Today, the first acts from the second semi-final took the stage in Ahoy Rotterdam for their first rehearsals. They followed after two days with semi-final one acts. In the morning slot, it was time to see what Senhit, Uku Suviste, Benny Cristo and Stefania was up to.
The past two days have been filled with the acts from the first semi-final. Today, and tomorrow, we will see the acts from the second semi-final fine-tune their performances on the big Eurovision stage.
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Let’s check out the rehearsals from these four 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.
San Marino: Senhit – Adrenalina
Straight in, Senhit oozes the freaky groove with a golden cross on her head, with religious motifs. She is dressed in black, although there are many colours around her. Four dancers join her on her turning platform. They have bandages covering their head, and are in white, wearing red boots. The stage is full of colour as would have been expected in this performance. Senhit’s vocals are not bad at all, and this gets the second half of to a good start. Flames burst from the stage, and images of Senhit are displayed.
And then comes the break and here comes Flo Rida to do his part, but wait, either he’s had cosmetic surgery, or this isn’t Flo Rida. As it turns out, the replacement does his rapping good enough and the song moves on. Prior to the rehearsals this song was fancied to make the finals, and on today’s showing, nothing changes that.
You can see photos from San Marino’s rehearsal at eurovision.tv.. You can watch a part of Senhit’s performance below.
Estonia: Uku Suviste – The Lucky One
Uku has been a little quiet since winning Eesti Laul 2021, so it was great anticipation he hit the stage for his rehearsal. He starts the song almost a cappella in front of a large moon. The jumping in the water video remains, but the rest of the stage is a little barren. Towards the end the stage lights up in red, with lightning crashing down, but other than that the whole staging is quite stagnant.
Perhaps it was the feed, but Uku’s vocals came up a little short on the first showing, which was disappointing.
On the second viewing smoke rose from the stage, by the side of the background moon, and it appears Uku, hasn’t brought many backing vocals, as all the full noise on the record, have gone. The biggest issue is that the performance doesn’t have much volume about it, as this is a terrific song. The backing chorus is way off the mark, and this will need to be fixed, if Estonia want to reach the final.
You can see photo’s of Estonia’s rehearsals at eurovision.tv. You can watch part of Uku’s rehearsals below.
Czech Republic: Benny Cristo – omaga
The second man in a row, Benny appears in a gold jacket with his newly dyed blonde hair. Benny appears with two street dancers, and the whole show is quite casual. Benny strolls across the stage while different colours flash all over the stage. The whole thing feels totally relaxed.
Eventually two ladies, also in street clothes join the mix, and they dance around the stage. Benny seemed quite confident, as he should, there was nothing to worry about in the rehearsal. In the second run through he was missing some of the lines, as if he’s resting his voice or has a sore throat. At times he was whispering. The staging is very plain, but effective, and while it’s mainly the five people dancing on stage, they make good use of all the available floor.
You can see photo’s of the Czech Republic rehearsal at eurovision.tv. You can watch a part of Benny’s rehearsal below.
Greece: Stefania – Last Dance
Stefania is wearing a tight purple bodysuit with matching boots. We have been warned before, that since they are using digital effects they may not be fully seen during rehearsals.
There were many spotlights on the stage. Stefania starts in the middle of the stage singing, with a pink background. As the show progresses four dancers appear using green screen technology and as a result all the effects can’t be seen properly. What you can see is that Stefania climbs imaginary stairs which disappear, making it look as if she’s flying in the air. There is lots of images of buildings in the background. The dancers lift her back down on to the stage again. They then continue to dance, all in white, with her on the stage. The vocals well were no better, nor worse than any of the other performers.
You can see photo’s of Greece’s rehearsals at eurovision.tv. You can see part of Stefania’s rehearsal below.
