#ESC2024: Live Blog of SF1 rehearsal – from 14.45BST/15.45CET

The Monday afternoon technical rehearsal is the first time we get to see how a TV show hangs together. It’s bound to involve a few hiccups here and there, but it’s also bound to be all right for the Monday and Tuesday evening shows.

We’re blogging the action to give you an idea of what to expect. It’s sure to be interesting. We’re unable to post images, as it’s forbidden from here in the press centre. All times below are CET.

17.55 – We’re wrapping up this live blog now. But we will be blogging again from 20.00BST/21.00CEST. Come back and see what more happens.

17.50 – Another act now. It’s Benjamin Ingrosso (SE18)

17.46 – This heralds a legacy they left behind. Singing and dancing at the same time. Very nice

17.45 – Nicole and Hugo (BE73) get celebrated now. We’re told they were the first act to sing AND dance at the same time.

17.43 – A plug to download the Eurovision app. It has – apparently – secret back stage information.

17.41 – The lines close. I make that 16 minutes of voting.

17.39 – Second recap of songs. It’s not too late to vote! Well, tomorrow evening anyway.

17.38 – More chat and shots of last night’s carpet event. Interesting outfits aplenty

17.35 – Petra comes to us from the Green Room. Extra love for Luxembourg.

17.31 – Johnny is singing Euphoria! We weren’t expecting that.

17.29 – Interval act time now. And it’s the King of Eurovision. It’s Johnny Logan! He won twice as a singer you know. No other man has done that.

17.26 – Now the phone lines are open – or at least they will be on Tuesday evening – we get our first recap. These short clips can make or break a song, so let’s hope the delegations pick the right clip.

17.25 – The [dummy] voting is open. Excited yet? 😉

17.24 – Malin and Petra are back now. They show us the numbers and remind us we can vote up to 20 times.

17.23 – Tali starts in French surrounded by her five dancers. They’re in a box – albeit a big one. The choreography is very slick, which is good as there are pyros to watch out for. There’s a curious feature of a big cat on the backdrop. Not a tabby, more a tiger. She has a great voice and this is a great way to close this first semi-final. An easy qualifier.

17.20 France Gall and Lara Fabian tell us that Luxembourg is next. The first performance in anger (of sorts) since 1993.

17.19 – Iolanda is in white. As are her backing dancers. they also wear what look like fencing masks. This is a beautiful tune, sung beautifully. It has elements of fado and plenty of quality drum-based orchestration behind it. And she really hits that note towards the end. Good stuff. However, it ends more with a whimper than a bang and I fear for it, despite the vocal quality

17.15 – Portugal next. It has to be Doce and Salvador Sobral.

17.14 – Zaachariaha is in a white outfit to remember. Michael is in silver and grey. For verse two we get three backing singers/dancers who add something, but not too much. The sixth performer is a native Australian bedecked for a festival and playing a didgeridoo. The vocal towards the end seems to drop away a little – but this is only an unjudged rehearsal).

17.11 – We go to Australia now. Guy Sebastian and Kate Miller-Heidke feature. It’s hot and sunny down under judging by the postcard.

17.10 – Fahree gets a backdrop that looks like it includes a large jellyfish. It’s actually a large silvery glittery head. He’s in grey and black. Ilkin is also in grey and black and is stood a fair distance from Fahree. His mugham vocal is very ethereal and definitely on point. We must admire Azerbaijan for using their own language, and that’s why I like this one. But I almost fear for it.

17.07 – Please hold, which we go to Azerbaijan. Aysel & Arash and Ell & Nikki tell us who’re next. So many duos.

17.06 – M&M’s staging is identical to what was in Melodifestivalen. Lots of vertical lighting, choreography to within an inch of its life. Black & blue suits. And all generally very close camerawork. The final chorus features some even more clinical choreography – if that were possible. And there’s an interesting feature on the lighting blocks above them that feature what could be railway station departure boards.

17.02 – Time for the final guest song. Sweden. That’s why we see Carola (SE83) and Loreen (SE23)

17.01 – Natalia is alone, unlike her national final performance. She’s in a long white dress with some tasteful elements of bare flesh. The press centre claps along as the chorus kicks in. For verse two we see ariel shots featuring flowers growing around her toes. This goes with a blossoming tree on the back drop. This could be a crowd favourite tomorrow night. And yes, she does use the violin which stands beside her for most of the song. We also get elements of Conchita Wurst style wings. Not bad, even though it does seem to end rather abruptly.

16.58 – It’s Moldova, so it must be Zdob şi Zdub and Sunstroke Project.

16.57 – Windows95man emerges from a giant egg. Is he as naked as Raiven? Maybe not. His alter ego stands on the egg for the first part of the song. This is also heavy on the styling as even a ‘stage manager’ gets on on the act. For the final chorus, Windows95man adopts shorts and the pyros appear from them. It’s slightly contrived. And mildly entertaining.

16.54 – CatCat and Käärijä tell us Finland is up next. There’s snow in the postcard.

16.53 – Raiven is surrounded by dry ice as the song starts. This is getting a big light show as her dancers wearing very little join her on stage. The steadicam work means she makes a lot of very close eye contact with us. GThis is very very serious. But the real question is whether she’s wearing anything underneath her almost-see-through catsuit.

16.49 – Slovenia next and we see Nuša Derenda and Zala & Gašper.

16.48 – Isaak is sat down by a burning oil drum to start. The staging is very close -almost a big bus shelter. For the choruses we get plenty of pyros. There are backing singers on stage at a discreet distance. He’s going to be rather warm. He is a good singer (check out our interview with him at the London Eurovision Party), but this song seems to be too ‘safe’. We wish him well.

16.45 – What do we get for Germany? Mekado and Lena (DE10).

16.44 – The next guest song will be the German entry.

16.43 – The stage has 30 computers simultaneously, plus hundreds of people behind the scenes to make the show work. They get a round of applause.

16.42 – Back to Malin. She adds Eurovision songs to classic films. Arcade to The Seventh Seal. Or Dancing lasha tumbai to Fanny and Alexander.

16.40 – Winsome Hera Björk is in gold and standing on a plinth. This song bounces along nicely and then he descends the plinth for the second verse. For the final chorus five backing singers join her, and she’s back atop her box. It’s a competent performance sung by an experienced singer, but people may still be talking about Croatia…

16.37 – Icy and Daði Freyr herald the Icelandic entry. Hera Björk is out in nature.

16.36 – The popular Baby Lasagna struts into the stage already occupied by his backing group. It switches between purple and white and there are jets of dry ice aplenty. The chorus sees the stage go all multi-coloured. His dancers, dressed in what could pass as modern takes on traditional dress are a welcome addition to this. The final thumping chorus is very very infectious and the crowd will really get into this. Especially when the flames kick in. This is a full-on show which may outshine almost everything we’ve seen so far.

16.32 – Croatia next. Doris Dragović and Let3 appear.

16.31 – The staging features two chess rooks. One black and one white. Lunea starts in a pointy-shouldered red outfit which she soon discards for a white one underneath. She dances with black and white king chess pieces. A red king also appears for the last chorus before Luna ascends the white rook. This is a great radio song, but I fear that TVP may have tried to do too much for this performance.

16.28 – Onto Poland. Edyta Górniak and Cleo & Donatan are seen. Luna likes frocks and coffee.

16.27 – Jerry is in a long flowing dress and the colour theme is pale orange. She chants her was down the length of the stage. A podium appears which she climbs before alyona comes along to bring her earnest rap to proceedings. She’s in pale grey. The finish the song together. This is really powerful stuff. Don’t write them off.

16.24 – Ukraine next Ruslana and Go_A anyone? Good choices. AA and JH are in beautiful Kyiv.

16.23 – Olly is upside down. Or is he? The camera angles roll around as do Olly and his pals. There’s a lot of style to this but does it have the substance. Well maybe. For the last chorus Olly emerges from his revolving box . And we get pyros. It sounded like he was saving his voice. Maybe a wise move.

16.19 – The UK’s song is on now. We can’t vote for it – clearly – but let’s see how things go. Sandie Shaw and Sam Ryder are the motifs here.

16.18 – We understand there are non-Europeans in the house. Even Singaporeans.

16.16 – Now we get a word from our hosts. Petra is among the crowd.

16.14 – Twisting camera angles start us off. Then we get a moon and Michael, Bambie’s dancer on stage. There’s a costume change for Bambie too. With the circle of candles, pentagrams and flames it’s captivating. We’ll let you see it in all its glory without giving anything else away.

16.11 – It’s Bambie-time. Johnny Logan and Jedward. Hmmm… Bambie is dressed in a Morticia Adams stylee for her postcard

16.10 – Sebastian starts off in silhouette in front of a blue screen. He has four dancers. Then blue becomes red as the thumping beat kicks in. We generally switch between blue and red, and at points Sebastian’s image appears on the backdrop. This really will get the crowd going and he’s definitely enjoying himself.

16.08 – Off to Lithuania now. Donny Montell and The Roop feature here. Sebastian is seen in a supermarket and a disco.

16.07 – We’ve got the first big prop – a large fibreglass rock akin to the Matterhorn (but clearly not THE Matterhorn). The staging is mainly dark blue with a bit of dry ice and wind machine action too. For the soaring chorus we get more white light which sets things off nicely. This is a great emotional song, but it might just have needed a slightly lighter staging. Very spine-tingly though.

16.04 – Song 2 – from Serbia and we see Marija and Konstrakta. Teya Dora wanders around clutching flowers that are the theme of the song.

16.03 – Silia is in sparkly white with four backing dancers. It’s an energetic performance with geometric shapes on the backdrop. There’s plenty of steadicam work going on, and they even throw a bit of strobing. So beware of that. And there’s a costume change for the very last chorus – her dancers discard their T-shirts

16.00 – We get a couple of previous Cypriot songs before a video of Silia in Cyprus.

15.59 – And onto song 1. Not bad – less than 14 minutes.

15.58 – Petra gives us some info in French. Principally about the voting. We can vote up to 20 times, and not until after the last song has been performed.

15.57 – We get reminded that the automatic finalists will get performed during the two semi-finals. Making the show even longer.

15.56 – They thank the UK/Ukraine collaboration in 2023, and Eleni, Eric and Chanel for opening the show. There’s also a joke. You’ll find out that in time.

15.54 – First glitch – but that’s what rehearsals are for. The teleprompter has stuttered.

15.53 – Malin Åkerman and Petra Mede are the hosts, so we get introduced to them now. They’re in pink and orange respectively.

15.50 – Remember Chanel (ES22)? She’s now singing Slomo.

15.49 – Speaking of which, next in the cavalcade is a certain Eric Saade (SE11), performing Popular.

15.48 – Eleni Foureira (CY18) gets revealed, performing Fuego. She’s popular.

15.47 – And straight to the arena! There are lit boxes on the general cross-shaped stage

15.46 – The opening features footage of the 37 acts in their home countries.

15.45 – And we get Te Deum. Exciting or what? We get a retrospective of previous winning moments, culminating with what happened in Liverpool

Authors: John Stanton, Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland