We continue this second day of rehearsals with welcoming Eden Alene, Roxen and Efendi on to the Eurovision stage. As the other acts, they have 30 minutes to rehearse stage presence, vocals, camera angles etc.

This morning, we saw the first rehearsals from Cyprus, Norway, Croatia and Belgium. After a little lunch break, we continued with Israel, Romania and Azerbaijan.

Let’s check out the rehearsals from these next three countries. The article is being updated during each rehearsal so remember to come back or refresh to catch the latest news.

Contrary to other years, this time, the first run through of each rehearsal was closed. This is the one where they test vocals. After that, each country had two rounds which were available for the press to watch.

Israel: Eden Alene – Set Me Free

A dark start for Eden and her five male dancers, but the lights soon come on and we find her all in white. Eden is a natural on the stage, but first run through she just seems to miss the notes, through ironically not the whistle at the end.

Mid song the dancers pulled at Eden’s costume and off came the white one and into a black bodysuit, but the costume change didn’t go quite as planned first time. Nevertheless this is as catchy and upbeat as Eurovision can be and the performance excuded joy.

The stage colours are like Croatia, all purple, pink and blue and the lights pulsate during Eden’s performance. Not so sure if she maybe should have brought a couple of backing singers, and two less dancers, yet clearly she can handle the stage on her own. The costume change was better second time round, and the dancers put a hair crown on her head, while the words Set Me Free appeared at the back of the stage. Just a tiny bit of work needed here and Eden should be fine.

 You can watch pictures of Israel’s rehearsals at eurovision.tv. You can watch Eden’s rehearsal video below.

Romania: Roxen – Amnesia

More dancers on stage for Roxen’s performance. Roxen was in a green tracksuit, not sure if this will be her final costume. She spins round a lot and  gets thrown about and that is knocking the sound off.

From basic colours at the start, the screen fills up with a purple sky, and towards the end Roxen seemed to give up on the vocals a bit. Perhaps the second run through will be tighter.

So smokes rises from the stage and Roxen returns, The singer gets off to a good start, but as she says herself in the song, she’s losing herself. Red smoke bellows and the dancers look like extras from the Chernobyl Diaries movie. Perhaps Roxen should have brought some more singers. This is very disappointing for Roxen, hopefully the team will go and help her fix what’s missing. We can’t have Romania miss the final for a third time.

 You can see pictures of Romania’s rehearsals at eurovision.tv. You can watch part of Roxen’s rehearsal video below.

Azerbaijan: Efendi – Mata Hari

Our third lady in a row, and Efendi comes on strong with the vocals right from the start. A golden globe can be seen behind her, and her four female dancers. A snake appears in the golden globe.  The performance is full of mystique and very middle eastern.

The globe starts spinning wildly at the last bridge of the song, spitting out fire. For Azerbaijan though, there isn’t a surprising wow moment in the staging. Efendi vocalizes well, and let’s see what she offers second time round.

A curtain drops then, and of Efendi goes. The curtains change colour against the black that the singer is wearing. You notice how short Efendi is compared to her dancers.  The musical beat actually sounds good on the stage, but Efendi seems a little subdued during the dancing. Nonetheless, Azerbaijan should be pleased with this rehearsal.

You can see photos of Azerbaijan’s performance at eurovision.tv.. You can watch a brief excerpt of Efendi’s performance below.