Eurovision 2014 – This is it! Now only two weeks from the contest, daily rehearsals will begin and of course the Eurovision Times will do its best to cover them. We start off with Monday 28th rehearsals: comment on all the latest bit of info and we’ll keep you posted as soon as possible!
First of, we want you to remind that our site offers you a complete and impressive page with all the informations for transportation, calendar of all social events related to the contest in this page. As for tomorrow rehearsals, here’s the schedule:
- 28
10:00 Armenia First Rehearsal - 28
10:40 Latvia First Rehearsal - 28
11:20 Estonia First Rehearsal - 28 12:20 Armenia Press Meet & Greet
- 28
12:50 Sweden First Rehearsal - 28 13:00 Latvia Press Meet & Greet
- 28
13:30 Iceland First Rehearsal - 28 13:40 Estonia Press Meet & Greet
- 28
14:10 Albania First Rehearsal - 28
14:50 Russia First Rehearsal - 28 15:10 Sweden Press Meet & Greet
- 28
15:30 Azerbaijan First Rehearsal - 28 15:50 Iceland Press Meet & Greet
- 28 16:30 Albania Press Meet & Greet
- 28
16:40 Ukraine First Rehearsal - 28 17:10 Russia Press Meet & Greet
- 28
17:20 Belgium First Rehearsal - 28 17:50 Azerbaijan Press Meet & Greet
- 28 19:00 Ukraine Press Meet & Greet
- 28 19:40 Belgium Press Meet & Greet
There will therefore be 10 countries getting their first taste of the stage and first impression from it. As usual, in first go, countries rarely reveal everything from their staging, definitely not the clothes. But the fans get an idea of what direction the performance is heading towards. Usually, the official site publishes photo sets from rehearsals and a short clip (around 90 seconds) about the artist’s impressions around 40 minutes later. Last year it was not possible for any fan sites to record anything else, so you’ll have to just read what everyone there thought about it without seeing more with your own eyes (and of course hear with your own ears).
As for us, Hulluna is down there and will give us live reports from Copenhagen. But she won’t be static in the press center giving you, well, the same information than any other esc sites. She’ll roam around and I’m sure will give us more insiders info. I’ll be in charge of updating the rehearsals’ as soon as I can. As I said earlier, I still work daily so I will publish the “before” articles late at night or in the mornings so that you guys can comment live if you’re lucky to be home and follow each rehearsals. As soon as I get back, i’ll update articles to link you to the official photosets and videos, and summarize what most sites said on what they saw and heard. Hope that’ll suit you guys.
Let the official Eurovision weeks begin!
The Eurovision Times 
Oh and there’s synchronised dancing/ instrument playing too, it’s the most memorable so far.
Sweden : Well Sanna is the first one to impress me truly vocally in a 30 sec snippet. Atmospheric staging as in MF, this is a real contender obviously. My only fear is that since she appears after Arama it will seem like she is copying him stage – wise while only the fans will know it’s the other way around :\
I really like the way Tanja handled the “euphoria copy” question. She has been doing that kind of performances long before the 2012 contest anyway.
Off-topic: During a security check at Eurovision Island, the police manage to rescue a gosling. It had fallen down in a hole and couldn’t get up.
Judging from the very short snippets…
Armenia sounds good vocally, but I’m not sure the long and wide shots are a good idea with such a bare staging. This could go either way at this point.
Latvia is just as I expected. Still wouldn’t be too shocked to see this qualify though…
Estonia sounds even better than in the NF, and the choreography seems a little more expressive and less Euphoria-reductive. The backing visuals are ugly though.
Sweden is looking and sounding very professional, with Sanna’s vocals sounding great and slick staging. I still think though that Sanna is totally over styled and completely misses the emotions of the song…
Iceland has really nosedived since the NF for me. The English lyrics fit very awkwardly within the song, and the performance (which I initially found funny) now gets on my nerves.
ALBANIA: I like the song… one of the good ballads. She’s on a pedestal and a metal pole is behind her suggesting she’ll be wearing a long gown on the night. The backdrop shows a dead forest in stormy weather and I think I hear thunder sounds behind her but that could be noise from somewhere else in the press centre. Personally I think she sounds good but the camera angles are pretty shoddy. Doubt it will work on TV
Iceland : I am on the “meh..” side on this one..It’s way too bombastic and kinda tacky on stage. Stronger than Latvia when it comes to staging though, more memorable…But still I don’t think it can make it..
Armenia: I think the extreme simplicity of the staging fits the song very well. It is absolutely the right thing to do. Here you get the chance to focus on the song and Aram’s performance first of all. No silly gimmicks or spectatular effects, let the song speak for itself.
Judging from the pictures it truly seems this stage was made to host Sanna’s performance. Looks stunning.
Albania brings the first actual prop on stage and I find it totally unnecessary personally..The ominous background and Hersi’s known problems to engage with the camera as reported (and her quite unappealing facial expressions while performing) are not helping much. She is great vocally but she doesn’t have much to work with to begin with and this looks even more doomed right now…
Iceland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n68s7fKZt7s
Albania: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_6w38BKsE2w
Albania just does nothing for me :/
Albania: I like the song, despite the awful 90’s revamp it received, and Hersi’s vocals sound fantastic. The staging however rather awkward and fussy, with the platform totally unnecessary, and the visuals seeming a bit incongruous. I think this is pretty chanceless, sadly…
Day one of rehearsals offer nothing. However, it is obvious that Latvia is lagging behind when it comes to vocals. On the other hand Sanna, unlike as many people used to point out, performs well.
RUSSIA: The Russians like to make you wonder… They start off on a pedestal holding a plastic pole each. What are they supposed to be? They then Walk to each end of the pedestal and it becomes apparent that it is a see saw with each crouching down in turns to make it go up and down. Will they fall off? They clearly sounded like they were trying harder at staying on then actually performing to the camera to sing. Then this random man comes on and opens this fan like thing behind the twins. It’s all very weird and I’m sure it will all make sense come the semi. It has a charm though
Er we just watched Russia… and I’m sitting next to about 5 Russians and I really can’t say anything out loud, but omg what are they doing??!!
They have perspex tubes to start with… will they be something special or light up on the night?? No idea. And they are standing on a big see-saw, and start going slowly up and down (what could possibly go wrong) and then one gets off. The other doesn’t flip up, which would have livened it up to be hinest, and then they both walk out the front… and then a man comes on behind and unfolds this butterfly wing / fan style piece of paper / material at the back of them??? I don’t understand any of it and people were trying hard not to laugh out loud in here.
I have no idea what to say.
Ah pyros! They have the pretty fall down rain style pyros at the end when the fan comes up (which lights up and could maybe be their ‘rising sun” ??)
Axel and Pollaponk met and hugged ohhh..!
All we’re hearing right now is Dilara (Azerbaijan) sound checking…. we should be seeing her rehearsal but we’re not… is this all we have in store from Azerbaijan’s first rehearsal?
AZERBAIJAN: Dilara (or Sabina V2 as I like to call her) is alone with a trapeze artist dancing above her. The background looks like the large windows of a church or temple. Voice is good but her stage presence lacks…. Remember Ukraine 2011? When you watched the sand artist more than you did Mika Newton? In this one you’ll be too busy watching the trapeze artist who is the only interesting one here
Dilara is miles better singer than Mika…
Russia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEQKmzw3gGo
Among the three ballads dominated by one performer Azerbaijan is the most wise. They offer a balanced show that matches the melody of the song. On the other hand Sweden and Armenia went for almost an identical staging. Well, I might be wrong as I saw only a snippet. Anyway, I am looking forward to the second rehearsal.
Azerbaijan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwJNIsC_C0
With an acrobat…
Azerbaijan : They have toned it down a bit compared to last year (last year’s performance would be hard to match anyway). Very atmospheric, Dilara seemed to deliver vocally and the trapeze artist may seem a bit odd at first but moves in a very elegant way to the music and fits the melancholy. Nice background. Qualifier and top 10 yet again of course.
It’s a pity that I can’t really like Albania’s song this year because I do have a lot of respect for Hersi as an artist and she is such a likable,humble and sweet person apart from a great singer.