The last day of the closed rehearsals are now underway at the Euroclub in Malmö. Unfortunately the organisers have not been able to provide enough working spaces to work here, and we are currently perching on standing tables or sitting with laptops literally in our laps. We can’t quite understand the reasoning behind not having a proper media centre or press working area during this first week, but we are doing our best to bring some reports to you anyway!
The first country to rehearse today was Greece. This number is full of energy, and we have the band first doing their thing on the actual stage, before they run down the catwalk to the satellite stage. This is clearly a band that is best live and they are doing a good job in conveying that energy through in their performance. Loads of dancing together and it is difficult not to be drawn into the whole fun of it all and Koza Mostra and Agathon Iakovidis are fun to watch.
Next up we have Moran Mazor from Israel and she is bringing a breathing pause with her ballad. She seems to be wearing a very similar black dress we saw in the Israeli Kdam Eurovision national final, but now they have added some sequins and the train seems to be much bigger. There is still very much cleavage that will catch your eye, while there is not much more going on during this calm performance from Moran. The stage is lit in blue and the camera is rotating around Moran. There are two backing singers on the right and a man playing the grand piano on the left.
And then Armenia changes the feeling of the music with their rock ballad. The Dorians are doing a very static rock band performance with a wind machine, some dry ice and pyros to enhance the act. This may please some fans of a traditional rock song but not how well the more traditional Eurovision Song Contest audience will keep their focus during two rather static numbers in a row.
Fourth country this morning is Hungary. ByeAlex brings with him a female backing singer and a man strumming a guitar and also singing backing vocals. They stand in a close group on the stage and the back projections display images familiar from the preview video for the song. It is a rather understated song performed in a cute manner to end up this run of slow songs in the second semi-final.
There is a lunch break now in the rehearsals in Malmö and the last five countries of the second semi-final will rehearse for the first time in the afternoon.
