ESCXTRA.com are live in Israel at the Expo Tel Aviv press centre for day 1 of rehearsals ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019! The countries rehearsing today, in chronological order, are Cyprus, Montenegro, Finland, Poland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belarus and Serbia.
Note: Montenegro and Czech Republic have swapped rehearsal positions for todayโs rehearsals.
Below, you’ll see our written review of each rehearsal. If you want more, you can follow our live stream from the press centre at the Expo Tel Aviv by visiting our home page. There, you can watch our immediate reactions to every single rehearsal.
Furthermore, read our handy guide for a more detailed look at this contestโs rehearsal schedule.
Rehearsing right now inside the Expo Tel Aviv is Darude featuring Sebastian Rejman, performing “Look Away” for Finland. We will continue to update this article as each run through takes place, so make sure to keep refreshing for the most up-to-date review!
Interestingly, the entirety of this performance is focused on Sebastian with Darude placed almost offstage, with the camera only switching to him for one or two shots throughout the entire performance. Sebastian is wearing a black leather jacket, his female dancer is in a long green dress whilst Darude is in a white long-sleeved shirt.
The dancer is on a small podium, dancing directly in front of a dramatic water LED backdrop. Sebastian performs much of the song on the outer stage, interacting with the crowd. He explores some new musical notes giving the song an added power and freshness.
Towards the end of the song, we see the dancer and the podium turn invisible and the dancer instead appears on the massive LED backdrop. Then, as we return to the chorus, the dancer magically reappears on the re-lit podium… very clever! At the end, the dramatic water shots have changed to sunnier, less dramatic images of nature.
Stay tuned for our reviews for the rest of today’s rehearsals here at the Expo Tel Aviv. If you want to know what to expect for the rest of the day, check out our rehearsal schedule. Meanwhile, remember to tune in to our live stream from the press centre, via our home page, for instant reactions to each rehearsal!
