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);

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!​

 

[ekzuu]

Soo

My thoughts of today's rehearsals:
Cyprus - I love the dancing, it really looks like 3 minute dancebreak and done well
Serbia - not a fan of the song, the staging looks atmospheric but also not blown away
Lithuania - not a fan of the song and staging also looks boring
Ireland - not my thing but not boring I guess
Ukraine - beautiful
Poland - not a fan of the song nor the staging, song is too little but staging too much
Croatia - expected, likeable, could win

It's gonna be hard for me not to root and vote for Ukraine when they bring this stunning staging Well done!! My winners today.

 

[Sean]

Day two live stream can be found below;

Eurovision 2024 Rehearsals - Day 2 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

 

[empo21]

1. Cyprus - I still feel like this will be overshadowed in what is a diverse half staging-wise, overall exactly what I expected for them to do on stage
2. Serbia - I'm kinda worried now. My least favoute part from PeZ was Teya walking back and forth and she's still doing that. Looks like the graphics are improved which is nice
3. Lithuania - nothing needed a change, this will be the first standout performance of the semi
4. Ireland - there's definitely some secrets with Bambie seemingly having another colouful outfit underneath. It's still too polarizing to predict Q chances imo
5. Ukraine - the outfits are insanely good (Jerry's specifically). Ukraine is doing rock staging better than Serbia
6. Poland - this is a lot and I think Poland is on thin ice. The staging director being the same from UK2021 is so funny.
7. Croatia - Improved staging, I hope his vocals have improved as well
8. Iceland - wooOOO, fun time staging will probably come and go. It's good but I don't see it being "lemme vote for this" good
9. Slovenia - looks super artsy, so it's nice that it's far away from Ireland. MV vibes can't go wrong
10. Finland - not a single cell in my body can tolerate this
11. Moldova - Mother! Bold choice to drop the other girls, but apparently it's a heavy LED usage, so camera angles are important to judge the staging.
12. Azerbaijan - most exciting concept so far. The staging looks like it'll push them to the final
13. Australia - from the limited footage shared I'm underwhelmed. Will have to see how the dancers play out, but for now it just feels like them standing and singing with some dancers around, and colorful leds
14. Portugal - same as NF which doesn't need change. I think this will flop. It's too out there imo and it's doing horribly on fan polls where Portuguese fans can't vote for their country, so...
15. Luxembourg - The dancer outfits are very Bejba coded. She is mostly lip syncing and the LED is godawful. Can a final running draw and whatever pimping SVT has planned save this?

Overall, it's a bit disappointing how little the cubes are used in Semi 1. Most stagings look like 2021 - flat stage, LED wall.

• Save Qs look like Lithuania, Ukraine, Croatia
• Probably in Serbia, Slovenia*, Finland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg(?)
• Cyprus, Ireland, Poland feel like they'll be threading around 10th place
• Iceland, Moldova, Australia, Portugal seem cooked, although hoping Moldova can push through

*I'm putting Slovenia as a likely Q, but there's some heavy shock NQ vibes for some reason. That or Serbia might upset me

 

[Looren]

: looked good, curious to see the camera shots
: Great stuff here, looked gorgeous
: Same as NF, solid
: Looked very spooky so I guess job done
: Best looking one of the semi imo, absolutel gorgeous
: The only one that didn't look good to me, I see it's the same person who did the staging of Embers who did this one and... I can see that
: Can't tell a lot from what they gave us
: Looks fine, song still dead
: This looked great, I still believe Slovenia is making it
: I'm one of the few who thinks this staging is fun
: Great outfit, great job dropping the other girls, has a fighting chance now
: Love the backdrop and the hands, outfit needs Jesus tho
: Looked fine
: Same as NF, still sure that this is a safe Q
: Loving this, looks like she's moving more than in NF and that's all I asked

 

[ekzuu]

2nd half thoughts:

Iceland - pretty, good energy, likeable
Slovenia - dramatic, pretty outfit and ok staging, but not memorable
Finland - how is this even allowed? needs to cover his crotch otherwise cant look at it... other than that its ok
Moldova - pretty backdrop but that is not enough... I think it will look empty when she is alone, I prefer the fake violinists with her
Azerbaijan - what are these outfits? they dont fit the song at all imo. other than that backdrop looks good but it also doesnt match what i imagined for this song. i imagined some dark red/orange, green or smth, to match the ethnic vibe or atleast costumes that would reflect that. none of that. with that is might just fade to black. but it might click when seeing so withholding final judgement.
Australia - it seems messy and confusing and it looks they have video backdrop at some point, and its not the best video... its a bit different universe but they could have done this better i think
Portugal - the outfit looks uncomfortable, and i hope she will have the makeup hair as in NF. but i like that it looks clean and minimalistic, quite expensive, it lets the song shine.
Luxembourg - definition of bad choices... the hairstyle looks weird, the outfit too, she doesnt stand out... the backdrop a bit cheap maybe... I think they could have done better

Overall, this is clearly the weaker section... Everything is a bit questionable and meh... But let's wait for the final products, it might be better

 

[Betwixt Tales]

A clear trend seems to have emerged from watching the photos from the Semi 1 rehearsal.

Masks.

Lithuania, Poland, Croatia, and Portugal all use masks in their staging - for some reason.
It's giving 2020, and I don't know why that was the choice because that wasn't the most amazing time for a lot of people.

 

[ESC Athens]

So, what do you think of Nemo's outfit? I personally found it distractive and I'm afraid that this could overshadow the song itself.

 

[MopManMoss]

Alot of overt sexual clothing this year just goes to show the claim that ronelas pictures weren't uploaded in 22 because they were sexual was completely bs by her, she lied about so much

 

[Sean]

Catch up on today's action below;

Eurovision 2024 Rehearsals - Day 3 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

 

[ViVillRejv]

So, what do you think of Nemo's outfit? I personally found it distractive and I'm afraid that this could overshadow the song itself.

I think it'll cost him/they the win tbh. Way too divisive. I was hoping for a clothes reveal from basic to flamboyant (think of how he goes from train conductor to full-on-dress-mode in the music video) or something like that but this just hurts my eyes.

 

[empo21]

1. Malta - there's so much effort and the performance looks very fun. I hope their work pays off, but I'm still worried Malta might end up short (11-12) due to their low televote potential. It's certainly a more memorable opener than Cyprus both performance-wise and the fact that Malta is followed by a significantly weaker 2nd song
2. Albania - this just keeps getting watered down. I don't see this qualifying
3. Greece - looks fun and Marina sounds great. Not a fan of the pink tinfoil diaper :/
4. Switzerland - could an outfit sabotage a performance? The staging concept overall seems interesting
5. Czechia - loving the badazzled bra moment, but the vocals are still iffy
6. Austria - the pics look very good, so I'm sure it'll be great on TV
7. Denmark - I feel like this is a victim of the "We need more" mentality. I'm not loving the 2nd Saba on the LED throwing sand and I don't feel like it's going to beat 6 other entries
8. Armenia - I hope Jaklin interacts with the audience a lot. This is going to stand out a lot after 4 non-ethnic pop entries.
9. Latvia - They Blanca Paloma'd his top! Vocally perfect, but I still don't know if it's a televote pull.
10. San Marino - It's giving Jojo Siwa. I feel like even the greatest staging (which this song lacks) can't save a song like this
11. Georgia - Standout performance after Greece (and that's saying a lot about the previous entries). Georgia can into final!
12. Belgium - To me he sounds the same, but I've read comments about lackluster vocals so idk. The staging seems too little though
13. Estonia - now this is fun and it's what Finland and Netherlands desperately try to create. The song is listenable and the little choreo is memorable. Questionable LED and color scheme, but I don't think it'll affect their chances.
14. Israel - the choreo is...interesting. Vocally good, but the song and the staging feel predictable, though that won't affect their score most likely
15. Norway - epic. Keeping the NF performance is the best choice.
16. Netherlands - more tolerable than Finland but still annoying. There's people convinced that he isn't doing the actual performance for the rehearsal, which is something.

I feel like there might be some shocks in this semi, especially if Malta pulls through and if Latvia convinces the audience.

Albania, Czechia, Denmark, San Marino are likely out, so that leaves 2 more to fail, which could be Malta, Latvia if nothing crazy happens. I'd be very sad if Malta NQs

Edit: dying at Italy's odds going green after the semi rehearsals

 

[gingerale]

Netherlands - more tolerable than Finland but still annoying. There's people convinced that he isn't doing the actual performance for the rehearsal, which is something.

"He is trolling us.", "The real performance will revealed later.","The visuals are not ready yet."... LOL

 

[goncalovieira]

Are fans/press going to watch anything tomorrow? Maybe just the 30sec cut per country and that is it?

 

[Sean]

Catch up on day four's live stream here;

Eurovision 2024 Rehearsals - Day 4 Round-Up Live Stream

Use this link to donate: https://eurovisionfam.com/eurovision-fans-giving/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3eazXsgxZD5RfqdS3KvGWMxGmRIYyPr8-arUA92GZiVpChQ8UFDdDmk...

www.youtube.com

 

[han-g]

Alot of overt sexual clothing this year just goes to show the claim that ronelas pictures weren't uploaded in 22 because they were sexual was completely bs by her, she lied about so much

Can't be sure that's true. RAI is more conservative than SVT but then RAI had no problems with Chanel's butt.

 

[MopManMoss]

Can't be sure that's true. RAI is more conservative than SVT but then RAI had no problems with Chanel's butt.

Are we talking about the same rai that had absolutely no issues with achille lauro?

 

[Lindon]

Is it normal to publish the whole thing fully after the first rehearsal with optimized audio track ala Madonna?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1785630930649952451

 

[AlekS]

^ It's a double. You can hear her live vocals and very loud playback "above" it.

 

[empo21]

Obligatory ban pre-recorded vocals