It’s day three of Eurovision 2022 second rehearsals and the seventh day of rehearsals overall. Today, we’ll get a proper look at how the last 11 countries from semi-final two decided to stage their entries. Up first today was Australia’s Sheldon Riley with “Not The Same”. How have things changed since his first rehearsal? Let’s find out…
Australia’s Sheldon Riley”Not The Same” — Eurovision 2022 second rehearsal
Padraig: Sheldon’s rehearsal is at once similar to his Australia Decides performance, but also very different. Instead of resembling a villainous Maleficent in all black, Sheldon is now wearing an angelic outfit of all white. This ensures that the singer doesn’t blend into the background, keeping him at the centre of our attention for the full three minutes. Unlike the national final, where he started off on high and descended to the stage for the song’s climax, Sheldon now begins his set at the foot of two symmetrical stairways. He walks to the top as the song builds and it’s here where he takes off his bejewelled face cover. The performance ends with all the lights on him. Tight camera angles mean that Australia is largely unaffected by the broken stage. And, despite some in-ear hiccups, Sheldon still managed to deliver the powerful vocals we’ve all come to expect.
Reaction to Australia’s second rehearsal at Eurovision 2022
@wiwibloggs_official #Australia’s @Sheldon Riley dazzles in white at his 2nd #Eurovision rehearsal. @jonathanvautrey watches and reacts 🇦🇺 #ESC2022 #Eurovision2022 #TheSoundOfBeauty #NotTheSame ♬ original sound – wiwibloggs
What do you think? How will Sheldon fair in the semi-final? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
He might be going to perform in the opening ceremony for the t20 world cup 2022 in Australia.
We saw in 2016 how a powerful performance got a meh song into 2nd place for Australia. As an Aussie I found Dami Im’s Sound of silence very mediocre and it came in 2nd because of her powerhouse vocal. I’d expect the same here with Sheldon. A fairly mediocre song but a powerhouse performance. The juries judge more than the song itself so don’t kid yourselves thinking a good song will win I’ve seen some absolute shockers win because of the great performance over the last few years.
A real shame that the jury snubbed Voyager. They should be there!
this will be highly impactful on the night. especially considering a fair chunk of the voting public will be seeing and hearing this for the first time and haven’t been hammering this year’s ‘melodies’ at home for weeks.
Is it too late to bring back Montaine? I was gutted that she didn’t qualify last year.
I am not loving Aus22 entry. Not the song, not the staging, not the costume. Sorry.
I have been bullied, I have felt different and alone. However, I still can’t connect with this song.
X2, he’s got a great voice but the song feels too avant-garde to relate to it :/
Jury Winner Alert as no one saw North Macedonia 2019 win the jury.
Literally noone saw it! It didn’t happen until days later.
the battle of the stairs between of azerbaijan and australia for that qualification spot, both might fail tho
Both will qualify, and you heard that from someone who hates both.
Unfortunately that’s likely, last year showed us that 2 similar entries don’t necessarily cancel each other
I think Azerbaijan won’t make it through
He seems like such a nice guy but since the National selection I always felt this was a vocal exercise more than a song. A spoken word poem with dramatic music underscoring. I struggle to find the melody. And it feels quite repetitive. In a semi with Azerbaijan and Poland—I doubt all 3 will make it to final. And I’d add Belgium in the “delivering male voice” category. I know many many love this, but it’s feeling a little Vincent’s Amen from Austria from last year.
Amen is a masterpiece compared to this one!
I had goosebumps, captivating!
I know I’ll get lots of negatives but this is atrocious. They’re just trying too hard and that is even not a song. Too bad to have such a great voice go to waste.
That gown though, OMG, I love it.
Ooooh, Sheldon, goosebumps, I was not expecting that! You have got yourself an epic performance on your hands there!
everything about his act looks like it was made with eurovision juries in mind. i can’t stand it lol
Sheldon is exceptional, but the song itself is rather bland. He deserved a better one.
he wrote it. Who should he blame?
Good vocal. super impressive but at the end of the day it’s Hovi Star again but with money.
Was hoping for more originality from Australia.
Good luck Sheldon!!
This one is way better comparing to 2017 and 2018 jury baits. Even if it’s gonna score 3 points with the public in the GF.
Well, my act was never about class. 😀
Honest question: Would Sheldon’s performance have more impact without the mask? I don’t think it would work as well without it, because then he might just be “the same”.
It is the same already, it’s nearly unbearable…
It’s an exceptional performance of a rather meh song.
Juries will go for it. It’s easily qualifying. They’ve staged it nicely.
How it won’t be that easy, it’s really weak musically, and the juries should punish that…
Without the how at the beginning, sorry!
The thing is, i like the vocals, i like the visuals, i like the song… but for some reason i just don’t care about this act.
This is one big cringe from start to finish. More juvenile attention seeking.
Boooring
Australia, can we have something else at least once instead of these dull songs performed by former casting acts please?