It’s day 2 of rehearsals at Stockholm’s Globe Arena where a further 10 acts will take to the Eurovision stage for the first time. We here at ESCToday are ready to bring you the latest news live from the arena itself.
Kicking off from 10:00 CEST, the 9 remaining acts from the first semi-final, alongside Sweden, will embark on their first rehearsals on the Globe Arena stage, each of whom will receive 30 minutes’ worth of rehearsal time. The representatives will then move on to a press meet and greet session lasting 20 minutes, starting from 12:10 CEST.
Day 2 of rehearsals: The schedule
All times listed below are in CEST.
[esclive_day2]
The first 5 rehearsals of the day will see the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Austria, Estonia and Azerbaijan take to the Eurovision stage for the first time. As with yesterday, a short first impression video of each performance will be uploaded via the official Eurovision YouTube channel.
10 Czech Republic: Gabriela Gunčíková – I stand
Gabriela Gunčíková is first to take to the Eurovision stage today for her first rehearsal, entering the stage wearing a long elegant white dress. Starting her performance on a darkened stage, a mixture of blue and pink colours fill up the stage with the LED screens later projecting images of flowers, similar to those from Gabriela’s official music video. The all-famous wind machine makes an appearance during the last part of the performance.
11 Cyprus: Minus One – Alter ego
With each band member dressing in black, it’s Minus One who are next to take to the stage with most band member’s performing in small cages. A strong use of spotlights and lights in general are used throughout Cyprus’ performance, with more light effects being used on the backing LED screens throughout. Also appearing on the screens are a number of wolves, relating back to the official Alter ego music video, in which a special outlined-wolf effect is used on the lead singer.
12 Austria: ZOË – Loin d’ici
Possibly one of the most colourful pieces of staging this year comes from Austria. ZOË enters the stage wearing a peach-coloured dress in a slightly different style to her previously worn outfits. The LED screens light up with bright images of fields, flowers and butterflies in a watercolour painting style, the same of that from the official Loin d’ici music video. ZOË walks along the stage on a projected cobbled path throughout the performance as she sings her entry to the audience; the wind machine makes its stage return at the end of the performance.
Having used a treadmill in previous performances of Loin d’ici, ZOË revealed:
We planned to use a treadmill for the performance both in the national selection and in Eurovision, but however while using it I found myself concentrating on it too much instead of being 100% comfortable with my performance, so we decided not to use it.
13 Estonia: Jüri Pootsmann – Play
Jüri Pootsmann is next to rehearse on the Globe Arena stage this morning for the first time. Jüri walks onto the stage wearing a tailored blue suit, with the staging inspired by a deck of cards. The stage lights up on colours of red, white and black in connection with the card deck; the floor projects images of cards featuring Jüri’s face on the front of them. Throughout parts of the performance, Jüri is also seen holding an ace of hearts card which he shows to the camera.
The whole concept will stay simple, the simplicity is the key. It has to do with all the camera angles and my eyes, there has to be some sparkle in my eyes. It will stay simple but I think it will work.
14 Azerbaijan: Samra – Miracle
Samra takes to the stage next today at the Globe Arena with a golden performance, the main focus being on the bright metallic colours of the stage. Also featuring pyrotechnics throughout, Samra is joined by 4 backing vocalists/dancers (2 female and 2 male), who work well together on the stage. On the night of the semi-final, Samra will be wearing a gold and silver costume.
Starting from 14:20 CEST, the remaining 5 rehearsals of the day will take place where we will see performances from Montenegro, Iceland, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Malta, along with the host country and one of the six automatic qualifiers, Sweden.
