[LMBTO] Eurovision 2016 is here - Day 1, First Rehearsals...

Now we know it's starting!  May 2nd, first rehearsals in Stockholm for the Eurovision Song Contest, Semi-Final 1 artists kick us all off with the final countdown towards the winner on Saturday week.  These first ones are all about camera angles, dance steps, getting the vocals and mikes synched, maybe trying out how costumes look so it can be a bit messy.  I'm not in Sweden so I do not have the privilege of seeing these first-hand, well via a monitor screen (even the Eurovision press can't watch in The Globen itself until the second rehearsals start on Thursday).  My view of these first 'baby steps' will be much the same as yours but you do have the bonus of not having to click between loads of rehearsal footage and interviews, typing who you want to see into Google - it's all here!  Last year, I nearly 'burnt out' doing reviews every single day for the fortnight and I intended to just cover each set of rehearsals in full, rather than daily.  Having tried that today, it's not going to work so here is Day 1 of the first set of rehearsals!  Hopefully I will retain some sanity by midnight on May 15th anyway.  Having seen the official footage of each artist provided by eurovision.tv, there won't be too many comments, as the actual time shown of the artists on stage can't amount to much more than 10-15 seconds!


Finland

First up was Sandhja with her uptempo pop song, 'Sing It Away'.  So little can be said from this, apart from maybe suggesting that having a light blue, tight jumpsuit is not the way to go outfit-wise and I would still say that the backing singers are an integral part of this entry, so maybe giving them something more eye catching to wear?  It sounds as good as the UMK version and the moves work, if a little 'polish' is needed:

Still loving the music but not too sure about the dancing in that short clip!  The actual snippet of vocals sounded perfectly good and the simplicity of the white outfits works extremely well against the complexity of the visual backdrop:

Astronauts at Eurovision - they've worked so well in the past, haven't they?  Add that to the spaceman then performing some hip hop breaks and you've got a sure fire qualifier:

No, No, NO!  I'm joking of course - Lidia has never had the best vocals of any of the acts this year and this rather naff staging doesn't help her cause at all.  It's a real shame - she is always so nice in interviews, appears to be so happy and relaxed that I would love her to be in the Final but I just cannot see this making it.  This will just keep the show ticking over in SF1 unless there is a major change to how this looks...

Another entry like Finland that looks almost identical to the National Final version - except there's no monk banging the drum this time (although Freddie has said that there will be a change for the second rehearsal, so the guy from the temple might return):

'Very red' would be my only comment - not sure if that is a good or bad thing but Freddie sings this superbly well.  He may have to if he is going to carry Hungary into the Final as a lot of entries seem to be 'upping the ante' as far as staging is concerned.  'Pioneer' seems to be a simple performance choreography piece - will simple be enough this year?

Last year it was Trijntje Oosterhuis with the first rehearsal dress winning the Barbara Dex award - this year?  Nina is going to take it very close with the outfit she starts off with here, although it is pulled off her part way through.  The branch design appeared on her outfit during the Pre-Parties, which was actually very nice to look at but this is totally something else:

I have absolutely no idea what the concept with this is and pulling apart any garment looks quite naff (see ManuElla during EMA 2016) - it also totally distracts the viewer from the beauty of this song and how distinctive Nina's voice is.  If this ends up being the outfit and part of the staging, Croatia are now looking at NOT getting to the Final, whereas I was quite confident of their chances before today.  Hopefully like The Netherlands last year, she has three outfits to try...

Spookily enough, The Netherlands were up next and simplicity seems to be the key for Douwe Bob.  Just him and his band, dressed immaculately, strumming away at their instruments (and that is not a euphemism), singing this spot on and having a very measured performance which really matches the theme of this song.  This will be a highlight for me, when judged against what I have seen could potentially happen in this SF, as it shows off this guy's professionalism and genuine interaction with the camera:

He's a looker for guys and gals alike - I didn't have this down as a qualifier pre-Stockholm, that view might change once I have seen the second rehearsals but I suspect that 'Slow Down' will not be varying in style and grandeur that much.  I'll be looking forward to this show now...

If you have the body of a supermodel, you can get away with wearing just a black leotard and a cape!  'LoveWave' is such an unusual conceptual song with a mix of Armenian ethnicity and Western contemporary pop, together with rising electronica and a spoken intro, that I had this as a borderline qualifier, based on the song alone.  My only proviso for this becoming a definite Finalist was the staging - it had to be incredible to propel this upwards...and it appears to be:

From the tiny clip plus the pictures taken, Iveta carries this entry like the 'lovely diva' she admits she is, all eyes will be on her, whether it be looking at her beauty or at her movements to attract attention or at the pyros that appear in the images taken today.  This has soared into the top ten with the bookies after this performance - I am not in the least bit surprised...

At least it looks as though someone in the crowd might get Serhat's headwear on the night!  Hopefully this was just 'marking out the steps', as there was no real enthusiasm from him or the dancer/singers visible in this clip and they were all dressed in their civvies:

I know that this has 'no hope or Bob Hope' of making the Final but I would like the actual finished product that we should see in the second rehearsal to make more of an impression on me.  Go mad Serhat - make this the Swedish 'Studio 54', make this memorable at least!

It's been a 'down and up' day for Sergey - first news from Stockholm was that, during his initial stab at performing his routine, he fell from a piece of staging on his back wall.  Why was he climbing around the back drop, I hear you cry?  It was thought that only the Eurovision Press would be able to shed some light on that with their live blog descriptions but then a full version of the three minutes that went flawlessly appeared all over YouTube and it all became a lot, lot clearer:

I'm not sure how this got out as I suspect that the EBU will frown upon this (an opportunistic volunteer or Globen staff member?  A member of Sergey's delegation?) but I have to say that this was a total surprise when judging this staging against the relatively bland fare that was provided during the Pre-Parties.  I was totally blown away with this - I have always been a fan of pop videos, especially well made and innovative ones, I even had a blog about them before Eurovision took over my blogging career.  I therefore appreciate well made visual productions and that will explain why Iceland is my #1 pre-Stockholm, the interaction between Greta Salóme and her film on her backdrop in "Hear Them Calling" being an artistic delight.  That, however, does not compare with this production - we have already had fans saying that this is a copy of what happened last year with 'Heroes'...

Sergey interacts directly with the backdrop, matching what happens behind him to start with (the wings, the ice figures) but then actually climbing on steps, laying back on supports, sitting on staging and jumping across a gap to clamber up to the top for the Finale.  Absolutely outstanding - even the guys who come out mid song mirror him perfectly.  There is so much that could go wrong here and he proved that first time by slipping off - it could be a disaster if things went awry but if they go right, I am certain that this staging gives this entry all the WOW factor it lacked with the song alone.  The other comment made by some fans is that this is too busy, too complicated - I feel that this is an artist and team trying to bring a YouTube video to life, having what you would normally only see in a video on a stage.  I have to say that it is stretching the premise of Eurovision still being just a Song Contest to the limit but I am sure that SVT and Christer Bjorkman are delighted that such a visual feast is going to be here this year.  This has to be perfect four times (jury and public shows, SF and Final) but if Sergey can carry it off, he might have to repeat it a fifth time before picking up the trophy...

The official site put together its traditional 'No Comment' piece at the end of the session, some nice sound checks and close ups of the acts today: