Iceland’s Greta Salóme arrived in Stockholm on the back of rave reviews and fan adulation. But during her first rehearsal on Tuesday, things became slightly unstuck. Over the course of three run-throughs, the “Hear Them Calling” singer repeatedly missed her cues and struggled to own the massive Globen stage. Now, RÚV are reporting that SVT’s staging is out and that the national final staging is back in.
GRETA SALOME’S “HEAR THEM CALLING”: REVIEWS AND REACTIONS
The smoke and shadows filled routine was set to incorporate some complicated hologram technology. Greta spoke of what was to come during our post-rehearsal interview, telling us that there was content missing and that we would see more on Friday. She even hinted at a disappearing trick. This now appears to be canned. Instead, the Icelandic team will revert to the simpler staging we saw during Söngvakeppnin.
Jonathan Garðarsson, the Icelandic head of delegation, explains that the reason for the changes was down to incompatibility. The proposed staging was simply deemed inappropriate for the vision they were trying to achieve. Work is now under way on adapting the original concept for the Eurovision stage. Certain elements will be developed further or changed slightly.
Greta Salóme interview after first rehearsal
The revised staging will be unveiled on Friday, when Greta returns to the Globen for her second rehearsal. Can this eleventh hour staging gamble pay off? Will the changes be enough to secure her a spot in the grand final? Let us know in the comments below.
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Photo: Andres Putting
I think the SCVT staging looked more professional than her national final staging.
I thought her screen worked better than Russia’s though. Yes, while I may be a big Sergey basher, his looked like it was completely singled out while hers worked more with the stage. But the original staging was better and to be fair, Sergey did set the bar WAY up high.
I’m so pleased!!! I was nervous about the changes as the original staging not only gave me goosebumps but it also made me fall in love with the song and caused it to instantly become my favourite. Good move Iceland, I hope they qualify and do extremely well!
I hope that the EBU have changed that jury marking scheme this year and reduced the number of marks for the staging. If it has too many marks then the ability to spend money will become the deciding factor at ESC. Even if the EBU have gone a great way towards reducing cheating and natural advantages, such as diasporas, the contest would then still be one of the haves and have-nots. It might also be why this year there is a mad dash for projected graphics – perhaps all the countries are basing their staging on last year’s marking sheets?
I hate the “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” mentality, the only sure thing with such mindset is that you’ll get stuck and won’t advance. Sorry, I can’t help to say it everytime I hear the phrase.
Though I agree that if the change is causing more problems than improvements, better stick to the old method, it seems to be too late to make the necessary adjustments to make it work anyway.
I have never liked this song.
Actually, I still believe this will flop.
Great decision! I hope they will qualify and do very well in the Grand-Final.
I dont understand why people like this. Is ir becuse they have done before. Loreen and Måns.
ditch the outfit and the wind machine as well, too much like Loreen 🙂
@MirkoJoshua: Would that apply to Frans as well? Because we’ve already seen his MF staging and he’s bringing it to ESC. Or did I misinterpret what was written about his rehearsal?
@Mello
Sexism in action. She’s only 29, probably younger than you.
@MirkoJoshua I totally agree with you, we’ve seen it before, however, how many people has really seen it? only the eurofans, o that’s not a big deal.
I’m really happy that she has changed her mind, I liked the first staging, so if ain’t not broken, why fix it? 🙂
@Kyllito: When we hate something, silence is the best key to not be bothered by it and move on to something more relevant … there will always be songs you hate while everybody loves it to death … what can you do about it? … I also can’t stand the falling guy that claims to be the only one for reasons I don’t think God himself understand either … yet life still goes on for all the greatest music still in the competition.
Great decision! The original staging will make her stand out. Go Greta!
Greta’s NF staging was so beautiful, so that formula cannot miss. Same with Agnete, if she cooses to leave it the same.
I just hope that with this decision, RUV will bring the massive screen from Songvakeppnin because it made the song so special and I hope SVT allow RUV to.
But I’m happy with this decision, I wasn’t really a fan of the blue that was put into the LEDs.
Holograms were cute when a few acts use th and now… 🙁 If you’re using tech, use it right. I love this move by Iceland and think it’s smart.
Shouldn’t have changed in the first place as her next rehearsal is her last one to get rid of technical difficulties. The rehearsal after that is the dress rehearsal, where as in the name she’ll have to wear what she’ll wear on the night. That is one rehearsal wasted.
her national performance is already eurovision-ready. no idea why she and her team wanted to add anything else.
The shadow technique was better, it transmitted a dark atmosphere which perfectly suits the song. I’m just afraid that, compared to others, this performance won’t be anything special because what we saw on Söngvakeppnín was marvellous but that’s the problem: we’ve already seen that
Still don’t understand all the love for this song. I think it is overhyped.
Just another “victim” of the “LED projection fever” we are having this year. Nobody will stand out from all of them. They’ve just killed their own “originality card” precisely by being unoriginal between each other.
Still a good song to make it close to the top 10.
Or she’s simply too old to learn new stuff this fast. Old dogs and all that… :p
This is a super creepy entry in my opinion. Can’t get myself to like it. 🙁
thank god
sorry chance not change
If it’s ain’t broke don’t fix it. This is the right choice. The national final staging was brilliant. The staging in the first rehearsal was cumbersome, awkward, and clumsy.
SVT and EBU try first to ruin change for some countries first with producer and EBU refence group running draw of appearance at contest, and after that with bad staging. Same happening in last few contest most from 2013 to 2016 .
Iceland don t like SVT staging but they get good draw thank to SVT .
I think they made the right decision, that staging from the national final made many of us fall in love with the song and the overall performance
@Steven: You beat me to it. They didn’t change Måns’ graphic staging when they brought it from MF to ESC 2015. They simply incorporated it into Vienna’s bigger stage. I gather they can do the same with Greta’s Söngvakeppnin setup.
Thank. Jesus. I didn’t like the new pattern much at all; that blue felt very lightweight and wrong for the song. It didn’t seem like she was having cue issues, but my reflexes are slow, so I’ll trust y’all on that, and if she was, then probably a good idea that they changed it to something that can run more smoothly.
I think having the broken LED wall is not very user friendly. I also think the the mini screen looks naff. This years stage introduces complications.
Brilliant choice. If it’s not broken don’t fix it! Hope she can reach top 10