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Viktorija, the singer of Fusedmarc seems to be having some sound issues today. During the first run she didn't sing most of the bridge and at the start of the second one she sounded very soft. Other than that, it still looks and sounds the same. Not surprising as they are completely focused on this song.
Now that I've seen the staging from Bulgaria from the hall, I like it even less than the first time. The stage looks very empty and dark and some of the visuals make it look only bigger (and emptier), thinking mostly about the 'box' that appears on the large led screen after the panels around and above him rise into the air. On a positive note, these panels don't interview with the view of the audience.
What I think has improved is the way Kristian looks. He is now all dressed in black, which looks better than the black and white from a few days ago. Vocally he is excellent and the song is very accessible. So,all in all, mixed feelings on this for me as well.
When in the interview after the first rehearsal Ksenia mentioned that she will wear another dress, I was a bit disappointed as I already loved what she was wearing. Luckily, now I see there is no need for that as this new long, white dress is at least as stunning.
The backdrop is beautiful. The city images remind me a bit of what can be seen in some Harry Potter movies, flying through the city. In the hall we see more of that on screen, but in this case it looks great whether you see it in the hall or on the tv-screens. I also love how Ksenia and Artyom show even more chemistry and dance more. It sounds great, it looks great, this could and should be Belarus' best result ever by a mile.
I don't know what to make of Belarus.
Isn't this supposed to be an indie ethno folk song that is sung at a campfire?
The visual concept of flying hovercraft is certainly memorable. I simply don't know if it caters to the audience they want to reach so well.
Dry ice in the 3rd run, and spotlights through the smoke add a nice effect.
We finally got to see the full staging for Switzerland as we were cut short to one run during first rehearsals.
It's interesting. I was a bit concerned about the barbie staging but it kind of works for me now. One could say the stage in pink and the yellow dress comes across a bit plastic and cheap, because well it is, but you could also call it playful and fun.
And that fits to the song, Apollo being a fun pop song.
But there's is one component missing yet. She needs to start smiling more, because a fun playful staging with a dramatic performance is incoherent
Better on the third run, but she is still too serious on camera for my liking.
Now this is one of the rehearsals I've most been looking forward to as we didn't get to see much of it the first time. The canary yellow dress with a long veil is still there, so are the stairs and pastel yellow/purple backdrop.
The beginning looks really beautiful on screen as the camera first zooms in on Miruna and thens hows her as the centre of a sun.
It is all a matter of taste I think, but I actually think it doesn't look bad at all. She still sounds very well, even though I think the high notes she belts out during the last chorus are not that necessary.
Another good rehearsal for Norway. JOWST's singer Aleksander sounds very good and it looks nice on screen. It still has a very relaxed mood. We are a little behind schedule as the song gets performed once again.
On stage itself not so much really happens, but there are some holograms that are not visible in the hall (except on the led-screens of course, when they're not off..)
I still find it hard to say anything about its chances. The song is modern, well performed and looks great on stage, but might not stand out enough.
Norway's second rehearsal shows that all the previous technical issues have been fixed. The voice effects and the scrambled video effects are working too now. The camera is more dynamic and it's very similar or even slightly better than what we have seen in Norwegian MGP.
Houdek is wearing a jacket with two different sides to it. And he turns around for singing with different voices with the different sides.
But the camera angles don't quite work to put this to full effect yet and the Croatian delegation could also look into lighting as there is still a bit potential unused here imo.
There is a pyro curtain for the last run.
Croatia is very impressive in the hall. I hoped that being here would give me more of an idea of what is going on at that stage but it doesn't really help at all! At the start after all we get the very distractive video backdrops of Jacques singing..
One trick is already revealed though.. Jacques is wearing two outfits in one. For the Italian opera parts a classic black smoking (on the right side of his body) and on the left a more casual black/white leather suit.
It is still completely over the top but sounding and looking great. I'd be surprised if it doesn't qualify..