Rehearsals are now well and truly underway in the city of Tel Aviv, which will be hosting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Today sees the fourth day of rehearsals, with the second half of the second semi-final evening taking to the impressive stage of Expo Tel Aviv.

Nine countries are all set to make their debut onstage, 9 days before their live performance at the second semi-final. Following their rehearsal, a Meet & Greet session will be coming next. These countries are Croatia, Malta, Lithuania, Russia, Albania, Norway, The Netherlands, North Macedonia and Azerbaijan.

The 4th rehearsing act of the day is none other than Russia. Three years after his participation is Stockholm, Sergey Lazarev is back to Eurovision, decided to fight hard for the coveted trophy. His 2019 performance will be featured by falling rain and mirrors, about which the stage choreographer Fokas Evagelinos says:

Each mirror represents a different point of view of ourselves! When we are in the process of making a difficult decision , that can even makes us “scream”, in the beginning we only see one option but us we move forward we see different alternatives. In order to reach our goal and leave the past behind we have to “break through”!

Sergey Lazarev is welcomed back on the Eurovision stage, wearing the opposite to his dark 2016 performance. Sergey appears in a collarless white shirt and tight white jeans, channelling his friend and former Eurovision winner, Dima Bilan. The simplistic white outfit works very well with the dramatic staging, allong the viewers to project their own emotions onto Sergey’s complex performance.

Gallery of Russia’s first rehearsal