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Ukraine

Ukraine Second Rehearsal

ChrisB on Sun, 05/07/2017 - 08:34

We only saw a glimpse of the second run for Ukraine, but saw the first and third run in full.
This looks very good on screens. The production is expensive and polished.
The highlight probably being the part of the instrumental, with a lot of dynamic camera shots.
It is also the strongest rock song of the year, which doesn't say much as it is the only rock song of the year.

I would not be surprised if the Ukraine somehow manage to sneak into the top10 once again.

Interview with Eduard Romanyuta (Moldova 2015)

Andy on Fri, 05/05/2017 - 14:57

On 12 May, on the eve of the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv, a large-scale stylish party will be held in one of the largest entertainment complexes of the capital of Ukraine "Olmeca plage", which in honor of the contest will be organized by young Ukrainian performer, TV host, participant of the Eurovision 2015 Eduard Romanyuta!

The artists of the international finals are yet to become Europe's stars, while Eduard Romanyuta has invited to the Grand Euro Party his best friends - who have already glorified their countries for the whole world.

They are:
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1998 Dana International (Israel)
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Emmelie de Forest (Denmark)
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Eldar Gasimov (Azerbaijan)

Their new hits will present European stars from Romania: Morandi Official Page and Alexandra Stan.

2016 and 2011 Eurovision participant, Junior Eurovision 2015 host Poli Genova (Bulgaria), the brightest Eurovision 2015 Eurovision contestants Nina Sublatti (Georgia) and Bojana Stamenov (Serbia) will prepare surprises for the Ukrainian fans.

Anna Nikonova (Ukraine), special guest DJ M.E.G. will also perform at the celebration of diversity. Number of contestants of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will attend the show as well!

Eduard Romanyuta himself will please the audience with his Eurohit I Want Your Love, already popular among music fans Reckless, I'll Never Let Go, Get Real With My Heart, Conspiracy, Bad Thing and the premiere of the new radiohit Million!

The stage of the show in the beach complex "Olmeca Plage" will not be inferior to the main stage of the Eurovision in the IEC, as Feyeria is also involved in its creation! It will include 100 sq.m screen, more than 300 best lighting equipment units, professional VJ and Sonic L-Acoustics, VDOSC, pyrotechnics, laser show.

The concert will be broadcast live on Youtube in HD quality. Professional television filming will be aired by the national public broadcaster UA:Pershiy.

Eduard Romanyuta invites all his friends to the party, which means YOU! Come to catch the atmosphere of the Eurovision!

Hurry up to get tickets the price is from 200 to 5000 UAH.
1) https://kiev.karabas.com/grand-euro-party
2) https://kasa.in.ua/grand-euro-party-kyiv
3) https://www.concert.ua/eventpage/eduard-romanyuta

The first 100 girls will get a Lillet Melody cocktail as a welcome gift!

Ukraine First Rehearsal

ChrisB on Fri, 05/05/2017 - 13:34

Ukraine have have a big head sculpture in the middle of the stage that lights up differently.
I think it works pretty well as it gives the entry a visual anchor without losing credibility or appearing particularly gimmicky.
O. Torvald are very believable as a rock band, not just some eurovision schlagerrock. There should be an audience for this.
This is just a first rehearsal, but the instrumental bridge is shot with very nice camera work already. We haven't had many first rehearsals that looked so polished already.
I would suggest featuring the female backing singer in the camera feed, as she is hidden at the moment, but should add a nice touch.

Ukraine first rehearsal

Desiree on Fri, 05/05/2017 - 13:32

The rehearsals continue with Ukraine. O.Torvald has shown very spectacular performances during the preselection earlier this year, so I kind of expected the same or even more for Eurovision itself. On a first look it seems more toned down though. This doesn't mean it's not impressive. On the contrary.

The staging is quite dark with lots of thunder and lightning (... no I won't). Behind Zhenya Galich (the lead singer of the band) there is a big face prop with eyes that light up during the rocky instrumental parts. At the end, on the stage the rest of a body is projected so we have a complete 'extra human being'.
The female backing singer is hidden behind this mask, so it's a variation of the hidden backings, this time one who is not completely hidden. I think it would be fine to have her more visible on stage. All other band members are also on stage but mostly kept in the dark, even when the camera films them. I'd like to have a bit more focus on them as well.

Leadsinger Zhenya Galich is wearing a glittery shirt, really the opposite of what I had expected him to wear as it's probably the least glitter song of the year.

As it's the only proper rock song of the year it could stand out and do better than we think.

Oikotimes 21 party

Andy on Tue, 05/02/2017 - 23:14

Highlight of the 2nd evening in the Euroclub was Oikotimes 21 party, attended by performers from Malta, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Azerbaijan, Poland and Czech Republic. Several more delegation members were at the party, but without their singers. Very uncommon thing for the Eurovision Club parties was the amount of young girls, who obviously enjoyed performances. However, so did we.

More experiences from the Euroclub last night

Desiree on Tue, 05/02/2017 - 09:43

Yesterday I also went to the Euroclub opening and while a larger review and all the videos/photos are already posted, just a few words from me to add!

I thought I was going to late as the word was the opening would be around 9 pm and I didn't make it until 9.30 approximately. Just a tip for those who haven't been there - once you're walking in the (very dark) park you're going into the wrong direction! I ended up standing right next to the Euroclub according to the map, however the park is situated much higher than the road the Euroclub is on. At least I got a nice photo from the Euroclub, if only it weren't so dark...

Luckily the programme didn't start until after 10 so I still got to see Sunstroke Project and O.Torvald perform.

The drink menu was already mentioned. I decided to try one of the special shots, with the name Jamala. So I got to taste a winning recipe obviously. Still didn't really see what it is so I can't help those who were looking for the recipe for success!

Shot "Jamala" in Euroclub

And so it begins...

ChrisB on Sun, 04/30/2017 - 00:29

Hi from Kyiv! I'm Chris, new to the team and I will be blogging for the next two weeks from the press centre.

I'm optimistic the rehearsals will provide us with a few surprises we didn't see coming so far. The contest simply wouldn't be as much fun, if bookmaker odds and pre-contest polls were able to predict the correct results weeks before the contest.

So there are many reasons to feel excited about the rehearsals. Which of the 42 delegations will manage to impress us the most and which ones will not?

It's time to find out.

Winner predictions from Daniel and I

Mike;

Still calling it for Russia this year, with either Australia or Ukraine in second place

BUT I would love to see Austria do it, that would be simply amazing but unlikely to happen and of course I am totally hoping for a top 10 place for Georgia

Daniel

Think that Russia will still pull this off, with a dark horse as Serbia and France possibly having their best score for years.

Would love to see Russia win this all in the end BUT at the same time Bulgaria should hopefully do well too, good luck to Poli

Semi two predictions from us two.....

From Mike;

Latvia Yes
Poland Yes
Switzerland No
Israel Yes
Belarus Maybe
Serbia Yes
Ireland Yes
Macedonia Maybe
Lithuania No
Australia Yes
Slovenia No
Bulgaria Yes
Denmark Yes
Ukraine Yes
Norway No
Georgia No
Albania Maybe
Belgium Yes

I am really unsure about Ireland so may swop that with Macedonia or Belarus

From Daniel;

Latvia Yes
Poland Yes
Switzerland No
Israel Yes
Belarus No
Serbia Yes
Ireland Yes
Macedonia No
Lithuania No
Australia Yes
Slovenia Yes
Bulgaria Yes
Denmark No
Ukraine Yes
Norway No
Georgia No
Albania No
Belgium Yes

Daniel is unsure about Albania and Belarus and might swop those with Slovenia and Latvia

Live blog second Semi Jury Show

Rolling live blog of Jury Show Second semi

Keep Refreshing this page;

Opening;

Views of Globen and crowd shots and COME TOGETHER. Seem like quite a crowd in the area too which is nice.

Now we have lots of Swedish humour and comedy form the hosts, but this washes over me and leaves me very cold I am afraid. All a bit too much MF for my liking.

Both hosts resplendent in silver jacket for Mans and a dress for Petra....all very sparkly. And now we have a duet from the two of them....very smorgasbord like in Malmo

Latvia

Justs creates this emotional monster on stage as he leaps around and gives everything to the performance. For me it is slightly over doing things. Yes he has a great voice but this is not how to perform an Aminata song. That said the backdrop is just perfect for this. Sure fire qualifier but no winner....
Lots of crowd cheering for this though...
The graphics look amazing too

Poland

Michal always hits the spot for me. Simply effective staging for this seems to work. Nothing none of us have not seen on the promo tour or the rehearsal clips so far. He does seem to come to life on stage with his powerful voice and presence. The real issue is that the song is a bit weak both lyrically and musically. He tries his best but given what he has to work with this is not really doing it for me.
Juries should fall in love with this though.....the emotion in his eyes and connection with the camera is one of the highlights this year.
And words on the backdrop are always a no-no in my world, sorry

Switzerland

Sorry but this is going no where fast. No charism, no charm, nothing at all really. Tonight the blue hair is still there and this time it’s curly, but no amount of whacky clothes, designer hair or anything is saving this from being one of the 8 that go home.
3 minutes I will never get back

Israel

Simply perfection from Hovi, great presence, great voice, perfectly suited to this song…the stage really lifts this too, this could really scoop a lot of votes on final night. Yes qualifying and with a good draw on final night who knows?
The earnest emotion that he's given tonight does make me think that Hovi has a lot more to gibe as an artist in the future....and seeing the acrobats on screen for the first time I now get the the inclusion of them on the stage.
Oh and a pyro waterfall.....always love them.....can we have them in every song please?

Belarus

Amazing staging totally distracts from the weak song here, though IVAN does make good use of all the stage and performs the hell out of it. What would have happened if the guy had been given a half decent song to sing? Oh and the baby is still there. Weirdly.
But it's not all about the staging, it's about the song and this is getting totally lost after Israel and before Serbia
Also we have some missed camera angles tonight with his.....but he bring sit back by hitting all those important notes at the end of the song
And he does look amazingly cool on stage

More Eurovision Taxi moments, with some folks that we know.
While this is quite funny the guest appearances from Lordi really give away that this was totally contrived and constructed, which steal the magic for me

Serbia

Great song and great vocal BUT and it’s a small but, the staging is so dark that it loses something for me here. I feel ditched from the performance and slightly distracted by he dancer. But toward the end it starts to lift and when the backing vocalists gather around her it pulls it back a bit for me.
She is giving her all to this tonight though. however like Belarus we do have a few missed camera moments tonight too.