ESC COVERS LOOK AT THE DRESS REHEARSAL OF SEMI-FINAL TWO

The dress rehearsal for the second semi final took place last night. Mario Tongeren from the Netherlands watched it and reports for ESC Covers.

The featured image photo is via Sarah Louise Bennett of the  EBU.

The second dress rehearsal of the second Semi-Final  took place on Wednesday evening, and of course, I was once again here to look at it closely for you, talk you through the acts, as well as the other elements of the show and give you my prediction of who will qualify for the Grand Final on Saturday night. Especially for our readers from South Africa, remember that you can vote this year, through www.esc.vote during the show, as the voting is opened for people from non-participating countries as well, this year. Let’s get started!

The show starts with with a short reminder of what we saw on Tuesday night, all the highlights are passing through in an opening video. There is no opening act for this show, we move straight to the hosts, who will explain the rules, so we can quickly start with the entries. I do love a speedy start to a Eurovision night!

01. Denmark

Reiley kicks off tonight’s show in a very pink atmosphere. He is wearing pink suit with glittery buttons on it. He starts inside a rotating prop that is lighted in very happy colours, such as pink, purple and light blue. Then Reiley begins moving around the stage, all on his own. The weak spot here is his vocal performance. In some rehearsals it was completely off-key, now it is slightly better, but still very shaky. While there is a chance he will make it to the Final, I unfortunately have to say I expect this to just be short of enough points to qualify.

02. Armenia

Brunette begins her performance lying down on a beautifully coloured stage, in pink and purple and then silver. She sits up for the first chorus, before finally standing up for the second verse. Cameras are moving to all different angles of this. During the bridge of the song, the singer does an impressive dance routine, before finishing off with the final chorus very strongly. Her vocal performance is great. This is very beautiful, and it’s sailing through to the Final.

03. Romania

So the first question on your mind is probably, what socks is Theodor wearing today? I can confirm they are SpongeBob socks. This starts with Theodor sitting on a bar chair, with his guitar, during the first slow part of the song. He then stands up and starts moving around the stage, which looks very empty with just him on it. The people shown on the backdrop doing strange moves are not helping to make this a coherent performance. His vocal performance is fine, nothing wrong there. However, this will not qualify for the Final tomorrow night.

04. Estonia

Blue is the colour you will find in everything in this performance. Alika is wearing a blue costume, and the stage lights are soft blue as well. Look, the piano is magical, it plays on it’s own, even when Alika is not touching it! As she stands up from the piano, she starts moving around the stage and she’s doing it very well, she has a great stage presence. Her vocal performance is very strong, the woman knows how to sing. Yet, I am not convinced this will qualify for the Final. It may very well succeed in doing so, but this is not a song that particularly sticks to the mind, and it’s performed very early on in the show. I’m a bit indecisive on this.

05. Belgium

Time for some 80s disco vibes, with Belgian Gustaph. He is wearing a white suit with wide pink trousers underneath, as well as a white hat. He starts the performance on a platform and for the first chorus, he walks down the stairs and continues his routine on the main stage with his dancers. On the backdrop, we see all kinds of the different people, with the emphasis on ‘different’, as this is a clear statement of the queer community, and of acceptance of everyone as they are. The vocal performance on this is strong. I had doubts before, and I’m still not entirely certain, but I do think this will qualify for the Final.

It’s time for our first break of the night, and we join the commentators of Ukraine and the United Kingdom in their commentator cabin, where the host talks with them about their work as commentators and their favourite Eurovision acts from the past. After a short appearance by Scooch (UK 2007), who try to hand out a voting card to the host, it’s time to move on with the show.

06. Cyprus

Andrew appears alone on stage with a blue backdrop, where a waterfall is displayed when the first chorus begins, and it looks like it’s falling down on him. It’s very gorgeous. As is he. Ok, ok, I promise I won’t allow any distractions from what truly matters. You’ll also notice Andrew is barefoot on stage. Near the end of the song, the song, the backdrop moves away from water and becomes fire. Pyros join in the mix as well. The vocal mix on this is great, especially, it’s Andrew and his backing singers together that make this sound great. Cyprus will definitely qualify for the Final.

We need to go to the hosts again for a short moment here, but we can very quickly move on with the show.

07. Iceland

Dilja begins her performance on her knees, she’s wearing a silver costume with a grey top underneath. She dances around on stage aggressively. That’s the word that comes up mostly while I’m watching this, ‘aggressive’. Her singing, while not bad at all, is aggressive as well. It is a very high energy performance, as she moves around quickly, and the camera spins around her like crazy as well. At the end of the performance, she takes off her jacket, which is one of the more notable moments in this very messy happening. I would be very surprised to see this qualify.

08. Greece

Victor begins his performance sitting and then lying down, with the entire Greek alphabet displaying around him. He is wearing a beige jacket, with shorts in the same colour. His head is displayed on the backdrop during the first chorus. Honestly, I’m a bit lost here. It’s a very strange performance of a very strange song, and I’m not entirely understand what I’m looking at. His vocal performance is alright, he misses a note left and right. Here’s what I do know. Cyprus is voting in this Semi-Final, which means a 12 point headstart. Denmark is also voting in this Semi-Final, and Victor is from Denmark. Then there are countries such as Romania and Albania, who typically tend to vote for Greece in the televoting to some extent, at least. Finally, there is also a very large, actively voting Greek diaspora in Belgium and Austria, for instance. This is a game of cold, hard numbers too, sometimes. Betting against this qualifying for the Final is a very dangerous endeavour, proceed at your own peril.

09. Poland

Well, it’s time for some summer vibes, with Blanka from Poland, who has come in a beautiful warm coloured dress. On the backdrop, we see tropical views. There is a very strong dance routine happening in the bridge of the song, and there are pyros used here as well. Everything is well thought of, from beginning to end, from segment to segment, even the fact that Blanka is not the best singer is very skillfully masked by an excellent vocal mix with the backings. When it was selected on the night of the Polish national final, I immediately said it’s going nowhere. Now I say it’s going to the Final.

10. Slovenia

We’re staying a bit in the summer vibes, as they very much reflect in this band’s lead singer’s shirt. Very colourful, it is. This is a very convincing performance of a soft rock song. As mentioned before after the second rehearsals last week, it’s kept very simple, with just the band on stage, there are very little additions, just some good camera work, and the whole thing comes across very nice. The vocals are also great here. Yeah, this is a qualifier.

11. Georgia

It’s time for Iru to show off her talents, and they are many. The performance starts with her standing in between two screens, on a platform. She is wearing a beautiful white dress that could well be a wedding dress. On the screen, moving smoke is displayed to add drama to the performance. A wind machine is blowing in her direction and at some point, the lights start flashing around her, as she does not move from her spot. She is singing this very well too, and that goes for the long, difficult notes at the end of the song as well.. The overall performance is quite impressive. The Georgian tale is not ending tonight, as I expect we will be seeing this back on Saturday night.

Then we get another break, as some broadcasters are showing commercials. We see a video about the history of Eurovision, narrated by actor Luke Evans. It’s quite nice. But there’s no time to waste, as we have five performances left tonight, so we better continue quickly.

12. San Marino

A black glittery suit on the lead singer is shining towards us for this performance. At the back of the stage, we see the rest of the band, and they don’t move at all, it’s just the lead singer to takes a few steps to the front and to the back, then to the side. It’s quite static, actually, the whole thing. Vocally, it’s fine, but the main problem with this is the song. It’s not something that will be pleasant to the ear for the large crowd, and so my verdict here is that this will not qualify for the Final.

13. Austria

There we have the two ladies who sing about.. nothing in particular. This entry was written in response to the fact that song lyrics nowadays do not have any particular message to them. You could of course also interpret it as a tribute to the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, as they literally mention him throughout the song. The girls are dressed in black and red, and white and red. On the backdrop, an army of dancers is displayed, dancing to the “poe-poe-poe” chorus. This is fun, it gets the crowd going and it is easily going through to the Final on Saturday.

14. Albania

Next up is Albina and the entirety of her family, on stage. We have her siblings and her mum and dad there as well. Albania is dressed in a costume with some traditional elements to it. The rest of the family stands behind her and is dressed in black. I must say, this is the best performance of this that I’ve seen and heard ever since it got selected in Festivali i Këngës in December. The backdrop is showing red flashes, and some thunder as well at some point. The issue with this is that it may be a bit too traditional and also a bit too dated, as a song. But the vocals are great, especially the vocal of Albina. Whilst I don’t rule out that this may qualify, I simply believe there will be at least 10 others finishing higher in this show.

15. Lithuania

We welcome back Monika, who participate for her country in Eurovision before, in the duet with Vaidas. This time, she is back all on her own, dressed in an orange dress. She starts off alone on stage, and is then joined by her backing singers during the first chorus, who are dressed in black. They then dance in a circle around her as she is the center of attention during this performance. It is very convincing, especially Monika’s vocal performance is very nice. I stick to what I previously said, the chorus of this will remain in everyone’s head for days to come, and certainly until the voting starts. This is a certain qualifier for the Final, in my opinion.

16. Australia

The last one already? I know time always flies when you’re having fun, but when you’re watching Eurovision, it feels like 5 minutes ago that Denmark appeared on stage. Anyhow, we’re finishing very strongly here, with the lead singer starting the performance inside a car for the first verse, before he steps out and joins the band on stage. The clothing here is very glittery, there is a wind machine blowing through the lead singer’s long hair. We’re watching a brilliant alternative rock performance, which some growling in the bridge of the song. It’s so incredibly energetic and well sung, too. In my view, this is the winner of tonight’s Semi-Final and may well go into the top 10 on Saturday.

That was it, we have heard and seen all 16 entries of the second Semi-Final. The host are back to inform us of the voting procedure, before the voting is officially opened, and we get to see a recap of all the songs performed.

After the first recap, it’s time for an interval act that celebrates Ukrainian music, featuring Maria Yaremchuk (Ukraine 2014), followed by Ukrainian rapper OTOY and Ukraine’s 2022 Junior Eurovision representative Zlata Dziunka. Music overcomes everything, is the message, and this is the best interval act done so far in both shows. After that, it’s time for a bit of a Ukrainian language lesson from the hosts, and then get another recap of the 16 performances, immediately after which the voting is closed.

Then it’s time for our second interval acts, which is an amazing drag act, with three beautiful drag queens and a large number of all sorts of dancers on stage. The message is here is that Eurovision stands for diversity and equality for all, and for the freedom of everyone to express themselves as they wish and feel. It’s a huge, colourful party live on stage. Beat that, Rita Ora!

After that amazing spectacle, it’s time for Måns and Filomena to finish their game of who remembers which entries from the past qualified or did not qualify for the Eurovision Final. You get to see who of them wins. There is then a video shows of four children who spent one day at the Arena, walking around backstage and finding out how all of this works. It’s fun to see this, as they hop through everywhere in excitement. They are then also seen in the Arena, with the hosts.

We’re nearing the end of the show. We get to see parts of the performance of the three automatic qualifiers, and they are the countries that get to vote tonight as well, namely Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Finally, it is then time for the results.

For me, it’s time to cast a prediction for you, and I must say I find this one a bit harder to predict than the first Semi-Final, but I will definitely give it a good try.

In my view, the 10 countries who will qualify for the Final from this Semi-Final are, in order of performance:

Armenia
Belgium
Cyprus
Greece
Poland
Slovenia
Georgia
Austria
Lithuania
Australia

That would mean that Denmark, Romania, Estonia, Iceland, San Marino and Albania will leave the competition after this show.

But then, who am I to tell? You can watch for yourselves at 21:00 CET on Thursday night, decide whether you agree and especially vote for your favourite acts. I will be back with for a review of the Grand Final on Friday night. Enjoy the show!

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