Today’s rehearsals were the last opportunity for individual rehearsals before attention turns to the first rehearsal of the first semifinal. The countries who automatically qualify for the final were on stage for the second consecutive day.
Lithuania had made a number of changes to the presentation of their song, including singing the final chorus in Russian. Sasha Son was not a happy man at his conference, saying "Today the lighting was better and the complete view is now rather good. I am however, very upset that we cannot use our video during the song. My video expresses my thoughts and views. I’m very offended that I’m told I cannot use it. My show is nothing without the video."
Like Lithuania, the Moldovans were not completely satisfied with their final rehearsal. The sound and camera work were the subjects of their criticisms. Singer Nelly Ciobanu revealed that her dress features Swarowski stones.
Albania’s Kejsi Tola was happier with her rehearsal. In her conference, she was asked about the length of time she had to prepare for the contest, having won the Albanian final in December. She said she was happy to have so much time to get ready for the contest. Much attention focused on one of the dancers, who looked like a green version of Spiderman. Julian Bulku, the choreographer, answered, saying that he represents Kejsi’s prince who will only have a face when she finds the love of her life.
More technical problems were experience by the Ukrainians. Add to that the fact that not everything about the performance has been shown yet, who knows the impact Svetlana will make next Thursday. She said she is thinking about wearing a large belt with her name on it.
Estonia bucked the trend today, saying about their rehearsal, “The second rehearsal went very good, we’re almost ecstatic.” They were keen to emphasise that they want Urban Symphony to be regarded as a group.
Ever the showmen, De Toppers entered their press conference on bicycles. Eurovisionary was there to capture this moment and a link to the video of this is below. The first press conference saw them perrform a Big Band version of Shine. Today, there was a Honky Tonk version. This was also recorded by Eurovisionary and the link is also below.
The French delegation was the first of the finalists to rehearse. Patricia said in her conference that her representatives set a condition that they would choose her song for Moscow. At the end of the conference, Patricia was given a Diamond Disc for Russian sales of her album, Kabaret.
Hosts Russia were next and even they weren’t totally happy with the technical details, delaying their rehearsal to sort out some camera issues. Anastasia Prikhodko wore a long white dress and confirmed at her conference that it will be what she wears in the final. The delegation were keen to stress that what was seen on stage today was only about 10% of what will be seen next Saturday.
At the German’s press conference, Oscar was asked about the difference between Russian and German girls. He replied "If a girl is hot, she’s hot, no matter where she comes from." They were very happy with today’s rehearsal, believing it to be significantly better than the first one yesterday.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has still not been seen on stage during rehearsals for the United Kingdom. The main problem the delegation is having is with the camera shots. They want to strike a good balance between singer Jade and Andrew. Overall, they were happy with the rehearsal.
The Spanish song, La Noche Es Para Mi, was written with a Greek artist in mind. Soraya is quite happy to be representing Spain with the song, and gave a strong performance in her rehearsal.
You can see photos of the press conference by following the links below, or by visiting the Photo Albums section.
Links
De Toppers on bicycles
Honky Tonk version of ‘Shine’
Moldova 2nd press conference
Lithuania 2nd press conference
Estonia 2nd press conference
The Netherlands 2nd press conference
