This afternoon’s Eurovision 2022 second rehearsals continue with Poland’s Ochman. How did “River” look on the Turin stage? Let’s find out…
Poland’s Ochman “River” — Eurovision 2022 second rehearsal
Padraig: We have several dark and moody ballads in this semi, including Azerbaijan, Australia and North Macedonia. But Poland is arguably the best of them, both in terms of quality and staging. We begin with the pitter-patter of rain, setting the scene for what’s to come. Ochman stands alone, flanked by images of his face on either side of the LED. However, that’s not it. He’s soon joined by dancers resembling ghosts. They look almost like banshees. As they move around him, the atmosphere becomes stormier. We get some nice shots of the floor and as we reach the dramatic crescendo the camera shakes and the screens are filled with thunder and waves. We end with the ghouls on the floor and, from the camera angle, their bodies create the illusion of wings on Ochman. It goes without saying that these are among the best male vocals of the entire contest.
Reaction to Poland’s second rehearsal at Eurovision 2022
@wiwibloggs_official #Poland’s @OCHMAN comes with a bang and a flash at his 2nd #Eurovision rehearsal. @jonathanvautrey watches and reacts 🇵🇱 #ESC2022 #Eurovision2022 #TheSoundOfBeauty #River ♬ original sound – wiwibloggs
What do you think? How will Ochman fair in the semi-final? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
I am Polish, but I try to be objective. Krystian has an exceptional voice, but our song lacks something – something that always made a given song win the competition. It could even be a single moment. Nevertheless, I think this year is special, not only musically. We are coming out of a pandemic, there is a brutal war going on in Ukraine. A song will win that no one would expect to win – a song that gives hope, some kind of respite and I think… it will Iceland. You can laught at me, but I truly believe in… Read more »
I missed the drum:(
I mean, if I was in Eurovision and decided I wanted to run my performance through giphy and use ALL THE EFFECTS, I guess it’d look like this too.
I know he doesn’t have the greatest stage presence, but the song is solid and he’s a great vocalist. I just wish they’d have a bit more confidence in him.
The staging looks good, I just hope they tune down the camera shaking, it’s really not easy to watch when you have nausea. Overall, though, I’m kinda proud of my country’s delegation for the first time in what seems forever <3
Winner
This is toxicity on another level. I feel like Poland has the best staging this year just from the clips (may change when I see full performances of all songs), its unique and different this year. And I feel like many people are just putting this down because they know how great this performance is and that this is challenging for the win. But people have different songs that they like more then River itself as a song but not full package. So they are trying to lie to themselves that this is bad performance(of course there are some that… Read more »
People got more toxic after two years of pandemic…
Yeah
Exactly! Saying something constructive or something is not someone’s thing is one thing, but the negativity is hard to read at times. People seem to need to put a song or singer down just because they prefer a different song.
Seems like Poland decided to invest 12€ for a Windows Movie Maker 2002 license to create these effects. Seriously, are they for real? This looks hilarious, but not for the right reasons. This will qualify, but looking like that this deserves to place between 15th and 26th in the final AT BEST.
It will be in top 5
Yum yum yum, loving the drama in this performance. This has a fantastic impact, it has really elevated the song for me. Well done Poland!
Divisive staging, but I really like it. 🙂
I like the staging, I am not a big fan of the special effects but overall it is the only staging that stands up this year? Not a winner but deserves to be in top 10
Omg, such a boring ballad…
River has been my earworm song of the ’22esc. I find myself singing the song when I am alone doing chores. I had ranked this in my top 5 when it was first released with concerns about how they would stage this. I think they have staged this beyond my expectations, so in that way, I do like the staging. However the song has slipped out of my top 5. There are so many good songs this year and this is one of them. Still a great effort and a lovely voice and this is a song that will stay… Read more »
Lol, you wish
Hmmm I have no doubt it will qualify. But for me the special effects looked very out of place when you look at him and his presence on stage. Little cringey.
Well, it would be out of place if you see a 30sec clip. Every thing would be out of place if you only see 1/10th of a whole video..things build up, change, grow..as we’ve seen from all the youtube reactions from the press it actually seems very much to fit in his performance
With all the respect to you but this is the most insane thing I’ve read in a long time. His vocals are flawless!
Good but not flawless, there are intonation mistakes.
It’s not going to be popular, but for me the staging is horrible and even the vocals are not good in the last few seconds of the clip. It’s way too over hyped and I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t even get top 15…
I understand if people dont like the staging (I like it), but you cant say anything about his vocals. He nails it
This is like a rerun of Gjon 2021…”it’s all too dark, avant garde, don’t like the interpretive dance element”..and both guys with amazing vocals. Despite all that divisiveness last year, Switzerland won the jury vote…and third was a great overall result.
Gjon had a truly inspired sing. This is dross…
I’m pleased to see it came narrowly behind Sweden in the press vote today. In second place.
Where are press vote results?
Ochman isn’t in the same league as Gjon, even if he wins.
What the HELL did I saw…. The spoilers were true. The flop is real.
Just shut up already. I see you talking BS about Poland for weeks now. First you lie about the whole performance being exactly the same like NF (according to your ‚inside’ source) and now when you didn’t get your way, you leave hateful comments everywhere.
You must be a very angry, sad little person sitting in their own poison, but trust me, if you try REALLY hard, maybe one day you’ll find happiness lol Good luck!
But for now, BYE BYE FOOL
I really love the effects and the dancers. He elevated the song for me. And those vocals WOW
I don’t get all the negative comments. First people advise Ochman to have something more on stage, because he lacks the stage presence and reminds too much to Duncan and Gjon’s Teras. When he does something totally different, that nobody has ever done before, people again are dissapointed. Suddenly there is too much going on on the stage. Although we’ve seen only 47 seconds of the performance. It’s like with poor Ronela. People tend to judge although they haven’t even seen the whole performances. I get that some of you don’t like the shaky part but why are you so… Read more »
People will never be happy… Let them talk, it won’t change the fact he will do well nevertheless. A lot of eurovision fans are super toxic and its showing (well its always showing). The negativity is really big especially in the comments here
that’s really sad… I love eurovision but the hate towards the artists, their teams and hosting country is too much for me. They’re all doing their best to give us an amazing show.
Polonia win
Spectacular for me. Very well done Poland.
I guess im a minority when I say I like the effects and the ghosts. I guess whatever with the effects, if they will keep them or not but the ghosts need to stay either way as they give a lot of atmoshpere to the song and make it really dark. We dont really get a lot of dark/horror-esque songs so that is a welcome diversity for me. Reminds me of that one Romanian song a few years ago – loved it to bits.
This is so cool
In my opinion all it needed was a very atmospheric backdrop, some smoke and a cool outfit for Ochman ( the water on stage adds to the song anyway ). The guy has such an amazing voice that it should have been the focus and it would have looked more appealing to the juries, now it looks like an indian drama movie
Indian drama movie..praise indeed.
yeah “cool outfit” like the australian guy… some plastic eyelashes, feathers, sequins and tight underwear… it’s so good that they didn’t listen to people like you to engage in this festival of the grotesque and bad taste
Sorry but those ghosts look really silly and they will cost him jury points. Not crazy for the effects either, they look cheap.
They just dont know how to stage this song, its a shame. I expect a jury flop and a 7-10 televote finish with the televoters. He many not even finish in the top 10 overall at this point
I’m calling for those visual effects on TV to be removed. They look so so cheap and artificial. I mean, I’ve seen comments on Youtube stating this is a winner performance when it’s clearly not. He’s a superb performer and the song sounds cool and classy at the same. I just think there is too much going on on screen. Should have gone for something more simple and minimalistic. The “banshees” are a distraction and add nothing at all. They make the performance even more flamboyant. Totally unnecessary. I think the Polish delegation has made a mistake here.
Cringefest
Those effects will bury Poland alive. Such a mistake.
Banshees are a call to death, like the grim reaper. I suppose this song is definitely about suicide now.
They are not banshees… they are inner demons like stress, anxiety etc
Oh. Like what Kate Miller-Heidke did.
Except a pole. Ochman is a Pole. Coincidence? I think not.
Watch the polish fans do everything they can to tell us how amazing this lighting graphics were lmaoo
Urgh, I do like this song but the effects are REALLY painful to look at. Hopefully they aren’t there the whole way through.
Of course they are! And these are not effects. there is actually a guy shaking camera for the whole 3 minutes.
Regardless, if you’re like me and suffer from sensory issues and/or vertigo, this will be a hard watch. Hopefully there’s a warning like they do for flashing lights. Not dunking on Poland since I genuinely like the entry – it’s just a personal thing.
Amazing Poland!!!!!!!!
Thunder ‘n’ lightning but it’s not gettin’ excitin’
Stellar vocals though, as expected
hahahaha. hilarious. who ever made this up, should go design thunderdome tshirts haha
Those special effects remind me of the overly exaggerated special effects in Bollywood movies. They’re quite silly and cheap looking. I had to laugh when they popped up on screen.
It’s a shame Ochman’s team couldn’t give him better staging, the special effects and ghost-women (?) dancers just cheapen everything and make the performance look cheesy and cringeworthy.
why all that effort??!!! Just say it. “I don’t like the song.”
This is a Eurovision forum where fans share opinions. If that upsets you, don’t look at the comments.
it doesn’t upset me one bit. Your comments made me smile!
Omg I just saw the performance and told my friends exactly that about the cringe transitions in Bollywood films
Beware epileptics. I don’t think this song needed all this. It needed his voice and a mood. I still think this has an inside straight to win given being a solid song, the strong Polish diaspora and the lack of front runners. I think the winner this year will be a song that in a couple years, we will look back and think “how did that win”—like Running Scared in Düsseldorf.
Sorry. But it looks very cheap. I couldn’t stop laughing.
I felt the same way! Those cheap overly-exaggerated Bollywood special effects and ghost/woman hybrid dancers are comical.
On a side note i wish we’ve had a bollywood style song in Eurovision.
If the uk sends one with a singer with Indian origins it could be amazing and creative.
Ok they exaggerate with those effects, but this is still great performance and the work of lights creates dramatic effect as it should. He can win.
Bombastic, tasteless and over the top. By far the most irritating entry. And the staging makes it even worse.
I’ve noticed you really don’t like Poland and try to find faults in everything that Ochman does. You are a very narrow minded person.
I like Poland. Have good memories on Wroclaw, Krakow and Zakopane. Just don’t like the artist and song.
Staging is very good in my humble opinion but those special effects are SO UNECESSARY, I FELT DIZZY DURING THAT LIGHTNING PART! :”(
as predicted, they threw everything at the staging, it looks overly busy
He is so stiff that they had to make the screen move. He may get some extra points from Potterheads for having those Dementors on-stage
I think those are “utopce” (Slavic water spirits) not ghosts.
Spirits are ghosts lmao
Obviously you know nothing about mythology.
This is so overproduced, unnecessary effects. Messy.
Much better than I expected. And he seems to have a glimpse of emotion inside, which is a great improvement.
There’s at least one distraction to many in the staging. I don’t like that camera shake at all. It doesn’t really go with what’s happening in the music and it looks almost low-res. The banshees look kinda cool but there’s a few shots where they seem to get in the way of Ochman.
He sounds great but we knew that would be the case.
For me shaking gives some dynamism. I like it.
Oh no! A really like the idea of raindrops and shakiness, but this is too much and too fake. Amazing vocals tho.
Staging is great! Even the effect looks good (Some people already complained they feel dizzy watching it). But again, he is hopeless when it comes to being relaxed and he is not trying to connect with the viewer (closing his eyes and looking away from the camera). He does not lack charisma or energy, he just needs to relax a bit. Think he might be under a lot of pressure for being one of the favorites so this weird stage presence is just a result of that.
Forgot to praise his vocals once more! He deserves to be praised for that every time! Such an amazing singer. Dancers are cool too. They are 1000 times better than those fake fiddlers in the national final performance.