Disclaimer: All image credits belong to the EBU and their house photographers Sarah Louise Bennett and Alma Bengtsson.
Alright folks, second rehearsals kick in, which means that we’re getting recaps, snippets and more pictures. Let’s summarize what.
Note: this post recaps Slovenia through Luxembourg.
Slovenia
We start this post with Slovenia. Their entrant, Raiven (née: Sara Cirman) took the stage for her second round of rehearsals.
The second round of rehearsals showcased virtually identical staging to the first – no real changes were made to the lights and LEDs (as far as we could tell). Raiven appears confident, poised, in the zone in her pictures.
The Slovene artist, who is a classically trained mezzo-soprano, is said to have rewritten a few sections at the beginning of her song, Veronika, with the intent of making the build-up and climax more impactful.
Today’s pictures show off the contrast in lighting – We see Raiven alone on the stage, shrouded in darkness and mist. The press photos also capture the reported ending of the song, with Raiven being lifted in the air by her male dancers. She and her dancers are once again wearing transluscent body suits to create the illusion of nudity, desire and vulnerability.
Raiven and two dancers interact with the camera. Notice the smoke in the background – this has to be either during or directly after the first chorus.
Overall, it seems like Slovenia are trying their best to capture the allure of the music video on the live stage.
Finland
After Slovenia, Finland took the stage. Windows95man (né: Teemu Keisteri) and his co-performer Henri Piispanen conducted their second rehearsal, with additional photographic material being provided for us to savour.
Not much has changed between the first runthroughs on Sunday and today’s runs, other than the colour of Windows95man’s choice for undergarments. Out went the nude-coloured string, in came one in the colours of the Windows 95 logo.
The performance otherwise looks very similar to the one at UMK, with only a few lights and the costumes of the dancers being distinctly different from those we saw at UMK all these months ago.
Finland are sticking with their earlier stage concept – it worked for them before, so why tweak it now?
Moldova
The next act to appear on the stage was Moldova’s Natalia Barbu. The 2007 veteran rehearsed her song “In the middle” in front of a large LED background. As Sunday’s rehearsal made clear, Moldova are banking on their LEDs to secure a strong enough vibe for qualification.
Today’s rehearsals gave us a few more views of the beautiful LEDs, and how Moldova plan to implement them.
Moldova are currently predicted to be eliminated in the semifinal by oddsmakers: it only remains to be seen whether they can achieve one of their signature on-stage miracles.
Azerbaijan
After Moldova, Azerbaijan had their set of rehearsals. The duo of Fahree and Ilkin Dolvatov gave us a second look at their song “Özünlə Apar”.
In the press pictures that were released of the event we can clearly see the open hand prop that is a big part of Azerbaijan’s staging, as well as the backdrop. It creates an effect of a woman reaching out to Fahree from the background, like a ghost of the past.
The rest of the staging look fairly austere, but effective. The futuristic outfits the pair wore at the first round of rehearsals have been retained. Whether this will prove sufficient to snag a qualification slot in a fairly open semifinal remains to be seen.
Australia
The next act to rehearse in Malmö was another duo – electropop duo Electric Fields, who are known for sprinkling aboriginal references into their work.
As reported previously, the duo, who are based in Adelaide, intend to make full use of the Yankunytjatjara language – the title word “Milkali” projected on the background, while main vocalist Zachariaaha Fielding is shown interacting with the indigenous didgeridoo player. Michael Ross, who serves as the keyboardist, composer and main producer of the band, supports with backings.
The press pictures also show what the reported “rainbow” effect on Fielding’s dress, as well as shadowplay, suggesting vibrant use of lights. Australia are going for something true to their culture, a bold choice for Eurovision.
Portugal
Portugal’s Iolanda was the penultimate act to perform her second rehearsals. The Portuguese singer retained her staging concept from Festival da Canção, and added the use of the stage’s signature cubes.
The effects can be observed in the pictures below, which showcase how the Portuguese use them to create space – a parallell with 2021’s staging, when Portugal were one of the few delegations to make use of the catwalk with great effect.
Portugal rose in the qualifier odds after the first rehearsals, and are unlikely to drop in the light of the new footage.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg’s Tali Golergant closes today’s run of rehearsals. The Israeli-Peruvian singer who lived in the Grand Duchy for most of her life, had a dress changes in store for her song Fighter.
On Sunday, Tali turned up in a black body suit. Today, she showcased a sleeveless bodysuit, with a silk orange-and-purple sash draped across her torso. Her outfit of today matches those of her backing dancers, making her ready to take command of her crew.
The new pictures also give a clearer visual of the LEDs of the performance. The CGI leopard from Sunday’s TikTok is nowhere to be found, however.
You can watch the snippets of ALL rehearsals for the first semi via the video below:
