And that completes the first rehearsal session of this fourth day in Vienna! We’re off for a late lunch now – the press centre canteen has promised us POLENTA – but we’ll be back in good time for Sweden and co. in a fresh new post on this site later on. Stay tuned!

ICELAND
Douze points to the stage, which looks fantastic here. A pale volcanic landscape with the northern lights in an attractive green, evolving into a “Sognu”-like warm yellow and purple sunrise towards the end of the song, with similarly volcanic rocks under Maria’s feet. Unfortunately the sheer scale of it all makes her look absolutely tiny and lost, and she’s not the kind of performer who can fill a stage with her sheer presence.

Dress-wise (pale pink, “primary school ballet class”) and performance-wise they’re making no real efforts to disguise the “Emmelie-ness” of it all, although Maria’s voice is more piercing and – regrettably – sharper on a lot of this. She starts the song facing the back of the stage, and there’s some sitting down and standing up again that seems a bit unnecessary, although I suppose it makes sense to try and disguise the repetitiveness of the song a bit. Otherwise it’s quite a conventional performance, with Hera and the rest of the backing group stood firmly in the shadows towards the back of the stage but actively visible at times.

There’s not a great deal about this that necessarily deserves to qualify, but it’s competent, it’s middle-of-the-road and it’s Iceland, so presumably it’s destined for about 19th in the final as usual. And the stage does look great – and recognisably Icelandic, which tends to be useful in this competition.

Ah. Nick from OnEurope has just pointed out that it’s also recognisably Frozen. He’s right, isn’t he? There goes the non-qualification bet!

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

AZERBAIJAN
It’s a fairly literal and predictable staging for Azerbaijan considering the title and concept of the song. There’s a seriously effective opening shot of Elnur against the backdrop of an eclipse-ish moon, then the mood is quickly punctured by the appearance of a shirtless dancer guy who is presumably supposed to be playing the wolf, but just appears to be writhing around without any great purpose.

It turns out there’s a dancer girl too, and they accompany Elnur throughout the song, engaging in a surprising degree of interaction for a ballad. The backdrop is gothic horror (think Twilight/Tim Burton), with the white/black/blue colours turning to red from the second chorus/key change onwards before returning to standard-issue night-time at the end. And then the moon turns into a bird and flies away, which: fine.

Elnur looks as pained as he does passionate, although presumably he’s not quite going for it just yet. Indeed, the whole package comes across as surprisingly low-key for what could be one of the most impactful and dramatic performances of the year – the dancing feels parodic where it should be balletic. The presence of the dancers means there are only three backing vocalists, so obviously the full-on choral effect from the studio version is lost, but I can’t say you really notice the difference too much – so big credit to the (unseen) backing group for that.

I don’t know. This is fine, absolutely – it sets out its stall visually and lets you know exactly what it’s trying to do, and the viewer will understand it. And I’m not saying it needs men in glass boxes or trapeze artists or whatever. But it’s not often we see an Azeri rehearsal and think “oh… they could have done more with that” – yet that’s exactly the response we’ve just had.

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

LATVIA
This stage is definitely not blue. Red, white and black are the prevailing colours for Latvia, mostly a kind of static “explosion” on the backdrop, occasionally switching to flashes of what I’m going to describe as “church-y architecture” for want of a better term for it.

Aminata is also in red. Figure-hugging and elegant until about 70% of the way down her body, her dress then decides to become a tribute to Celine Dion’s 1988 fashion disaster for the remaining 30%, before pouring all over the floor like the train of a wedding dress. For all it’s a bit of a… statement (ahem), it actually looks quite good on camera in the context of the stage, and it especially looks good on one gorgeous overhead shot during the instrumental break.

Because Aminata consciously avoids making eye contact with the camera, some of the more sustained shots of her are a bit awkward, and indeed they’ve been working on that with every rehearsal so far. Expect more quicker cuts or long, sweeping shots from further away by the time we get to next Thursday. Meanwhile, she’s as vocally strong as ever, though her voice cracks a bit on the “your” of “your love” a few times – but it’s a first rehearsal, isn’t it?

Speaking of quicker cuts, the first few lines are interesting in terms of camerawork, with a kind of pulsating, vibrating switch between close-ups and long shots that might even need to come with an epilepsy warning! We’ll see if they keep it or find something better. They’re certainly experimenting with the camerawork every time, but every run-through contains some great individual shots. If it all comes together…

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

ISRAEL
So, we concluded proceedings yesterday by saying that the sheer weight of darkness and downbeat-ness in the line-up was leaving the door open for Israel to walk straight into the grand final – as long as they didn’t mess up their performance.

Have they? Hm. No, they haven’t, but it’s not completely convincing either. Let’s get the negative points out of the way first. Nadav pulls some curious moves – it’s not so much the whole “child in an adult’s body” thing this time, but there’s an anguished, pained look or two during the middle “Mama…” section in particular that doesn’t quite work, and some awkward leaning and body posture throughout (although that might also have been because of earpiece issues, which he was clearly having).

My other issue is with the backing vocalists – there are two of them, to allow for three dancers, and when Nadav isn’t singing they’re left very isolated in the mix. The “3, 2, 1, hey” and “how it should be” lines are sung by the backing vocalists alone, as is the bit straight after the key change, allowing Nadav to catch his breath. It sounds a bit empty, unfortunately – it’s the sacrifice they’re having to make in order to fill the stage a bit more, but it does feel like a weak point, albeit a minor weak point in an otherwise fairly strong performance.

So let’s get to the strong part of things. Firstly, I like what they’re doing on stage generally. The dancers are joyful and supportive, not overshadowing Nadav but still helping to distract from his physical awkwardness a bit, encouraging the (as yet non-existent) audience in places, and so on. Nadav is wearing GOLDEN SHOES WITH WINGS, which: yay. The ending is very nicely done, with a lovely smile from Nadav as he bids the camera “bye bye”, followed by a black-and-white overhead “Polaroid” shot of the group to finish.

And my god, this will come as a breath of fresh air in the line-up. Nobody else is doing this. It’s needed.

As for the colour palette, there will come a point where viewers just assume the Stadthalle stage isn’t capable of being any colour other than blue or gold – but the explosion into a predictably shiny and golden backdrop for the chorus of “Golden Boy” is certainly effective. Nadav has relaxed into this, getting more assured with every performance, and all in all this is a very decent start to the day.

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

Introduction
The escgo team is now complete here in Vienna, and it’s time for the fourth day of rehearsals at the Stadthalle – and our first encounter with many of this year’s fan favourites. This LIVE blog will cover the first set of rehearsals today, involving Israel, Latvia, Azerbaijan and Iceland. Stay tuned for all the latest news!