Some first rehearsals are flawless and others create a springboard to work from.
And Italy‘s first rehearsal at Eurovision fell into the latter camp.
The shots start out with a sonic boom effect on screen as the music starts, with Mahmood slowly making his way to the front of the stage. And there are some nice visual elements here.
The lyrics have been translated to English for some screens, in another burning bank notes flood the LED floor and in another Mahmood’s head is broken apart. The performance ends on a screen that reads, “money can’t buy you love“.
But overall the effect failed to make impact.
The vocal mix, as a likely result of lingering illness, sounded off.
Undoubtedly Mahmood remains a talented performer in possession of one of the best studio songs of the year.
But the live vocal was beset by problems. Moreover the stage felt too blue, dark and one-note to really make impact.
Italy has work to do here. Vocal problems as a result of illness cannot be helped, but the staging can be and changes need to be made to put Italy back in contention.
Mahmood – “Soldi”: Reviews and Reactions
Mahmood: First Rehearsal at Eurovision 2019
Mahmood: First Press Conference at Eurovision 2019
Coming soon
Read all of our Eurovision rehearsal reviews
Photo Credit: EBU
I think the dancers represent what the dark men opposite the child represented in the video of Soldi: the wrong values, like money, success, the values mahmood doesn’t want to follow. In fact they have silver glittering jackets, and mahmood, as we could see for the little part of reharsal published, doesn’t look at them, he’s turned away from them… Maybe it’s too symbolic and difficult to understand and we don’t guess at once what these dancers represent, i think it’s better if team italy explains the meaning of what they did and the symbols because sure there is a… Read more »
I forgot to mention Angus’s headline. Obviously referring to this song:
“I’m a deeper shade of blue
And there’s nothing I can do
You’re so far, far away…” 😛
(Okay, now I’m just being silly.)
Classic (vintage?) Europop ! 😉
Don’t think it needed the lyrics. Maybe Italy thought because it worked last year, do it again?
They have time to fix this. Mahmood is fine but they need to strip this back a little bit.
I just hope Team Italy read and listen — get rid of the backing dancers, they are an unnecessary distraction (from our singer, and also from the lyrics—however they appear). The only person we need on stage is Mahmood.
Backing dancers? Really?
Mahmood is great on his own. I think this works better if it’s just him, his song, and us. I hope he can sing his heart out next week, and have the chance to win.
Impressive innovation. They really want to let the audience understand the lyrics of the song. The music video also had elements that must be retained in the staging. Hope it all goes well towards the second rehearsal.
Mahmood can wear wherever he want, bring more or less of dancers, be without back screen effects – it’s all no matter, this guy has charisma & voice that no one other does. Love Portugal Conan as well, great personality and special vocal !! Kiss to Italy & Portugal.
Just came here to read your bitter comments. Y’all didn’t disappoint me.
Forza Mahmood!!! Albania is with you!
Every year, there are fan favorites that become less popular during rehearsals because of the staging. However, in a lot of cases, I think that fans overanalyze staging. In my opinion, the reason some favorites seem to disappoint during rehearsals is because the song wasn’t truly competitive against the other entries to start with. A song may trounce its competition at a national final or have an attractive music video, and if you don’t hear the whole song in the context of all the other Eurovision entries, you may not realize that the song itself has fundamental issues in competitiveness.… Read more »
I don’t know if it sounded or not like an Eurovision winner, but Soldi is really an amazing song, better than others that are higher in odds….
I kinda liked the song but already in Sanremo I thought that he was a dreadful performer. Now with his medical problems, this becomes even more clear. If Francesco Gabbani couldn’t win for Italy Mahmood has even lesser chances.
Ale, drink some ginger herbal tea. Your voice will be perfect for the final. Good job anyway. I love the outfit 🙂
No winner here. Awful performance.
Am a Little disappointed that the performance will not boost the odds and make the battle for the crown more open. Seems like his bulge showing of in the jumpsuit he wore at the meet & greet made a bigger impact…
Ok, this was really bad !!
Honestly, if I were in charge of Italy, instead of English lyrics occasionally in the background, I would’ve had english subtitles on the bottom of the TV’s viewers screens through AR or something since I feel that’s more effective and less distracting
They SORT of had the right idea with what they did with their song back in 2018….but those subtitles were too big and distracting all over the screen
Just…. normal subtitles, like for a movie. Might help since the translations to the Italian songs are always wonderful.
Or no subtitles would really be the best. I find them really cheesy however they are used. It’s like you don’t believe enough in the song when you have to put subtitles in front of peoples faces to help them “get it”.
It’s not that bad but Italy always disappoints live!
But never as much as Sweden, actually!
Lol, that’s funny!
Don’t quit your day-job!
Il Volo was amazing!!!
Judging the snippet only:
– – the dancers, who feel really out of place, English lyrics on the screen
+ – the graphics, which in my opinion work quite well with the song, Mahmood’s voice (boy, if that’s how he sings with a throat infection, then I can only imagine how well he’s gonna sound on the Saturday night)
Of course I know much less than Angus, but I kinda feel like the review could be affected by the hype and high expectations.
It will be alright on the night.
Based on the snippet, Mahmood sounds much better than expected for someone with a throat infection. For now I also don’t see a problem with the staging, it feels like the kind of performance we would watch in a live pop concert, with big screens showing edgy images and some dancers adding movement. Maybe the elements are crashing somehow? I don’t have access to the bigger picture, so I’ll have to wait for the second rehearsal before saying this review was too harsh as it seems.
OMG. What are you writing Angus,things so negativ about Mahmood and his Performance, I didn’t expect that from you . They still have one rehearsal I think that will on top. I watch it a tousand times on yt and looks amazing . Ok you see that Mahmood is not In good shape but despite of that he is still singing correctly and very emotional. He will win He deserves it!
Vai Italia e MAHMOOD facciamo chiudere la bocca a tutti…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzrfoZ_hHko&t=41s
Eurovoxx thinks it’s a positive performance!
Wiwibloggs you are losing the pieces!
Yes Eurovoxx are very professional
looks fine but no led should’ve been used. this song only needed sleek light and camera work.
They can still switch off the screen if it is too distracting.
Just saw it on yt. Looks fine and so does Mahmood. Angus is trolling us
Actually better than my expectations after reading this and seeing some pics, but also better to be honest in order to fix everything
mahmood is coming for angus’ hairline once he recovers from illness
I was expecting a mess after reading this article, but the upload on the Eurovision channel looks quite good and Mahmood sounds fine given he was sick
Yeah exactly, it’s not that bad. However the burning money LED is just a complete tamarrata.
i was on the press center and let me tell you: i have never seen more terrible camerawork on a eurovision rehersal. TOO-MANY-WIDESHOTS
this song literally BEGS for close-up shots on mahmood omg why do they do this
It’s called sabotage!
Classic Italy! Everyone loves the song pre rehearsal and then there’s bland staging and no one cares!
Celine Dion spoke!
The rehearsal performance appeared too forced and gimmicky compared to the pure class and sophistication of the Sanremo’s performance. Not sure if I’m gonna root for Italy now…
It seems almost all stagings are disappointing if I have to believe all the reviews and comments. Is the venue/stage itself so bad or what’s going on?
He sound perfect for me and I love staging
I liked what I saw in the rehearsal video, Mahmood’s voice aside, which is understandable. Get well soon Mahmood!
yeah the video seemed fine !! this such a negative review .
Do you understand that he is sick?
What do you value negatively if he is sick!
this is the first entirely negative wiwibloggs rehearsal review- was it really that bad? No, I’m asking, because I haven’t seen it. Was it so bad that you guys could think of literally nothing good to say about it?
That is a honest review from wiwi and they said that Mahmood is still sick in all of their post.
It’s a severe review for me. Eurovoxx was not so negative. And the press give mahmood the second place in the big5 reharsal, after bilal but better than the other singers, so I think it was not so horrible. What I see in the video published by eurovision wasn’t bad .
this year’s favourites are so disappointing. out of my top 5 – the netherlands, icalend, italy, slovenia and albania – only inceland didn’t disappoint me, and slovenia is -ish. no idea who’s going to win.
Let’s see the 2nd rehearsal, I think Netherlands will work very well, maybe replacing that cheap piano and making lasers look better
I got from that new interview from Wiwibloggs that apparently we could expect some more tomorrow. Apparently the first rehearsal wasn’t all they wanted to show, but you have to see through the lines because it wasnt made clear in an obvious way. And again there the wide angle was also a problem for the delegation
The Netherlands really disappointed me; the piano looks extremely cheep. 🙁 they are the biggest contender to win the consent, why didn’t they invest more money in the staging is beyond me :/
Because they want to keep it simple and true to the music. (I think most money is spent in special effects, attributes and fireworks? Im not sure). In that case those effects wont fit the song well. I think the camerawork is more crucial than effects.
But the article is about Italy so out of respect I wont go further 🙂
simple ? cheep. look at portual/salvador for more.
i’ve already commented on italy – it’s a mess. this is only the first rehearsal, let’s hope they will fix things that didn’t work. and i want our mahmood healthy 🙂
Yep, I agree, hoping in a lot of changes. First of all: the KAN’s wide-angle camera, which seems to be the Hubble Telescope itself
That’s a relatively negative article, was it so bad? I heard from live streams that there were too many wide shots (I get tired of it, it kills many good acts). Hopefully they can work on it, and hopefully it will work out.
It’s a shame since it’s my number two. They can’t waste an opportunity like that so easily
I saw the snippet on Twitter…
So, Italy’s staging looks horrible. What’s new?
What a disappointment. I really hope they work towards something more clean and minimalistic. This song needs no staging. It just needs Mahmood, hopefully he is recovering soon!
Sad…Hoped for more.. But there’s still time for improvement.