Well, starting with a bang this morning - bang to the head that is. OK, so even though I fell asleep at 9:30 last night and didn't manage to make it to anything interesting, Danny (my roommate) did and he is still somewhere in the apartment sleeping it off. Anywho, will make sure to do something tonight and grab pics of any shenanigans going on.
But, let us focus on this morning's job at hand: rehearsal day 2!
Moldova
Starts off with - you guessed it a dark background and white lighting. We start the gimmicks early today, a guy on a pole right behind Cristina... hmm... too early for these thoughts! Vocally she can do better but it's by no means bad. Not too sure about the stage presence. The song mulls along for the most part and then in the bridge she decides to start pulling her hair and following this makes a move which to me looks like she is cutting part of it off but not sure if this is what she is doing or if she is just having a 'moment'.
Dancer-wise, they not in costume today but I think they will be quite extravagant. They seem to be having moves which involve the removal of a mask in the line "All the masks we have are meant to make us free".
We have seen our first look at the info bar. Nothing special, but then again what haven't we seen over the years? It does seem to have a space for a 'flag' of some kind so the vexillogers amongst fans will be happy!
A wink to ESCNation from Moldova
San Marino
Well, she starts off with a shell interpretation behind her reminiscent of the Birth of Venus by Botticelli - Venus she is not! Background very simplistic starting in shades of light blue and turning on orange and gold hues in the second half of the entry. Valentina is a pro at this Eurovision thing by now, she sings it really well but has a look on her face that she seems to know she is setting foot on the stage for the last year.
Run two was not so good for poor Valentina. First there was a false start with the audio and then the video in press room went away. We can still hear her, just not see her - some people may prefer that.
Run three is also not good for her - "the wind is down so there will be no more wind". Again, sings impeccably but there is an air in the press arena that we would love to see her do well but just don't see how she will manage to get through to Saturday. May this be the end of the road for San Siegelno?
And maybe I will pass to the final?
This is how I will be on the plane home.
Portugal
Can anyone say "hot mess"?! Now that the dancers actually have clothes on they don't look as scary as they did in the national final. The background should come with a warning to all those partaking in class-A drugs - a mess of rotating bright colours. Do not focus too much on it if already under the influence of alcohol and have a weak stomach.
Singing-wise, where to begin? Poor thing, "She
can sing" I've heard from the table next to me, "just not
this song". I tend to agree - well, not that she can sing since I have no reference for that kind of comment, but I can confirm she cannot sing this one. Is it a ploy to keep us guessing and then come up with an amazing performance on the night? Could well be, but I don't think we will be hearing the usual "Portugal! Portugal! Portugal!" chanting we have seen in previous years from the fans when there were only a couple of envelopes left to be announced.
Run two and the drummers are also giving up. They don't seem to be in rhythm
to the song and just bang the drums as they wish not when there is a
"thump" in the music. Ooh, I didn't see that before - prancing men
with flags in hand - definitely a winner combination according to every
Eurovision Song Contest EVER!
Third run through and it's not really getting any better - just more familiar since we saw it a couple of times already. Vocally it is still not very strong, visually still making you a bit queezy. Thank you and good night Lisbon.
Now we will be off for a lunch break. There will be Meet and Greets starting in 20 mins so maybe pics from those to come later.
