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...

www.youtube.com

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!​

 

[Realest]

Youtube Views

01 Greece 715K
02 Netherlands 547K
03 Israel 335K
04 Switzerland 320K
05 Armenia 202K
06 Austria 128K
07 Latvia 110K
08 Estonia 100K
09 Georgia 92K
10 Norway 77K


01 Belgium 120K
02 Albania 90K
03 Malta 75K
04 Czechia 61K
05 San Marino 49K
06 Denmark 43K

 

[yuki_vamp.esc]

The Netherlands staging was ok but Joost performance was super disappointing. only singing the "euro" part specifically on the chorus part, me not hyped. Thus me 2024 winner been decided then

 

[BorisBubbles]

Well if Israel win, that's the end of the contest. You can say bye-bye to Eurovision, or at least to half of the countries that participated in this year. The Nordics, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Slovenia, Ireland - they're all going to bail or at least threaten to bail.

Funny how the EBU allowed Israel in specifically to "prove" that their contest isn't political. It of course resulted in a contest haywire with political tension where folks on both sides happily look at flags to determine a person's worth or not.

The EBU have killed their own contest. CONGRATULATIONS.

 

[empo21]

Ukraine at 2nd seems like bjork is testing the new televote by putting a stronger entry early, because there is no way Ukraine wasn't top 5 in the semi.

I think diaspora and general Israel support will be overwhelming, but Croatia can still consistently get 10s like Loreen last year. As long as Israel is far from the jury top 5, this year can be salvaged.

 

[BorisBubbles]

Ukraine is second specifically so they don't win again, darling. They cannot host with the ongoing war.

Frankly, I don't think Ukraine were winning anyway, but eh.

No this r/o favours the four favourites that haven't won in a long time: , ; and . They want a fresh winner, not a recent repeat. It's damage control, but it comes a little too late, methinks.

 

[Loindici]

I can't find general discussion thread. Can someone redirect me to it please?
I will say it here. Producer's choice idea is the worst thing ever. Christer bjorkman Martin osterdahl and other Swedish maf*a deciding behind closed doors results is shameful.

It is such a shame that few people decided actual outcome of results. Putting favourite in the odds with 40% of chance Croatia at the end and putting Ukraine one of the favourites to 2nd sloth. That is fishy. Why not putting clear favourite like Croatia at number 2 sloth. This is so unfair that producers are deciding the results and who will win.

We were perfectly fine with random results. Can't wait to see osterdahl and christer bjorkman retiring. Dislike! Ohhh my god!

It's called "... (maybe this is the) General Discussion Thread" on the Loreen's Lounge. It wasn't meant to be, but accidentally become one.

 

[Citelis]

EBU probably doesn't want Israel and Ukraine finishing on top2 because the contest will be blamed to be way too political but its a possible scenario right now.

 

[aef]

Europapa before Israel. Knew they would pair these two together. But honestly, what do they think? Israel coming after Europapa is only hurting Europapa and helping Israel.

I can't imagine Ukraine flopped in the semi. Heart of Steel got like 190 points from the televotes last year in the final. I don't believe for a minute Ukraine didn't do well in it's semi. They butchered Ukraine.

It all looks like they want to build everything up towards Switzerland vs Croatia vs France. Look at that draw France got, at the end between Georgia and Austria. Could not have been better. They love France, that's clear.

„Got butchered“ - Come on, is that language really needed. Every spot has to be filled. Which country should have been #2 in your opinion? Not all countries can get 20-26!

 

[aef]

Bold prediction: Ukraine actually won semi 1 big and they put them on #2 because they think it won’t matter. Unlikely but not impossible.

As far as we know they don’t know the results when creating the running order. And I actually believe that. I mean C. knows who the favourites are but obviously he doesn’t know the results yet. So all that theory making why they put this and that country there is quite pointless.

 

[Loindici]

Ukraine at 2nd seems like bjork is testing the new televote by putting a stronger entry early, because there is no way Ukraine wasn't top 5 in the semi.

And I though you were talking about miss ARMY OF MEEEEE for a second

 

[aef]

How could we win even theoretically, if Croatia won televoting in our semi and the juries traditionally like us less than televoters?

How dare they kill Ukraine like this? I hate hate hate hate them. If Ukraine won 1st semi everything is clear... Ukraine for the win

How often do we want to win? Like they just won 2 years ago. And this years song definitely is no winner material. Top 10/ top 5 is fine.

 

[HayashiM]

As far as we know they don’t know the results when creating the running order. And I actually believe that. I mean C. knows who the favourites are but obviously he doesn’t know the results yet. So all that theory making why they put this and that country there is quite pointless.

There's literally an arficle posted on here yesterday that says the contrary. Chris doesn't know the results in theory, but Martin does and Martin can and does override Chris's choices. So in practise, they know what the results are and who are the favourites.

 

[ekzuu]

How often do we want to win? Like they just won 2 years ago. And this years song definitely is no winner material. Top 10/ top 5 is fine.

As long as they gain enough points... honestly i dont think its their right to determine who should win and who not.. they could have hidden their motives a little better, by putting it 4-6th place, but instead they chose to be brutal

 

[HayashiM]

How often do we want to win? Like they just won 2 years ago. And this years song definitely is no winner material. Top 10/ top 5 is fine.

This is not about Ukraine nor what anyone thinks of its chances. This is about the producers only putting certain type of countries on that slot.

 

[PlasticToad]

I'm going to choose to live in my own world where the RO was actually designed for Latvia's victory. Look at all the crazy/campy acts and shaky/unconventional vocals surrounding them... Yes, it's clear to me that the EBU is rigging the competition for Dons's victory, not that he needed their help

 

[PolarFoxxie.]

EBU probably doesn't want Israel and Ukraine finishing on top2 because the contest will be blamed to be way too political but its a possible scenario right now.

Not for Ukraine anymore. Israel depending on jurry votes. Really curious how jurry will vote for Israel. Hopefully judging fairly and not giving another scandal. Because that song deserves to be high up ranking..

How does producer decide which betting odds favourite deserves to be on 23 spot and which one on second slot. Based on his personal preference or biase. Hmmmm. Like how is Croatia more deserving than Israel or Ukraine that 23rd spot. Logically if they have Biggest chance to win (according to Betting odds) than give them early spot. Fans will vote for them anyway. And that way it will be much more exciting.

 

[Storm]

Inb4 the conspiracy theories

Lastly, I am pretty sure behind the scenes, the juries would be alerted by this leak and likely another round of unethical tactical voting will be done to ensure Israel will be downvoted enough to prevent a win.

...

 

[AliceEsc]

„Got butchered“ - Come on, is that language really needed. Every spot has to be filled. Which country should have been #2 in your opinion? Not all countries can get 20-26!

Well, it can be any country, Ukraine included. But that contradicts their previous statements about giving the 6 favourites to win their fair share to shine. I guess what he really meant is giving his personal choices their "fair" share.

 

[musicfan]

Felt like a weaker semi. I would have have had San Marino qualifying, maybe Malta. Some of those that did qualify have boring songs for me, like Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Israel. Even Austria is somewhat overrated for me, I thought she was a great dancer? A plus point was the Spanish song (minus the ridiculous dancers which I'll ignore) sounded ok. Of course Norway shone as I expected, Armenia strong as expected.

 

[PolarFoxxie.]

EBU probably doesn't want Israel and Ukraine finishing on top2 because the contest will be blamed to be way too political but its a possible scenario right now.

Ebu and Swedish producers can do whatever they want and we can vote for whomever we want but I am afraid that unfortunately Eurovision winner is already decided. Well congrats Croatia I guess.