ESC United - Rehearsal and Live Show discussion megathread

[Sean]

It's time for the rehearsals to finally get underway for Eurovision 2024 at Malmö Arena! 37 countries will begin their preparations for this year's contest today, with over two weeks of coverage to come from the ESC United team on the ground!

The schedule for rehearsals is below (thank you Eurovisionworld! All times in CEST);

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You can check out Matt's pre-rehearsal live stream below in case you missed it;

DAY ONE

Eurovision 2024 Rehearsals - Day 1 Round-Up Live Stream

Join Matt and his team as they discuss the rehearsals of the day and answer your questions. The first dress rehearsal is closed to the press so we'll be here...

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The team will be on hand to cover everything going on in Malmö over the coming weeks, so make sure to follow ESC United on Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, and YouTube and Twitch to not miss a minute!

Please also use this thread for any rehearsal coverage and discussion, including for jury shows, dress rehearsals and the live shows!​

 

[jatojo]

https://imgur.com/XRBFQd6

almost doesn't sing the chorus. It's pre-recorded vocals.

Maybe Poland should have asked for the same trick. The Swedish producers seem very helpful in that regard.

 

[Etanna]

Honestly, that's one of the most interesting articles I have read about Eurovision in ages, as it goes directly to the source. I very much recommend reading it.

The most interesting points for me:
(about creating the running order): "I do not have access to the semi-final results. Martin Österdahl has them. If I ever mess up in the order I'm proposing, he can tell me "this song there, maybe you should put it elsewhere". And there, I know that this means that the song had a result that I had not envisaged."
So in theory, Chris has no idea of the results when creating the running order - but Martin can override him - for songs Martin wants to.

(about the change with voting starting immediately): "I believe this will give a fairer result, mainly for those who pass near the beginning. We know that they are more quickly forgotten when there are so many candidates."
So - even the producers themselves believe a later running order is beneficial. Can everyone thinking the running order doesn't matter let that sink in, please?

so this basically confirms that the reason why certain countries (Czechia, Austria, Albania to name a few) have been getting an absolutely terrible RO for ages (and therefore an even worse result compared with what we could have gotten) has been a systematic part of the process. All that crap about ensuring all songs are being given the best running order to stand out was bullsh**. And to see that the home country of the person who decides this stuff always gets an amazing spot is just ludicrous.

 

[AlekS]

Käärijä's mic died right before the chorus. What a rehearsal

 

[martin]

so this basically confirms that the reason why certain countries (Czechia, Austria, Albania to name a few) have been getting an absolutely terrible RO for ages (and therefore an even worse result compared with what we could have gotten) has been a systematic part of the process. All that crap about ensuring all songs are being given the best running order to stand out was bullsh**. And to see that the home country of the person who decides this stuff always gets an amazing spot is just ludicrous.

Yeah and of couse the same country often changes rules before they hosting. I,m are Norwegian and should not complain, but imaige if it was 2 from Serbia or Croatia who decide. Balkan would probably get,s better number and maybe my country would get worster running order.

That,s why it should be random draw. Because people is not neutral when they choise what running order a song should get.

 

[nofuxCZ]

San Marino odds shortening a lot. Let them Q pleaaase

 

[jatojo]

The most interesting points for me:
(about creating the running order): "I do not have access to the semi-final results. Martin Österdahl has them. If I ever mess up in the order I'm proposing, he can tell me "this song there, maybe you should put it elsewhere".

To some extent, I would be satisfied if there were seedings, like in certain sports. But I'm not comfortable with one man deciding it all just in order to optimize the show.

 

[ekzuu]

Responding to Bjorkman... why have 26 countries then?? Let only those you can think can win into the final, saves time... honestly what is the point of the final if we already decide before who will win.. if this is a real contest positions should be drawn, and be the case of luck... or let AI create it with a prompt that every song must have its way to shine etc, if we are already using qr codes, interactive stage etc anyway

but right now the prompt from bjorkman's head would be: favourite countries are: italy, croatia, france, ..., and then there are 20 other countries, make a final running order where favourites stand out the most (get good positions) and make sure overall that the show is entertaining (no same tempo/vibe songs next to each other)

 

[njdevils94]

Rehearsal Summary (via google translate)

The bendy pose is right at the start and the whistle note is included in the 2nd half of Hurricane.

Israel: Eden Golan wearing the impressive gray dress designed for her by Alon Livna. She begins the song as she is seen standing backwards with her body broken (that difficult position that only artistic gymnasts can perform) which looks eerily like her body. She is surrounded by a lot of smoke, white and blue lighting.

Eden stands inside a ring that is similar to the ring of the representative of Latvia, but slightly smaller. Eden is joined by five dancers who hang around the circle after the first verse. The dancers dance throughout the song around Eden and with her. The shooting angles are perfect. The stage is full of thick smoke.

In the second verse, Eden moves towards the center of the stage. The climax of the song is captured by a camera from above while on the stage floor you can get the feeling of a hurricane. The song ends when the lighting changes to orange and the sun shines on the rear LED screens. The vocal performance is perfect - the sounds of the peltz (high singing) are heavenly! An emotional performance to the point of tears! You should all be very pleased with this return! In a normal year it should get top 5!

We would like to emphasize that during the rehearsal, which was intended for journalists, there were no boos, but the audience reacted coolly and there was not much applause.

 

[crashworld]

I mean it has been widely recognized that the showrunners have never been fair in their running order decisions. But now they are not even going to pretend and outrightly declare this the case. Are we not surprised? But then again, there is nothing we can do about it.

I am all for advocating random draw, give the countries that have been "unfairly" treated a chance (based on their own luck and destiny) to get their slot rather than a couple of people playing God to create more chances for the hot favourites to win.

We always said how open a contest is and we cannot predict a winner etc, but the truth is, once the rehearsals and semi-finals are over, 99% of the time there is a clear path for the favourities to do well further enhanced by the showrunners, while the others have their fate sealed by the showrunners.

It's a sham to be honest.

 

[gigi_copp3]

Not every fan favourite/odds favourite/semifinal winner gets necessarily a good R/O.
Let's think about Destiny (even if Malta boosted their odds), or even Voyager last year (they were nowhere near to be a fan favourite but they somehow won their semi)

 

[nofuxCZ]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1788253128090890587

 

[Etanna]

Not every fan favourite/odds favourite/semifinal winner gets necessarily a good R/O.
Let's think about Destiny (even if Malta boosted their odds), or even Voyager last year (they were nowhere near to be a fan favourite but they somehow won their semi)

I guess they weren't among the countries Bjorkman considered to be potential winners.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1788253128090890587

were there a lot of greeks voting? Because everyone kept saying how bad the staging is and here it's third

 

[crashworld]

Meanwhile:

 

[Nicholas123]

were there a lot of greeks voting? Because everyone kept saying how bad the staging is and here it's third

There was also a lot of positive feedback about the rehearsal, but i guess each one of us focuses on different reviews.

 

[EscGeek]

People are sleeping on Estonia, wtf?

 

[jatojo]

Countries you shouldn't feel sorry for when they dont qualify:
- Those who have qualified often in recent years and/or achieved at least one top result
- Those who select their entry internally

What does that leave us with? Denmark, Georgia, Latvia?

 

[MopManMoss]

I have made at least one bet on every semi final since 2019 but I am absolutely not touching this semi as I genuinely don't know what could happen so many songs are borderline for me

 

[Realest]

According to the Odds its the most onesided Semi in History probably.
I think out of the Big10, only could be in Danger here.

 

[GermanBango]

According to the Odds its the most onesided Semi in History probably.
I think out of the Big10, only could be in Danger here.

Then again the odds were relatively bad in regards to semi 1 qualifiers. Only got 8/10 right.

 

[jatojo]

Then again the odds were relatively bad in regards to semi 1 qualifiers. Only got 8/10 right.

The difference being that it was really close between the countries around 10th place in semi 1. In semi 2 there is a giant gap in the odds between 10th and 11th.