Eurovision is here! Delegations are now in Basel and every semi-finalist has rehearsed at least once over since Saturday. Yesterday was the first day of second rehearsals, with all of the first semi-finalists rehearsing during shorter slots of 20m. The Eurovision social accounts have been publishing the traditional second rehearsal videos, which are short extracts of the TV feed from each performance. The Eurovision website has also released new pictures for each rehearsal.
Below, you can find all the videos in the larger Youtube format (unlisted but made available by the Eurovision app), as well as the new details they and the photos might reveal, and links to the notes taken from the first rehearsal of each country. We cover the songs in slots #6 to #10 in the running order, but you can find the previous ones here.
🇸🇪 Sweden – KAJ – Second rehearsal
Check out our notes on the first rehearsal.
The new footage does not reveal much, to be frank, but that is just the Swedish way. The staging does look “smaller” as it retained a similar scale on a bigger stage
The images do not reveal much either but do give a good impression of what the “laser show” at the end of the performance looks like, although it is the kind of thing that only a video can truly render.
🇵🇹 Portugal – Napa – Second rehearsal
Check out our notes on the first rehearsal.
In the videoclip, the LED graphics are more visible, and the entire atmosphere of the song is clearer: pastel colours on the background, including night blue for the final section, with projectors set on the band members to add some contrast (with red light in this example).
The gallery also reveals that a part of the performance takes place on the frame stage.
🇳🇴 Norway – Kyle Alessandro – Second rehearsal
Check out our notes on the first rehearsal.
This extract shows the bridge and the beginning of the last chorus. The bridge/middle eight part is when the light bars descend on the stage as they bathe Kyle in white light. He is not actually bathed in it though, as the lights mainly land behind and around him, and he remains a darker figure.
The song then transitions to the chorus, with huge pyros and some “break dancing” by one of the dancers on the frame stage. The frame itself gives a great sense of scale to the flame jets, which look very tall.
The photos and the video also show that the prop used in MGP, on which Kyle was sitting at the beginning of the performance, is back. The picture belows shows it from afar, as well as a very beautiful moment in terms of colours during the performance.
🇧🇪 Belgium – Red Sebastian – Second rehearsal
Check out our notes on the first rehearsal.
The videoclip shows the beginning of the second verse, from “Flying deep underground” to the beginning of the chorus “Strobe lights, getting lost in your eyes…”. It features what was described as a “precision choreography” by the official Eurovision live-blogger, Heidi. Red Sebastian’s three dancers are dressed and hair-dressed to look like him, and they are frozen in position, aligned on the frame stage, with the singer on the far left side, with a mic stand.
He lets it fall and walk to the other side of the stage, and as he passes behind each version of him, that version unfreezes and starts following him. It looks a bit like what Sergey Lazarev did with his shadows in 2016, but this time the shadows are alive and the singer moves.
The pictures do not reveal much, though, compared to the video.
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan – Mamagama – Second rehearsal
Check out our notes on the first rehearsal.
The video gives a better idea of the scale of the “circle of light” on the floor, which truly is just half of a circle, leaning down so it looks like the second half is buried under the stage. The clip also shows the silhouettes dancing on the back wall, actually dancing above archways that forms slope going up to the sides of the screen. They basically look like Roman aqueducts.
We can also see some nice, close-up shots of the band, with singer Asef interacting quite a lot with the camera and with us.
Once again, the pictures do not reveal anything more.
We will come back with more information on the last five contestants of the first semi-final, so stay tuned on ESCXTRA! And don’t forget, we will be on the ground, starting on May 10, to bring you all the latest from Basel, including the Turquoise Carpet, the dress rehearsal, and more.
