year’s new rule allowing vocals on the backing track), and have definitely moved up in many fans’ estimations.

While vocals are permitted on the backing track, all the lead vocals have to be live. And without the doubling of the lead vocalist’s vocals on the track that was present in the Finnish final, ‘Dark Side’ was sounding worryingly thin today. Coupled with visuals that were somewhat less than we were presented with in UMK, Finland didn’t have the impact that some had hoped for.

Much of Switzerland’s appeal will still rest on whether you like falsetto vocals and Gjon’s scrunched-up facial expressions, but at least the Swiss have won on one thing. He’s not sat at a piano. Immediately all the inevitable comparisons to ‘Arcade’ disappear, and the chances of ‘Tout l’univers’ are all the stronger for it.

Tomorrow we’ll be getting the second rehearsals of most of the acts from Semi 1 – all except Malta. And the big question on our lips is – what will Ireland do next? Is it the much vaunted augmented reality? Join us here tomorrow to find out.

Day 4 | First Rehearsals | Second Semi-Final | Second Half | 🇬🇪 🇦🇱 🇵🇹 🇧🇬 🇫🇮 🇱🇻 🇨🇭 🇩🇰

This will be a rolling blog, each country in running order, so please refresh to update.

Good morning to you all! I'm sure you're awaiting the news whether there were any QUEUES or SAMMARINESE rappers at the security check today. Unfortunately none of that, but we do have eight brand new rehearsals ahead of us today as we continue with the first rehearsals of the second half of the second semi-final. I'm ready! I hope you are too!

Early predictions:
🇸🇲 San Marino
🇪🇪 Estonia
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇬🇷 Greece
🇦🇹 Austria
🇵🇱 Poland
🇲🇩 Moldova
🇮🇸 Iceland
🇷🇸 Serbia
🇬🇪 Georgia
🇦🇱 Albania
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
🇫🇮 Finland
🇱🇻 Latvia
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇩🇰 Denmark

🇩🇰 | Denmark
Jesper standing on a circled stage with white LED strips all around it and so is his guitar-wearing partner who's standing on one a bit more towards the back. On the side there are three backing singers behind microphone stands. We're back towards blue/pink staging, because there's a grid full of pink and blue squared with some yellow squared in between here and there. The graphics sometimes change, giving the graphics more depth. The general atmosphere reflects a discotheque (no shocker there). Jesper is wearing a pink blazer with silver-colored pants. He's playfully performing on his own little stage and at one point he grabs his microphone stand to run towards the extra stage to be a little silly and play around a bit more with funny dance movements, being the weird little fellow he is. At the end he runs back to his own tiny stage, the guitar guy joins him, there's some fireworks and that's that. Vocally this is alright. It's fun, but I'm not terribly excited.

🇨🇭 | Switzerland
The rehearsal starts with a face close-up of Gjon standing on some sort of construction that can probably be best described as the very early foundation (like pillars) of a house/building with textured white paint. He's wearing a rather unflattering outfit (a very loose shirt with silver-glitter stripes and wide pants). Gjon starts with some very intimate camera shots and does some hand movements while there are graphics displayed behind him on the backdrop that resembles something like a substance in motion. At one point the camera shots pace up and he starts doing these really weird arm movements. Although the set-up of the staging and staging itself are rather beautiful and interesting, the staging during the first chorus is rather underwhelming. Something which is corrected later on when there are flashy lights during the chorus. Somewhat towards the end he's standing in pink'ish lights and continues doing the weird arm movements on a stage that is now filled with smoke. The camera shots are still a little messy, but it's something that can be corrected in upcoming rehearsals. Vocally Gjon is very strong. I must say it doesn't instantly scream winner, but if they sort it out in the upcoming rehearsals it'll probably do very well. Personally I think it's a bit of a miss though.

🇱🇻 | Latvia
Samanta's wearing a long poison green dress with a cut for one of her legs. She's wearing some shoulder-padded-like item on top. Her backing dancers wear the same-colored outfits, including a skirt and a plastic face-mask that only the most Covid-fearing people would wear. The edges of the backdrop are lighted up by purple lights. The golden-black graphics on the backdrop and floor seem like optical illusions and are almost hypnotizing, but really quite stunning. The only problem is they hardly change throughout the performance, making it all a little boring. On the backdrop there's also a golden crown depicted that's made out of three hands similar to the hand movements Samanta and her dancers occasionally make during their routine. The choreography Samanta and her dancers do on stage is pretty boring as well. The most interesting part is when Samanta's doing a rather wild dance move, the camera is spinning around her, followed by a camera shot from above displaying the graphics. I'm afraid this isn't going to be enough to qualify. The vocals were muted for us during the first tun, but I'm going to assume they were fine. If not, I'll update this bit later.

Update: screechy as always, but indeed fine

🇫🇮 | Finland
There's instant energy coming from this performance as the guys go wild from the very start accompanied by fire and smoke flares, which return more often throughout the performance. The backdrop depicts two flipped band members. All of them are wearing black outfits. The stage is generally lighted blue-white and there are drums and a keyboard on stage. There are shots of band members flipping their hair and guitars and at a later point more band members are also shown on the backdrop. The camera shots change very rapidly and the lighting is very unepilepsy-proof. During the bridge there's a wide shot of the stage after which white lights start flashing like crazy. The middle of the back drop is also opened, which one hardly notices, until there are bright white lights shining out of it. All of it reminds very much like the performance they gave in the NF, although the stage is a lot less dark. I must confess I preferred the NF staging better. Vocally no critique. Visually sufficient and something one would expect from an entry like this.

🌮 Lunch break, I knew Portugal would have its press conference during lunch today and I'm not having *that* for lunch, so I brought enchiladas with me *nomnomnom* 🌮

🇧🇬 | Bulgaria
The first camera shot we get to see is an intimate camera shot of Victoria with stars depicted behind her on the backdrop. She's sitting on a brown'ish object which later turns out to be either a ship or the edge of a cliff in a Lion King kind of way. See pic below. If it's neither of the two I'm clueless.

 

Underneath this boat/cliff there is water being displayed on the LED floors. The entire atmosphere is moody and next to this prop there's a sandfall. The entire performance is basically a sequence of wide camera shots of the stage and close shots of Victoria being sad, incl. a camera shot of Victoria looking at a photograph of (I think) her parents. At one point Victoria touches the sandfall with her hand and the prop starts spinning/sailing. Towards the end the scenery of darkness and stars, that is now joined by actual fog, is broken by what appears to be sun rays. After this a yellow/orange glow remains on the horizon. Visually this looks rather beautiful although you don't always consciously realize because you're wondering what the hell is going on at the same time. Vocally this is a strong performance as well. I'm not quite sure yet what this is going to do, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes up in the odds.

🇵🇹 | Portugal
The performance starts in black/white like in the NF. Pedro is surrounded on stage by someone on the drums, someone on the piano and two guys playing a guitar. The camera work is rather slow and easy, but I suppose it works for this entry. At one point the color shots kick in and there are lights from above direct onto the stage and we see a blue'ish backdrop with rain. Later on the graphics become a little warmer with orange/red shades and a woman being depicted on the backdrop, followed by hearts. This woman then walks from the backdrop to the extra transparent LED screen, which looks very impressive. This is also the first time we've seen a country use the two LED walls to interact with one another like this. The woman walks through a city with orange street lights being prominently visible in the graphics. Pedro then walks towards a microphone stand on the extra stage to play around with his guitar a little while the backdrop depicts golden graphics and animated graphics of a string section in silhouette shadow, complete with conductor flanked by an art deco style line. Vocals are alright and although I'm not blown away, visually this look nice. The biggest problem with this is he still sounds terribly annoying The staging isn't going to be the problem here.

🇦🇱 | Albania
Anxhela looks gorgeous while wearing her beautiful silver-glittered dress. She starts her performance in front of a backdrop that's depicting a red smoke flare that is then followed by several other flares. It's instant impressiveness. Throughout the entire performance she's interacting with this smoke that's changing from red to blue at times. There's a lot of pyro in the form of smoke on stage as well. There are several wide shots of the entire stage which look impressive. At one point she's doing a fierce sensual dance routine on stage that instantly reminds of Iveta's divaness. There are several sensual camera shots in which she's playing with her hair and looking straight into the camera. Later on there are many spots directed at her and she's literally and figurally shining on stage. The performance ends with grey clouds on the backdrop and flashy lights directed from the ceiling of the stage. Visually this looks stunning and vocally Anxhela is killing it as well. This is a qualifier, people. Very effective.

🇬🇪 | Georgia
Tornike is wearing a simple white shirt and black pants. He starts standing before the opened middle part of the backdrop with lights shining behind him as he's walking out of these lights. He's standing in front of his microphone stand with a blue'ish spot on him. The backdrop depicts blue'ish clouds/skies and at one point we see one of the crew members rolling in a box/stage with LEDs on it. When the beat kicks in the backdrop lights up a bit. Later on he's sitting on this box and the backdrop displays stars and the surface of this box is lighted up with the LEDs too, which looks quite beautiful. At that point there are lyrics projected on him like ''you're everywhere'' and ''my love''. The backdrop then depicts lyrics as well, like ''with you'' and something (probably the same) in Georgian letters. Throughout the performance there's a red'ish glow coming from underneath these dark clouds depicted on the backdrop and lights break through. The camera is spinning around Tornike while he's standing behind his microphone stand. There are also many camera shots of his face and shoulders keeping it intimate. The performance ends with again lyrics being displayed on the background and a last centered camera shot of him while there's a spot shining on him. Visually there's nothing to really dislike here. Vocally it's fine too. The only problem here is it's all as energetic as Destiny's dancing (meaning not at all) and it's the same sleeping pill it always was. The second run was absolute MADNESS. Tornike was singing extremely low and at some parts extremely high, which caused huge WTF-moments in the press centre. It's almost as if he's intentionally messing around with us.

Day 3 | First Rehearsals | Second Semi-Final | First Half | 🇸🇲 🇪🇪 🇨🇿 🇬🇷 🇦🇹 🇵🇱 🇲🇩 🇮🇸 🇷🇸

This will be a rolling blog, each country in running order, so please refresh to update.

The organization seemed to have learned from yesterday's queues as there were hardly any this morning. That's why I'm able to say good morning and hello to you all this early today. Something interesting happened at the security gate. I spotted someone wearing a ''SENHIT ADRENALINA'' sweater who might very well be the rapper for San Marino's rehearsal today. AND IT WASN'T FLO RIDA! Was it a hardcore Senhit fan? Was it another member of the Sammarinese delegation? Or will Flo Rida indeed not be showing up today for rehearsals, because perhaps he's not coming at all? We're about to find out right away as we start with San Marino's rehearsal! Stay tuned!

🇷🇸 | Serbia
The ladies start standing quite far apart from each other in front of a black backdrop with a white square behind each one of them, doing sexy poses. After that they start doing their dance routines while smoke flares appear behind them. They are wearing a black dress with glitter all over it. The staging is mostly squares/stripes of black and white in different variations throughout the entire performance. Much of the performance includes the lyrics being shown on the backdrop with words like ''hurricane'', ''baby'' and ''loco''. At one point there's a red glow over the stage and the stage turns into a disco as a huge discoball comes down. Before the ladies dance towards the smaller stage for one last fierce dance routine, there's a camera shot from above showing graphics underneath each one of them..Although the choreo isn't spectacular it's fun and keeps the energy alive throughout the performance. Vocally it's a little shaky at times and you can clearly hear which ones of them have to do all the vocal work. They are supported by backing vocals though. All in all this is a fun performance to look at, the press centre loved it and I'm fairly sure this will qualify now.

🇮🇸 | Iceland
Dadi (I'm not going to bother with these weird Icelandic letters) and his five companions start in front of a (again) pink/blue'ish backdrop while standing in the dark. It looks pretty beautiful and after that it only gets better. The backdrop displays beautiful graphics of the universe in which there are these pixelled animated characters wearing fish bowls (like Sandy in Spongebob) floating around here and there. Dadi and the others walk towards microphone stands that are positioned somewhat more towards the front of the stage and start doing the routine that we know from them. The backdrop then depicts yellow and pink cubes. Dadi and his crew are wearing the same pullovers that we've seen before, but they've added some extra black layers over some parts, such as for example the shoulder area. Three of them have these curved half circled pianos and at one point they come together and make a whole circled piano, which looks pretty slick. The transparent LED screen at one point displays lots of these oldschool pixelled video game characters and it looks absolutely fantastic. It's probably the best usage of the transparent LED-screen so far. Towards the end there's a camera shot that zooms out and displays all of the stage while spots are directed on all of them. There's then some more of the dance routine and they all end doing a pose. They have a lot of fun doing this and it clearly shows. All in all this is a fantastic rehearsal that looks really good on screen. Vocally this is really strong as well.

But I still hate them all.

🇲🇩 | Moldova
Natalia seems to have borrowed Senhit's spinning platform as she's standing on a similar squared stage with her four dancers. She's wearing a silver glitter dress and her dancers wear black outfits. The backdrop and floor LEDs depict a three dimensional pink/white grid. Natalia and her dancers are performing a rather slick and sensual choreo that is similar to the one in the music video and is fun to watch (and very clean/tight!). At one point there's a camera shot from above on this platform while it is spinning. The floor graphics show several squares around this stage at that point, but 90 degrees turned. At the end there's a shot from above, the dancers fall with their backs on this platform and there's one last shot on Natalia while she's whispering ''sugar''. Vocally sufficient although Natalia is (obviously) holding back for these rehearsals as they're focusing on the choreography and camera work. It's all very fun to watch and looks good on camera. This will sail through easily and probably do well in the final as well.

🇵🇱 | Poland
Rafal is wearing a black suit and is accompanied by four dancers in white suits who have lights in their hands. In the beginning Rafal is grabbing the camera as if it's a selfie camera and moving it with his hands. The graphics on the backdrop and floor LEDs depict blue/pink neon grids and this neon theme is something that is reflected in almost all of the staging. At one point we see ''Warshaw'' in the backdrop, but then in Polish (remembering how to write the English name is hard enough already for me). Rafal and his dancers start on the main stage and dance their way to the smaller one. He plays around by taking his glasses off and putting it back on at a later point. It all looks a bit cheap, old-fashioned and vocally this is shaky too. Rafal looks like a middle-aged man having a good night in a karaoke bar. In the last run we find out there's quite a bit of pyro as well. Before the rehearsals started I thought it might qualify, but I'm going to say it's not for now.

🇦🇹 | Austria
We start with a gentle shot of Vincent on a dark stage standing in front of a heavy spot directed at him. He's wearing a long glittery black blazer and is standing on some kind of platform that has the shape of a runway, but it could also be that the floor's techniques allow it to be lifted a little. Lights are shining into two directions from the bottom to the top of the part the backdrop that's able to open up. Somewhat in the middle of the performance there's a side shot of Vincent walking on this platform with rays of light shining from the side of the arena. The camera shots are simple, but effective, although they're still trying to find the right angles. There's hardly any backdrop there. It's mainly Vincent with lighting. But forget about the staging, as it works, but isn't spectacular. *Vocally* this is very impressive, especially when the backing singers join Vincent. So impressive that I'm starting to believe he might just sneak into the final.

🤪 Lunch break, going to Benny's press conference and having him for lunch *nomnomnom* 🤪

🇬🇷  | Greece
Stefania's wearing a black glittered catsuit-like outfit with a sexy opening on her belly and just above her brests. She looks absolutely gorgeous. She's standing in the centre of the stage with a backdrop behind her that depicts pink/turquoise's clouds. The camera loves her and she's trying to play with it too as she gives a cheeky wink. At one point she's using a green screen and we're getting Sergey 2016 vibes. The green screen performance then continues as we're roaming through a city with tall buildings with Stefania and two faceless white hoodie wearing dancers, of whom I thought were projected but on second hand now look real, interacting with one another. Before these dancers, together with two others, then later later join her on stage for an actual real live performance with a fun choreo, there's a shot of Stefania with her back towards the audience and Arcade kind of lights all over the arena. Stefania's vocals are spot on. All in all this looks really good, although it's a combination of parts fun and parts silly (the latter mainly being the green screen part). Stefania does seem a bit nervous and tight however, but I suspect that she'll loosen up soon as it seems to be getting better with each run already.

🇨🇿  | Czech Republic
Benny starts off standing in the middle of about eight lighted poles. He is wearing a yellow glittered jacket with black sweatpants. He's dyed his hair blond and he lost his long hair. He looks rather yum. These poles are actually placed behind the backdrop because - since the backdrop is opened in the middle - Benny walks towards the actual stage when two of his dancers join his sides. They then continue to perform, lacking a real choreo. It's mostly about Benny walking back and forth a bit being swaggy. At a later point they are joined by two extra dancers. They then dance their way to the extra stage were they continue swagging around together. It ends with a camera shot of Benny bending down looking into the camera while looking lush. The backdrop and floor LEDs depict colorful graphics, but really nothing too impressive. Benny hardly ever looks into the camera and performs as if it's a live concert. It's all a bit underwhelming and I feel like they really could've gotten a lot more out of this. Although this may come across a little lacklustre to some, I think it's part of the swaggy careless act that really does suit him. Benny seemed to spare his voice, but at the parts where he did give it a go it sounded fine. We've seen nothing we're impressed by, but it's still fun to look at it and Benny is adorable. If he manages to interact with the cameras more in the upcoming rehearsals he might be able to save a lot from what was missing today.

🇪🇪  | Estonia
Uku starts off on his knees (a sight some of us will like), with a white circle/moon being depicted behind him on the backdrop covered in actual smoke/fog. The general atmosphere of the stage is very dark with flashes of lightning. Uku is lighted up in dark/blue'ish lights which adds to the moody vibe. At one point there's water displayed on the floor LEDs and the backdrop depicts splashes of large amounts of water. In between his performance there are camera shots of Uku falling inside water and going under which look like shots from a music video. These are probably shown on the backdrop and filmed live. Uku is wearing a white shirt and dark trousers, which looks basic, but works fine for him. The camera work is pretty well thought out and seems to work as well. Uku has no trouble finding the camera and there are several side shots of him. At one point there's a camera shot from above as he touches the water that is displayed on the floor LEDs and at that point the water gets a red glow. This red glow then is reflected in more parts of the staging such as in the backdrop. The performance ends with the backdrop displaying red/dark'ish skies/clouds and heavy lightning. In the very end we see the white circle/moon again. Like with Senhit most of Uku's vocals are alright, although there are some high parts where he struggles a bit. Adequate rehearsal, but a bit dull.

🇸🇲  | San Marino
I WAS RIGHT! I'm truly your eyes and ears over here. (as you can see I sneakily made a picture too).

Senhit is wearing a ridiculously (but fabulous) golden crown that is huge and has pictures of Christian(?) saints embedded into it. She's wearing a trouser suit, but thankfully not in a Trijntje way. She's accompanied on stage by four dancers who wear something that I can only describe as luxury linnen pyjamas. Next to that they're also wearing masks (not face masks, actual masks). Their entire outfits are covered with red stars here and there. The backdrop and floor LEDs are graphically hysterical and are similar to the colorful artwork we saw in her music video. San Marino is also making use of the extra transparent LED-screen. On stage Senhit is standing on the transparent spinning platform that we also recognize from her music video. Most of the beginning of the performance takes place on this platform with Senhit and her dancers performing their choreo. Although the entire performance is rather fun to watch it's nothing extremely interesting to look at. The rap part (which isn't done by Flo Rida) is done on the connecting part between the two stages. At the end Senhit, the no Flo Rida rapper and the four dancers end on the extra stage. The LED-screens sometimes feature part of the lyrics of the song and images of Senhit. San Marino is also making use of pyro in the form of puffs of fire and a larger firework spectacle at the very end of the performance. The performance ends with ''SENHIT ADRENALINA'' being depicted on the backdrop. Vocally this is alright as she gets helped by a precorded backing track as well, but Senhit does struggle with some of the higher parts. Winner? No. Will this do well? Probably, yes.

First rehearsals - the Semi 1 winners and losers

At the close of Day 2, all the countries of Semi 1 have had their first rehearsals on the Ahoy arena stage. Each of them got 40 minutes to do as many run-throughs as they wished, trying out their concepts and doing their best to ensure they're all brought across as well as possible on TV. Some of them may well be doing their own post-mortem and working out what needs to change, while others will be basking in the glow of a job well done. So let's do our own analysis of the winners and losers of Days 1 and 2.

(a quick note before we continue. This is all based on how the entries came across in the last couple of days compared to their perceived chances before they arrived in Rotterdam. Just because a song is doing better now than we expected, doesn't necessarily make it a qualifier - and vice versa.)

The big loser in the first half yesterday was Ireland. Not only did the performance come across as messy on the screens, with Lesley sounding ragged and not 100% on top of what's a very difficult vocal line to carry, but today Cyprus compounded Ireland's problems. Following directly after it, 'El diablo' could very well kill the Irish chances with sheer professionalism.

That said, Ireland apparently have something more to add into the performance that we haven't seen yet - some effects or a new backdrop maybe? In 2019, Norway's first rehearsal was slammed when their final backdrop wasn't yet ready - opinions soon changed after it was used later in the week. So Ireland could yet be the big winners of the second rehearsals.

Israel today scored some positive comments from those in the press centre and watching online. A song that many perceived as being chanceless among the big hitters of the second half is coming across well. Eden's professional, she's in great voice and the cameras love her. Coupled with the kind of strong routine we've come to expect of Israel in recent years, they certainly upped their chances today.

Comparatively, Croatia came here with a package that could perhaps best be described as 'competent' - the kind of thing that can either be a great positive and send you sailing into the final, or leave viewers cold. However, based on today's impressions it seems they may have squandered even that - they've got a staging that feels quite standard - a bit fifteen-years-ago if we're honest... *and* it's not executed well.

Those of us who watched last year's Romanian final, in which Roxen stumbled and mumbled her way through four songs she didn't want to win and gave a mediocre performance of her clear favourite can hardly be surprised by what happened today. 'Amnesia' has been given the kind of busy performance that needs a charismatic and vocally confident performer in order to pull it off - and that's not what they have.

By contrast, Ukraine has shot up in many fans' expectations after today. Always favoured by many, it's now being spoken about by some as a potential winner. If that's not winning the first rehearsal days, I'm not sure what is.

Day 2 | First Rehearsals | First Semi-Final | Second Half | 🇨🇾 🇳🇴 🇭🇷 🇧🇪 🇮🇱 🇷🇴 🇦🇿 🇺🇦 🇲🇹

This will be a rolling blog, each country in running order, so please refresh  to update.

Good morning to you all, now finally from the Ahoy Arena! There was a bit of a queue at the security gate and the desk where everyone is allocated a table in the press centre. So in case you're missing reports from your favorite blog (which can't be because I'm right here 👀), they're probably still waiting outside. I've been a good boy by leaving a bit earlier, so I'm all set to report to you once again, as we start day 2 of the rehearsals!

My early predictions:
🇱🇹 Lithuania
🇸🇮 Slovenia
🇷🇺 Russia
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇦🇺 Australia
🇲🇰 North Macedonia
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇨🇾 Cyprus
🇳🇴 Norway
🇭🇷 Croatia
🇧🇪 Belgium
🇮🇱 Israel
🇷🇴 Romania
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
🇺🇦 Ukraine
🇲🇹 Malta

🇲🇹 | Malta
We see Destiny in front of a pink square that is depicted on the backdrop. She is standing before a LED-lighted ballerina barre and is wearing a pink outfit that looks pretty great on her. She has two dancers on each side and they are doing a playful dance routine in front of ''doors'' that are displayed on the backdrop. It is all very colorful and looks really good. At one point Destiny walks down a few stairs onto a lighted strip on the floor and it it's then when you realize she was standing on a platform that is relatively high. The whole routine is very playful and fun and Destiny is absolutely killing it vocally. Camera work isn't spectacular, but with a few split-screens here and there as fun as the rest of the performance. Winners vibers? Not instantly (but I never had those). Pleasantly surprised by the staging? Very much so! 

🇺🇦 | Ukraine
The performance starts with a shot of Kateryna wearing a black dress and what appears to be a green wig on each arms and you're a little wtf? After that it's constant awesomeness. Kateryna is standing on a platform together with five others (all wearing white) on which they have recreated a forest by placing white wooden trees on it. On the side next to the platform there are two barrels filled with sand that are only being used for a shot in which two dancers grab sand out of it and let it running through their hands. The band members are placed between these trees I mentioned. Kateryna is standing in the middle between two dancers both holding something that appears to be a ring light. They keep playing/dancing with these ring lights throughout the entire performance. Kateryna remains very calm and hardly moves as the graphics that are being displayed on the LED screens go wild - and they look absolutely fantastic. These are probably the best graphics we've seen so far. There's so much going on in the graphics that it's hard to describe it, but at one point we see several graphically designed men run on a grid. Kateryna's vocals are as solid as expected. This might be a contender to win.

🇦🇿 | Azerbaijan
Efendi's wearing a beautiful black dress covered in glitter with some sort of shoulder pads. She's surrounded by four female dancers who wear similar sexy outfits like stockings. The backdrop starts off with blue/pink effects. There's a golden globe on the backdrop that is central for the entire performance. In the beginning there's a lot of fire coming out of it, at some points there's a snake in it and towards the end it goes wild and explodes like a supernova. Next to the globe there are also these frames with patterns and embellishments (think the gates of Versailles). These patterns are also reflected on the LED-screens on the floor. All of it looks quite beautiful. The choreo is a bit pointless as it's basically just Efendi and her dancers spinning around her and doing some lame dance moves like in the music video. At one point they stand behind her in a row and do some arm movements (so revolutionary🙄). For some reason the stage also feels a little empty, probably also because there's no charisma to fill it up. Her vocals aren't great, but will probably be sufficient.

🇷🇴 | Romania
For the ones who had hoped to see Romania winning, I have bad news. It ain't happening. Roxen is joined on stage by five dancers and together they are somewhat re-enacting the interactive choreo of the music video in which her dancers crawl and touch her. She's wearing an oversized sweater with some sort of cloak on top of it and given her outfit in the music video I'm not quite sure whether this is her actual outfit as it might just be. The performance starts with a stage filled with a lot of smoke and Roxen in the midst of all of it. Her dancers appear out of this smoke. Her backdrop is filled with shadows. At one point her dancers carry her and there's a shot from above. Towards the end the stage turns red and Roxen and her dancers move towards the second stage. At that point the backdrop displays a sunset on the transparent LED-screen. The performance ends with another lift by her dancers. The vocals are incredibly shaky and the performance as a whole is just too much of a mess at this point.

🇮🇱 | Israel
The performance starts with Eden and her five dancers inside a cone-shaped ray of lasers. Eden is standing between her dancers and the camera is circling around here. She's wearing a white outfit with black stripes on it. Her dancers are wearing matching tops. It appears they have somewhat recreated the Tel Aviv stage as graphics on the floor and backdrop show triangle-shaped objects giving it the feel of the 2019 stage. The backdrop and transparent LED-screen show neon images of Eden. Israel appears to be the first country to use the additional stage in the ''audience''. There is a lot of fun and energetic choreo. At the end Eden's dancers take off her jacket and one of her dancers places some sort of dreadlock crown on her head. Although Eden struggles a little vocally at times, which makes sense given all the choreography that is going on, her high notes were spot on. I think Israel is in the game for qualification, y'all.

🍞 Lunch break - not so nomnomnom 🍞 

🇧🇪 | Belgium
The rehearsal starts with a shot on the piano and the camera then being directed towards Geike. There are four small stages on stage with black velvet carpets. One for the piano and the guy who's playing it, one for the guitar guy, one for the drums and drummer and one for the backing singer who they've probably given a tambourine, so she's not the only one without an instrument. Geike is standing in the middle of these stages while the camera is spinning around focusing on Geike. She's wearing a black dress with sparks here and there, combined with long boots. It all looks pretty well thought out (the act, not the outfit, although it looks fine). At one point Geike's face is displayed on the backdrop. The camera work is really done well as there are some pretty slick camera shots, for example when the backing singer appears in a shot in which Geike is already visible. At certain moments the camera moves back towards the piano man so he can sing his ''you're in the wrong place'' lines. You might notice I'm talking about the camera shots a lot. Perhaps because this is the biggest asset to this performance. Towards the end the camera zooms out and we get to see some wide shots of the stage. The camera then zooms back in with some lights flashing towards the very end. Geike's vocals are crystal clear and probably the best we've heard so far. 

🇭🇷 | Croatia
Albina is wearing a gorgeous top with glittery silver embellishments on it. The first few moments there's an instant wow-moment as Albina and the backdrop, on which rays of blue and pink light being are being shot towards her, look gorgeous. Albina is accompanied by four other dancers who are also wearing silver outfits. So far silver seems to be be the standard today. The staging remains blue/pink'ish throughout the entire performance and looks really nice. The choreography of Albina and her dancers is playful and sensual but perhaps also a little lame. At one point two of her dancers carry her to circles depicted on the LED screen in the floor and there is a camera shot from above. In both runs we've seen so far this has gone wrong, so this will need a little more practicing. Towards the end the backdrop is filled with part of the lyrics. During the last chorus there is a little fireworks which is followed by a big splash of fireworks at the very end of the performance. Throughout the song Albina sounds relatively OK. The bits where she sings ''oh noo'' and ''don't go'' are an actual oh no moment, because she sounds terrible there. I find it hard to judge this, because one the one hand the staging is a lot better than expected, but on the other hand it's still a bit tacky and.. cheap? I totally understand why many people like this so much though, as it really is fun to look at.

🇳🇴 | Norway
This will be relatively short as the performance is almost identical to that of Norwegian NF. Two of the six demons have been sent back to hell, because there are only four surrounding Andreas on stage. There are lights shining on Andreas and his backings dancers right from above them. At one point there are light beams originating from the middle of the backdrop somehow closing in Andreas and his demons. During the last chorus the backdrop depicts heavenly skies with white/pink clouds. The edges of the stage have white lines and blink every now and then. Also Norway's using pyro as throughout the entire performane there are puffs of fire. Norway made good use of their time because it's the first time we got to see three runs (meaning they probably had four). I must confess I hadn't listened to the live performance before yet, so it all sounds a bit flat, but it's nothing too shocking. A solid rehearsal. This should sail through to the final fairly easy.

🇨🇾 | Cyprus
The rehearsals started and we saw rather slick staging from Cyprus. The stage is mostly lighted in red (shocker), together with shades of white and black. Elena is wearing a beautiful silver-glittered dress (à la Ani Lorak) with wisps. Elena is joined on stage by four backing dancers who are appropriately wearing shiny red leather(?) outfits too. Together they're performing a pretty cool choreo that reminds us of the epic performances by Helena Paparizou, Ivi Adamou, Tamta, etc. Unfortunately we didn't see more because Elena seemed to lose some of her equipment and the stream stopped. We then got to see another run and could see Elena starts her performance by laying on the floor playing with the camera. The camera shots seem pretty advanced already as Elena has no trouble finding the right angles. At one point Elena and her dancers are mirrored on the backdrop which gives an impressive sight. Although the entire performance is pretty much the same (Elena and her dancers doing their dance routines), it doesn't get boring at all. In the last run we saw that Cyprus makes use of pyro in order to bring hell to the stage. In the end Elena sensually walks towards the backdrop facing the camera with her back to end with a last turn staring into the camera, whispering ''el diablo''. Vocally this isn't very strong, but it'll do the trick. Elena is supported by a backing singer, which became painfully clear once she lost her equipment, stopped singing and the backing singer continued singing. All in all this was a fantastic rehearsal and it looks absolutely amazing on screen.