Lisbon Bound: Continuing with Finland in today’s first rehearsals

Lisbon Bound

Rehearsals are underway in the host city of Lisbon, with artists from across the competing semi-final 1 nations of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest are currently taking to the official stage for the very first time. Following lunch, we move on to the Nordic country of Finland for the fifth set of rehearsals.

We’re back at the Altice Arena in Lisbon for the second day of Eurovision rehearsals, where today a total of 9 artists from the first semi-final will be taking to the stage for the first time for their first set of rehearsals onstage.

Saara Aalto from Finland in the fifth act of the day to take to the Eurovision stage for her first rehearsal, with the singer competing in the first semi-final with her song Monsters on the 8 May.

It’s prop after prop at this year’s Eurovision, with another platform included in Finland’s performance today. Alongside is a crystallised star, which appears behind the platform itself.

Saara begins her rehearsal upside down (!!), singing her entry and spinning around in the process. The spinning process is very similar to that from her Domino performance at UMK18. Finland has included a total of 4 backing performers, all of whom interact with Saara throughout her performance.

There were a couple of technical difficulties throughout the performance, such as the performers attempting to detach the singer from the spinning wheel, however these were minor issues and Saara carried on regardless.

First look at Finland’s first rehearsal for Eurovision 2018

Choreography plays a big part in the Finnish performance for 2018, with plenty of energy needed for such an intricate routine. The choreography even includes a trust drop from the stop of a staircase included onstage, in which her backing performers have to catch her.

Pink, blue and purple is the general theme of Saara’s staging, with performers dressed in uniforms to work with the theme.

It’s a good first rehearsal for Saara, with noticeable improvements vocally since her UMK18 performance, however work is expected to be done ahead of the second set of Finnish rehearsals in the coming days such as working on a stronger connection with the camera and audience.