Madrid is known for its sunny days and some very wild nights. And on Saturday a total of 27 acts from Eurovision 2023 dove into the madness at the PrePartyES 2023 from our friends at eurovision-spain.com.
Among them were a few acts making their pre-party debuts, including Armenia’s Brunette, Austria’s Teya & Salena, Finland’s Käärijä, France’s La Zarra, The Netherlands’ Mia & Dion, Switzerland’s Remo Forrer, and Sweden’s Loreen.
Hype was high for Loreen in particular. The Eurovision 2012 winner was performing “Tattoo” without her much talked-about LED screens. Do you think the song holds up without the visual spectacle?
Other acts, including the U.K.’s Mae Muller, Slovenia’s Joker Out, and Denmark’s Reiley, continued their promo tour, adding small tweaks in the process.
Madrid PrePartyES 2023: Who gave the best live performance?
We should note that several acts struggled with technical difficulties. Some managed to soar despite the hiccups, while others…well they didn’t cope as well.
In any case, who wowed you the most? Which acts surpassed your expectations on their debut…and which acts fell short? You can vote in our poll below. Then let us know which acts you chose by writing in our comments section down below…
Unfortunately, the more I listen to the songs the less I get enthusiastic towards them. Don’t get me wrong, they all have their qualities, and the performers are really impressive artists. Nonetheless I miss that sparkle from the 2021 version. It had a lot of iconic competitors with different styles and strong but also varied vocals such as Damiano from Maneskin, Barbara, Gjon, Dadi, Kateryna from Go A…those were very impressive. Maybe it hits differently acknowledging that we didnt have Eurovision for 2 years at that time..I miss this power here though, even among favourites such as Kaarija, Loreen, Alessandra,… Read more »
I am from Madrid, and so I know the arena very well as I go there often to parties and also to many medium sized concerts. The acoustics of the hall are dodgy at best, and vary from event to event, as most party producers bring their own equipment and they just plug it there, otherwise no DJ would ever play at La Riviera. If you don’t bring your own sound stuff, your only choice left is to put on with the very basic equipment which is provided by the arena, which makes everything sound awful. I think that was… Read more »
Without the staging loreen is average and just has a loud voice. Thoughts?
Even not Euphoria level, it’s still the song like to listen.
Sweden, Spain and Austria!! Iru is also very nice. Let’s go, girls!!!
I love Käärijä, very energetic, but the post-chorus sounds off-key :(.
I also love Lulu (oh, and dear, dear Konstrakta!) He teased more possibilities of the song, though it feels not very wholesome yet. Look forwards to the final version on ESC!
Oh, what a crime, I forgot dear Alika (Estonia). Flawless as always.
AUSTRIA WAS GREAT!
People seem to have misunderstood the question as always. It was “Who gave the best performance” not “What’s your favourite act”, but well………………… congratulations to Blanka, the Polish Chanel of 2023 !!
Bejbah~
Gustaph has the best vocal by far imho
Cuando aprenda a cantar sin un falsete impostado, hablaremos de su voz….por favor!
I don’t think Finland sounded bad. He serves and gives all out every single time. On the other hand Alessandra might hurt her chances with her “here I am love me, I don’t even have to sing” performances. She is ultra charismatic, likeable and all that, but I think she is very close to the line where the fans won’t appreciate what she is doing. Also, about technical difficulties, it is unacceptable, second time in Spain this happens. On the other hand, Kaliopi also had technical difficulties, Alika too, but they just put the monitor off and sang, slayed and… Read more »
Alessandro was just having fun, leave her be, we all know she can sing, the final product is gonna be amazing.
Lol you’re funny
And for the love of god Spain, if you have 28 acts performing, we don’t need no guests performing. 4 hours! Seriously?! That was exhausting!
Indeed! Too long and too late show!
All I know is that Denmark was godawful.
Yes and the netherlands.
Which he acknowledged and apologized for, showing a video on Insta of his soundcheck where everything was perfect. But, like several of the others, he was hit with tech issues doing the live performance. Thankfully this was just a pre-party. The quality of everything – including tech – will be at a much higher standard at the ESC shows.
Finland average vocal but most catchy
Norway flat
Loreen shouting and basic song
Austria went well
Spain vocally the best
Don’t understand the fascination with Blanca Paloma vocals. She is not bad, don’t get me wrong, but everyone going crazy about her vocals, while Alika from Estonia doesn’t get the recognition she deserves.
And they are not in the same league when it comes to vocals, although nobody is with Alika this year.
That’s because Estonia is a crap song
I wouldn’t say crap, but it is nothing special without an outstanding vocal. But you said Spain vocally the best. Not as a song/whole package, but vocally, and I hear that often. If we rank vocals in this contest, Alika is number 1 by a mile. After her we have Dilja, and Blanca is in a group with Swiss, Armenia, Georgia, Slovenia, Norway, Italy, France, Cyprus, Austria. And probably here there are more better than worse vocals than her. The song is very specific and it showcases her voice, but what that song lacks is actually that – even a… Read more »
And I forgot Loreen lol, although I dislike her song, she is a great vocal and performer.
So I think that this reaction is because people are generally suckers for ethnic things at Eurovision.
Yes, she used a great autotune in Madrid.
She can actually sing so don’t chat.
Seguro, esperamos que renuncie al autotune al exceso de reverberacion metálico y menos eco que no está en otro planeta rebotando a la tierra…. seguro que sin eso canta…
She did, but she can sing. As I said, I didn’t reply to performing particularly here, whole package, song, etc, just to “the best vocal” label.
Blanca is among better singers this year in a strong lineup, but she is not even close to the best vocal. That’s all.
it’s a lovely ballad, something we don’t hear every year in the contest tbh
Netherlands, Estonia, Italy have by best ballads this year
Comentario de mierda…supongo eres español
Alika IS very good singer but if you have a Minimum knowledge of vocal technique you know that what Blanca Paloma does IS very difficult, in many moments of her performance she could easily get out of Breath, she is constantly changing the type of voice and constantly singing. She even sings acapella.
Loreen was great idc.
Te falto mimicat
Loreen’s song is far from basic, very ethnic masterpiece
Austria slayed, go girls! They sounded fantastic and I can’t wait to see how they will stage and perform in Liverpool. Belgium, too!
Other than that, most other songs kind of failed me. Australia did not sound good, Armenia and the Netherlands, too. Malta was messy, so was Czechia (although I loooove the song).
Let’s see. So far the winner of live performances (to me) is Belgium, Gustaph consistently delivers a solid performance.
Good luck to everyone and can’t wait to see all entries on stage!
Gustaph con un falsete forzado y la rever al máximo? Cantar cantar……en fin…dónde estudiaste canto ?
honestly Portugal and France, even with problems with the in ears and microphone they Gave a wonderful performance
For me the best part of this pre party was how relaxed and at home all participants felt. Blanca Paloma did a great job as hostess, she was really nice and warm with everyone and they all seemed to have a great time.
Ireland is improving! I like the entry much more live now than before. The video and the revamp was an anti- climax and have not helped the entry progress however the live performances do. The strength of this entry is the band itself who are entertaining and likeable. Sell Sell Sell Connor and the other band members for ESC and Ireland might just have a chance to qualify.
Finland didn’t sound that good at all, people are just voting for their favorites in these polls regardless of the performance
Exactly what happens at the contest itself these days
Yes, Käärijä was too excited and overperformed, which made the performance messy and vocally weak (shouting most of the time). This type of songs need balance and self-control.
Aplicalo a Bélgica.,que los berridos en falsete no es cantar…. independientemente de ue el tema te guste este bien o lo que quieras…
He obviously didn’t care
Of corse
A bit overenertic or exchausted, but fortunately doesn’t matter to be every show perfect.
He was having fun, it’s a pre party after all, they don’t need to try, he already prove he can sing before.
Even at his “worst” he was still better than a lot of other performances that night. I think you’re grasping for straws here
Exacto, leo muchas tonterías aqui
It is not his best. But: 1). He can do better, as in NF; 2). Even if he accidentally performs bad on ESC, with his popularity, he still can secure a decent rank, like here (though, of course, losing the chance of winning.)
All of them were absolutely terrible
No mimicat
That was just a pointless ballerman-booze-roaring event.
Finland was absolutely the best!
Poe
The Austrian girls slayed!
A lot of people are taking the pre-parties seriously. They’re parties, for gods sake. It isn’t rehearsal for esc. The artists are supposed to have fun and relax. And the endless complaints about the technical problems! There is no rule that says that the pre-parties are supposed to have esc-level production, is there? Like not everyone will have the budget. It’s not like everyone gets to go to the pre-parties, so enjoy the moment people!!
You’re right we don’t need to have the esc-level production in these parties but the technical issues affecting really some artists and their integrity are annoying, when these issues prevent the artists to show their real capacity or when it makes them appear as a non good singer compared to those lucky who didn’t get problems, it’s not fair and the reputation is something quickly made is this esc world, too quickly imo and a bad reputation again more quickly unfortunately.
So maybe some complaints are legitimate and can help to not have the same issues the next time.
Quizás que los artistas tienen pocos recursos vocales y pocas tablas…porque en un club de jazz la gente canta sin retorno…mimicat voló estos problemas con solvencia…por ejemplo
Yeah sure Alessandra and La Zarra “pocos recursos vocales y pocas tablas….” lol come on and Mimicat didn’t get issues she was lucky.
Maybe in a small jazz club you can hear yourself without ears because you don’t have a crowd screaming in front of you and because the room is smalle, in any case you always need to hear yourself to sing correctly.
So don’t make conclusions too quickly.
Obviamente una sala Granda necesita retorno de algún tipo …yo ni hablaba de Alessandra o la Zarra…la Zarra peco más de inseguridad que de solvencia vocal…Alessandra cumplió..Blanca y Mimicat se salieron …y Mimicat tenía mucho ruido de fondo….pero las tablas son las tablas querido….he trabajado más de 10 años con directos con músicos y vocalistas d eexcelencia
Sobral cantaba muchas veces sin retorno por ejemplo, no le funcionó en la final del FDC y fue impecable….
I agree… These performances sometimes do ruin the opinion fans have on the artists unfortunately. And i never thought about the unfairness when some artists don’t have any technical issues.
Agree with all you say Addie, but you only have to look at polls like this from previous years to spot how often a poor pre-parting showing correlates with a dnq when the semis come around.
Yes, unfortunately people assume that if the pre-party performances are bad, they won’t have any potential in esc.
All this is just extra unnecessary stress for the artists :/
As far as the underdogs go Australia’s performance was awesome. Vocal on point and great stage presence. Thought they were one of the most cohesive acts of the night. Also Austria had a strong night and the crowd went wild for Finland.
I’m not saying Finland is an underdog btw. First 2 yes, Finlands comment was a general observation before I get yelled at. Lol
you could really see Voyager have so much experience performing for big audiences <3
much respect for their female guitarist too, despite that much light effects keep on slaying, with her migrain condition
Loreen
imagine loving plastic fastfood trash, wish sweden would withdraw for good, what do they add to eurovision, NOTHING
the hate loreen is getting in wiwibloggs comments makes me not wanna visit this website anymore. it’s honestly really sad.
it’s not that deep from me honestly, i would just want sweden to go with an entry in their native language again soon, i totally would’ve supported and voted for Theoz’s Mer Av Dig, how uplifting and good fun it is, i know Loreen can sing in swedish too, am not her fan lol but i like those songs from her
Indeed it is sad but trust me Swedes are getting used to this kind of hate , bullying and picking. This happens every year…and always the same dumb comments. Yes we take this contest seriously, we don’t send songs just to stand out and to be different / funny or whatever it is Europe want’ s us to be. If we would do so then it wouldn’t even be good enough and people would still try and find something else to complain about. And we wouldn’t get far in the contest by doing so either , surely just worse. We… Read more »
I’m gonna go with Mimicat, and was also very pleased with Brunette’s debut after that little hiccup at the beginning.
Alika just ahead of Reiley in the poll? Huh, that’s not right.
You’re absolutely right Alika should be among the first of this poll
Yes, Mimicat was effortlessly good
Brunette was not bad, however, watching the whole performance left me with a weird empty feeling: did not understand a word she said, she was rather blunt and lacking passion and energy.
Piqued Jacks!! Can’t wait for the music video to come out.
Go San Marino!
on the other hand, doing a pre-party and singing while drunk, I find that not at all respectful for those who come to see the show and who pay for tickets. if Norway was really drunk, she could wait until the end of her shift to drink out of respect. I was disappointed and shocked by his behavior. you have to think about the public who moved to listen to you
His? Is Alessandra now Alessandro
Come on she was not the only one, and it’s a Pre PARTY, the artists have the right to have fun too. She performed at almost 2am and she made the job.
Alot of artists even global superstars have a drink or two before concerts or even during. It’s nothing neither new nor shocking. Lighten up a bit.
I cannot judge my winner, which is France, given all the technical problems it has experienced. just her ending acapella, the vibe she put on stage and her amazing outfit. so i would say france slovenia portugal . my disappointments are Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. austria it was not crazy but better than some duo
Sweden disappointment? Why? Loreen was flawless
Autotune was flawless indeed !
C’mon! She can sing without!
Autotune, eco and reverberation
El autotune estuvo perfecto, la reverberación también aunque excesiva y el eco…para que?….si estuvo perfecto tecnológicamente si no fuera irreal (soy técnico de sonido)
Do they have any good sound techinicians in Spain because both this and the Barcelona pre-party had endless techinical problems. Artists not sounding as good because of it, resulting in critical reactions and bad press.
That aside, I really enjoyed Austria, Sweden, Slovenia and Lithuania.
Denmark, Netherlands and Serbia were the worst of the evening imo.
Spain is overhyped and although Mae Muller for the UK had her best performance yet, there’s still some trouble with her vocals which need to be improved for Liverpool
Espera a Londres …aunque lo de Madrid fue insuperable…igualmente los artistas no tienen directos y todos se apoyan en exceso en la tecnología…..mimicat no tuvo problemas técnicos? O tenía tablas y manejaba un directo? Salir del estudio es un baño de realidad.. soportado en técnica o no
Spain. One guitarist and one Blanca Paloma: That’s all it took. No LEDs, no fireworks, not even a beat setting the tempo; just a free flowing flamenco song.
(N.B. I haven’t had time yet to see all of them; sorry about that!)
I have to say that while the song is in my top 10, this pared back performance didn’t gel with me. I missed the beat and tempo and by the end it was annoying me. Philistine maybe but it wasn’t for me.
Loreen stans work hard to downvote anything that praises Blanca Paloma hahaha!
Blanca deserves to flop so hard either, she and Loreen are so horrible of this year, yuk
Ahaha. Kaliopi is extraordinary, but I believe she has already entered ESC for the maximum allowed three times as a solo artist. There might be some leeway, however, as her first entry was an untelevised non-qualification. 🙂
No, Kaliopi has only entered twice and Purple Mask is pulling that “rule” directly from high up in their anus
Indeed, yes, as far as I remember. Jimmie Wilson is the dude.
Difficult question seeing the sound conditions…
Blanca, Loreen, Mimicat, Alika were flawless for sure, lucky to not have issues, the others made the best they could with what they got 😉 only the real will have the ref.
I forgot Teya and Salena who did well too.
Loreen llevaba exceso de autotune una rever muy metálica y subida de tono (casi marciana) y un efecto eco…..y encima era evidente o indiscreto …en las demás estoy de acuerdo.. excepto blanca que no sostiene su directoó
Ireland and Spain getting votes for performance wtf 😀 😀 i must have seen a different concert. Spain was dull and booring, no need to comment Ireland. Worst performance was Netherlands and Denmark. Best performances was Finland and Portugal. Austria was medium, they vocals were meh, but chorus was fine. Sweden’s phone was so loud you could hear it around the globe, and tattoo is meh, euforia is king. It’s like everybody wants her to win. Getting last position. Getting to play her golden song. Why do anyone want a meh medium song to win Eurovision… If she wins this… Read more »
La Zarra did it tonight on TV, she can largely, you can check.
Wild youth have just started a major promo campaign online so that explains their votes
?
Of corse
Spain, Austria, Finland, Portugal, Malta and Ireland
Both Joker Out and Mimicat delivered impressive live performances characterized by flawless execution on stage, showcasing their exceptional talent and charisma as performers.
Belissimo.
It hurts me how predictable OGAE ignores Spain this year, they’re gonna be very sad in May if Blanca Paloma wins over Loreen. 🙂
Spanish people always think they have a golden child, relax on the selfloathing pls.
I think the same. If Loreen is being overrated that’s wrong but if it’s someone from Spain then it’s all good.
Blanca Paloma maybe will win the jury but the televote will bury her. A Top 10 for sure but not the first place (something that the spanish people doesn’t understand)
Why should Tattoo win over EaEa? The latter is at least of equal quality. And Blanca Paloma doesn’t use autotune.
PS: I’m not from Spain
Quality doesn’t win televoting, instant accessibility does. Patricia Kaas didn’t win televoting. Neither did Anouk or Rona Nishliu to name a few. “EaEa” is a very difficult song for the average European to digest at first listen. And this will reflect on the results. Of course it will do well but the expectation to beat “Cha cha cha”, “Queen of Kings” or “Tattoo” in televoting is just unrealistic.
This is treating televoters like little children that do not know quality.
No, I never said that. This conclusion sounds like a reductio ad absurdum and it’s also offensive against children – ‘children and fools tell the truth’ after all. I just made an observation based on previous facts without any condescending connotations – there’s nothing wrong in appreciating what makes you connect instantly and enjoy. That said, televoters have made some questionable choices over the years, but who am I -or you- to judge them?
Es lo que hay
It’s very naive to say that instant accessibility wins televoting. It depends, but then Portugal won in 2017 and that wasn’t instant.
And where did I spoke for televoting? It doesn’t have to win televoting to win Eurovision.
I think the key word of my comment, which I should had probably emphasised, was not ‘instant’ but ‘accesibility’. Portugal 2017 was accessible to larger audiences, while “EaEa” is very hard to process -especially with just one listen- for the average European that hasn’t listened to Flamenco nuevo before. Portuguese, Greeks, and a few other Mediterranean people might get it but that’s it, and even they might need a few listens to get into it. I played the song to a few North and Central European friends and the reaction was extremely negative. You didn’t mention televoting indeed, some other… Read more »
They obviously don’t have to like it, but your friends’ reaction to EaEa was also extremely negative? On my behalf, please remember to tell them they’re extremely narrow-minded and obtuse music listeners, thanks in advance.
Sure, I should probably also tell the same to all the Euopean viewers that won’t vote for Spain in May. And explain to them that if they are not familiar with a culture they are narrow-minded even if they try to understand it – no, they have to like it, because it’s ‘quality’ or ‘exceptional’ or whatever. Please remember to warn the people that you chat with, that you don’t disapprove patronising and condensceding attitudes, thanks in advance.
2017 era pura emoción, y el sobconsciente reaccióno a ello y a su belleza mágica….o crees que alguien de aquí o del telévoto se enteraba de que escuchaba un clásico americano de los 40 tipo col Porter con la bossa de los 50..en un equilibrio jazzístico basado en tres acordes ……? Lo dudo…la mayoría ni siquiera veían más que una antigüedad colocada el 20 en los ránkings..
Ni siquiera vieron que la fuerza de amar pelos sois atrajo a gente fuera del esc (como yo) y que entramos por él y lo votamos…
Infelizmente, pero no por eaea , si no por sacar al esc dnela mediocridad media y del mainstream
Es que hay más opciones……
Arrogancia…y vender la piel del oso antes de cazarlo…..para una vez que envían calidad deberían relajarse y no darse contra las paredes del mainstream….al no ser que solo quieran el triunfo a cualquier precio….y soy español (catalán la verdad)
Loreen stans downvoted XD
Finland was the best.
Kaarija’s performance fired up the public. To me it seemed like the most enjoyable of the night and I can’t wait to hear thousands of people screaming cha cha cha in Liverpool. After seeing the reaction of the crowd thus could really be a televote winner. I loved Mimicat and now I think she’s a safe qualifier. Mia & Dion sounded pretty bad I don’t think they can manage to qualify in the semifinal of hell they’re in. Teya & Salena gave a good performance. Alessandra’s vocals weren’t great but we will see in Liverpool. Overall all the performances were… Read more »
The new ochestrations of “Évidemment” and “EaEa” sounds fantastic. They elevate the live performance, making them a 3 min of grand and epic show.
Armenia and Austria were the revelations in this one. Solid vocal performances for both.
Austria SLAYED