[LMBTO] Eurovision 2016, Day 4 - SF2 first rehearsals conclude...

Why have only one IVAN when you can have two, one accompanying himself on drums?  Welcome to Eurovision 2016, where most artists are playing with CGI, backscreens, floor effects etc...

And day 4 was no different!  The last eight artists from SF2 got their first taste of The Globen stage today:

In my eyes, there are at least five of these that are probable non-qualifiers, with only one a definite Finalist.  But let's not pre-judge, shall we?  The staging of some of these might make me think again...or maybe not!  Again, this is all based on the footage below (plus some comments made by the press guys and gals).

And so we start today with my pre-Stockholm #43, my rock bottom, the comedy performance at EMA 2016 so naff that I placed it below Serhat's disco hybrid.  One thing that was immediately apparent on watching the first rehearsal snippet and looking at the official pictures taken was that ManuElla has gone all classy with her outfit, VERY classy:

A sort of Grecian effect dress, cut 'down to there' but not in a Trijntje sort of way, a far better look that the hideous pull apart naval costume she wore before.  With one part of her act improved a thousandfold, could this now be a possible qualifier?  The vocals don't seemed to have changed unfortunately which was still a bugbear of mine but they didn't seem to sound as bad as they once did.  I have no idea why there is a gymnast spinning on a pole, as I cannot determine any reference to that sort of thing in the song.  I'll give ManuElla another chance - maybe the whole three minutes may convince me that Slovenia have a chance of singing on Saturday week.  She will make it into Eurovision Beauty however...

Eurovision meets Tank Girl?  Poli appears to be showing the same level of energy that she had at all the Pre-Parties (including the London one I was at) but she now has some sort of 'magical trickery' (okay, LCD lighting) on her costume - not activated here but briefly switched on during the 'No Comments' video later.  How many more flashbacks to Electro Velvet am I going to have this year??  It does make for an unusual viewing:

Energy is top notch, vocals seem sound and her connection with the camera looks on point, which you'd expect for someone with her live television presenting pedigree.  It's just these technical additions that make me nervous - will they benefit her performance?  The way they are positioned, I don't think they would be an issue if they failed, which is something but will the sight of them detract from jurors and public concentrating on her song and the rest of her performance?  Another for the second rehearsal to confirm...

Now that Lighthouse X are here in Stockholm, it is unfair to say anything more about the Danish NF.  Lip tightly bitten, I will just look at the footage in front of us - still bland, still mediocre, still three guys trying to be NSync or Backstreet Boys or any other boy band you could mention that would be infinitely more successful:

Are they having a chat, discussing how on earth they are here at Eurovision?  Their slightly cringeworthy chat in the clip about what 'Soldiers Of Love' means to them didn't help - it looks as though their staging is exactly like the NF and I can't imagine that the second rehearsal will change or improve anything.  Oh for Anja and Simone (sorry)...

Apparently this lady was the 'wow' of the Press room today and I can imagine why.  She looks stunning in one of the two Vogue outfits that she might wear in the SF and her performance, even from this brief view, looked and sounded absolutely amazing:

'1944' will be one of those songs that viewers will watch, absorb the class vocals of Jamala and let the heavy beats and jazz influence wash over them without even realising what the lyrics are about.  I am already excited to see the second rehearsals, partly to see what the second outfit is like and partly to listen to this masterclass yet again...

Notice something off about this rehearsal video?  We got almost 30 seconds of the entry, almost twice the length of any other stage footage and no interview with Agnete.  If you haven't already heard, she has had some medical issues pre-Contest so all her Pre-Party attendances, Meet and Greets and now interviews are off limits.  Shame really as anyone outside Norway will not have a clue about her - her actual performance was as good as during the Norwegian NF:

She has a great voice and has a good connection with the audience - the daft semi-hidden dancer within a 'Health & Safety nightmare' podium has now been put in the background, allowing Agnete to move freely.  The song itself is still the main issue for me which it always will be - my 49 year old brain cannot learn new tricks!  Verse slow, chorus fast (or at least the same speed) - not the other way around...

I absolutely love the explanation given about what this song means - the realisation of what someone waking up in the morning had done the night before!  We've all been there!  This was never going to be anything other than a band perfromance as far as staging was concerned:

It looks good enough, having grown up at a time where EVERY band mimed their playing on Top Of The Pops - as they really have little chance of going through (as far as I can see), maybe doing a bit of a piss take might make this a bit more fun?  This was popular amongst the Press guys today but knowing some of their preferences as I do (Mr Spence and Mr Delaney spring to mind), that was not surprising.  This is still for me much in the same vein as BritPop 20 years ago but nowhere near as good - I can't imagine this will get better second time around...

The winner of 'tightest trousers during rehearsals', please step forward for your award!  Seeing that she was dressed in a cocktail dress at FiK and in a weird gown affair in the official video, I cannot imagine that skintight leather trousers, a floral blouse and a white jacket are what Eneda will actually be wearing:

Her vocals sounded as good as ever and she connected with the camera perhaps better than before but I suspect we have a lot more to see from Ms Tarifa in the next rehearsal.  The 'jury is still out' as to whether Albania stand any chance of qualifying this year...

Now due to the lack of attendance at any of the Pre-Parties and her being selected such a long time ago, Laura has really slipped under the radar as far as how well "What's The Pressure" might do here.  A lot of pundits didn't have a lot of hope for Belgium but there are rumblings amongst non-fans (my girlfriend included) that this entry is catchy, fun to listen to and something they would keep on their iPod/iPad/Spotify/iTunes etc in preference to a lot of the other entries this year:

Laura is still on the edge of her vocal range at several points during this song but she appears to be keeping it together during the routine accompanying the song - the difference between EuroSong and now is that she is LEADING the choreography, rather than just being absorbed into it.  Another that deserves a full three minute viewing but I think that Belgium may now secure a place in the Final...

Today was a quiet day in The Globen as there were only eight acts rehearsing.  The main reason for that was the removal of Ovidiu Anton from proceedings a fortnight ago due to TVR of Romania not paying their bills for a decade.  Two things happened today to at least give Ovidiu some PR coverage, not that it made up for the loss of exposure to a mass audience but still.  First, the man himself showed off a storyboard of how 'Moment Of Silence' might looked in Stockholm - to be honest, it didn't look that much different to how he performed it in the NF but still:



The second was some of the Press guys and girls having a flash mob with Lidia Isac from Moldova:



Nice sentiment guys but this is why you all (bar Lidia) are journalists and not singers!

Eurovision.tv did their usual daily backstage stuff:

Destiny is so going to be in Eurovision in the next few years, mark my words - if she had been 16 and sung 'Not My Soul' this year, I think she'd be up with the favourites.

Phew, all SF1 and SF2 first rehearsals done but if you thought those days were jam packed, wait for the next two days...