Monday 1 May 2017

Haiku #2

Unbalanced dance moves
Epic sax epic Greek boys
Latvian member

Day 3 - SLO-LAT

And so on to the final two of the first semi...

LATVIA

Nothing on the screens here for the first run through.

It's very busy, lots of green and pink and purple. Singer Agnese has hair a la Rykka.

Some of the green shapes in the background are, erm, open to interpretation. Some of us see arms in the air, Tom sees a penis. Once you've seen it, it can't be unseen.

It seems (!) we are just going to see half a run through of this one, so can't really say any more. But it looked quite neon and 90s rave-like.

So we were treated to one last run through. It's all about #PenisGate.


SLOVENIA

Black and white for Omar, both clothing and lighting. At times he is surrounded by lots of panels from that threatening overhead object which hasn't done a lot on the stage so far.

Looks like they are planning some shots of the audience waving their lighters, or phones.

OK, not all black and white. At one point it goes stars and space and galaxy. Maybe we are meant to think Omar is on his way to Mars.

This is.....fine. They are making the best out of it.

Day 2 - CZE-CYP-ARM

ARMENIA

Hmm. Were we expecting too much?

This is nice and it's competent and Artsvik sings well and finds cameras and doesn't look too angry, but it was missing something special on the first run. Let's see what we get next. They must have something more up their sleeve, surely.

Again, the stage seems really empty. She has two dancers with her and that's it. The moves are sharp and there is some lovely purple lighting though.

Now we got some dry ice at the start and half-hearted pyro towards the end. It helped, but still. At the very end a hologrammy eagle comes flying out. The fans applauded.

At the beginning there is some nifty camera shake effect, which adds something. They could do with more of it later.

(I am being taunted for my inability to see the genius of this one. Good job I am happy to sweem against the streeem)


CYPRUS

Oh lord.

The choreography requires Hovig to balance on one leg quite a bit. He doesn't seem to have practiced too much.

There are Loic Nottet vibes in the moves here. If they get it right it's going to look amazing. But there is an awful lot of potential for off-balance wobbling.

Despite all the complicated footwork, Hovig is vocally very secure.

Getting better with each rehearsal, but still needs tightening up.


CZECH REPUBLIC

I'm not sure I'd have chosen a gold lamé suit to perform this song...

Lighting is in the winning combination of purple and yellow. Some images from the video of those people in their underwear.

Martina starts sitting on the edge of the stage, before getting up to walk along a yellow path. Not quite a brick road, but that idea.

Vocally this is very assured, but it really is just too dull to have any kind of impact.


****
Lunch consumed. Moldovan song still in my head. Ready for the next session!

Day 2 - GRE-POL-MOL-ICE

ICELAND

Initial relief that they have dropped the national final performance.

Svala is looking less agressive, dressed in white with a cape. It's essentially the white version of Tamara's red net curtain from yesterday. Odd floral leggings though, which possible are not part of the final outfit.

Some nice graphics and lighting, but overall maybe a tad dark. And camera work not very tight yet.

Like so many others, no sign of the backing singers. Svala looks a bit lonely.

This is one of my favourite songs, but this is all very pedestrian.


MOLDOVA

Black and white lighting, the weird foot-tapping dance, the bridesmaids, the sax, it's all as you'd expect.

In a dramatic twist, one of the bridesmaids turns into a bride!

(Edit: Later run-throughs they were all in full bridal get up)

Epic Sax Guy get plenty of the focus of cameras, which is obviously a good move. Images of the boys themselves doing the dance on the back screens. It's cheesy, it's not groundbreaking, but it's fun.

They also have enough choreography to distract from the repetitiveness of the actual song. Lining up, twirling around. Left, two, three, four, right, two, three, four.  And before one of the last chorus they have a couple of seconds of silence and freeze their poses, which oddly adds something.


POLAND

Animals, animals everywhere. The backdrop has a number of animals on it, a deer, panther, dog and dolphin. And at the end the word FREEDOM. For no apparent reason.

Kasia is in white, there's also a violinist on stage.

Oh there are doves too. All the animals. Vocally this is fine apart from an unnecessarily long last note.


GREECE

She's on a plinth, There are topless boys. She's behind a hologram thingy which makes her look a bit like she's in box.

The topless boys splash about in some water. And touch each other a bit.

Demy is singing adequately and looking great in a beige ("nude"?) dress.

At one point the hologram shows what possible is meant to be Demy underwater, but just looks a bit odd. Overall this looks good though, some lovely yellow lighting at one point. Will be a nice contrast to Portugal coming before.


****
Good morning!

I'm just about ready for another day.