Sometimes in life you lose perspective on the bigger things.
But at the United Kingdom‘s first rehearsal at Eurovision 2019 Michael Rice showed us there is a bigger world out there.
Michael sounds fantastic and blends particularly well with his backing vocalists.
And in places there is staging promise. There’s an especially excellent shot where the backing dancers and Michel riff off one another around a pulsing circle of light.
And yet, at times, the UK staging felt lacking.
Michael spends a lot of the song on his own and at times seems to have no choreography to work with. He is charming in himself, but he can only do so much.
What this needs is direction and purpose. The final minute is powerful, but the UK is going to need more than one good minute to propel itself up the scoreboard at the Grand Final.
Michael Rice – “Bigger Than Us”: Reaction and Reviews
Coming soon
United Kingdom: First Rehearsal at Eurovision 2019
United Kingdom: First Press Conference at Eurovision 2019
Coming soon
Read all of our Eurovision rehearsal reviews
Photo Credit: EBU
Pure emotion and focus from North Macedonia’s Tamara
Interesting… So many countries are having that Universe/Stars/ Galaxy theme in their staying background this year.
well Im sure the he’ll get 12 points from Sweden because this year the Swede’s can actually vote for their own artist who is also representing a different country and Im sure their commentators will remind everyone of that
I think the staging is about right for the song and again, it keeps in with the more personal message of the song that Michael has been trying to put out there. Still, I think they need to work on how he acts on stage. It isn’t entirely natural.
This could surprise everyone at the grand finals just like Germany did last year!
This very much screams middle of the road to me. He is undoubtedly a good performer but there is very little to get excited about for it to be regarded as a serious contender. I really wish the UK would go for something more edgy, modern and urban. You can’t send a song like this and expect to do well unfortunately. There’s a good chance it won’t finish last, but that is hardly something to celebrate.
THIS IS F****** A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
That’s why I watch Eurovision.
Is he still smiling? On his Graham Norton appearance last week, he didn’t smile throughout the whole song. He barely moved from the spot either. It’s like they toned down all of the things that were endearing about him and made him win You Decide. A bad move. Don’t get me wrong – it for sure looks more professional, but I’m not sure that’s going to win him any televotes.
Hi Jonas. It is amazing how I can either completely agree with you sometimes, and then other times completely disagree 100%. 🙂 I was impressed by Michael’s performance on the Graham Norton show, because he took it seriously and was backed up by a whole lot of extra singers – the sound they made was awesome. It made me realise that the song is perhaps meant to be “bigger” than just six people on a stage, and therein may be the oversight for ESC. Michael is perhaps needing to over-perform the song in order to make up for the lack… Read more »
12 points from Malta , forza United Kingdom
Although honestly he was probably my second choice to represent us, I honestly believe that this is 10000 x better than Surie last year, the galaxy background isn’t really needed, but his voice is incredible, his stage performance kills, and there’s no way possible he can come last, because his voice is stunning. Hopefully Europe does him right, and votes for him, so we can get a better result than 24th. Good luck Michael.
He’s let down by the lyrics. “Bigger” 52 times in three minutes is too much and it is made worse that some of those are stretched to breaking point by Michael. I think that most people voting will find 10 songs they like more on the night.
It looks good and promising. It needs more direction and sharper camera angles to give this more impact. This will not finish in the bottom 5, it can’t it is far too food to finish that badly. Somewhere in the Top 13 I’ll think is deserved however I can settle for 14th-15th place but any less then that and I’ll say that’s when it gets insulting. I do agree with William’s views and I do concede that if they give him a “weightless” camera angle approach similar to Australia but not a complete cut and paste moment though. The visual… Read more »
UK is not ending up last, that is for sure!
Michael is great and he lifts this song up! With a better staging it could do decent..
Well done Michael, as always. 🙂
As for the star background… meh. But at least it allows Michael to shine on stage – this is fine.
Space themed backgrounds are trending almost as much as thigh high boots in this Eurovision. It looks good, though Slovenia and Australia did a better job on using it as part of a broader concept. Anyway, it seems that Michael will interact more with the backing vocals and they will play a bigger part, just what I’ve asked for when commented on the Wiwijury post. Maybe Michael doesn’t have much to do on the stage, but I prefer he focusing on his singing than doing pointless arm choreographies.
Ooo the shade on Belgium and Romania. 😛
On Belgium maybe (unintentionally, I swear), but I love Ester’s hand gestures! My point is: if your performer is a natural doing them, use it as much as you want like Romania’s doing. But when you have a singer that clearly doesn’t have a dance or acting background, why giving them a distraction from their actual job and risk making them feel or look uncomfortable? Imagine if Portugal decided to choreograph Salvador!
In principal I would love that to be true. But as a part-time singer, I occasionally get asked to do choreography or else lose the gig, and when that happens you can just get on and do it really. I’m sure that Salvador (in his healthy state) is perfectly capable of choreo, for example, and so is Michael Rice. 🙂
Oh, it would be fun to witness someone trying to convince Salvador to follow a choreography! 😀 What if we go with the common ground? Michael could be instructed to do things during the performance, but without being choreographed. Like, “at this moment, Michael, we want you to ask the crowd to sing with you, after that you will address the backing vocals”. And then just let he do his thing. As a performer, wouldn’t you prefer some freedom?
I can only comment on what I have seen in the short clip. It’s nice to see mike is a bit more stage confident. He was a bit rabbit in the headlights at EYD; so there’s a big improvement. Glad to see the eight year old dancing to westlife routine has been ditched too. I loved the beams of light to highlight the BV’s and the red/white/blue space theme gravitated the LED to the UK colours. Can’t wait to see more. Mike sounded awesome and so did the BV’s Will it win? Not a chance but it would be something… Read more »
Awww, a sweet comment. 🙂
Ps. The galaxy / universe LED will work well with the star shaped staging (i hope)
This looks good. I only hope the camera angles will be much better than on rehearsals (for most acts). Michael sounds great. I have good expectations. 🙂
seems like we got the bland, uninspiring staging we all were expecting
For sure he wont come last, Germany is heading there after their rehearsal
Is that a collab between D-Mol and Michael? 😉 Vocally he was good, and I’m confident he will do well on stage. I don’t know what to think about the staging, it is kind of what I expected. Maybe i would have looked well too or better if he was alone, and the camera was only following him instead of showing the entire stage. It’s difficult to elevate this song, without making it look like an X-factor performance indeed. I don’t know if that galaxy theme would fit this song. Maybe they should have copied Sweden’s staging, and then let… Read more »
Vocals sound great. Galaxy background is a bit meh ?
X-Factor cheese
Direction and purpose – exactly. The mv has so much depth and meaning – I wanted to see this translated on stage, to give the song some more ‘soul’. Michael sells this though – the BBC need to scrap the galaxy- looks cheap?
I hope things change for the second rehearsal, something’s lacking.
Dan Shipton should’ve done the staging (like in 2017 and 2018)
After the great staging we have had over the last couple of years (in particular Lucie Jones), I am quite disappointed. I thought we were getting better and better. This song NEEDS great staging. Michael himself, of course is flawless but I am worried.