So we got to the end of the first week, and today saw a few highlights:

The Big 5 + the host country were rehearsing for the first time, and thanks to our editor Danny, we had our first ever interview on esc-chat.com – in which the Slovenian entrant Eva Boto spoke (and sung) to us!

Also, my fellow editor Martin flew into holidays on the Canary Islands today, making our posts this week even more international. So today it’s me again who will take over with our daily review, spiced with a new flavour: Our webmaster Shi is giving her comments as well!

Today saw some of the most anticipated first rehearsals this year, of which we would like to begin with the living legend that’s going to open this year’s final: United Kingdom‘s Engelbert Humperdinck. The backdrop and lighting in this is beautifully designed and composed, but “The Hump’s” vocal performance wasn’t very good. Sure, it’s a rehearsal, but honestly I am quite afraid this will not get very far in the final. Though I wish the country and especially the singer a good result.

Shi comments: “They’ve introduced a dancing couple into the staging. Dancing is always a risk in ballads, but here it seems to work well – it is carefully choreographed and really manages to express the emotions of this song and, well, distract from the Hump, who is probably not one of the most visually pleasant entrants on hand.”

The first rehearsal of France was highly anticipated as well, and I can’t really tell if it happened. What I saw was a crowd of men bouncing around all the time, and oh yeah, there were some clothes, and oh, a singer, did she sing? What was it? I can’t remember. It might be the French song, though. You just don’t notice it with that excessive circus around it. You will just remember the circus, and not the song, which is actually very strong – and that makes it even more of a shame.

Shi comments: “There are things there that actually work – at least in theory. The idea of creating a smoke shape out of the veil she wears is quite obvious, but can either look faboulos or very silly. There are also parts in the choreography when they don’t practice for the Olympics in gymnastics and diving that are quite nice and add to the song. But in between there’s so much jumping and movement and so many opportunities for those moves to not work on camera at all it’s just overdoes what could otherwise be an interesting concept.”

Germany‘s hopeful Roman Lob was there for the first time as well, and me being German, I found it quite boring. Nothing in it is outstanding, not the voice, not the song, not the staging. The urge to make it feel like a real band is performing is so overdone on German TV that it’s nothing new for me. Though, judged by the reactions of my non-German friends, this might do very very well.

Shi comments: “Well, even on a handheld camera’s poor sound, he sounds quite lovely and massively improved from his NF days. However, there’s not much going on there, and the staging just joins a long list of “good but not quite good enough” this entry has. It’s not bad, but it’s not very striking, either. And when you have a pleasant guy with a pleasant song and voice you need at least one thing that will be more than just pleasant.”

Host country Azerbaijan and the winner of 1968/69, Spain, deliver a duel of female ballads with outstanding, more than perfect vocals. Both stagings are very good, but I still see Spain as the clear winner of this direct comparison, having the better song (and Azerbaijan having the spell of the host nation). Seriously, Spain is a strong contender. Azerbaijan isn’t doomed though, either.

Shi comments: “The view from here is the opposite. Spain delivers a very secure vocal performance, and in Spanish standards manages to present a nice and relatively understated staging, with her mostly being alone on stage demonstrating her fantastic vocals, and the backing vocals joining for the grand finale and doing a choreography that doesn’t look ridiculous. Whether it manages to cover the lack of an actual song? Not sure. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, has a stronger song, with an interesting and smart bledning of east and west, and like they have done every year since their debut, they have seemed to learn some lessons from the year before. The lesson from the last year was that sometimes the magic is in simplicity. There’s not much going on here – a singer wearing a pretty dress, some backing singers, not much movement. But it was the smart usage of backdrop and lights that made them stand out last year, and it’s a simple but clever idea of how to use lights this year that makes this potentially visually stunning and different from anything else this year has to offer.”

Slovenia‘s lovely Eva Boto does her job very well, and being supported by a beautiful backdrop she might make it to the final. We would like to wish her good luck for this! Her neighbour country (and successor in the running order) Croatia though, doesn’t manage to impress. The song is rather boring, and the people on stage don’t come across very sympathetic either. The most interesting thing in this is the way the dancers are dressed. That’s all.

Shi comments: “Slovenia’s bridal display leaves more visual impression, and Eva in her youth is more sypathetic. Nina is a professional who gives a flawless performance, but the entire thing doesn’t really come across and feels very cold. And her dress is not doing her any favors.”

Sweden had another highly anticipated rehearsal today, and suddenly this doesn’t stand out so much. It might still do very well, and I am clearly a fan of the song, but it’s by no means the definite winner (anymore). If you saw me tweeting something else after Loreen’s first rehearsal, consider this opinion updated.

Shi comments: “From all the songs, this is the one that is really what it always was. If you thought it stood out before with its MF performance, it still does. If you didn’t get it, you still won’t. I personally suspect that the artistic performance – performed as well as it does – lacks mass appeal, and that her new outfit (which someone compared to Harry Potter’s dementors) is not helping.”

Who will win then? Is it Italy, as many suggest? I must be the only one who doesn’t see a lot of appeal in Nina Zilli’s entry, I admit, I just don’t see it. She and her singers stand on stage even less motivated than Sofi Marinova, performing an average song. Nina’s dress is anything but nice, she must have the same designer as Celine Dion. No, I don’t see this as the winner, but I still might be very wrong (as many already think now, and I can’t blame them).

Shi comments: Not as dynamic as one would expect, but this goes for the classy retro, I suspect. What she wears is definitely not her actual dress, as her high heel shoes are bright green, and performers are required to rehearse with their performance shoes at least once, so if you see shoes and a dress that don’t match at all, it’s mostly because the shoes are part of the actual outfit and the rest is not. It probably suggests she’d wear something bright and colorful, which should contrast the black and white backdrop well. Vocally it sounds good but she doesn’t really seem to get into it just yet.

And then there was Turkey. Well, I was never clear if I like this or not, and considered this to be an entry that can go anywhere between “stuck in the semi” and “winning the whole thing”. Ever since today’s rehearsal I am confident that this will end up, at least, in the top 10 (on Saturday). It’s something we never had in Eurovision before, and it’s staged very, very well. This is something to remember. Also, Can Bonomo was less freaky today. Unlike Anri Jokhadze. Georgia is evil.

Shi comments: “[Turkey] I like the song and the quirkiness, but it looks like a bunch of kids using their blankets to pretend they are batman. I’m not sure how well that’s going to go down. It’s different, I’ll give them that, But will people get it? It’s one of those times where I just can’t guess. Georgia, on the other hand, has one of the worst songs of the year, but they have managed to get the most out of their staging that suits whatever this song is, and they all can really sing.”

Whatelse?

For today, just a short note that speaks for itself:

The current EuroClub’s location in Azerbaijan couldn’t be denied last night, when the DJ played Apricot Stone and faced a serious warning by an official short time later, not to play any Armenian music.

We are happy to say we can.