Photo by Daless

Fake Reprise

Fake TIX is walking to the stage, and we’re seeing shots from the green room, alternating with Fake TIX’s walk to the stage. I hate that in the victory speech moment, we are STILL getting background music. Please, whoever hosts next year, don’t make it a tradition.

Now we get the reprise of Fallen Angel. As the music suddenly stops, the crowd keeps singing the song. Nice.

So, who will win the real thing? I still don’t feel Italy or Malta, but I don’t want to jinx my favourite, either. Watch this space tomorrow, as we will publish our predictions then, in the early afternoon hours. So stay tuned for that!

Thank you for following my live blog tonight, and I say that on behalf of the whole escgo! team: Thank you for following all our rehearsal live blogs this year!

It’s a wrap!

Televoting
We’re starting with Fake San Marino, which has achieved the lowest score by the juries. Fake Cyprus gets 3 points.

As soon as we’re left with 3 countries yet to be awarded their televoting points, we’re getting a split screen with the currently leading country (Fake Portugal), and the 3 that still wait for their public votes. Back to the scoreboard, gladly, but we’re getting the split screen again. I feel like the scoreboard gets a bit more attention though, at this critical point of the show, compared to previous editions.

Fake Norway wins over Fake France, in the end!

More observations from the jury voting:
The way the country that gets awarded 12 points is “extruded” from the scoreboard is a bit weird, as it obscures parts of the neighbouring slots. Okay. Interesting designer decision.

Some spokespeople are stand-ins, others are their original self (among others, Ell & Nikki, Aminata Savadogo, Epic Sax Guy).

After half of the voting is over, we have Fake France on 1st position, followed by Fake Norway and Fake Lithuania.

We’re proceeding with Barbara Schöneberger, who’s given the German jury points from a studio for the first time in ages. The Icelandic votes are allegedly coming from Husavik, but people who haven’t watched the movie won’t understand what’s going on here. Me included.

Carola’s green screen works just as badly as Stefania’s in that one rehearsal, and Carola is having… a Carola moment, when she tried to speak some Dutch, but it wasn’t understood on the other side.

As Iceland is getting 12 points from Carola, we actually see them in their room in the hotel.

Fake Norway wins the jury voting with 198 points.
Refresh in a bit for more information on the remaining parts of the show!

23:54 The voting begins!
We’re beginning with the most recent host country, like it has become tradition. Jan greets the Israeli spokesperson in Hebrew. Also the next spokesperson, from Poland, hears “good evening” in their country’s language. Even if not all languages are used – nice to see this on-and-off tradition implemented again this year!

23:52
After the last interval act, in which Duncan Laurence got his moments in the final, we’re getting the final countdown, in danced form. Then, Martin Österdahl, the successor of Jon Ola Sand, is introduced once again. “You’re good to go!”

13:08 Interval acts
For more about the interval acts, see Martin’s blog post from earlier today. I’m going to continue though, to write a bit about the fake voting, and who knows, maybe a bit more.

23:02 Europe, start voting now!
After a short host break, the first recap is being launched. We’re getting great picks from Israel, Malta, Bulgaria, Ukraine, France, Azerbaijan and Noway, and not so ideal ones from Serbia, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden and San Marino.

San Marino
Let’s end the night with madness? Okay, here we go. Senhit still wears the new mask, and soon proves that she is not a highly gifted singer. But no worries, it was never meant to be jury fodder. The energy between Senhit and Flo Rida is both, so random, and so good. It says a lot when THAT works much better than Koit Toome and Laura Põldvere.

Sweden
The three most important minutes for Tusse’s voice are here. While not outstanding, he sings it really fine, at least until the keychange. And then? Still okay. Yeah, he made it until the end without any major problems. But the draw isn’t an ideal one for him.

Italy
Time for the last massive favourite in the running order! The crowd cheers and claps from the start. Vocals? I am not the one to judge them for this kind of music, and I don’t even know if they’re a criteria for the genre. I still have my doubts if that will do as well with the juries as people think. The song isn’t a masterpiece, there you have my personal opinion. But it will for sure go down well with the televoters.

Netherlands
Jeangu delivers those notes where they belong. The dancer with the red-white outfit is getting a bit more focus now, compared to what I saw before. Jeangu still wears blue. Still not sure if it’s the best staging for the song, but the performance was really, really good. Tight and engaging.

Norway
“I can’t make her stay” – that’s right, Efendi already left the stage. Anyway, Norway can be super super happy about this spot in the running order. It works like a charm for “Fallen Angel”. Someone in the press chat says “better vocals than this afternoon”. And yeah, I think these were really fine, even if a bit unpassionate. That was Efentix. We’re moving on to the host country.

Azerbaijan
Time for some fun again! In the beginning, it’s already getting obvious that Efendi is not a world class singer. Probably not a jury point magnet, but well. Fun, especially just before TIX.

France
Uff, I can see how this got a really bad position in the draw. Lithuania and Ukraine are very “demanding”, and now, in a moment in which the audience should calm down and relax, we’re already getting deep into France. Barbara is performing it perfectly. Super difficult one to predict. But it gets a massive reaction from the crowd.

Ukraine
I was in doubt whether Ukraine would work as well after Lithuania, but yeah, it does, from the very first second, in which the viewer already gets captivated. When Ihor plays on his flute (right after the grain boys part), the audience claps along. Kateryna hits the high note, and gets a loud cheer from the crowd.

Lithuania
We’re seeing hands in the broadcast. And then it becomes clear, that this got a damn good spot in the running order. The crowd is clapping along. Vaidotas sings alright, but again, not a song for big vocals. Difficult to say how good this will work with the juries. Good reaction in the hall.

Bulgaria
After a small host break (including a sweet chat with commentators), we’re proceeding with Bulgaria.

Not the best spot for this one, coming right after the break. Victoria hits all of those notes, but this song was never one for “big” vocals. It’s good. Nothing more to say really.

Finland
It’s what it is.

Germany
Jendrik is in his usual good shape, and his usual super cuteness, and the whole performance is fizzy as always, but well. What else? The vocals are good enough for the song, and the reaction in the hall is rather okay, I have to say.

Moldova
As an entry without any personality, this is just “there”.
At one point, Natalie squeaks out a very unnecessary “Yeah! Europe!”. Also, I have other things to do.

Spain
I switched back to the tab with the stream, just in time for Blas’ dogs in the postcard. 2 later, sorry, I fell asleep… yeah, Blas is good, I think? The notes are where they should be, the howling included. Okay.

Iceland
Nothing new to report here really – it’s 1:1 what you’ve already watched last night, as it’s the rehearsal video once again. Whether the running order is in favour of Switzerland and Iceland – I dare to say it’s in favour of Switzerland. But I was never a fan of Iceland. So what do I know.

Switzerland
Gjon is slightly off-beat in the beginning, but maybe that isn’t so noticeable. The first chorus shows what a damn good singer he is. In the “purple part”, his voice sounds absolutely beautiful, and the high pitch notes right afterwards were on point, too. That was good. Was it enough? Can it win? I don’t know. Massive reaction in the hall, that’s for sure.

Greece
If the UK felt slightly amateurish in parts, Greece comes with a bang from the start – relatively spoken. Cos we all know that Greece isn’t soooo impressive, but after Embers, is surprisingly competent and outstanding. That draw works really well for Stefania. Let’s face it, that green screen effect is never going to be completely clean. But that doesn’t matter a lot, because Stefania is in absolute top form.

United Kingdom
After a short host break (Eurovision performances, JESC-Valentina, former winners with their trophies), we continue with the United Kingdom.

The golden outfit is gone, James now wears his questionable jacket closed, just revealing a golden necklace around his neck. This doesn’t have a lot of impact after Serbia, and James’ vocals aren’t without issues, either. Certainly a few off notes here and there. I don’t see a lot of reasons to hope for a Top 20 placement.

Serbia
While the vocals here are certainly not great, they’re also not horrible (we’ve had much worse in other entries), and they’re also not very relevant. For those who got bored by Portugal, this one is a massive wake-up call. I began to like this. How did that happen. No jury fodder, sure. But it was good.

Portugal
After two powerful performances, time for a very classy moment. Tatanka’s voice – as said a lot of times – is not everyone’s cup of tea, but apparently that didn’t keep them from qualifying – and making quite an impact, both on social media, and odds. Yep, and this is another very convincing performance. Tatanka hits the notes perfectly. Sadly I can’t report on crowd reaction, because my feed decided to buffer right after the last note.

Malta
Time for the first massive favourite, and one that the running order wasn’t designed in favour of. In the beginning, I had the impression that Destiny was a bit shaky, but she’s soon getting into top shape. That was vocally as strong as it’s supposed to be, with one or two minor glitches. Destiny goes crazy at the end.

Russia
Manizha is already getting a cheer from the audience before the song even started. The performance has such a good energy, and engages the audience, which claps along all the time. I’m not sure what the juries will make out of this, but we – and the audience in the Ahoy – love it. “Love you!”, Manizha replies.

Belgium
If the running order was a train, we’ve now arrived to “serious”. I feel like Geike is slightly off-key in parts, but the song itself should be attractive enough to do rather well with the juries. I think the running order works well for it.

Israel
Eden is in her best shape, I reckon. She irradiates her charm, hits the high notes in “set me free” towards the end absolutely perfectly, and is generally spoken in the very best mood I ever saw her in. This run was really the best she could do. That was fun, and vocally very good.

Albania
Again, Albania on 2nd in the draw, just like last time. As much as this is “2nd spot” material, I find it completely unfair and questionable, that this is happening to Albania two “years” in a row. Anxhela is vocally as solid as most of the times we’ve seen her, but there was a bit of an “off” moment around the instrumental part later in the song.

Cyprus
Elena’s vocals in the intro were rather painfully squeaky. While to some, this feels like an obvious opener, I think it would have been a lot more effective for itself – and the show – if El Diablo came a bit later. Anyway. Apart of the beginning, she performs it really well, I think. Good reaction from the crowd, but of course, I don’t have any comparison yet.

21:07 The hosts arrive
Chantal is in gold, Edsiliar wears bright violet, and Nikkie comes in purple. Jan is covered in dark blue. I never heard a more in-sync “let the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest begin!”

21:00 Te Deum!
We’re seeing another opening video, similar to those in the semi-finals. The flag parade is a very snappy one. No actual analog flags appearing, but displayed on the opened backdrop screen.

Good evening Europe, and good morning Australia!

It’s time for the last rehearsal that we’re following via the Online Press Centre – the Jury Show, Jury Final, Jury Rehearsal, or whatever you wanna call it. The official term in the rehearsal schedule is “Dress Rehearsal 2”, but that’s not doing the importance of the event any justice. After all, 50% of the votes in the final will be cast based on tonight’s performances. After all, the winner that some of us can celebrate tomorrow (while some others obviously don’t) will have to do well with the juries, tonight. Earlier today, Martin has already liveblogged about the first dress rehearsal, in which most is already said about the interval acts, so I won’t pay that part of the show a lot of attention tonight. Instead, I’m calibrating my focus for outstanding performances – and vocal crimes against the musical scale.

So stay tuned and keep refreshing escgo!’s rolling live blog for all the latest from this most important dress rehearsal of the Grand Final!

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