The dancefloor. A campfire. Transylvania.

Three different settings. Three different nations. Three second rehearsals.

Reactions to second rehearsals at Eurovision 2019: Switzerland, Latvia and Romania

Switzerland: Luca Hannï with “She Got Me”

Switzerland looked stronger at this morning’s second rehearsal.

Luca Hannï today looked more like a man enjoying himself than a man finding his camera marks.

The choreography is complex, but today the dance troupe looked like a crack team. They knew their moves and it also feels as if some of the “goofier” elements from the first rehearsal have been swapped out.

The dance breakdown climax with pyro, lasers and static on the screens is particularly effective. This is a compelling visual proposition and showed vocal improvements despite illness Luca sounded together.

Luca looks the cool dancefloor presence he needs to be. Switzerland should be among the ten qualifiers next Thursday.

Latvia: Carousel with “That Night”

Latvia have made minor tweaks to their stage show.

In Carousel’s favour it is at least better lit so we can see the band more clearly and make better connection with them through the camera.

However, the reality remains that “That Night” is a quieter song, sandwiched between louder entries from Switzerland and Romania.

In some instances that can be an advantage, but in this case Carousel feel outgunned.

Romania: Ester Peony with “On a Sunday”

In a similar sense to Georgia, Romania’s first rehearsal felt like an exercise in throwing the spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.

But at the second rehearsal Romania felt more focused, with clearer transitions betweens scenes (Atlantis, Woodland, Fire) and pyro added at the right times to amp up the tension.

Ester sounded fantastic, and the Romanians have added several “statement” camera shots, which only heaps the pressure on other songs in the semi-final.

Ester Peony – “On a Sunday”

Check out all of our rehearsal news here

Photo Credit: EBU

34 Comments
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Briekimchi
Briekimchi
4 years ago

As someone who really doesn’t like the Switzerland song, I have to admit…they are doing a good job presenting it. Luca could do a better job of singing it but then again, it’s not like his vocal needs to be perfect. Romania seem like they are overegging the pudding a little bit. Whatever happened to less is more?
Latvia aren’t changing nothing for nobody. They’re sticking to what they want to do and you’ve got to appreciate that.

AurelianTamisan
AurelianTamisan
4 years ago

Latvia is just lovely, what if they are qualifying? I don’t get why Romania is dropping in the betting odds. But the 2 dancers are indeed a very bad decision and many people adviced Ester to not bring dancers into her performance.

Whisker
Whisker
4 years ago

The rehearsal video is available, not officially but it’s published on YT. The choreography is cringeworthy. In the beginning they had these workout moves – dynamic wide squats, some sort of lunges and more. IT WAS TERRIBLE! WORKOUT MOVES! And not only in the beginning of the performance! Ditch the dancers or change the choreo.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

Couldn’t agree more. I’ve written some similar things when commenting on this post and others, the camerawork has been consistently bad in the snippets, with a few exceptions. There’s a lack of rhythm and some ugly angles like the ones in Switzerland’s performance. Since it’s a general issue, I believe we can exonerate the delegations.

ESC LOU
ESC LOU
4 years ago

For me the camera work in Switzerland’s performance was a bit weird, I actually quite like Latvia’s performance and don’t get me started on Romania well her vocals in this clip sounded a lot better but the staging just doesn’t make sense sorry!

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

What’s going on with the cameras this year? Switzerland: weird angles here, trapping Luca and his dancers in the upper half of the screen. If the whole performance is shot like this, it will be tough to pay attention to the choreography. He seems more natural and sounded better. Still hard to judge though. Latvia: in Supernova, it had beautiful camerawork and cinematography, it’s all gone now, ruining the vibe for me. I feel for the band. Romania: the wide shots could be helpful if the snippet were showing all the crazy stuff that will happen during the performance. I’m… Read more »

Denis
Denis
4 years ago

Anyone else bothered by the overuse of wide shots? For every single song! That destroys most songs.
We get it, the stage is great, no need to show it. I want to see the artists, not the audience.

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Yep, it’s almost as if they were trying to say: “we paid a ton of money for this stage, now you’re gonna watch it ALL THE TIME”.

Michael
Michael
4 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Swedish producers, so Scandinavian countries no problems with the cameras and other technical issues.

Helene
Helene
4 years ago
Reply to  Michael

Well there are Swedish help almost every year. So your comment is just not fair.

Ethan1994
Ethan1994
4 years ago
Reply to  Michael

Well, we didn’t have this problem when it was held in Stockholm.

Denis
Denis
4 years ago
Reply to  Michael

So? The last three editions were Swedish too. Did you see overuse of wide shot for every entry there?

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago

Quick review #8:
Switzerland – it’s fine, but still doesn’t light up my fire. The shots are… decent, the visuals cool, the choreography alright, but the performance is just not energetic enough for my liking.
Latvia – that long distant shot in the beginning just hurts. It’s a nice staging with a relaxing summer vibe, but it just won’t be memorable enough for the viewers, it just won’t. What a pity tho.
Romania – I’m not feeling it. The camera work still needs some fixing. And the armchair feels just kinda unnecessary. On the other hand Ester sounds very good.

Whisker
Whisker
4 years ago

I find that Romania’s dancers are absolutely disturbing. Absolutely disturbing. Her make-up is bad too, so washed out. Do a dramatic eye with greys and blues. The sleeves of the coat cover that vein design, it looks like there something nasty running down the sleeve. Those dancers need to GO AWAY.

Andy
Andy
4 years ago

I totally agree. And this is why AUS stands out so far (and I guess Sweden will as well) as they only have close ups. Imagine if they did a pun out and we could see the pipes! I suppose other countries want close ups as well, GRE probably does but don’t know why they don’t get them.

Whisker
Whisker
4 years ago
Reply to  Andy

I personally enjoy a lot Portugal’s stage, there is something exotic about it. I like the red too.

Andy
Andy
4 years ago

Just saw Luca’s official clip. Gosh, the camera angles this year have had a negative impact on almost everyone (excl. AUS, and naturally SWE). Vocals a bit shaky as well.

Minerva
Minerva
4 years ago

The second rehearsal definitely looked better than the first. I like Romania’s song from the beginning and Ester looks good on stage….her singing and her presence. I do hope we see her in the final.

no no no just stop please
no no no just stop please
4 years ago

So what? You are doing no favor to Romania to talk all the time about it. Just stop with all your stupidity. You are so wrong!

Fair
Fair
4 years ago

If Tamta improves her vocals, she will end up higher than Switzerland.

Minerva
Minerva
4 years ago
Reply to  Fair

She didn’t sound well, did she? Is she saving energy for later?? Well, as a member of the public I’m not feeling inclined to vote for Cyprus. I do hope she improves her vocals.

Riku
Riku
4 years ago

Please correct Luca’s name, it’s Hänni, not Hannï. Great rehearsals btw 🙂

Whisker
Whisker
4 years ago
Reply to  Riku

It’s a play on William’s and Deban’s signature ho-NEY 🙂

im tired
im tired
4 years ago

Latvia is the perfect example that Salvador made all losers think they can win.
What is written on Sergey t-shirt here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NG4S-hQjYM

Nikki
Nikki
4 years ago

Let’s be honest, I love Latvia, but is going to get lost between Switzerland and Romania.

Off Topic: Francesco Gabbani and Alex Rybak have just dropped new songs and one is a banger and the other one is so lovely.

Michèle
Michèle
4 years ago
Reply to  Nikki

Just heard Francesco’s new song – love it!

Serhatari
Serhatari
4 years ago

Switzerland will qualify, but I think it has a chance of missing the top 10. The song is so overrated and I really don’t get the hype over it!

No wonder its odds are getting BIGGER in the betting

Burger
Burger
4 years ago
Reply to  Serhatari

Ever since Amsterdam I have thought Switzerland is overrated – that said they don’t qualify very often so that may be a win in itself (unless it crashes and burns in the Armenian pyrotechnics and fails to qualify)

esc1234
esc1234
4 years ago

Cant wait to see despafuego flop, its ok to be inspired by something but its not ok to shamelessly copy it.

Max
Max
4 years ago
Reply to  esc1234

What a dumb comment. You really don’t know the definition of a copy.

Sam
Sam
4 years ago

Switzerland will be in the final after many years, but it will flop on Saturday, mark my words.

Tobias
Tobias
4 years ago
Reply to  Sam

Every qualifier from Semi 2 will rank at least #15 because Semi 1 is much weaker…

VanillaGirl
VanillaGirl
4 years ago
Reply to  Tobias

Actually, I disagree with you.

Skiwalko
Skiwalko
4 years ago
Reply to  Tobias

Like that has never happened before, and I highly doubt it’s gonna be the case this year. Even with a super strong semi-final 1 last year, there were 2 acts that finished outside of the top 15.