Shattered glass, a 50s diner and a sand artist.

Armenia, Ireland and Moldova were back in action this morning and we have our reviews of their second rehearsals at Eurovision 2019.

Reactions to second rehearsals at Eurovision 2019: Armenia, Ireland and Moldova

Armenia: Srbuk with “Walking Out”

Today the Armenia we know and love at Eurovision has re-entered the building.

There are jerky camera angles, pyro and added flourishes of static on the screens behind Srbuk.

She herself has a new hairstyle similar to the music video, enunciates better and has softened her facial expressions. This is less a vocal onslaught and more a declaration of intent.

The shattered glass effect climax is totally fantastic and up there with the best visual displays we saw in Semi-Final 1. In the first rehearsals Armenia faced an uphill battle to qualify but today Srbuk managed to pull things back.

In this semi-final nothing is certain, but Armenia at this stage is in the mix to qualify.

Ireland: Sarah McTernan with “22”

Immediately prior to rehearsals the Irish delegation told us Sarah is suffering from a wisdom tooth infection. So it is fair to say our expectations were more muted than they might have otherwise been.

However, Ireland did make progress.

They’ve added milkshakes to the bar, a nice little touch that adds warmth to the performance.

And despite the pain she must be in, Sarah McTernan sounded strong.

The transitions are still a bit shaky – the bar stools clearly need to be greased so they actually spin and they have to figure out how to get Sarah off the bar following the bridge. In successive runs Sarah nailed the spin and the dismount so it is possible.

Ireland has the elements here they need to sneak through. The bar shot from above as she travels through the starscape is especially beautiful and should be the focus for the recap.

“22” is on the edge of qualification in a tough semi-final, but this reviewer keeps faith Sarah can make it across to the other side.

Moldova: Anna Odobescu with “Stay”

Moldova’s second rehearsal did not start auspiciously.

Most of the performance was spent in ultra wide shot, before about ten seconds of actual footage, whereafter they called off the run through.

But on the second run, they had things sorted.

More work has been done here to cut between the sand art and Anna to balance things out. Previously the screens had been the primary focus, but now Anna gets far more air time. It allows people to engage with her and connect with the vocal more.

There is also an added shot where Anna touches Kseniya to show connection between the two elements on stage. Moldova only managed one run through, but they know what they’re doing with the staging.

The question now is whether the sand art is enough to elevate the song come qualification time. Staging is memorable, but the song isn’t. Another hard one to read.

Check out all of our rehearsal news here

Photo Credit: EBU

28 Comments
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Emmy
Emmy
4 years ago

Srbuk Armenia is my winner this year. And i don`t care if pyro will be or she will be just alone on stage.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
4 years ago

Armenia had a great rehearsal. They are improving all the time.
Ireland and Moldova, although trying, are not really in contention for qualifying. Weak songs always make it difficult.

Ezal
Ezal
4 years ago

Armenia- seems better this time

James
James
4 years ago

There’s no really cute song in the competition and the Irish entry reminds me of Lena in someways, I’m not saying Ireland’s gonna win the competition. However I do think that Ireland is a definite Qualifier.

yorgo
yorgo
4 years ago

out 3 of them anna odobescu is the one and only who deserves a hard fck that you will wrap your hand on her hair and fck her like an enemy with no mercy this is whats he wants its obvious and clear banging from back of her till her speacial place gets red because of the violence of banging…this is truth

Karl Fradgley
Karl Fradgley
4 years ago
Reply to  yorgo

Seriously – Admins – this post needs to be removed

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  yorgo

God what a predator! You sir should be in some sort of mental home. And while their at it they should throw away the key!

Whisker
Whisker
4 years ago

IMO they could have done the whole stage concept around the video!

Susan
Susan
4 years ago
Reply to  Whisker

Same person choreographed both the video and SRBUK’s ESC performance. One thing that Armenia has too many of are highly talented and professional dancers, who are all over Armenia. So I think they had a good reason for not having back up dancers on ESC. This song is an extremely “busy ” song and honestly , I I do not like seeing dancers on the stage during ESC . And especially with this song and with this staging and crazy lights like this …

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

Armenia: If they showed us the climax to make sure that Srbuk vocals won’t be a problem, it worked. But I agree with Tibor and Skiwalko, the stage looks empty, dancers would help more than pyro. Her outfit was much better on the 1st rehearsal.
Ireland: It seems the snippet was cut right when the best moment was coming. It looks cute. It doesn’t solve the lack of impact, but makes it easier to remember.
Moldova: Anna is a solid vocalist, she doesn’t need to exaggerate her facial expressions. Good sand art, but it doesn’t elevate the song to me.

Denis
Denis
4 years ago

I think Ireland might surprise us with a qualificiation. It’s cute and retro with a summerfeeling to it.
Moldova is only gimmick. Not sure if it will work

Burger
Burger
4 years ago

Armenia might be a Barbara Dex contender with the pant suit thing and that could be a deal breaker: this semi final is much tougher to predict: looks like they’ve spent Aram MP3’s leftover pyro budget this year too.
Ireland – somebody is going to be a surprise qualifier next Thursday, has this one get enough impact: going 2nd doesn’t help
Moldova – the sand artist was a gimmick in 2011, its still gimmick in 2019: the song is about dated its the first one I think with some confidence won’t qualify

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

Quick review #7: Armenia – it’s powerful, and it seems that they’re spending all those euros on the pyros, which are really impressive, but there’s something lacking for me. Srbuk just by herself has to fulfill the stage with her energy for 3 minutes, and I wonder if it’s not gonna be too big of a challenge for her. Ireland – sweet, simple and endearing (btw the technicians faces are priceless) Moldova – dare I say, I like it more than Ukraine 2011’s staging. The song is crap, but I like the inverted color palette more, and the usage of… Read more »

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Skiwalko

I laughed a lot when the technicians were showed! By the way, I guess this was the first snippet with “a crowd reaction” moment. Something that can be great or undermining depend on who the camera catches.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Right, crowd shots can be a risk – I still think that bored looking guy during Alexander Rybak last year did him some serious harm.

Loin dici
Loin dici
4 years ago

Armenia: …. I don’t know. Her belts are showing power and emotions but there might be a need to control it. It’s all over the place in this rehearsal clip. The staging might be kind of okay and the shattered glass effect might be cool, we’ll see.

Loin dici
Loin dici
4 years ago
Reply to  Loin dici

Ireland: shows potential, yet she might be kind of nervous on the stage, perhaps? The theme is cute and the effects on the bridge part are great, actually.

Loin dici
Loin dici
4 years ago
Reply to  Loin dici

Moldova: A long stare. Just a long stare. Her vocals are there but she might be opening her mouth too much at some parts, but notes are great.

Whisker
Whisker
4 years ago
Reply to  Loin dici

I can totally see that she gets nervous. I watched her performance on a late night show, she seemed nervous that time too.

Olivia Mac Arthur
Olivia Mac Arthur
4 years ago

Ireland looks so cute! I really hopes it qualifies and I think it just might!

Harut Hovhannisyan
Harut Hovhannisyan
4 years ago

Armenia has some surprises , will be amazing

Héctor
Héctor
4 years ago

That’s what every country tells to its fans when things are not working right. Sorry to say that but I’m Spanish, I know what I’m talking about unfortunately.

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago

Hold on- I thought it was snow art and NOT sand art?

Darren
Darren
4 years ago

Is nobody getting bored of Armenia sending the same performance basically every year? LoveWave happened, it’s done. Try something else. Armenia didn’t qualify last year but honestly that was down to the song. And it was a strong semi anyway.

Anya
Anya
4 years ago
Reply to  Darren

and how Qami, Walking out or Fly with me sound like LoveWave??

Darren
Darren
4 years ago
Reply to  Anya

Trying to be pedantic isn’t going to work. Qami was the only time in years Armenia changed it up. LoveWave, Walking Out and Fly With Me are the exact same songs.

Emmy
Emmy
4 years ago
Reply to  Darren

Really, Does Armenia send every year same performaqnce? Are you idiot? I like Armenia cause they send always something different

Nicky91
Nicky91
4 years ago

Moldova is good 🙂