Eurovision 2019 – With two weeks to go to the contest, daily rehearsals start this Saturday and of course the Eurovision Times will do its best to cover them; here’s for the first rehearsals to the second half of semifinal 1: pics and vids will be officially released and we get to discuss, debate, analyze, predict…
This is how it works: for each country, you can click on the country to see a full photoset, or in the picture to watch the recap video.
So that’s it for today’s rehearsals. Tomorrow, there’ll be 9 more (the first 9 from semi 2). So stay tune!
The Eurovision Times 
I am more excited for GoT than rehearsals😬
Boo :P
I am seriously thinking which one I would choose if Eurovision and GoT finale were at the same time😬
Can’t get the hype. I watched first 2 seasons and I quitted
I did not watch it for a while because I thought it was a historical show then I was drawn into it and now I am in too deep LOL
I’m not a series guy anyway. I already have, esc, VFoS and films to catch up :P
What’s the last movie you watched?I could not go to the cinema for a while…Last one I saw was Escape Room,I liked it!
The last 2 films I watched were “From Russia with Love” (1963) and Mean Streets (1973) :P
I know you have a thing for “the old”😀
It’s more like catching up with some Classics :P
Better late than never ;)
So many of them ! 2019 can wait!
the third and fourth ones are the best ones lol; it’s gotten dire in s6 and i didnt get to enjoy it as much: downloaded all the last season episodes and will watch in one go the 6 episodes once it’s over, i read the spoilers anyway, will I care enough to watch?
Oh I still recommend Apartment Zero btw!
Yes, I remember. Got to set my priorities str8!
S!sterZ aren’t rehearsing till Friday so you’ve enough time.
ESC would win, but it would be a close decision :-)… I think GoT is huge, one of the best series I’ve ever watched until now… I so wish for a satisfying final…
I would watch both at the same time…Eurovision would be on big screen though🙂
I doubt this episode will have any action tbh, I expect a lot of after battle recovery and some moving of pieces on the chess board in terms of strategy. Of course that can be interesting as well.
I am glad we will have a well-lit episode😀I am not after war…I prefer an episode with long conversations to all the hustle and bustle
I agree although I did feel the first two episodes lacked substance at certain points…there were strong moments but given they only have 6 episodes this season I feel the plots of those 2 episodes could be consolidated into 1.
I think this is really peak TV – these weeks we have GoT, Veep and Line of duty season 6 wrapping up. Waiting for LoD to get uploaded now…
I also wait Killing Eve
Ofc, makes total sense to me! :D
Are you watching Barry ? that last episode was something else! :o
I haven’t heard Barry,just checked it and now I am interested😎
Cool! It’s from last year, it’s among my favourites of the more recent series. :)
I will check it out
Okay just watched and listened to the second batch.
Belgium _ I see Ryan Dolan’s drums are on loan lolz. I like this and think Belgium are once again back on track with a decent overall package, Qualifier
Georgia -Better than I expected but it isn’t appealing to me much. Will struggle to qualify
Australia – The song is naff, the singer ain’t all that and the whole staging is OTT and ridiculous. I hope it doesn’t qualify to get Australia back on track.
Iceland – Bondage at Eurovision lol. Trying too hard to be in your face and provocative, It comes across as rather lame and tacky. t’s okay, but is over-hyped tbh. Will most likely qualify.
Estonia – Pleasantly surprised. He delivers a solid vocal and I think the staging will come across well on the telly so this should qualify.
Portugal – I know many hate this as well as love it and I LOVE it! Quite Bonkers but so captivating. Nothing much changed and I like the costumes and staging. I would hope this will qualify
Greece – This is all shaping up for a decent result for Greece. I really like it. Traces of Annie Lennox in there. Tighten it up and it will definitely qualify
San Marino – My not so guilty pleasure. The shorts on the guys are awful but everything else works fine. It’s fun! I would love it to qualify.
Next up s/f 2 . Exciting. :)
second batch makes it sound like gremlins :p
That would be awesome!!! Love Gremlins.
lol :D
If Oxi sees this: congratulations! https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Le-paok-salonique-champion-de-grece-finit-la-saison-invaincu/1015895
Oxi doesn’t support PAOK. He’s an Aris guy. :)
Oops!
It was a nice gesture anyway. :)
I dont know if it is the language skills she possesses but I have to say I am impressed by Katerine Duska overall given her interviews and meet and greet. She seems collected, professional and with a clear vision of what she is doing. She is aware – I think this is the right word. Really enjoyable to listen to overall.
She’s one of my fave participants as credible artist this year for sure! Still didn’t like what I saw in the rehearsal, which felt eurovisiony and not duskaesque!
She did not seem the kind of artist that compromises and given I dont really know what her aesthetics are like when performing I would dare say it represents her or else she may not have done it, much like Conan. I do like what she is doing but probably because I knew the inspiration and references but I do feel for a first time viewer it will probably not be obvious on first sight what she is doing.
I disagree. Australia and Iceland f.e do feel eurovisiony (stage-wise). The Greek aesthetics are very distinctive of Efi Gousi’s (the Greek director) previous art work and she was specifically chosen by Katerine herself. There’s a narrative on stage, people are again eager to bash as too “overloaded” without even having seen the TV shots.
At last I have found time to comment about the rest……Estonia didn’t do anything wrong IMO but I still find it boring. Greece goes a irrelevant staging that manages to distract your from the song. Looks like a summer school fest…Portugal did well IMO and that dark green colour is a bonus in my books. I don’t understand why bookers do not like it atm…as for San Marino is good but I have know idea why they brought those fake megaphones on stage…lol it looks awkward.
And I see Australia is flying in the odds. Makes sense.
*it
From the beginning, Portugal is queering it up to the hilt because it is the “it” thing to do at the moment bt it does not fit the song at all. His outfit is excellent but it does not go well with with the shoes (if you want to do something costume-y like that, go all the way; don’t put on fancy trainers) and the way it is mirrored in the dancer’s gloves and half-skirt makes it more like a joke rather than a statement. I love the colour and the fabric but I hate the styling.
They also rightly pointed out that the whole colour scheme is reminiscent of the portuguese flag. I would assume this is a coincidence though, Conan does not seem like the kind of artist who would reach for a flag reference.
They are the colours of Portugal. Green for the outfit and red for the background. Definitely not a coincidence.
He could have worn yellow
Tamta does an acoustic version of Replay for an israeli radio station:
I love acoustic versions!
Not even a string quartet could save this song for me …
After having checked reactions to today’s rehearsals I better prepare myself for Australia qualifying. :(
But that was always going to happen though. Today she has ”just” upped her game ;)
Grrrrrr!
The witch is in but I don’t mind🙃
A went back to Iceland. The vocals aren’t good at this part of the song. If they are like this throughout they are going to struggle a lot with juries. And we already know that this genre is not expected to do well with them..
Anything goes with the juries!
Fangirl :)
Don’t the jury people make idol of put contenders in the bottom or support songs badly performed????There will be juries caring for music,caring for vocals or other stuff so anything goes😊
I don’t mind avarage vocals as long as the song is very good but I can’t support good vocals singing below avarage songs
Everything will be revealed soon. :)
Very sad news from Russia as well with the plane accident…
Also the meet and greet host has been quick into blasting any question related to the recent events at the gaza strip yesterday.
ESC Kompakt is quite positive on the Portuguese rehearsal. They praise Conan’s vocals and think that the performance simply needs some tweaking here and there.
I think with the team of AUS-ICE-POR-GRC-SMR we cannot be certain right now which ways the winds will blow. I consider it impossible for all 5 to make it and I think at least 2 will miss the final. Which these will be will depend on what mood the televoting crowd looking for eccentricity is that night and also who the juries can support – for that second part purely on vocal delivery I think Greece and Australia have an edge.
Almost everyone thinks that SMR was a huge disaappointment, They obviously don’t manage to bring the frolic nature of the song across. :(
Yes…the positive wibe of the video is missing.It does not look like a 80s or 70s disco with this staging.
Maybe he makes changes like he did for “I did not know”
Let’s hope so. I want to see Serhat in the final.
Well just because you want,I wish him the best 😀
Thank you. :)
I did not read that feedback tbh, I saw mostly positive reactions. I really dont know whats going to happen with SMR. I hope it doesnt make it but everything, from the artist to the gimmicky song to the place in the running order, screams televoting winner.
Now that I think of it the only acts I can remember all these years that were not benefitted by closing a semi were NED09 and LAT17. I can see a De Toppers case here as well. Who knows…
We can only wait patiently for the results to be announced …
And then be shocked about how wrong we were :-) (see last year’s semi 1 – I think it was a negative prediction record for everyone)
Last year’s semi was my worst result ever. Only 7 out of 10 before the show … but I got 9 out of 10 right after having seen the live performances which kicked out BEL and GRC from my qualifiers. I still love both songs though.
my best was 2012 (19/20 I had NL above Malta) and my worst 2013 17/20 (damn Latvia even got last :o)
You have statistics and records for everything. :)
I need to reconstruct my predictions from memory. I remember that I got 19 songs right once too. Might have been 2012 …
6 out of 10 in semi one last year and 8 out of 10 in semi 2 :-( I did not see Finland, Ireland and Albania at all while I also had out Lithuania. I really thought Switzerland will make it last year till the last moment…
In the end, I only missed Ireland, which I still don’t get. I had Armenia in instead. Switzerland was borderline for me. Alas, the live performance seemed a bit lackluster. :(
You really thought Saara would make it ? This was the most shocking result for me. Ireland I could see the connection it could have. But Finland was way off my radar by the time of the semi.
As much as I dislike ‘Monsters’, I thought that it would be popular in the televote. Saara came 3rd in the OGAE voting if I remember correctly, and in the semis most votes come from hardcore fans like you and me.
Just dont tell that to the fans still weeping over “Horehronie” back in 2010 :-)
Some probably haven’t recovered. LOL . It’s a lovely song in studio version but that live performance with the dancing trees and the porn boots … oh my. :(
Fun fact : it is to this day one of the most viewed videos on the official eurovision eurovis channel with 17 million views (the official video not the live performance).
LOL
Like really it “screams” televoting winner?
I am sorry I phrased that wrong there. I did not mean it will literally win the televoting in the semi but that it will do well with televoting (win points with televoting).
It will be in the televoting top-10 but itmay need to be in the top-5 in order to reach the final.
Fly with me s video Director will be responsible for Srbuk’s show and she will be alone on the stage without backings. :(
That is a worryingly unfortunate choice. Transfering some of the elements of the video clip in the performance could do the trick.
Lets wait and see but I always had a gut feeling Srbuk may not make it.
Current betting odds for Semi 1 (To qualify)
1. GRC 92%
2. CYP 92%
3. ISL 86%
4. CZE 80%
5. AUS 80%
6. HUN 78%
7. SVN 73%
8. SRB 72%
9. BEL 64%
10. EST 63%
———————–
11. PRT 57%
12. POL 53%
13. SMR 34%
14. BLR 31%
15. GEO 20%
16. FIN 15%
17. MNE 10%
I see Poland instead of Estonia, agree with the other 9 though Portugal can take over Belgium too
Yes, I believe till Serbia we are in the confident zone
Agree. And there seem to be 5 no hopers at this point. That leaves 4 songs fighting for two spots in the final.
Poland is too devisive and too early in the running order as a “gimmick” given everything that follows it imo. I do wonder with all this certainty of the odds with CZE though. It has risen in my Q prediction as well but 4th most likely to qualify is a bit excessive.
Having all eastern countries (POL, SLO, CZE, HUN) from positions 4 to 7 qualifying (and together with CYP and SRB that means 6 out of 10 qualifying from first half) – I simply can’t see that happening. I also see Czechia as a borderline case, what I saw from the rehearsal didn’t exactly brim with energy. It’s safer than Poland but it’s not as likely as the odds suggest.
probably because it’s a fresh air in this semi, it’s distinct without any gimmicks and definitely a jury darling? I dunno but I’m glad it’s in my top 5 :)
Current betting odds for Semi 1 (To Win it)
1. GRC 26%
2. CYP 18%
3. ISL 15%
4. AUS 9%
5. PRT/SVN/CZE 6%
I can’t see Greece winning the semi. It won’t be that strong with televoting.
I don’t see ISL as a top 3 jury material either. Which leaves us with CYP?
I’m trying to figure out the televoting top-3 ISL and then CYP and (?) SLO(if it works live),GRE(far fetched) SM(God, no), CZE(mehhh) POR(camp presentation, AUS?
The results of the latest iCELANDIC show were as follows:
Azerbaijan – 10 (Helga), 10 (Karitas), 12 (Orlygur), 10 (Petur) – 42 points
North Macedonia – 12 (Helga), 5 (Karitas), 8 (Orlygur), 12 (Petur) – 37 points
Malta – 5 (Helga), 8 (Karitas), 8 (Orlygur), 10 (Petur) – 31 points
Russia – 5 (Helga), 6 (Karitas), 10 (Orlygur), 6 (Petur) – 27 points
Netherlands – 3 (Helga), 8 (Karitas), 10 (Orlygur), 5 (Petur) – 26 points
Lithuania – 6 (Helga), 5 (Karitas), 4 (Orlygur), 5 (Petur) – 20 points
Croatia – 5 (Helga), 4 (Karitas), 7 (Orlygur), 2 (Petur) – 18 points
Albania – 4 (Helga), 5 (Karitas), 4 (Orlygur), 1 (Petur) – 14 points
Norway– 5 (Helga), 2 (Karitas), 1 (Orlygur), 2 (Petur) – 10 points
aNOTHER very poor result for Norday after Finnish preview show ranked Spirit In The Sky last as well!
So this Helga lady gave 3 to the NL and 5 to HRV? Talking about some music expertise here…
Yes, they are hillarious. Don’t believe esc juries are much different…
Perhaps she just likes young men with wings. :)
Or maybe she just have bad taste. :P
Young men with wings qualifies as bad taste in my book.
with wings AND lungs! :p
Tamara. <3 <3 <3
Sure Q imo
Since you are our ESC crystal ball (or octopus) I remain optimistic. :)
Icelandic Ranking of semi 2
1. CHE 43
2. AZE 42
3. NMK 37
4. DNK 35
5. SWE 35
6. IRL 33
7. MLT 31
8. RUS 27
9. NLD 26
10. ROU 24
11. ARM 23
12. AUT 22
13. LVA 21
14. LTU 20
15. HRV 18
16. ALB 14 OUCH
17. MDA 11
18. NOR 10 AHAHAHAHA
Icelandic Ranking of semi 1 :
1. CZE
2. AUS !!!
3. GRC
4. SRB
5. BEL
6. HUN
7. SVN
8. EST
9. POL
10. CYP
11. SMR
12. BLR
13. FIN
14. GEO
15. MNE
16. PRT
They ranked they own entry 1st…
Pathetic!
Which one of all? :P
Placing their own song 1st and Portugal below Montenegro, Belarus, Finland etc.
Telemoveis is last in both 2 Nordic Preview shows coming from FIN and ISL same as Spirit in the Sky ! Waiting for the Norwegian preview results.
The German preview show had Telemoveis #8 out of 17 and Spirit in The Sky #6!!! out of 18
You know more about the German preview than I do. :)
I’m keeping excel files to master my prediction skills :P
If predicting ESC becomes part of the Olympics in the future, Greece will get a gold medal. :)
ahaha, bless ya
scary low for NL, even below Russia! Watch Aze top the juries after all, and winning based on strong top 5 televote
I have just checked the German OGAE votes.There were 122 sets of votes and Romania didn’t receive a single point. :(
Chingiz promishes a breathtaking staging with shadows playing a pivotal role.
Ireland:
“We’re going to go with the ‘Fifties diner vibe’,” she continued.
“I’ve got two amazing dancers. We’ve Adele Dempsey; she’s got a dance academy in Leixlip and she’s in the pantomimes. She’s just incredible. Then we’ve Rhianna Binns; she’s five-time Irish dancing champion.”
Before singing 22 in studio, McTernan promised Eurovision fans that they would be seeing a “real poppy, real fun, real colourful” performance in the second semi-final in Tel Aviv on Thursday, May 16.
Also joining McTernan and her dancers onstage on the night will be backing vocalists Fiona Harte, Michael Hopkins and Ciara O’Connor.
And I insist Albania will fail to qualify. Eurojury has it 16th same as the Icelandic preview show. On the other hand German show had it 9th and Finnish 11th
More encouraging results for ALB in Norwegian Preview Show 3 :
Italy – 88 points
Czech Republic – 69 points
Belarus – 51 points
Albania – 48 points
San Marino – 46 points
Austria – 44 points
North Macedonia – 43 points
Latvia – 35 points
Finland – 28 points
Croatia – 21 points
Portugal is again LAST of all 30 entries ranked in Norway so far! (again below HRV)
Saying na na na to all the rehearsal clips of this day. Your comments are the best :P