Who is your Favourite of the Big 7 at Eurovision 2015?

Final of Eurovision 2015

Eurovision 2015 – Day 7 First Rehearsal of the finalists – LIVE ROLLING BLOG And FULL Videos – START 9:40 CET – JUST REFRESH THE PAGE

You’ve heard the best/rest, now hear the rest/best*. We at Eurovision Ireland are back for DAY 7 – yes, only day 7. The Wiener Stadthalle plays host to the Big 5+1+1 as they rehearse for the first time. We won’t be able to see their performances from within the arena, but we can describe the action from the press centre. Just so you know, their second rehearsals are next Wednesday (20 May).

You can follow our LIVE BLOG HERE and we will post the FULL videos of the performances – You know the drill by now. JUST REFRESH the page for our live updates. We start at 9:40 CET. You are in capable hands of the team for the day – Garrett, John, Elaine, Andrew and Phil (our good friend from OnEurope) – So if you want an honest opinion of how the rehearsals are going then tune in here.

The earliest start of the week today and its a Sunday too. Last night was like party central and it seems to show here at the Press Centre with many a bleary eye to be seen. As Italy start rehearsal only my good self(Andrew) has appeared. So I will cast my thoughts on what I see. First up today is Italy. John and Elaine and Phil made it in for the second run through.

What is the Running Order?

1 – Italy

Red shoes, black suits and white shirts is the costumes of  Il Volo for Italy, the backdrop is all grand columns and statues of Lions and Roman gods. Lots of clouds swirling around. Lots of white light interspersed with blues and orange. The  three guys stand together most of the time centre stage and do the occasional walk about. Vocally sounds great on first, second , third in fact any run through. It seems effortless and indeed it is. I reasonable reaction in the Press Centre. Italy are going to do very well with this I think.

Phil – The main question with this one is, who is it going to beat.  Will it beat Russia? – No, not on this performance… Will it beat Sweden, No, it’s not good enough.  Will it be Slovenia.  No.  For me it doesn’t look effortless, it looks like going through the motions.  It’s static, it’s a touch turgid, it’s Eurovision Cliche’s for beginners and to top it off, RAI have decided to put famous Italian landmarks in the background…. is this the Irish equivalent of Irish dancing in every performance? – It will get Top 10, and possibly top 5, but ere is no way this is the best song in the contest and will probably NOT win.

John: It’s a very early start but this song is worth getting to the press centre for. The three boys have all got their singing boots on with a series of good run-throughs although they were having a few issues with their ear-pieces. I’m not totally sold on the backdrop of a medley of classical Roman statues and architecture. I like it and can see it being the best ting we’ll see today.

Elaine:

It is a dark glasses type of morning today but still I was up (more dull and still than bright and breezy) and into the press centre to see Italy. It is a bit opera by numbers and it is polished to perfection. Their voices are fabulous but add to this the Roman architecture in the background and it is a little like Italy threw up over the stage. This will be one of the most professional songs in the competition but will it appeal to the voting masses??? Only time will tell.

2 – Austria

Andrew:

The Make  Makes are in a very dark staging in the beginnings of this song. It’s a very safe song really. Moody and dark are certainly the theme here, lots of camera angles on the lead singer/pianist with cuts to the drummer and guitarist from time to time. The singer get up from the piano to finish the song centre stage. I like this song and its perfectly well performed but I am now thinking it may not quite make the Top 10 but be more mid table.

John:

Nothing combusts this time, until the last run-through when we though they wdre trying to light a beacon to stop passing planes. It’s still very Supertramp tribute act as far as I’m concerned, but it’s not without its charm. As a home entry, it’s very respectable and generally bounces along very nicely. The setting is very sympathetic too. It’s not going to win however it will not finish last either. Naturally there were a lot of fans of it in the press centre.

Elaine:

And it is the turn of the host country with the Makemakes. Every time I see the shot of the lead singer at the piano in his hat I think of Chas and Dave! This song is an easy listening type of song. It’s a good radio song and it is inoffensive on the ears but it doesn’t jump up and grab you. The lead singer leaves the piano and comes out to the middle of the stage half way through the song and the set turns into and orange/gold colour. It’s a bit of a ‘B’ side track but I do like it.

Phil : Totally agree with Elaine.  It’s John Lennon esque, static, no emotion and the best bit was the burning of the Piano!! – It is a radio song transplanted to TV with no movement…. and I am sure that ORF are going to live the fact that they are not going to win again, although I suspect they might be a tad concerned that they might be nearer the bottom than the top… I know I am.

3 – Spain

Andrew:

OMFG. This is unbelievable. Spain have taken a simple song and thrown every cliché under the sun at it , hooded red cape, half naked male dancer, cape extended across the stage, cape pulling to take the red dress off revealing a gold dress. Its all there and the rest is in there too. The backdrop also has some dramatic moments to it. Gasps around the hall except for a few OTT whoops from clearly Spanish press. I think this is a sink or swim moment for Spain based on this. Either finishing last or everyone in Europe will love the clicheness of it and it will soar into the top 10. As far as the song and vocals are concerned( I almost forgot to notice this) good vocals and a decent enough song.

Phil:

Oh dear god no… Their average song has now plummeted down the drain faster than a Calgon Tablet.  This is proper awful and any description will not do this justice.  Edurne is a decent vocalist, but there is so much going on in the background and so many costume things and changes in this that you are distracted from the song (deliberately?) and focussed on her.  The juries surely can not rate this very highly, the televoter has nothing engaging enough to pick the phone up for, The Spanish Fans are now strangely quiet.  You’re not singing any more??

John:

I can’t believe what I’ve just seen. There is a song in there somewhere, but there was too much else going on to keep your attention on it. Edurne starts off in one of those red gown/blanket combos that you see in Sunday newspaper catalogues. Some Bluto-type pulls it off her to reveal something almost see-through in gold. He throws her around the stage in a Torvill & Dean Bolero stylee. The back drop contains more trees as well as scenery reminiscent of the preview video. There’s a wind machine turned up to maximum. So many things could go wrong with this.

Elaine:

Attention! Attention! Kitchen Sink goes missing during Spanish performance – but everything else was there. I love this song and I thought keep it simple but oh no. We have a Madonna cape moment, we have half naked dancer boy and we have “throw her around your head like a rag doll”

This caused hilarity in the press centre. There is way way too much going on when there is a classy ballad going on that is completely overshadowed by the nonsense around it. Love the song but on this performance, it may fail badly.

4 – Germany

Andrew: Five backing dancers standing in front of big yellow spotlights. Dark and moody setting at the start with close-ups of Ann Sophie’s  bottom.  She is wearing a black jump suit with gold strapping round her waist. Lots of swirling smoke effects on the backdrop. Its modern and simple and sassy and vocally good too.  This could do well  I think.

Elaine:

Aww Germany is pure class. Ann Sophie is so cool on the stage. Forget that she came 2^nd in the national final – this song was the best thing in their competition and it oozes class and quality. There is soft lighting and swirly smoke to give a moody feel and the camera loves her. Great entry from Germany.

Phil:

In contrast to the stupidity of the Spanish, The German back-up entry is playing a blinder.  Ann Sophie thankfully has had enough training to make this work.  It’s a jury friendly song and a televoter song and they’ll never know or care it’s not the first choice entry.  Minimalism works with the backing singers and her all doing just enough to let the strength of the song shine through.  Still on the bubble I think.

5 – United Kingdom

The official video for the UK has been pulled because the BBC are not happy with it.

Andrew:

We have staircases and 4 backing dancers/singers. We have dayglow lighting and clothing that lights up. We have technical hitches, bad camera angles and she is wearing what looks like a rocket back pack on which clearly controls her lights on the dress. Its distracting and should be more hidden. I do not like her pink dress it makes her look bandy legged when she shimmies. The overall concept is aiming at fun and bouncy. They seem to have more chemistry interacting with each other than we seen before the contest.  It needs a lot of work between now and next Saturday otherwise is doomed yet again.

John:

Well that was an interesting rehearsal. The link to the arena went blank for a considerable time before we saw ‘it’. There’s lots of stairs for people to run up and down. There’s a backdrop that looks like an illuminated pipe organ. There’s some device on Bianca’s device that appears to be fuses. The vocal is OK but a lot of stage management is still needed. I can’t actually say whether it’ll do well or badly. Perhaps as my response is one of indifference that isn’t a good sign.

Phil:

The UK took 18 minutes to set up their back drop and visually they are making a decent enough fist of the camera angles.  Bianca, though, Seems to be the focus of the guffaws… She has a massive backpack on her back which seems to serve to power her dress lights but, there are too many things wrong with it at the moment.

The camera shots are all over the place, the direction is poor, the performance by Bianca looks worrying and stiff and Alex looks very uncomfortable, they are also having tech problems… her light pack doesn’t work half the time and Alex was shocked by the Pyro going off. They looked woefully under prepared and had rabbit in headlights eyes.

Europe, for the record, doesn’t hate us…. It’s the way we approach this thing that hurts us.

Elaine:

So as you know I am always positive about The UK entry and this year I am positively stunned lol There are dayglow outfits, a sparkly platform and staircase and some back flipping backing dancers. I am not overly keen on the new version of the song and preferred the original, as I also did with Blue back in 2011 when they changed it.

I love the set – it’s fun, it’s funky and it lights up in the dark. The overhead shots are brilliant but the camera angles throughout the performance look very messy. This routine needs to be finely polished but I am sure this will be addressed by the team – this is why we have rehearsals!

The chemistry between Alex and Bianca is the best I have seen it so far and they seem more relaxed with each other.

I am still upbeat about this entry. It is fun and funky and I have every faith that the 2^nd rehearsal will iron out all the issues – it simply has to otherwise we could be heading for another low finish. There still seems a lot of work to be done on this to make it look slick and professional but keep the faith people keep the faith.

6 – France

Andrew:

Well when we thought it could not get any worse today it didn’t. Where did this come from? France have  just knocked everyone else into touch. Amazing production, brilliantly powerful vocals and the backdrop is simply inspired. When the drummer boys come on and are joined by the army of drummers on the backdrop it is jaw dropping, goosebumps moment and at the end of the song I was an emotional wreck with tears welling up. France have come up from zero to hero and I just love it. Seriously could go top 5 with this.

Elaine:

France was completely WOW!!!!!! Stunning song, stunning performance and stunning backdrop. This was pure class and brought goose bumps and even tears to some.

That is how you do a Eurovision entry – nuff said!

John:

I’ve just had another goose-bump moment, and I wasn’t expecting that at all. My first impression was that Lisa looks like Dawn French’s younger sister, but several things happened that lifted this above everything else we’d seen today. The backdrop is the crystal clear image of a ruined street. Yeah, there are more trees too – that gradually recedes. The real moment was when four real-life drummers appeared, backed by a huge amount of similar dressed drummers in the backdrop. It was at that moment I got the goose-bumps. Our French friends have really thought about this and know how to stage this song. They can be very pleased with themselves today.

Phil : Excellent – that is all (I wrote loads but I got kicked out before it saved)

7 – Australia

Andrew:

Guy Sebastian is wearing a hat and what looks like a pair of long johns under his nice jacket. The backdrop is streelighting fading into the distance. Its fun and lively and funky too. He is supported by 4 backing singers.  Sounds good and looks polished. Should appeal to plenty voters and can still give Australia a good finish on their debut.

Phil:

After the first 10 seconds an expletive came out of my mouth and I thought ” well that’s that then”… Then Guy, clearly hanging back, sorta tailed off in a “meh” kinda way.  Undoubtedly a good song but thankfully for those that don’t like the idea of Australia being in the contest, It won’t win and therefore, hopefully, SBS won’t be asked back.  It will, however, score shedloads of points but not enough.

Elaine:

Guy Sebastian is great. He is a very relaxed performer and the song is a funky bit of stuff. I like it but it doesn’t have a WOW factor for me. The song is catchy and gets everyone booging and singing along however I expected the presentation to be kick ass but it ain’t quite doing it for me. This song will be up there in the top 5 likely but after the 1^st rehearsal, I do not see this competing with Sweden, Italy and Russia.

John:

Guy rounds off the rehearsals and he has lamp-posts on stage. There’s also lots of lighting – spotlights, search lights, call them what you will. I hope the security sniffer dogs aren’t around. He’s in a blue velvet jacket and a hat at a jaunty angle. It didn’t actually grab me the way I thought it would. It’s not being performed badly, so Mr Sebastian could be holding back. We’ll need to wait until the next rehearsal to get a better impression on how it’ll do.

Do you agree with us? Let us know.

Author : Eurovision Ireland

Thanks to Eurovision.tv  for the videos today. Check them out