The fifth day of Eurovision 2018 rehearsals comes to a close, with the remaining three second rehearsals. The last three acts taking the stage on Thursday were Austria’s Cesár Sampson, Greece’s Yianna Terzi, and Finland’s Saara Aalto.
Reaction: Austria, Greece and Finland
Austria: Cesár Sampson with “Nobody But You”
There’s nobody but him on the stage, and that’s working just fine for Cesár Sampson. That being said, there were plenty of technical mishaps for Cesár during today’s performance, many of which didn’t seem to be his fault. He took it all in good stride though and powered through his run-throughs.
The Austrian team have worked on the cracked camera shots that appear towards the end of the song. It feels like there’s a lot being thrown at this at the moment. Thankfully for Austria’s sake, it does seem to be working.
Cesár Sampson, “Nobody But You”: Performance Preview
Greece: Yianna Terzi with “Oniro Mou”
Fog and more fog was the order of the day for Greece. Yianna seemed surprisingly shaky in her vocals in the first two run-throughs, but the final run-through was definitely back on point. She’s still got her white dress and the wind machine is turned up to the max, causing the draping sleeves to billow. It’s effective and creates more movement, whilst Yianna herself stays mostly still.
There’s plenty of blue lighting to match the blue paint on Yianna’s hand. The issue here remains the instrumental break, during which Yianna tends to look a little detatched from the performance. There’s better camera shots here though, but there’s a lack of a “wow” moment to match the strong conclusion.
There’s a lot more to this already though from the first rehearsal, so Greece will no doubt edit this before we see it in final ready form. There’s a marked improvement and that’s what’s important.
Yianna Terzi, “Oniro Mou”: Performance Preview
Finland: Saara Aalto with “Monsters”
Light up the wheel, y’all! Saara Aalto’s spinning wheel at the start of her song is brighter and a much more obvious immediate start to the track. Saara’s upping her game with each rehearsal and this staging is certainly helping lift the song up.
The final shot with the handheld pyro, plus the pyro curtain at the top, is a really effective close. It’s Fun with that capital F for a reason.
Greece will struggle. Flat song, flatter performance. Will this make the Greeks less delusional this year? I think not!
Which of the 10,000,000 Greeks are you referring to?
The ones that infest the YouTube and news sites comments section.
so many good songs this year, everyone vote Cyprus first semi final, we need the votessss vote cyprussss
Here is what I think about semi 1:
DEFINITE QUALIFIERS: Israel and Cyprus
MOST LIKELY QUALIFYING: Czech Rep, Estonia, Bulgaria
LIKELY TO QUALIFY: Austria, Belgium, Finland
WAR ZONE: Belarus, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Greece and Switzerland
WITHIN A SHOT: FYR Macedonia, Croatia, Ireland, Albania
VERY LONG SHOTS: Armenia and Iceland
Greece is this year’s Mei/Greta. I don’t see this qualifying.
It’s a very hard semi-final. I think that most of the countries have a chance to be qualified for the Final (if we exclude F.Y.R Macedonia, Albania, Iceland). So, it’s possible that Tuesday, we will be so much shocked that Wednesday will be a kind of hangover, whatever the issue of SF1.
Greece has neighbours and diaspora. Do you know anything about Eurovision? Worry about Finland and Austria instead.
We all know how much their diaspora helped in 2016. 22 televote points in the semi, eek.
Well, last year Albania gave 2 Points to Greece. Macedonia gave 0 Points. So you still think diaspora can help even the song is not so good?
Lately neighbors don’t matter because their juries will not vote for a country if they think that their own entry might not make it as a result. Albanian jury might vote Cyprus because they will think she will make it anyway, but they might not vote Greece because they might think she could take Eugent’s spot. Same for Macedonia.
I’m still betting on Greece to qualify for the final, and I think it will ultimately do slightly better than Demy did last year.
However, the criticisms seem very valid. It’s a very dramatic song, so it needs a very dramatic performance. Rather than the blue hand, the Greek delegation should have brought a half-naked male dancer to interact with Yianna during the instrumental portion. Fog and wind don’t quite have the necessary dramatic effect.
Or a dancer with another blue hand, their hands connecting/disconnecting. That would communicate the message of the song clearly.
Something like that would have worked well.
Yianna should have borrowed one of Demy’s swans from last year. It would have been great to see Markos or Jason back on the Eurovision stage.
As long as Greece don’t bring back Demy’s vocal performance…
Greece will definitely qualify, but it won’t win the Semi or even get in the Top 5. Greece looks like the 8th or 9th qualifier of the Semi.
I dont’ know why, but I think Cyrpus will make sure that Greece won’t finish with nul points 😛
Not only Cyprus, Albania and Armenia will sign it’s ticket to the final, Greece will grab the attention of many juries and especially the diaspora.
They got 24 televote points in 2015 and 29 in 2017 in the final. Diaspora is a concept of the past for formerly successful Greece.
Guys come on! You were the ones who always said ‘ESC is a song contest, not a freak show.’ and now you are slandering Greece for not popping fireworks, making attractions on stage. This song doesn’t need any effects. Its lyrical harmony and charming melody are enough to give goosebumps. Nothing more is needed. Wish beautiful Greece best luck this year. Love from Turkey.
Greece just fell flat because of the very high expectations. Plus, her song isn’t that great and many voiced their concerns about the entry, it was the staging that was gonna be “make or break it” about Greece. And it looks like they break it.
It is a song contest, and Greece’s song is boring, so yea.
Austria was good as in the 1st time. Greece wasn’t as good as expected in terms of staging, because it was vocally flawless. Yianna said there were some technical issues, I hope they fix it. Finland had a similar performance to their 1st one.
Three very good performers here and Austria’s song is great.
Greece’s stage looks completely empty. I like some shots, but it still needs improvement. Cesar is great, I just don’t like his outfit. He can win the jury vote in this semi.
Saara Aalto looks like Sylvia night. that’s not a good sign though 🙂
or like Sylvia Vrethammar
Hahaha! Nice observation. No one will ever top Sylvia. Best ESC performance ever. Saara Aalto isn’t diva enough though and hasn’t given enough profanity laden interviews to be compared and earn that title yet. + not enough feathers, make up, booing also 😀
hello people!!! you can check the video of Yianna’s rehearsal in this link http://www.e-radio.gr/post/107132/eurovision-2018-h-deyterh-prova-ths-giannas-terzh-video… Is full and if you see right you can see all the rehearsal by monitor starting at -3:00. I suggest you to check the minute 0:53. She has her hands up and smoke comes and then with her hands first the right and after the left the lights like a strict line goes up… after all the lights up and she with lights down to the floor!!! In order to see it check at the same time the screen and the stage (lights) I am not… Read more »
Thank you. Very interesting points.
Does anyone know the significance of the blue paint on Yianna’s hand? I don’t get if it’s supposed to represent something or if it’s part of some special effect for the TV cameras?
It represents Greece. All the things, Greece is known for, its skies or its ocean.
actually in the lyrics there is a line which Greece asks Greeks Why do you want to change me, and make my blue to fade away? So apparently the blue hand is a reference to that point.
Or, to quote Padraig, she tripped and fell with her hand into a bucket a paint.
You really must have a low self-esteem to be quoting someone like Padraig.
Austria: Cesár and his backing vocals sound very good, they’re handling well the gospel sounds. But I’m on the fence about the staging. It seems dynamic, but random. The glass effects need urgent refinement. Greece: It’s classy and subtle. Maybe too subtle? The song is beautiful, I hope they set the right atmosphere so it can qualify. Finland: Looks better than I was expecting. I like the colors and the way they fill the stage. My concern is that the team behind this entry showed on UMK that they like to overdo things. Saara sounds good, her backings not that… Read more »
So to everybody who is judging or criticizing Cesar’s rehearsal:
Its everything but low budget. They use for example a huge elevated platform with lots of smoke, light effects and AR. Vocally he is one of the best this year. Cesar’s stage director Marvin Dietmann is btw the man behind Conchitas victory in 2014. There are lots of different things happening during the 3 minutes which you just don’t see in this 40 sec clip.
I don’t know if it’s Austria’s purpose to hold expectations low, but you all will be surprised on Tuesday.
Well, the huge elevated platform is the part of the stage that can go up, so it’s not like Austria’s delegation has brought it.
I have some hope that the part the snippet shows us will make more sense when we see the final product. I sense that there’s some storytelling behind the performance that gets lost when you watch just 30 seconds of it.
Austria: The song’s in my top 10, and I’m liking what I’m seeing of the very little of the staging that I’ve seen thus far. This could possibly go into the final, …but I still don’t see it placing as high as I may want it to. Greece: I’m loving the song but the staging seems boring. I think having her up there alone is a mistake. I think dancers dressed sort of in a mystic way like Gods and Goddesses could give this a push. I used to think this would qualify but as of now I’m doubting it… Read more »
Nothing special about these three.
Austria seems lost on stage. Random movements. He has a great voice and stage presence btw.
Greece is the best song here but too much of epicness from music for so little staging power and she doesn’t fill the stage.
Finland is such a screamy mess. Those “aye” are terrible. She still gives her all but an unpalatable mess nonetheless.
None of these three are in my final.
Totally voting for Greece on Tuesday. It’s so ethnic, so powerful, it’s just amazing and along with France, Italy, Ireland and hey, even Albania, these nations really represent what real Eurovision songs in 2018 should sound like. Powerful art pieces, with an occasionally strong message, modern beats yet so very ethnic. It’s good to hear a song without being told what country it’s from but instantly being able to recognise it. Rather than the latest export from Sweden or the USA. Eurovision should reflect its different national cultures through the medium music. It gets very soulless when they are all… Read more »
Eurovision is not only about social life and culture of the countries just saying. Would you consider “Wild Dances” to be a showcase of Ukrainian culture? Or “Hard Rock Hallelujah” being the same for Finland? The thing is that a winner is not just about ethnic vibes or culture, it’s more than that. It’s an entire package that mixes performer, song, staging.
“Wild Dances” and “Hard Rock Hallelujah” are from a very very different era of Eurovision. I didn’t say the cultural representation wins every year. I also didn’t say that non-ethnic songs weren’t good. I liked Ruslana and Lordi, I loved Loreen, Emmelie, Lena, Mans etc.
But on a whole Eurovision is about cultural representation through the medium of music.
It depends on what you call cultural representation. Why can’t some group from Latvia brings bubblegum pop? Or some Montenegrin band brings nu-metal? Or I don’t know some Greek DJ brings EDM? At the end, Eurovision is about all the diversity and all the music rather than what music is better or more cultural than others.
Actually Wild Dances has lots of ethnic elements to it, especially from the Ukrainian Carpathians region.
Apart from “Molitva”, “Everyway that I Can” and maybe “My Number One” most winners of Eurovision often don’t follow this “cultural appreciation thing”, almost all winners don’t win just by being ethnic, just like with Jamala and Salvador, both had very deep messages that trascended language and borders, that’s why Europe choose them.
Austria: Not sure about that staging, but good song!?
Greece: Nice staging but it’s one of those songs you’re not sure where it might end up?
Finland: Not the best of clips, she comes off as shouty. But it’s a tune! Finland’s best place since Lordi!?
Grecce is trying to do a jamala 2016 thing but is doing it in a bad way
That’s what you will probably comment each year that a woman singing a power-ballad will be alone on the stage unless you did it this time for certain more or less hidden anti-Hellenic reasons.
Again with the anti-Hellenic reasons? Just so you know, almost every Eurofan agrees that Cyprus is one of the best performances so far. For now, Greece doesn’t live up to its hype. Like, seriously, Cyprus eats Greece alive.
Cyprus and Greece are the same country u little normie
Not according to the UN, the EU, NATO, geography and almost all of geopolitics. That would be like saying Turkey and Azerbaijan are the same country.
Turkey and Azerbaijan are very different. They speak a similar language, but culturally, historically and even genetically they’re very different people. First off, Azerbaijan was never part of the Ottoman Empire. Cyprus and Greece are a bit more tricky. Most Greeks will simplify things and say Cyprus is an extension of Greece, with the Turks in the north being illegitimate and invaders on land that is rightfully Greek (which, by the way, is the official position of the EU, NATO and UN ). However, Greece & Cyprus do have differences. They’re not exactly the same thing. Their relationship is more… Read more »
I dont think that Turkey and Azerbaijan have the same national anthem ( like GR and CYP have ) …
So what? You know that Greece is happy for Cyprus, even if it does better than Greece, right? Foureira is the biggest pop diva in Greece after Paparizou, and Greek fans knew already what she can bring. It’s the eurofans who underestimated her until two days ago.
This exactly. Eleni who is a Greece based singer/performer (yes, she is born in Albania but still) is being celebrated lately and yet there are still those butthurt crybabies accusing others and Wiwibloggs of an ‘anti Hellenic’ agenda. So annoying. And I am saying this as a Greek.
Guys get behind Cyprus plzz, such a strong song, we need votes, will be a worth having them win
If this matters, I will definitely vote for Cyprus in the Final. <3
Yianna Terzi – “Oniro Mourinho”
Football fans, you know what I mean… Oniro Mourinho…
The Austrian staging is obviously low budget, but it seems to work with the song. The outfit doesn’t look very well on César, especially because one can see the transmitter under his shirt.
Greece looks very good! Vocally, it isn’t bad but still I don’t think it has that stirring quality that the studio version has.
What happened with Greece’s performance/staging? This beautiful song deserve much much more!
I guess they just tried to keep it simple to focus on the song rather than on the staging, following the last winners of the ESC
But Jamala did have a very cool and amazing staging.
Cesàr’s outfit is really un-sexy. Such a pity!
Finland really want to be in the final this year. They were last time there in 2014 and they came 11th. Vote for her
The backing singers will ruin Finland’s chances.
No, the backing singers will improve Finlands chances.
Saara is getting better and better. Good sign. Greece… what’s wrong? I love her as a singer but this looks a little dull.
Saara Aalto is really amazing! She is a little bit underrated. But im not so sure it will qualify. Nobody votes for Finland, and european people have often very bad music taste. This is so good, top 8 in Semi1.
netta is gonna kick sara’s butt
Respectfulness here, please. Bad language.
I must admit Greece stands out in these group. It may seem the live version is simpler than the video one, but still, it keeps all the atmosphere based on its ethnic roots. I love the metaphor of the Greek people helping their country. There is no other song in this year’s competition that best suits the country it represents. So I’ll definitely vote for this and hope you do too. Greece and the Greek people deserve it.
i am annoyed by greece cuz the staging sucks and ruins the song, like seriously they abandonded her there and nothing happens, this isnt gonna qualify
I think it will qualify, but I agree about the others… I am disappointed, It was one of my favourite songs, I thought I will vote for her in the final, but now I don’t think so…
Well I agree that the staging is not what I was hoping for and that it is kinda dull. But do people seriously believe that the staging alone is reason enough to not qualify? Like this is still a SONG contest and no STAGING contest. I think that the song – even though it doesn’t appeal to everyone – is unique on it’s own. I am more worried about her falsetto at the end, though – if she doesn’t improve on it quickly they should leave it out completely. Funny thing is: when she sang ‘Anixi’ during the press conference… Read more »
Liking the colours of Austira’s stage from the 2nd preview, tho I am still struggling to like the song. And I didnt like the broken glass effects. I thought my screen was breaking up or buffering. Greece are slipping slightly in my personal rankings. I guess their promo video was so striking and the stage version is a bit more restricted. I still love the song though. And then we have Sarra. The strongest package in this bunch of three. The only let down from the 2nd preview clip, the lack of eye contact with the camera. Lack of eye… Read more »
Austria – the staging looks good, I like that he’s just casuallg walking.. and his vocals are on point
Greece – very impressive song, you can see passion and feeling behind it even though you don’t understand greek
Finland – i just can’t like this song, i really hate the genre.. plus the military dancers are creepy af..