Yesterday we hit off Day Three of Eurovision rehearsals in St. Jakobshalle in Basel. Now we bring you a wrap up from the rehearsals.
The first and second rehearsals for Eurovision Song Contest 2025 are being held behind closed doors without the presence of the media. The Eurovision Song Contest’s official Reddit account is running a live blog daily from the rehearsals with the latest developments.
In this article we bring you the ‘I’ve Arrived Videos’ and excerpts from Eurovision’s official Reddit account’s live blog:
Armenia
PARG – SURVIVOR
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
He’s (PARG) also brought an entirely different staging concept for Survivor from the one we saw at Depi Evratesil – as dramatic a change as we saw from Croatia yesterday. The first thing to note is the use of the lego lights – half of them have been lowered to barely above head height, with the other half maybe eight feet above. They strobe and flash in sync with the bassline, and also create a structural effect on the stage that feels very dark and industrial – completely different from the rock/pillar structure we saw at Depi Evratesil.
PARG starts his performance in the gap between the two halves of the lighting rig, lit with spotlights like he’s in a tunnel. Most of the performance then takes place on a treadmill in the middle of the frame stage, where he sprints during the chanting sections of the chorus, then slows down for the low tempo middle eight. The treadmill choreography is complex, but PARG has clearly been very busy in the rehearsal studio and the whole concept aligns really well with the pace and energy of the song.
The other big change is PARG’s costume – the one-shouldered armour has gone, replaced by a black vest and studded black leather trousers (loose cargo fit rather than tight, for those of you trying to picture this). After the big note at the end, the lego lights rise up to open up the stage for PARG’s dramatic final chorus, when it feels like every light in the arena is in flash mode.
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Austria
JJ – Wasted Love
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
So what are we getting from Austria? WELL. First thing to note is that the staging is designed to be broadcast entirely in black and white, which we can only imagine was a huge technical challenge. It means the lighting is all about creating pockets of light and shadow, ramping up the light levels in sync with the tempo and drama of the song.
And goodness, what drama – both from JJ’s operatic vocals and the staging concept. The central prop is a simple boat that looks like it’s been made from packing crates, with a wooden mast and a white sail – JJ performs in the boat for the whole of the performance, clinging onto the mast as a storm begins in the second chorus. It appears to toss him around the stage, through a combination of some very clever camerawork and a wind machine cranked up to the max. JJ performs some wind-battered choreography that feels almost like contemporary dance, and as the tempo builds through the drum ‘n’ bass section at the end, so does the storm, with waves and stormclouds building on the LED screen, spinning camerawork, flashing strobe lights and JJ barely hanging on to the boat, but not losing the note for a second.
Right at the end, as an overhead camera shot makes it look like the boat is being sucked into a vortex on the LED floor, a huge lighthouse appears on the main LED wall like a beacon of hope in the darkness, and everything is still.
…Oh, JJ’s costume – a long black leather coat with metal accents.
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Greece
Klavdia – Asteromáta
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
Asteromáta is a traditional Greek expression that describes women with bright, starry eyes – the closest English translation would be ‘little starry-eyed one’. This staging for this soaring ballad is entirely different from the performance we saw at Ethnikós Telikós, so we’re very grateful to the Greek delegation for giving us some staging notes! They describe the performance as follows:
“Klavdia begins her appearance on the Eurovision stage standing on a pier. Her movement toward a rock symbolizes the fiery journey each person undertakes to the Light.
The presence of a second person on stage, along with the movement of the set, reflects the theme of separation – the central message of the song “Asteromata”.
So we have our first rock of the season as a central prop, and once Klavdia has walked along the pier in the quiet opening verse, she performs the rest of the song on top of it. She’s joined by one female dancer for the second verse, but they drift away on the pier, leaving Klavdia alone on her rock, wearing a long, fitted gown that sparkles with tiny jewels. In different lights it looks either black or a very dark navy blue – it’s hard to tell but hopefully that will be clearer on the photos tomorrow.
There’s some lovely camerawork in this performance, with overhead shots making it look like the pier is in water, which then morph into dramatic burning trees and volcanic landscapes that spread up the LED wall as the song builds. The lighting and graphic effects are stunning – at one point Klavdia lifts her arm, and blue lights sweep across the set. Her vocals lift the roof off the arena, with the lego lights descending at the end to create a tiered effect. We (sadly) don’t speak Greek, but we can still feel the love and loss and pain in every line.
Lithuania
Katarsis – Tavo Akys
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
Those of you who loved their winning performance from Eurovizija will be very happy to hear that the staging remains largely unchanged – the blue outfits, the bleak landscape, the exploding house and the flying rocks in the final TAVOS are all much the same, albeit the graphics are delivered on a much bigger scale, including the LED floor, and feel more immersive and impactful.
The performers are a little more spread out than they were at the national final, and in the second verse Lukas moves down to the frame stage with guitarists Alanas and Emilija. As with Latvia, we mapped the second run-through against the video from Eurovizija, and whilst there are many different camera angles and wide shots, the flow of the performance has remained generally the same.
What‘s changed is the atmosphere added by the lighting and extra effects – on the Basel stage they‘re able to add more light and shade, so there’s a really nice close-up shot where Lukas’s face is half in shadow. When he comes to the front, he battles against a wind machine in sequence of different camera shots – the whole thing feels lighter in parts and darker and more atmospheric in others. At the end the lego lights descend to create an effect that looks like a pair of wings as the strobes kick in for the TAVOs and the song ends in a flash of white light. It was already a great performance at Eurovizija, but this definitely feels like it’s been elevated.
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