The remaining 5 acts of the day will take to the Eurovision stage for their first rehearsals, and we here at ESCToday are ready to bring you the latest news live from the arena itself.
Following on from this morning’s rehearsals where we saw the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Austria, Estonia and Azerbaijan embark on their first stage performances at the arena, this afternoon sees a further 5 participants take to the stage for the first time.
Day 2 of rehearsals: The schedule
All times listed below are in CEST.
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Montenegro, Iceland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Malta and Sweden are the last 5 acts to have their first rehearsals today, with a first impression video being published via the official Eurovision YouTube channel over the course of the day.
15 Montenegro: Highway – The real thing
Montenegro’s Highway is next to take to the Eurovision stage at the Globe Arena this afternoon, putting on an energetic show! Filled with lighting effects throughout, Highway’s performance includes bright white colours with subtle shades of red highlighting the background. The 4-member band is also joined by one female dancer, performing in a similar style to that of the entry’s music video, who performs in a different section of the stage itself.
16 Iceland: Greta Salóme – Hear them calling
Entering the darkened stage this afternoon is Greta Salóme in which we saw a powerful performance with clever use of image projection. A performance similar to that from the national selection, a number of special graphics effects appear on the backing LED screens throughout the entire performance, with Greta’s choreography working with the bright projection. Greta wears a leather outfit with long fringes across the arms, an updated version of her previous costume.
17 Bosnia & Herzegovina: Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner & Jala – Ljubav je
The Bosnian quartet is next to take to the Globe Arena stage; the message and story being a huge focal point of the entire performance. Deen appears behind a barbed wire placed in the centre of the stage with the remaining 3 artists wearing a metallic sheet on the other side of the fence. The story relates to the refugee crisis, both in the past and present. Towards the end of the performance, the fence is removed and the artists are reunited, together as one. Earlier today, Dalal revealed that only a small part of the choreography would be seen on stage in the first rehearsal, with the whole performance being presented for the first time in the dress rehearsal on the 9 May.
18 Malta: Ira Losco – Walk on water
Brand new technology features for the first time in Eurovision history with the Maltese performance this year! Ira Losco first appears on the stage wearing, what Ira describes as, a massive coat in which images will be projected onto the costume. However, the technology used will track Ira on the stage, producing a 360° projection which will constantly appear on the coat, no matter where Ira moves on the stage. Towards the latter half of the performance, Ira’s coat is removed revealing a short black dress. Ira will not be alone on the Eurovision stage as dancer, Scorpion, will dance around the Maltese singer throughout.
With the rehearsals from the semi-final 1 participants coming to an end, it’s time for the host country and one of the automatic qualifiers, Sweden, to embark on their first rehearsal at the Globe Arena.
09 Sweden: Frans – If I were sorry (Finalist)
Frans is the last artist to take to the stage today, concluding day 2 of rehearsals. The staging itself is very much the same as that of his Melodifestivalen performance, the screen with small circular lights shining at different points throughout and spelling out words such as “stop” and “dance”. A single spotlight is also used in the performance, focusing directly on Frans and making him the key point. With a simplistic, but effective, performance from the Swedish representative.
Today’s rehearsals have come to an end, but what did the viewing press think of each of the day 2 performances? Join us again from 20:00 CEST where we will bring you the latest results from our daily press poll live at the arena.
