Over yesterday and today, more and more live on tapes are being released by the EBU on the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel. By now, we’ve gotten to the point, where we have now seen “all” of the first semi-final tapes and now we step into the second semi-final.
This is great moment to remind everyone, that some broadcasters have opted to not reveal their tapes, some with a reasoning behind it, while most by now has stayed silent. To remind everyone so far who has NOT shared their tape, this include countries such as Ukraine (who were exempt from recording), The Netherlands, Moldova, Norway and Armenia (It was released, but later removed).
Greece: Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord – Die Together
We start off with the very last one from the first semi-final, that being Greece. Represented this year by Amanda who was internally selected to perform her song “Die Together“. This means that we once again get to see something that was very much a work in progress situation. As it becomes very clear that there were no broken chairs on the small studio stage.
Amanda does what she needs to do, performing her song in a strong and emotional way to give the song a bit of power as well. The studio stage did include some stage fog and bright blue and white lights, which we saw as well in Turin. Movement wise, it also overall stays the same, with the difference being that there were no need to look out for any stage props.
Now to what made the difference, since the stage props which were the scattered broken chairs that were used in Turin, also had any effect on the floor, which interacted with each other, which was not possible to be done in the studio stage. Otherwise, work overall well executed, considering Greece did finish 8th in the end.
Finland: The Rasmus – Jezebel
We are now entering the second semi-final, and we are starting with The Rasmus as they opened the second semi-final as well in Turin. The band was selected through the national final, known as UMK for short. As can be seen in the live on tape performance, it was another replica situation, where even the same stage was used for the filming.
As mentioned previously in previous posts, acts selected from a national final, tend to be very similar in the live on tape clip. This was another case as we see the band perform in an empty arena, with the very same concept in use, of a animated figure interacting with the band on stage, until we see an animated version of the entire band as we approach the outro of the song.
Of course, this is no where near what we saw in Turin, as much of the concept was near enough replaced, but one thing that certainly remained in the national final performance, the live on tape recording and the final performance in Turin, is Lauri performing shirtless.
Israel: Michael Ben David – I.M
For 2022, Israel had ditched their previous format and now turned their eyes on X Factor, as the way of picking their act for the contest. As we know, Michael Ben David sealed the victory by 1 point, with his song “I.M“.
Since Israel were one of the early birds when it came to selecting their act, the Israeli’s decided to use their X Factor stage for the live on tape recording, and the performance even copied that exact performance as well. Which most likely means that the recording was done as soon as possible. Any close camera shots were still included as it was done during the X Factor final, but any wide shots that showed any kind of audience was removed.
Now to probably the biggest difference, had Michael Ben David been unable to perform in Turin, a lot of work would’ve gone lost. Most notably, is that it was the original version of the song that was used for the live on tape recording, and not the revamped version. The choreography was also changed a lot, compared to what we saw in Turin, which most notably included only male dancers in Turin, while the live on tape recording still had female dancers.
Serbia: Konstrakta – In Corpore Sano
We move onto Serbia now, and once again we have a close replica from the national selection, since Konstrakta was selected as the Serbian act by winning “Pesma za Evroviziju“.
There is however some notable differences between the live on tape recording and the national final performance. Konstrakta might even seem less expresive in her live on tape recording, when comparing to the national final performance, as if it just had to be done and over with. On the other hand, there is just something about this woman that makes you go into a trance. Even her backing singers/towel holders were less expresive as well.
There was also slight changes in the use of lights, the backdrop remained identical to the national final performance, but was heavily modified for the Turin performance. A strong red light was also used in the live on tape performance, which also ended being used in Turin.
Malta: Emma Muscat – I Am What I Am
Last but not least for today, is Malta‘s very own Emma Muscat. This is probably a one of a kind situation this year, since Malta did in fact hold a national final, but as we need to remember, did not go with the selected song to Turin. Therefor, the live on tape was not recorded using the stage from the national final.
Instead, the tape was recorded on a studio stage and was as simple as it gets, but as well what anyone would’ve expected to have seen in Turin. Emma is simply performing the song at the piano until the end of the first chorus, afterwards she takes to the front of the stage on her own, in a very golden performance.
This elegant, simple and even expected way of staging was clearly not what the Maltese delegation was going for, by the time we got to Turin, and instead we had Emma singing on top of the piano, having backup dancers appear next to her and even some dancing here and there on the stage.
More missing live on tapes
As we enter the second semi-final, we started well with getting to see the performances from Finland, Israel and Serbia. However, it didn’t last long before we’d start seeing missing clips from the second semi-final. As we jumped right over to Malta from Serbia, we can conclude that Azerbaijan and Georgia are now also among the ones that won’t release their live on tape performances.
We don’t know the exact reasoning behind this, but it is still worth noticing that both countries were among the ones that were effected by the irregular voting patterns. Despite Georgia’s unique style this year, it still leaves one to wonder if there are a few grumpy faces around Europe after this years contest, we shall soon see whether the remaining four countries will also have their tapes revealed on the official channel, despite both Montenegro and Poland have already released their clips on their own YouTube channels, independent from the official Eurovision YouTube channel.
Another day, and another set of live on tape clips released. Any of the last 5 ones that have #YOU impressed, let us as always know what #YOU think on our forum HERE or on our social media sites.
