[LMBTO] Eurovision 2022 Day 1 (30th April) - The Start Of The Online Press Experience...

She is one of the experienced performers at Eurovision and this comes across every time I see her perform or talk - here's looking forward to rehearsal 2...

Sometimes Meet & Greets / Press Conference get lots of variety in their questions, sometimes one thing is the focus.  And so it proved here with Marius - a lot of questions were about the lyrical content and whether it is okay for men to show their emotions.  I didn't have a problem with that but I did get the feeling that Marius wanted to chat about more!  The two new points that I found out about him was that he chose Bear as a stage name as a friend of his kept describing him as one, plus "Sound Of Beauty" is like a trigger for him when he hears a particular song (he mentioned one by Sam Smith) and he gets a pleasant sensation from that.  We didn't learn much about his staging from his chat or even the pictures produced - all will become clear soon...


SLOVENIA (LPS - "Disko")

To be fair, if Alyona Lanskaya can emerge from a disco ball in 2013 and do the Cha Cha then there is no reason why Slovenia can't have one behind them during a song called 'Disko'!  Not sure if it does anything more than sit there, but it does add something to the entry that it didn't have in EMA.   Their Meet & Greet was another where I got a question answered...

I was trying to see what they thought about those who might be watching their performance as a one off in the SF/Final but their answer focussed more on fans who knew where to find their material.  They felt that those in Balkan nations would understand the Slovene song content anyway and that others would know what was happening if they had watched their official video.  They did flag up that they are composing an English language version of "Disko", so that fans could sing along and cover it.  As for the rest of the M&G, the only point that wasn't common knowledge already was that their favourite Slovenian Eurovision entry was Sestre's 2002 classic "Samo ljubezen".  They also liked the 2019 entry "Sebi" and that wasn't just because two members of LPS are called Zala and Gasper!  A nice interview and from the images issued by the EBU, I suspect a similar feel to the staging at the NF is on the cards in their second rehearsal...

I wouldn't normally pick a behind-the-scenes picture but it sums up Ukraine's Meet & Greet very well - the lady in the mask is the Ukrainian Head of Press Oksana Skybinska and also the translator for the whole band.  It meant that the Meet & Greet was all directed through her - Oleh, the lead singer with the pink bucket hat, answered all the questions with Oksana providing the 'straight down the line' English answers.  No problem with that at all in this situation but in case any reader gets to do interviews themselves, it does make for a very stilted interview.  There really was nothing that came out of the chat that we don't already know, bar that the lyric "I will come to you by the broken road" is now the most relevant one in the song, considering the current world situation, and Oleh would love to collaborate with Eminem one day, as he is a massive icon of his who shows that any obstacle can be overcome.  The staging appears to be more like the promo parties than at Vidbir, where there was a box to move onto - we will see if there is anything to be added next time around...

You wouldn't believe that they were a rock band, would you?  Joking aside, I think that this is where we will see that Bulgaria are a far stronger proposition live than most of the fandom believe.  Just be looking at the images by the EBU and the show they put on in Amsterdam, this will be a very solid rock performance AND THERE IS AN AUDIENCE FOR THAT!  Remember the Juries of music professionals?  Remember the 'once a year' televoters who don't live and breathe Eurovision?  IMP were also kind enough to answer my question to them:

It was interesting to hear Ronnie say that at normal festivals and gigs they have to work hard with the visuals to attract an audience but Eurovision gives them a head start with that.  They did admit that the pyros were very hot and that one of the guitarists ended up with some of the fuel on them.  Ronnie joked that they could have a BBQ at the end of the song!  It was an interesting M&G in that several of the group were happy to contribute and their experience of music in general shone through.  Stoyan is impressed how Eurovision has developed over his three times there, they don't consider themselves a Supergroup and they are pleased that their fans will watch them who would never normally watch the Contest.  This is one show that I am looking forward to when we get to see this for the first time...

This picture epitomises everything that I haven't seen S10 show me to date - real passion in her delivery in a visible way.  When I have seen her perform her back catalogue of EDM tracks, she is totally on it - I know that this is a very deep and meaningful track, but sometimes the despair just doesn't come through.  This picture is the one that might change my mind.  As for the Meet & Greet, I almost missed it as it started with little notification!  I watched the total live and also On Demand (an excellent service provided by the Online team) and not only was she dressed in an orange tie die jumper, she was very happy and smiley.  She told us all that she was ecstatic about the outfit and that choosing it was almost like choosing a wedding dress in that so many were on offer, plus she felt that the rehearsals had gone amazingly well.  The other images hint at smoke and beams of light around her, the darkness of her outfit and the staging suiting the subject matter of the song perfectly.  She said that serious matters can fit into Eurovision and that even the more negative parts of life can provide a beautiful song.  Perhaps once I have seen the whole performance, S10 can change my mind about this entry but I was enchanted by her personality and forthright nature during the chat...