Yesterday we hit off Day Four 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:
Malta
Miriana Conte – SERVING
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
Whilst The Sound of Music remains an inspiration (we’re still do-re-mi-fa-s-s-serving, after all), the visual storytelling we saw at MESC has mostly gone. Firstly there’s a big prop – a set of huge sparkly red lips holding a spinning disco ball – the whole structure is probably three metres high, and sits in the centre of the stage.
It turns at the start, and Miriana is inside, wearing a bright yellow dress with a huge skirt made from tiered netting with black sleeves. She’s lifted out of the disco ball and the dress, to reveal a catsuit that’s the same style as the one we saw at MESC, but now black and red and VERY sparkly. Her hair is now also bright red, by the way – the whole thing feels like a transition from poisonous flower to queen of hearts.
The dance routine is very similar to MESC, but her four dancers have swapped the Von Trapp outfits for red fishnets, strappy black underwear and red fur jackets. The final chorus plays out on the frame stage, where the red Swiss balls appear for a bouncy finish. The graphics wall transitions between graphic art exploding flowers and bouncing leopard visuals, dancing legs and words from the song, finishing with DIVA NOT DOWN in huge letters . The whole thing is very Miriana – bold, unapologetic, and a lot of fun. What a way to start the day!
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Georgia
Mariam Shengelia – Freedom
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
We have another big prop – it’s a geometric rock that stands in the centre of the stage – Mariam performs on top of it, wearing a stunning silver gown that looks like it’s made from satin with organza layers that give it structure, so she becomes part of the rock. Four male dancers perform on the stage around her, all wearing traditional Georgian chokha coats in black, with close fitting headdresses and black boots – during the second verse they perform a complex flag dance routine with blue and white flags
The graphics on the back wall are simple but beautiful, with a moon rising behind Mariam between the two stage mountains that transitions into a red sun with storm clouds and neon rings. The graphics become faster and more dynamic as the song progresses – lots of performances have used lighting and graphics as a way to drive the performance this year, and this is a really effective example.
There’s also a dress reveal! During the middle eight, Mariam comes down from her rock, steps seamlessly out of her dress (it doesn’t move an inch, which suggests it’s VERY heavy), to reveal a red sequinned jumpsuit for the final chorus, which she performs on the frame stage against a backdrop of mountains. The strings and drums in this song are HUGE – it feels like the music is rising up through the arena floor.
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Denmark
Sissal – Hallucination
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
If you cast your mind back to March, Sissal won Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in a green sparkly leotard, accompanied by two contemporary dancers and a very powerful wind machine. Shortly after that she promised us a revamp for Basel, and that’s exactly what we’ve got.
The main prop is a central transparent curtain that hangs in the middle of the stage and stretches from floor to ceiling. It’s in four parts, so it floats in the wind machine and creates a really simple but effective sense of movement around Sissal, who sings on a black plinth in the middle, in a tunnel of pulsing neon lights and strobes. She performs the first verse and chorus in an entirely fabulous blue and white coat with hundreds of organza layers – honestly, it’s like the Met Gala in here today.
The coat is removed in the second verse to reveal a long-sleeved leotard and thigh boots in sparkly electric blue – she has four dancers who press their faces into the curtain around Sissal like ghosts, before dancing around her with blue fabric handkerchiefs. In the final section the dancers are entirely wrapped in blue fabric, as Sissal descends from her plinth and moves to the frame stage for the final chorus. The dancers’ feet are anchored to the floor, so they can lean into their dance moves like they’re swaying in the wind as Sissal builds up for the big finish. No pyro, but that final note takes the roof off St Jakobshalle all on its own.
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Czechia
ADONXS – Kiss Kiss Goodbye
Eurovision’s official reddit account reports:
“The main focus of this performance is Adonxs’ stage presence, vocals and charm. It’s a clean, elegant concept that fully embraces the possibilities offered by the Eurovision stage, using the latest lighting technology to create effects that create waves and evoke the movie Inception. The dance break and choreography have evolved for the Eurovision TV audience, creating an emotional, engaging and visually mesmerizing experience for both the viewers at home and the audience in the arena.”
So, a few more details, starting with Adonxs’ outfit – silver wide-legged trousers, with a white top that’s like a vest, but with sleeves and white gloves. Yes, we know a vest with sleeves makes no sense, but go with us on this. The staging is dramatically white, with strobing black shapes on the LED wall that make it feel like some kind of dystopian heaven. During the second verse, four dancers in matching outfits join Adonx for a routine on a pure white floor. Then the lego lights descend for an uptempo dance break bathed in red strobe lighting – a dramatic moment of colour that momentarily takes your breath away. The references provided by the Czechia delegation makes SO much sense when you see it on stage and on screen – the white is a dramatic metaphor for a clean break, and Adonx delivering the dismissal in the lyrics through lots of close-up camerawork is definitely a mood. No pyro or props, presumably because that would mess with the clean. This morning has been quite the ride already, no?
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