Live EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2022 FINAL DISCUSSION

[Sean]

Please use this thread to discuss rehearsals in general and also to follow along with all of the live shows in Turin.

Matt, Melanie and Roy from the ESC United team will be LIVE in Turin over the coming days, with yours truly joining them on the ground in the coming days.

Make sure to join Matt for the round up of Eurovision 2022 rehearsals from 10:00 CET, LIVE on Youtube. Links to all live streams are below;

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>>> Click HERE for the Eurovision 2022 rehearsal schedule <<<​

 

[GermanBango]

Maybe they‘ll keep it that way for the first rehearsals and turn the arches around for the second round. That way nobody could complain about unfair advantages. One can only hope.

 

[midnightsun]

I won’t judge the performances right now after a short snippet of the first rehearsal (and I appreciate not showing the first rehearsal. Let this be a safe space for the contestants!). But from the little glimpses I can say, there will be surprises in terms of qualification/non qualification. This year is much more open than the last years.

 

[Ezio]

I think Florian Wieder is very happy today

 

[Ezio]

I won’t judge the performances right now after a short snippet of the first rehearsal (and I appreciate not showing the first rehearsal. Let this be a safe space for the contestants!). But from the little glimpses I can say, there will be surprises in terms of qualification/non qualification. This year is much more open than the last years.

I am always in for surprises. Last year we didnt have a single surprise.
If we have surprises due to the technical default of the stage though, I would consider this very unfortunate and annoying.

 

[nudiecrudi]

The most impressive thing is the lack of solidarity. Thanks god I don't use social s because the sea of negativity is enormous. People are happy because in their eyes a country has failed to organize their beloved toy. Claiming to ban Italy from ESC or calling it a third world country. Incredible. Even here someone few messages ago said that Italy should not organize ESC anymore. Do you think it's serious and fair? Because this shitty kinetic sun, maybe, doesn't function, everything this country has done to organize a beautiful show should be thrown into the garbage?
Maybe this staging was too ambitious? Ok. But it was done to offer a fantastic ESC.
Part of it doesn't function for several reasons but nothing is lost. Countries that have spend money will get reimbursed, assurances are made for this reason.
What do people ask from Francesca Montinari? She cannot say anything right now because if there is a problem caused by the enterprise which constructed the stage the lawyers will enter in the game. Even Rai and EBU can say much right now. The stage wasn't constructed by Rai, which is a public broadcaster. A private enterprise has been hired to make it, the fountains and the green room. If there is a responsability someone will pay for it.
The most important thing is the final result, what we are going watch during the semis and the final. And I'm sure that we'll have great shows even without that damn kinetic sun.

 

[GermanBango]

Well people on social media tend to be trash. That comes with the supposed anonymity. It’s nothing new. Just ignore it and carry on.

 

[Ezio]

The static sun, as I will call from now on, doesn't seem to help the staging. Every footage looks like the Tolmachevy Sisters in 2014 with their nuclear explosion. Actually we get a set of nuclear explosions in different colours. This is some twisted shit right there, because nuclear war feels so real at the moment. Besides that, without the kinetic stun, the stage impression isn't exciting anymore. The sun eclipses the LED video and only offers colourful rays itself, but nothing more.

I understand Italys frustration. After probably the worst Eurovision that took place in 1991 they wanted to do everything right and outshine the past, and now seem to fall onto their faces (until the second rehearsals at least)

I wonder if Florian Wieder, as an experienced stage designer, ever thought of kinetic elements on stage, and if so, he must have ditched them for good reasons. Fans hate on him, and I myself got bored with his designs, but his stages were always versatile and I think there was never a complaint from any delegation.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

Tbh, if I didn’t know it should turn and what not, I wouldn’t think it’s weird

Yes, that's pretty much the point. Nobody of us knows about how it is supposed to work (unless some of you are engineers, in that case you might), where the engine is, how the structure will turn if it was functioning. The only ones knowing this are Francesca Montinaro and those who made the structure, then EBU and RAI and then, but a lot then, the delegations. Fandom surely doesn't know nothing of how this structure should work.

 

[DanielLuis]

I wonder if Florian Wieder, as an experienced stage designer, ever thought of kinetic elements on stage, and if so, he must have ditched them for good reasons. Fans hate on him, and I myself got bored with his designs, but his stages were always versatile and I think there was never a complaint from any delegation.

Lisbon 2018 had those kinetic ribs on the back, near the LED's, that were supposed to move independently and be used on the countries stagings. The same exact thing happened: the motor broke and it was unfixable on time for the shows. The difference to 2022 is that it wasn't the main component of the stage and it was pretty hidden in the back

 

[goncalovieira]

So, after these little sneak peeks, I would say that we have definitely some LOCK Qualifiers.

Albania, Ukraine, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Norway, and Armenia.

Likely Q

Moldova and Austria.

On the fence

Latvia, Lithuania, and Switzerland

So, after all, that will be kinda easy to pick the 10 finalists. Tomorrow comes the real nightmare.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

The most impressive thing is the lack of solidarity. Thanks god I don't use social s because the sea of negativity is enormous. People are happy because in their eyes a country has failed to organize their beloved toy. Claiming to ban Italy from ESC or calling it a third world country. Incredible. Even here someone few messages ago said that Italy should not organize ESC anymore. Do you think it's serious and fair? Because this shitty kinetic sun, maybe, doesn't function, everything this country has done to organize a beautiful show should be thrown into the garbage?
Maybe this staging was too ambitious? Ok. But it was done to offer a fantastic ESC.
Part of it doesn't function for several reasons but nothing is lost. Countries that have spend money will get reimbursed, assurances are made for this reason.
What do people ask from Francesca Montinari? She cannot say anything right now because if there is a problem caused by the enterprise which constructed the stage the lawyers will enter in the game. Even Rai and EBU can say much right now. The stage wasn't constructed by Rai, which is a public broadcaster. A private enterprise has been hired to make it, the fountains and the green room. If there is a responsability someone will pay for it.
The most important thing is the final result, what we are going watch during the semis and the final. And I'm sure that we'll have great shows even without that damn kinetic sun.

Actually 92 private enterprises and 652 people work only on that machinery. Just to make everyone know what kind of work it was. You can see those numbers on Francesca Montinaro's Facebook page. She was really enthusiastic about this project: imagine how she must feel right now...

 

[nudiecrudi]

Lisbon 2018 had those kinetic ribs on the back, near the LED's, that were supposed to move independently and be used on the countries stagings. The same exact thing happened: the motor broke and it was unfixable on time for the shows. The difference to 2022 is that it wasn't the main component of the stage and it was pretty hidden in the back

But the show will go on, even without it. Maybe some stagings need to be modified but seems for someone that it's a complete disaster which has compromised the entire ESC organization.

 

[Mainshow]

Florian Wieder clearly is a very experienced, talented and great designer - I don´t think that any fans have ever tried to take his accomplishments away from him.
Personally, I just got really tired and bored by his designs. They were very modern, sleek and sometimes even too sterile for my liking and thus, I was really happy to learn about RAI hiring new designers and after seeing the plans/pics posted by eurovision.tv, I think that we all were able to witness something unique - very ambitious - but quite different to Wieder´s designs.

I don´t like it that a few fans on social media take this "kinetic sun" failure as an opportunity to seek "redemption" for Wieder or coming up with shady comments towards Italians in general (which is borderline xenophobic, imo, and not even funny).

At least, we got some water around, the incredibly huge and enormous amount of real plants in the green room to give a very special "Eurovision experience" - even on the pics, the lighting looks great..albeit one has to admit that it really has limited the potential of the stage.

At the end of the day, camera angles and movements are everything. We even got brilliant performances back in 2010...

I just hope that IF the kinetic sun can´t be moved that the delegations will ditch the LEDs - I don´t need to see half fruits and words like "Saud" on screen... It´s still a "disaster" for delegations who planned to heavily rely on LEDs/backdrops (like Lithuania, it seems). It can clearly slim the chances of a few countries to qualify/perform well in the end...

 

[crashworld]

Actually 92 private enterprises and 652 people work only on that machinery. Just to make everyone know what kind of work it was. You can see those numbers on Francesca Montinaro's Facebook page.

Thanks for sharing that. That's why I feel alot of people are underestimating the problem. I personally thought the kinetic sun seems like an intricate piece of work that has alot of complexities. I really doubt it's just a change of motors or a manual turning of the kinetic sun will just do the trick. I believe alot of considerations need to be made. If it is that easy to fix, they would have done it by now.

On a general note, of course, the twitter being the cesspool it is, will have tonnes of people overreacting. We just have to ignore them. Personally, my only concern is that it will be such a disappointment that we could have gotten an amazing stage show had the kinetic sun work as it intended, so all the artists/delegations get to show the original staging plans on the stage. So we can only hope the team behind the kinetic sun is able to turn things around.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

Thanks for sharing that. That's why I feel alot of people are underestimating the problem. I personally thought the kinetic sun seems like an intricate piece of work that has alot of complexities and intricacies. I really doubt it's just a change of motors or a manual turning of the kinetic sun will just do the trick. I believe alot of considerations need to be made. If it is that easy to fix, they would have done it by now.

Seeing those numbers I seriously doubt there is a single engine moving it to begin with. And if that's the case, it's obviously unfixable for May 10th. We shall wait and see. Hopefully we all are wrong and it will all turn out to be good.

 

[ag89]

If I am not wrong, this is not the first time Eurovision stage is with some difficulties:
2006: during construction one wing of the stage fell?
2011 LED screens in the background did not match fully which was visible during the whole show (look ath the Finish performance for example when the globe is coming out).
2012 similar to 2012 although not so visible.

Also, we have had stages with moveable parts before: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011 (well, used only for voting), 2019 so I do hope, even if they don't fix it, we will have a good show.

I feel sorry for Francesca, she has been under attack on social media, she even deleted her last post where she explained her idea behind the moving part (posted a day or two before rehearsals, but then I read comments and the post was soon gone).

 

[ItsJaden]

Yep. I think part of the fanbase is being overdramatic over this thing. It is the fanbase who is making more noise, not the delegations. So I think delegations and artists will be fine at the end and I even think both EBU and RAI are working hard to give them the best outcome for their hard work. But some people will not accept this, because they all are engineers and they know everything about something we really don't know.

The Dutch delegation were pretty upset.
We'll see how it will pan out. Reading all the comments here it does make sense that they aren't going to fix it and just deal with the cards that have been dealt. I do feel bad for a lot of countries that tried to create a concept on stage to strengthen their performance. Especially the ones like Netherlands who wanted big impact with subtle but effective staging. Now they have to rely on lights only.
But who knows... i love simplicity, so it might turn out great too. Just worried every performance will look similar.

 

[PollyWantsACracker]

My apologies, but if that sun makes it impossible for competitors to translate their originally designed performance on stage, then this is not something irrelevant and they really don't care for green room or waterfalls if their performance would appear worse live on TV?

Also, these competitors and national broadcasters have hired other artists, graphic designers, animators and choreographers, and they drafted their staging ideas around the original concept of the stage. If they have to change their original ideas and draft new designs and plans, that also bears some additional costs. Who will reimburse those costs to the competitors.

Sorry, but this is unprofessional. Good intentions, effort by the host, I appreciate all of these things, but this was a foreseeable technical issue from the get-go and a back-up plan was obligatory.

By saying "It is as it is and it won't be fixed" the organisers show disrespect to others' hard work while expecting their work to be appreciated and not criticised, otherwise they'll call it ethnic prejudice, anti-Italian sentiment, whatever. Bollocks.

 

[FilipFromSweden]

The most impressive thing is the lack of solidarity.

Oh please, it’s the biggest music event in the world and people are expecting a level of quality and rightfully so. I’ve barely seen anyone be happy about this, just disappointment. It’s ok to criticize, doesn’t mean we don’t want Italy to shine. I must also say Italy has had a bit of a laissez faire attitude to the whole hosting role so it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the stage has a critical error. To whoever wants to argue with me: let’s not forget Italy turning down hosting JESC because they won yet lacked interest.

 

[ag89]

My apologies, but if that sun makes it impossible for competitors to translate their originally designed performance on stage, then this is not something irrelevant and they really don't care for green room or waterfalls if their performance would appear worse live on TV.

Also, these competitors and national broadcasters have hired other artists, graphic designers, animators and choreographers, and they drafted their staging ideas around the original concept of the stage. If they have to change their original ideas and draft new designs and plans, that also bears some additional costs. Who will reimburse those costs to the competitors.

Sorry, but this is unprofessional. Good intentions, effort by the host, I appreciate all of these things, but this was a foreseeable technical issue from the get-go and there must have been a back-up plan.

We don't know that yet, maybe it was an accident , maybe it was really someone being unprofessional and made such a mess so the stage doesn't work properly. Let's not rush to conclusions that quickly.