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The grand final - first dress rehearsal live blog

Desiree on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 12:51

In about 10 minutes the first dress rehearsal of the grand final will start where we will hear all songs in the new running order for the first time.

Of course I'm here to liveblog it, so stay tuned!

We've started with a 10 minutes delay, as far as I can hear. Unfortunately there's not much I can tell yet about the opening act, as we have no feed from the hall at this moment. Let's hope it changes soon...

OK, so we got to see only a little from it, but I can tell now that we start with all artists being announced and coming on stage.

And we're off to song 1 after a few delays.
1 Israel
Imri was the last to perform yesterday and the first to perform today. He's doing a good job, vocally not completely perfect but after such an exciting night I wouldn't read too much into it.

2 Poland
Kasia seems to be wearing a different dress today, or maybe just a shirt over her dress. It's not very flattering. Vocally she's excellent as always, even though the last notes didn't seem to go quite the way they're meant to.

3 Belarus
Strong, stable performance from NAVIBAND - both seem completely relaxed and still enjoying a lot.

4 Austria
Also Nathan is charming and relaxed as always.

5. Armenia
Great performance, vocally and visually convincing.

6. The Netherlands
At least everyone who wants to vote for the Netherlands doesn't have to remember a new number as they're back on #6... There seemed to be some issues with the camera work now, otherwise excellent performance.

After six songs it's time for a break, very short where the hosts stand on the satellite stage.

7. Moldova
It's still as cheerful and well sung as always, but one of the backings doesn't manage to unveil her skirt . It has happened before, will it happen again?

8. Hungary
Joci Pápai seems to need a bit of time to recover his full vocal strength after yesterday evening. Not a bad performance, but he has done better.

9. Italy
Francesco Gabbani and his gorilla haven't dressed up yet for this rehearsal, but he's showing his full vocal strength now.

10. Denmark
Anja's squeezed in between the two biggest favourites of the night, Italy and Portugal who will be next. She doesn't seem affected by it at all as she delivers as always.

11 Portugal
Salvador's freestyling again! Hand trumpets inclusive.. vocally he sounds great. He knows what he has to do though.. let's see what he does tonight and tomorrow! He mentions at the end that he hopes to resist the urge to sing it differently each time..

A small break again while the stage is set up for Azerbaijan. In the meantime the hosts talk to fans in the hall.

12 Azerbaijan
A strong performance from Dihaj and her backings. The first part in the box still looks great as always.

13 Croatia
Time for our second duo of the evening, well, kind of.. Jacques had to cough before performing, something that would better not happen on the big night, or even tonight in the juryfinal, but after that he starts and performs as if nothing happened. He is saving his voice in the last chorus, avoiding the high notes in the English part of the chorus.

14 Australia
Some days of rest seem to have done well for Isaiah. He gives away a good performance.

Another break, this time in the greenroom and a video to announce the Eurovision Choir of the Year that will take place in Latvia in July this year.

15 Greece
While on Monday and Tuesday Demi didn't sing the high note in the chorus, this time she does. The backing vocals are gone, and no need for them either. During the last part of the song they seem to be there again, but a lot more subtle than before. Good performance.

16 Spain
No changes to this performance. Vocally still a bit shaky from time to time.

17. Norway
Still looking refreshing and sounding very well vocally, don't think there have ever been weak vocal performances of JOWST here.

Time for another break, this time a video of the hosts preparing themselves for Eurovision with the help of last year's host Mans Zelmerlow. A video with a lot of humour. After the video the hosts forget a few lines so they have be mentioned before we can really continue with the last songs.

18. United Kingdom
Vocally superb. Lucie gives a very dramatic and powerful performance and seems completely ready for when it matters, tonight and tomorrow night. Where last week during the dress rehearsal it took a lot of time to take of Lucie's prop, now it's all done neatly in time for the next act from..

19. Cyprus
Flawless peformance from Hovig this time. It sounded and looked all very well.

20. Romania
The soundmix for Romania is not perfect today. During the verses it is hard to hear Alex Florea. Otherwise a stable performance from Ilinca and Alex.

21. Germany
Solid performance from Levina.

22. Ukraine
The first time I see this one from the hall actually. It looks and sounds very impressive and well loud. O.Torvald is also a very stable act.

23. Belgium
Blanche made a mistake during this rehearsal, she wanted to sing the bridge way too early. After a very short silence, she peicked up from the right moment. Vocally she sounded fragile but not as much as in early rehearsals. The lighting of this song is still beautiful, both on screen as in the hall.

24. Sweden
When I hear this song I still think of it is an opener, but now it's actually one of the last ones. A great performance from Robin.

25. Bulgaria
Wasn't too sure about Kristian's vocals in the beginning, but in the end he's giving a great performance again.

26. France
Unfortunately still some very unpretty camera shots in the first part of this song. Vocally a very good performance. Still looks beautiful on screen and in the hall, even though more could've been done to add even more atmosphere.

After all songs it's of course time to open the voting lines and start, which done by none others than Verka Serduchka and her mother. We have seen them of course in the interval videos during both semi-finals. Recap time.

Ruslana gets to perform her new song "It's magical" after this recap, and another recap follows after it.

After a small chat in front of the greenroom by Timur we get to see Onuka's performance - a mix of some of their work - , which will follow after some technical issues get resolved. A very interesting act, a unique combination of ethnic/folk music and modern electro pop.

After this act the hosts speak to Mariam Mamadashvili from Georgia, the winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016. We see a clip of her winning performance and then she delivers a short speech which I haven't been able to hear well unfortunately.

Another (and probably last!) recap.
The interval acts are not over yet. It's time to see Jamala again, with the premiere of her song "I believe in you".

Only after this it's time to close the voting lines. It seems like quite a long voting window to me!

Now a rehearsal of the voting is taking place, without sound, so I guess that means this is the end of today's live blog!