Welcome from the Media Centre!
Below is a picture I took yesterday - today it's of course more crowded. Shrinkflation is also hitting Eurovision as both the arena and the media centre are the smallest I have ever seen (the arena from the outside at least). Still, around 1,000 journalists and bloggers should be able to do their thing here.
And to answer euro's question on the MB: this is where I'll be watching all liveshows!
(Pictures are mine.)
I have joined the Belgian contingent and against our own will we are surrounded by the huge Dutch delegation here. Yes, they are already loud and obnoxious and yes, we are already quietly annoyed, as good Belgians are.
Meanwhile, water and coffee are free here in the media centre but other foods cost an arm and a leg. Yesterday night I paid 32 CHF for a very mediocre burger and fries outside the city centre. Pretty sure Jacques and Lolita wouldn't approve.
More importantly, the first dress rehearsal starts around 15:30 CEST during which I will be blogging away here and at Songfestival.be. All accredited press can follow it from within the arena. Let's see how juggling two liveblogs in two different languages will go. What could possibly go wrong, right?
Live from the media briefing taking place in the media centre: it has been confirmed that the announcement of the finalists will change as was rumoured in the past few days. For the first nine qualifier announcements, three artists will be shown in a split screen of which one will be announced as finalist by the hosts off-screen. The tenth and final announcement will be as in the previous years, focusing on the hosts. There will no split screen with all remaining contestants.
Welcome from St. Jakobshalle! Tiny but shiny!
(Photos are mine.)
I will structure the liveblog in two main parts. Part one are the performances, part two are everything else that happens in the show. This is to make sure that people who don't want all contents of the show spoiled can still have that experience. Please note that this is only the first dress rehearsal. It is unclear how much of the show we will get to see except for the performances. It is likely that several other acts and performances will not be here during this first run through. Stay tuned!
PART 1: The performances
01. Iceland
The brothers' vocals are unfortunately way off in what is otherwise an extremely energetic performance. This does work as an opener but it's a shame that it's not, you know, actually good. Great camerawork and onscreen visuals but they also make it a bit more JESC - not a bad thing per se but it limits their success changes.
02. Poland
Whether you like Gaja or not, this is brilliant. Justyna's vocals are impeccable and the energy of her and the dancers is truly insane. It's a big step up from the rather messy NF performance. This went very big in the arena and is likely to get many a televote tomorrow night too. It's very kitsch of course and not for everyone, but this will work.
After the Slovenian postcard we see that there is a minor malfunction as Justyna's chords are still on stage. This gets resolved soon though.
03. Slovenia
Again a revamped NF performance. Klemen is still hanging upside down in the second chorus but in the beginning you see short home videos of him and his wife, which works really well without getting too corny. At the end he's joined on stage by his wife and it really is very touching. After all the previous energy this works so well in the running order. This is a dark horse for sure.
04. Estonia
You think this is identical to the NF performance up to a point (bar the onscreen graphics at the LED wall, Winner Cafe and Tommywood, very low expectations) BUT THEN they pretend a Tommy Cash super fan runs on stage and is first stopped by the dancers/security agents. She gets to dance a little with him before being removed. It's cute and endearing but overall this really lacks energy for some reason. This didn't work in the arena as well as it should have.
XX. Spain
Muy messy, unfortunately. Five dancers that appear at random times, an outfit change that's rather odd and hidden behind a cheap purple/red curtain and many spots in the performance that lack energy and oomph. Not sure how this will fare. Also not sure the black and white throughout the performance works. Not convinced!
05. Ukraine
I also wasn't convinced by the snippet and pictures but have to admit that the performance works really well with the song. It's some sort of psychedelic fever dream visualised with filters that make the artists initially look like holograms of sorts. It does work very well although I also fear it might be a bit too off-putting for parts of the 'general audience'. Vocals are a bit shaky and screechy sometimes, but the backings are brilliant.
06. Sweden
Does what it says on the tin. There are beautiful background projections of woods and mountains but you hardly see them on screen. More fire than in Melodifestivalen and an impressive laser show during the final chorus. It's just really well-made and yes, it will be showered with points. Sorry.
07. Portugal
The only thing I will ever remember from this is that there is a bunch of Portuguese journalists sitting in front of me who are singing along very loudly and obnoxiously (almost Dutch-like).
08. Norway
This is also mostly a carbon copy of the NF performance. Kyle starts of shakily but improves throughout . It doesn't do anything more or less than you expect it to basically. There will be an audience for this for sure.
09. Belgium
Not to sound too chauvinistic, but this was actually really good. It's a big change from the NF though. Red Sebastian starts at the front stage for the first half where he is joined by three identically clad dancers eventually. The lighting and projections are impressive, ending with a massive red crowd during a rave party. Vocally he was very much on point. I remain cautious, but am optimistic about our changes or qualification!
XX. Italy
Lucio pretends to play the piano (the longest one ever on a Eurovision stage at that too), the guitar and the harmonica. There are giant sound boxes on stage as well. Except for this, not an awful lot is happening during the performance and it's all a bit... dull? Well-positioned in the running order, but it all seems a bit half-arsed.
10. Azerbaijan
They really did try to do something nice here. Three dancers, a drummer, a guitarist and the lead singer and a very nice background with (again) red as dominant colour. Unfortunately the singer is a bit shaky in the beginning, although he does recover as the performance progresses. Again, they tried. But overall this is very dull and not convincing. The rather abrupt song ending also comes out of nowhere in the performance. Even the journalist crowd here was unsure whether the song was actually over or not.
11. San Marino
Starting to lose my patience a bit here. This also feels very empty in spite of so much happening on stage. It's actually a very static performance. No one moves around and everyone tries to create energy. But they all fail because they have so little work with in the first place. If there's one shock qualifier, it could be this although it won't be with flying colours.
12. Albania
This is what is nowadays known among the young kids as "a showstopper". I'm not the biggest fan of this, but by god, this works *so* well. A breath of fresh air after the previous songs and Beatriçe is just wonderful as a performer. We could hardly hear Kolë which felt a bit odd but hopefully that's just an arena thing. Speaking of the arena, this went VERY big here. No, this won't be for everyone but it will have its audience for sure.
13. Netherlands
This is different from what I had imagined but still very decent. Claude starts alone in close-up until after the first chorus when he is joined by two dancers and three musicians. They all disappear during the bridge during which another LED wall is driven on stage. The performance ends with Claude dancing 'together with his younger self' like in the music video. It's more artistic than energetic but is very classy and works very well. Claudes vocals are also on point this time. Goed gedaan!
14. Croatia
What Alexander-NL said about this before, but with more lights and pyro. God, this is exhausting. They really went all out on the graphics and the staging but you simply can't polish a turd. That's not to say that Marko himself is bad. In fact he's lovely and very skilled - but he also doesn't come across as likeable, unfortunately.
XX. Switzerland
It's refreshing to see how the home team kept things so minimalistic. Zoë is all alone on stage (except that she's not, she's surrounded by like 10 technicians) and there is no LED projection whatsoever - except for a request to audience members to turn on their phone light at the end, which is very effective. They try to recreate the atmosphere of the video clip with very innovative light and wind effects and it all looks truly stunning on screen. This can go very far on Saturday.
15. Cyprus
The stage show with the construction is really impressive. It is changed up all the time by the three dancers and a few stage hands that run on and off stage at exact the right time, which is so cool to see in the arena. The camerawork is very effective in what they try to convey although it is just unclear to me what this is all about and how the song and performance are aligned. This will likely qualify though.
After the last song we were all immediately told to leave. I only caught the start of the recap and that was it. The first dress rehearsal isn't shown in the media centre, so I guess this was it for the first blog!
PART 2: The rest of the show
The show opens with a video containing nature footage that is supposed to tell us that the Eurovision branding was there since the Earth's creation. Very low stakes, clearly. This culminates in a dance recital with modern dancers that all look like mini Loreens and traditional Swiss alphorn music with people in traditional clothing of all ages. A combination of the old and the new, so you will. It really does look phenomenal on stage and on screen. More traditional instruments and singing - is that Sebalter? No whistling though (luckily). The Code is there somewhere too. This really is very nice.
Next we meet the hosts, Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer (née Simo). They thank their Swedish predecessors for memories that will last forever. They got that right. For those of you wondering, YES, we do get a snippet of Simo's 1991 performance. Hazel was still in the womb at that time, of course, as is shown.
Queue voting information, fireworks, and then we're off!
The onscreen graphics are gorgeous. The country name and artist and composer info are neatly displayed within the giant arch on stage.
For you nerds, I can also confirm that the country lower third displays the running order number, the country name AND a small Eurovision logo heart, for some reason. No, it doesn't move around like in Melfest. Missed opportunity to display Lumo, if you ask me.
The postcards show all contestants opening a postbox and finding a postcard (yes!) from a specific location in Basel to which they are all 'transported'. Very cute, if not exactly memorable of exciting. They won't distract too much from commentators' comments, which is the point, right?
We get a first break after the Estonian performance. Hazel and Sandra highlight some songs that are originally Swiss, including Chihuahua and the Chicken Dance. Yes. I know.
After the Italian performance we get our second break focusing on how props were used in Eurovision history. Of course there's a recap video. Think Dustin the Turkey, Francesco Gabbani's monkey, Subwoolfer's wolf. Everything is very recent. Margot Hielscher isn't in which is a real travesty.