ESCXTRA: Live from Lisbon

Day 8: Ermal & Fabrizio break down language barriers for Italy – PREDICTION & REVIEW

ESCXTRA are live from Lisbon for day 8 of rehearsals ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018! The countries rehearsing today, in chronological order, are Portugal, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France and Italy. It’s a very short day today because this afternoon, the blue carpet takes place ahead of the official Opening Ceremony!

We’re streaming live from the press centre

Furthermore, read our handy guide for a more detailed look at this contest’s rehearsal schedule.
In addition, for our immediate reactions to every single rehearsal, you can follow our live stream from the press centre at the Altice Arena by visiting our YouTube channel.
The last artist to rehearse for the second time is Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro for Italy. We have just watched their latest run through of Non mi avete fatto niente live on screen and here is our initial reaction.

Staging

Italy has made barely any changes for this second rehearsal, with just the tightening up of some camerawork and the lyric graphic overlays. As a reminder of their first rehearsal, the performance begins bathed in red light and then throughout the song we see alternating shots of Ermal and Fabrizio. When Ermal is singing, he is at the left of the shot facing right. When Fabrizio sings, he is at the right of the shot facing left. Lyrics from the song appear on the other side of the camera shot as an overlay, some of the words are in a thick font so that they can show some of the heartbreaking images from the music video within the lyrics.
Towards the end of the song, Ermal and Fabrizio move onto opposite bridges, eventually stepping onto the outer ring of the stage and meeting together in the middle. The final lyrics overlayed on screen are in English, most notably: “your pointless wars” and “happiness flew away just like a bubble”. It’s an effective performance which never feels static despite Ermal and Fabrizio standing still in the centre of the stage for two-thirds of the performance.

Vocals

Both Ermal and Fabrizio are fantastic live singers, adding extra emotion that even the studio version doesn’t have.

Costume

Ermal and Fabrizio are in casual smart wear, pairing blazers with jeans.

Left hand side of the board?

We have taken a flash poll from around the ESCXTRA table here in the press centre and  5 out of 8 of us say…

YES!

Watch the rehearsal


Tomorrow, we will be underway with full dress rehearsals of the shows. We will begin our live stream from the press centre at 13:45 tomorrow where the first run-through of the first semifinal will take place. If you want to know what to expect for the rest of the week, check out our rehearsal schedule here.

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