Rehearsals on day three finally started on time with a treat for those of us that got to the Crystal Hall early. Serbia’s Zeljko has hard acts to follow from his previous songs. What did we think?
A few people could argue that this song is typical Zeljko. You know exactly what you’re going to get: a strong Balkan ballad with heavy orchestration. And for those of us that like that sort of thing, we were not disappointed.
The setting is very dramatic. It’s basically dark with swirling galaxies on the video wall behind Zeljko and his band. He is joined on stage by two violinists, a pianist, a percussionist and flautist – the same flautist that was on stage for Lane moje in 2004.
Zeljko walks onto the stage as the song’s introduction plays – his usual ploy. He then sings with most of his band moving around him. There is one moment when the two violinists ‘duel’ and play facing each other. The camera picks this up brilliantly.
This song builds as you would expect it to. Zeljko himself appeared to be holding back for most of the runs through the song. He did however show his full vocal range for the final one. Even so, it was arguably flawless, especially as this was the first rehearsal of the day.
Zeljko rehearses again later this week, and we at Eurovisionary will keep you fully updated on his performance.
