Eurovision is here! Delegations have been arriving in Basel in the last few days and rehearsals started on May 3. After closing the first rehearsals to the press in 2022, the EBU has now done away with TikTok videoclips. They will instead release sets of three photographs a day after each rehearsal, as well as description of the proceedings on their official channels. As such, today, we cover yesterday’s rehearsals, and continue with Ireland, the third rehearsal of the day, with “Laika Party”.
🇮🇪 Ireland – EMMY – First rehearsal
The following pictures have been published by the official Eurovision accounts. (Source: Alma Bengtsson, Corinne Cumming / EBU)
What happened on stage?
This description is sourced from indications given by the official Eurovision Reddit account.
- Emmy is once again all silver, but this time she is wearing a dress that looks metallic, finishing as a skirt ending above her knees, with high silver boots
- Her four female dancers are wearing silver trousers and silver tank tops
- As for Erlend, her brother on the keyabord, he is wearing his star-shaped shades, a metallic silver shirt, and grey trousers with stars on them
- EMMY starts the performance on a metal platform described as “looking like a lunar module”, with a circular frame of spotlights in front of it. The platform is in the centre of the stage, with Erlend below, on the stage itself, in front of if, and the dancers dancing in front of him during each chorus
- The show does not depart much from the ideas seen in Eurosong/The Late Late Show, but months of rehearsals have made it more polished and precise, and the entire thing has been upscaled for the St. Jakobshalle stage
- Despite a massive outfit and in a departure from the Montesong performance, Nina moves during the song and walks to the frame stage for the final section
- The LED wall will show neon planets and dogs in spacesuits marching, as showcased in pre-parties around Europe
- During the chorus, the back wall will show a constellation “forming the shape of Laika the dog out of the stars”.
- In terms of pyrotechnics, fireworks can be expected for the final chorus
The stage director for this performance is Marvin Dietmann, working with Black Skull. Dietmann has worked on many Eurovision performances in the past, including “Rise Like A Phoenix” and “Space Man”. This year, he’s also working with the Australian and German delegations.
Stay tuned for further coverage today, with the rehearsals of yesterday, and for our live coverage on the ground starting on May 10, which will include (among other things) the full dress rehearsals and the live shows, live from Basel!
