ESC 2019 General Discussion Thread

[popavapeur]

Anyways all hail LED screens!!!

I don't agree that having LED screens make acts lazy, for starters no one is forced to use them, it's an optional addition to the performance so it's all up to the acts.

just adding something 2days later, while i'm more into LED screens than none, I don't think it's that optional depending on the stage. Some editions, the screen behind is just huge (Dusseldorf/Moscow) or is part of the overall stage fantasy (Vienna). So let's say we don't use them at all like in Dusseldorf, I mean it's possible but unless you have a strong staging idea it's very hard to not use them because the only way I can see an act not using it is for an intimate ballad with close ups to the artist and not everybody is doing that specific genre so everybody else is kinda screwed or look awkward if they're not using that huge-ass screen behind them.

You can put small lights on that screen to look like there is none but let's face it, it often looks weird, Bosnia Herzegovina relied a lot of the artist and the band with small colors dots that year but they were hella pixelated and just ugly ? and a full black screen would have looked worse ?

Copenhagen seemed to be fine and a stage that could be evolutive would be just perfect. You want screens : there is some, you don't want them ? we can switch them/remove them up to the ceiling I don't know.

 

[ZoboCamel]

Copenhagen seemed to be fine and a stage that could be evolutive would be just perfect. You want screens : there is some, you don't want them ? we can switch them/remove them up to the ceiling I don't know.

I think Vienna was a pretty good example too, even though I wasn't the biggest fan of that stage overall - look at e.g. Serbia, which didn't use the LED screens but still came across well on stage.

 

[ag89]

The arena seems really small, but I don't think it's that relevant for a tv show. The only problem is most fans won't be able to attend.

 

[SwedishFailurez]

^
Yes! also the lack of waving flags will change the pacing of all three shows for the worse. I think you will feel the loss when you watch the shows in May.

The fear of SVT's decisions to make the stage smaller and ditch LCD-screens in 2013 is one thing, but the lack of flags removes an essential part of esc which hugely affected the spectator aspect.
Yeah, huge flags blocking camera-views and obnoxious not following rules is indeed hurting. The flag ban however is a cheat solution that could be resolved in other ways.

 

[Teaisloveable]

I was at LEP too on Sunday! Very much enjoyed myself. Having had a few days to ponder, and have the buzz of the night subside, I've had a bit of time to form some thoughts.
[MENTION=16479]opinionsigotem[/MENTION]

Did you notice Sarah point blank refused to sing a line of her song at least twice? It was really odd. First time I thought perhaps something had gone wrong/ she'd tripped/ needed to cough or something but then it happened again at the same moment in the chorus!

As far as Paenda goes, her album song got a whole lot more love than Limits did. She definitely seemed to enjoy performing it more too. It was almost as if she wanted to get Limits out of the way so she could sing it. (This is when I heard the most "omg she should have sent this one to Eurovision instead!" from the crowd. Which I also heard with Michael Rice's own song, Church.)

Although & did get a reaction from the crowd, I can't help feeling that some of that was down to the party/ clubbing atmosphere of the night. They could have done little yet people would still have been having a fun time/ dancing and cheering as they are fast songs. So I agree, it can be hard to judge the reaction of the viewers by it. By contrast, I think this can lose slower, more emotional songs like Carousel and Paenda, which get lost in the crowd a bit. (Of course not comparable to the Eurovision Stage). Having said that Victor definitely impressed me. I liked the song before, but after seeing it live like that it has gone up in my rankings.

I felt a different experience with Jonida on the ground. I felt she had a great response from the audience! Non English songs can be sung along to by non- natives of the song's language... If the song is popular enough. Take Mahmood and Miki as the biggest examples. People sang along to the whole thing, not just the chorus. At times you could fear the crowd would drown out the singers!

It does frustrate me when artists hand the microphone to the audience which Leonara did far too much like you said. Don't get me wrong, doing it occasionally like Miki did works great, especially with a song like La Venda. But I do feel a bit cheated when I've purchased a ticket to hear people perform, and they spend it standing in silence with a microphone to the audience for what feels like most of it.

Biggest Improvement since NS have to go to Eliot and Bilal. Their vocals have clearly improved which was nice to see. Also Michael I think benefited from the small stage, as he didn't move around the stage/ flap his arms around so much compared to You Decide.

I did enjoy Duncan's performance, though I do feel a bit of the intimacy was lost. The audience did go absolutely crazy for him though (which could have been part of the reason for the loss of intimacy.

I agree, John, Miki, Mahmood & KEiiNO were the biggest stand outs of the evening! Everything about them worked. From the vocals, to the reaction and to the staging.
It also confirmed that is my winner for the year. Though I'd be happy if any of those 4 won Eurovision 2019.

As for Cafe de Paris, I don't think it was a bad venue per say, you certainly felt like you were really there with them as they performed, which I think can be lost in a bigger arena. The prices were absolutely ridiculous though, especially considering that LEP posted they'd negotiated some drink deals. Though you do expect that for London.
All in all, I would absolutely go again in future years.

 

[hijirio]

I am still thinking that there was a misunderstanding and there will be flags at Eurovision. Otherwise it's the most stupid decision ever taken by EBU. What's the point even? Huge flags were blocking cameras and they regulated the flag size to be allowed in the arena, so what's the problem now?
Flags reflect the spirit of Eurovision, and without them it will feel like another music festival or a concert. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[Citelis]

I read that Madonna is going to perform ''Like a prayer'' in Eurovision. That's great news because i believe that that's her best ever song!

 

[tuorem]

"Like A Prayer" is of course a beautiful song, but I thought she would have opted for "Music", which was apropos for the contest imo.

"Music makes the people come together xsing Music makes the bougeoisie and the rebel xsing"

I guess she wanted to perform a song with a deeper meaning, and that's fine for me.

 

[crashworld]

Eurovision Pre-Party in Spain. This is the welcome party. The actual concert with this year's representatives will happen later today.
I hope the concert will be streamed too.

 

[Sammy]

I can‘t remember a year when I listened less to the ESC entries than this one.

 

[Ezio]

Me too. Recently, I haven't listened to Eurovision songs this year at all. Only reading comments or watching videos.

Despite of Portugal and Sweden, I am not interested in listening to the songs. The favourites leave me completely cold.

 

[Citelis]

I listen a lot but only to my favorites. There is no reason to punish myself by listening to entries like Croatia, Georgia etc

 

[Zonne147]

Same here. I'm feeling this year less than 2018, for example. Maybe even less than 2017. Anyway, I think there are still many interesting entries.

Maybe one of the reasons I loved 2018 was because we were the host country, but imo the songs were also better and there was more variety of musical genres and styles.

Tbh the only thing I didn't like last year was the winner and at least I feel happy that 2019's winner will be much better than "Toy" But that's subjective ofc.

Btw, when do you expect rehearsals schedule to be released? Maybe in the next week?

 

[Pawhlen]

I agree that this year is weaker than 2018 and 2017

 

[marty]

in my opinion this is a year above the average but without real highlights. i mean most of the songs are ok some are quite good. but there is not a single song of outstanding quality in my eyes. this year the result will depend much more on the staging, which makes me fear that Russia will be the winner.

 

[Sammy]

I listen a lot but only to my favorites. There is no reason to punish myself by listening to entries like Croatia, Georgia etc

If only I had one...

 

[Citelis]

If only I had one...

There must be something you like!

 

[Sammy]

There must be something you like!

Of course there are: I like Sweden, UK, Switzerland. But that‘s it: I just like them... And then there are a lot of songs, that I don‘t mind. And a lot of songs that don‘t touch me at all or even worse that bore or annoy me.

 

[crashworld]

Although to me this year is not considered to be a very strong year in terms of song quality, but for me, I like more songs this year than last year.
And I actually notice I have added 35 songs out of 41 songs this year into my own curated ESC playlist, which means I can listen to most of the songs without having to skip them. That's quite a big achievement.

 

[marty]

Although to me this year is not considered to be a very strong year in terms of song quality, but for me, I like more songs this year than last year.
And I actually notice I have added 35 songs out of 41 songs this year into my own curated ESC playlist, which means I can listen to most of the songs without having to skip them. That's quite a big achievement.

lucky you