Preview season began in style on Saturday night as OGAE Latvia hosted the third annual Eurovision PreParty Riga. Nine acts jetted in from all over Europe to perform their Eurovision 2016 entries before an eager crowd of Eurofans and press.
It was a special evening as it was the first time that we got to hear Ira Losco, Sanja Vucic ZAA and Poli Genova sing their entries live. It also marked the first occasion that we heard a live rendition of Hovi Star’s revamped track. Of course, the evening was also full of performances that we’d heard many times throughout the national final season. Justs, Rykka, Barei, Ivan and Jüri Pootsmann all reprised their winning songs. We held our cameras up high and filmed them all. But who had the best performance? You can watch all nine clips below. Then vote in our poll. You can vote for as many performances as you like, but you can only vote ONE time. Be sure to check the box next to every act you want to support before submitting your votes.
I just watched these performances with better sound quality (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl_zQ6JYLfx9O9M3Rel5Sxw).
Barei and Justs were good, Sanja Vucic was amazing. Unlikey some others, who sounded pretty bad… (Poli G., Ira Losco, Juri).
why Iveta were not there?
I’ve only listened to Justs’ and Barei’s performances, but they were both great. Justs’ growly vocal is absolutely irresistible to me.
Barei still keeps on vibing that enormous positive energy! So she was good. Serbia’s singer had the best vocals as far as one can judge from these amateur video and soundset in Riga. Bulgaria, showed that if you have a winning song, you might can get a girl out of the rock, doesnt mean you can take the rock out of a girl. The song really needs a shady lady sexy prinses, not a rat girl in punk hobbing around. Too bad, I love the song. Maybe Bulgaria should come up with plan B and give Poli a Spice Girl… Read more »
Khmmm, earplugs. Yeah. Didn’t see Sanja adjusting earplugs though… Khmmm
Three of them are in my Top 10. Watch my Top 43-Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMFh5b7Plx0 😉
Ira ,Barei and Sanja were the best IMO ! I was really surprised by Iras vocals since I have heard some pretty bad comments about her vocal abilities but she was quite good actually ! Estonia really needs to have some fantastic staging in order to reach the top 10 because Juri is not a very good performer
They could’ve organized it better. The stage is awful, should’ve chose another place, there are a lot of good places in Riga.
Justs disappointed me. His song is my favorite and has all the Aminata’s quality seal, but he is not a pinpoint performer.
I’ll still vote for him.
Malta is SO overrated. Hate it.
Lol seriously?! ????
How can you judge someone’s performance with that horrible sound equipment Latvia had!
From the beginning I said that Serbia will be one of the 4 countries that will claim the title (along with France, Russia and Ukraine). I stand by that prediction. She showed her calibre. Barei clearly had the crowd of eurofans with her (the crowd sounds louder than her throughout the video) but there is no way she can fill the big stage with what she does. It’s ok for a school play stage like this. Bulgaria is such a fan-wank mess I can’t even describe it. People who think this will do anything (like Albania last year) are obviously… Read more »
Top 3:
Serbia: This was fantastic. She is so talented singer. She looked better than in her video.
Estonia: His voice is pure gold, he is also charismatic.
Spain: I love her positivity and energy. Her vocals were also on point.
Barei got the crowd going and her vocals were on point, so best of the night for me. Ira, Sanja, Justs and Poli also performed well, Rykka sounded better than her wonky pitchiness from the national final too. As much as Juri sings the hell out of Play someone needs to fix his stage presence. He tries to be smug and cool but it comes off as creepy. And his movements are even worse. At this point if no one is going to fix how he moves to the song he should just stand still on the night, it looks… Read more »
Bulgaria sucked so much.
Barei was sooo good! Her perfomance shows that she is a solid contender for top 10.
Ira’s perfomance was good, but no the best. I’m not disappointed though. She’ll certainly work on her vocals as there’s much room for improvement (specifically on the high notes)
Latvia and Serbia SLAYED. Love them both <3
As for the rest, they were good too, except for Belarus and Switzerland which were average. They did improve though, good for them 🙂
Good luck to all the participants
From lebanon <3
I like Justs! Latvia!
Latvia, Serbia and Spain were who I voted for. They were the best.
I love “Play” but I am a bit dissapointed of the performance, but I think it will be better in may.
Sanja tackled Beyonce- she deserves props just for that. The Serbian Queen Bee is here to slay!
They all made a brutal effort in originating something out from this high school closing party stage.
I liked Ira and Barei.
*Bulgaria – Obviously meant “vocal” performance but her vocab is also good for a Bulgarian.
Latvia: No surprises. Strong song/performance, delivered similar to the national final. Switzerland: Could not hit that note with a pole vault. Seriously, they need to change that song otherwise it is going to get messy. Serbia: Stunning. Great voice. Looks much better here, moving up the rankings for me. Belarus: Improving but the vocal is still weak. Verses feel REALLY long. Bulgaria: Great energy and good vocab performance. Excited about this one. Estonia: Creepy and uncomfortable. Spain: Her best vocal so far and with a big stage performance, should do well. Israel: Wow. Just became a contender. He can really… Read more »
Any speculation about Sanja’s voiced based on the lip synced video should be dispelled by now – she probably has the most vocal talent out of anyone this year. Between voting blocs and Serbia’s tendency to end the night better than many expect, she could be top 5.
I’m surprised by how much Ivan improved, really hope Belarus makes the final now.
IRA LOSCO CAN SING REALLY SING QUEEN OF POP
Sanja, Barei and Ivan. I can understand you don’t like ‘Help you fly’, but he was one of the best in Riga. I need help guys… I would like to know which song Ivan sang after ‘Help you fly’, I know it’s called ‘Diamond’, but I’ve been looking for it all over the internet and Youtube and I couldn’t find anything. It’s stuck in my head! It’s also a bit difficult for me to understand what he is singing so I can’t search for the lyrics at all. Maybe some of you know the song and the artist. (This is… Read more »
Ira, Sanja and Barei were really good.
Sanja and Barei were the best. I was a bit dissapointed with Poli but I think it will sound better on May.
Were there issues with the earpiece? I’m noticing Poli Genova particularly, but Ira Losco too adjusting it during performance.
They mostly sound stunning (I like Hovi now- I didn’t before this video) but if there were issues with the sound equipment it might explain why some of the vocals seem a little less on point than they did in national final season.
Thanks for taking and posting these!