Today, Thursday the artists are rehearsing for the first time on the stage in Friends arena. EuroVisionary is present during the rehearsals and will provide you with information about what happens. This article will be updated throughot the whole day as the artists practice their performances.
In today’s rehearsal they have changed the order a little bit. Ravaillacz will be the first one’s on stage since all of the guys in the group have shows elsewhere during the afternoon and. On Saturday they will start as number 7.
Song number 1: Ravaillacz – En riktig jävla schlager
(Kjell Jennstig, Leif Goldkuhl and Henrik Dorsin)
Ravaillacz are the first group to rehears on stage in Friends arena. As in the semifinal they all start out in the middle of the stage and then walk together towards the front of the stage. They will then stand at the front of the stage throughout the rest of the song. They have a little choreography and change places with each other a few times. They seem to enjoy their time on stage and smiles a lot. It’s obvious that they didn’t think they would end up in the final, before their first run-through Tommy Körberg says to the gathered journalists “Don’t worry; soon there will be real songs here”. This is artists with a lot of experience and in between the run-throughs they make small jokes and sing their song but with foolish lyrics. But they also need to be a little bit serious as their choreographer Vera Prada gives them instructions about camera angles and their choreography. However the guys seems to think it’s much more fun to try to make their choreographer laugh.
Song number 2: Ulrik Munther – Tell the World I’m Here
(Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, Ulrik Munther)
Just as in the semifinal in Malmö two weeks ago Ulrik is starts off standing at the front of the stage. He has a screen behind him which varies with different motives. In the beginning it shows stars and planet earth and then switches to show a car driving at night from the driver’s point of view and finally it switches into a skyline of a city before it switches back to the motive with the stars. There are a few changes in Ulrik’s performance. One new thing is that they are raising his screen at the end of the performance during the last chorus and the stage is then drowned with white light. The other new thing is that Ulrik heads out on the catwalk during the last chorus and ends the song there.
During the first run-through Ulrik’s voice sounds very strained. It’s a hard song to sing and you can tell that he has to make a huge effort to be able to sing the song. Fortunately Ulrik’s voice sounds much better during the second run-through and he sounds less strained.
Song number 3: David Lindgren – Skyline
(Fernando Fuentes, Henrik Nordenback and Christian Fast)
Before the first run-through David and his dancers talks for a long time with their choreographer about positions on stage and camera angles. David dances a lot in his performance and has a lot of different camera angles to keep track of. Since the semifinal David made some small changes in the choreography and with the clothes. In the semifinal the handkerchief in his back pocket was yellow, now he has changed it to an orange one; his dancers now all got different colors on theirs. In the middle of the song there is a part where David and the dancer’s dances in slow motion and parts of David’s outfit flies away for a short while. During the rehearsal it seems to be difficult to get the outfit back on in time, let’s hope they sort that out before Saturday. David has a lot of pyrotechnic during the last part of his performance which gives the performance that little extra.
This is a really demanding song to sing and during the first run-through David sounds really out of breath. David is normally an excellent singer and since he usually performs in musicals he should be used to dance and sing at the same time. He seems to sort his voice difficulties out, during the last couple of run-troughs David sound less out of breath than in the beginning of the rehearsals.
Song number 4: State of Drama – Falling
(Göran Werner, Sebastian Hallifax, Emil Gullhamn, James Hallifax)
Just as in the semifinal all of the band members of in State of Drama start out on platforms which is lighted in white and red in the beginning and then changes into purple. In the middle of the song the singer heads out on the catwalk for a short while but soon walks back to the stage again. There are no noticeable changes in State of Drama’s performance. During the first run-through it seemed like the lead singer Emil had a very hard time to find the right camera angles. The performance looked like a big mess on stage. However the performance improved a lot during the last run-throughs and hopefully will have solved these issues on Saturday.
The singer, Emil is an excellent singer and delivers solid performances in every single run-through.
Song number 5: Anton Ewald – Begging
(Fredrik Kempe and Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad)
One of Anton’s dancers are not able to attend the rehearsals today and therefore Anton’s friend Jennie Widegren is therefore dancing with him. Jennie has been involved in several Melodifestivalen performances over the years and this year she has been helping Anton out with his performance. Just as in the semifinal in Gothenburg Anton starts off alone on stage and is accompanied by two dancers during the first chorus. There are no noticable changes in Anton’s performance. During the first two run-throughs Anton to take it easy, not that strange since he got a lot of practice last week during the second chance heat. It’s probably wise to save the energy to be able to give everything on Saturday.
During the semifinal Anton got a lot of critique because he was letting the choir backstage do a lot of the singing. He didn’t even bother to hold the microphone near his mouth, instead he waved it around. During today’s you can hear that Anton sings himself and it sounds really well.
Song number 6: Louise Hoffsten – Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream
(Louise Hoffsten, Sandra Bjurman and Stefan Örn)
Louise Hoffsten has not made any changes in her performance. She still has the screens with flowing water behind her and the two girls and the guy playing guitar and acting as a choir is still with her on stage. The production of this performance is really effective, and Louise is really able to connect with the viewers since there are a lot of close ups of her. Louise is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and therefore can’t move around that much on stage. But the close ups of her face and the flowing camera movements compensates the fact that she stands still at the microphone stand.
Louise has an amazing voice and delivers a solid performance every single run-through.
Song number 7: Ralf Gyllenhammar – Bed on Fire
(Ralf Gyllenhammar, David Wilhelmson)
In the semifinal Ralf was playing on a burning white grand piano which was standing on a platform. Don’t worry, he didn’t make any big changes in his performance, he is still sitting by the grand piano throughout the whole performance. One new thing since the semifinal is however four burning pedestals surrounding the piano. Ralf’s clothes are almost the same as in the semifinal. He still wears the purple shirt, black trousers and black suit jacket but the shoes with silver colored flames on are new.
Ralf is an experienced artist used to sing live but just like many of the other artists today he seem to have difficulties with his voice. During the first run-through he really has struggle to find the right notes from time to time. In between the first and the second run-through he apologizes to the journalists that he is hoarse.
Song number 8: Sean Banan – Copacabanana
(Sean Banan, Ola Lindholm, Hans Blomberg and Joakim Larsson)
Sean Banan’s performance is not as crazy as it was in Gothenburg, it’s even crazier! Just as in the semifinal Sean starts the performance behind a huge cloth but his silhouette is now a giant banana. The cloth drops to the floor when Sean is starting to sing revealing a huge sign spelling EUROVISEAN. There are a few small changes in Sean Banan’s performance. The two guys with the baby in the audience is gone, instead there is a man putting on a wig. Another change since the semifinal is that the diaper Sean wears in the end is all sparkly. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in this performance and there are things going wrong in almost every run-through. During the first run through they were not able to get both of Sean’s pink socks off; he finished the song with one of the socks still on. Towards the end of the performance Sean is supposed to be hoisted to the ceiling, during one of the run-throughs they managed to hoist him to soon and during one of the others they didn’t manage to hoist him at all. The crew in the arena has a lot to solve before Saturday’s final. During the last run-through there are a little bit of confetti both when Sean is dancing on the catwalk and towards the end of the performance when Sean is hoisted up.
Song number 9: Robin Stjernberg – You
(Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb and Joakim Harestad Haukaas)
Just like Anton Ewald, Robin Stjernberg had to go through the second chance heat to come to the final. But even if there has only been a few days since the second chance heat Robin managed to change a little detail on his suit jacket. In the semifinal and in the second chance heat his suit jacket only had light colors, now one of the lapels and a piece of the sleeve is black. Robin really seems to be enjoying this rehearsal and smiles a lot. In the middle of the song there is a part where Robin turns his back to the audience in the arena and walks towards the back of the stage and in between his dancers. What you don’t see when you watch this on TV is that the camera man needs to walk backwards to take that shot, at the same time the dancers are moving around. The camera man and the dancers are always very close to each other during that sequence, but so far they have never collided. During the last run through Robin has what looks like a curtain of fire coming down from the ceiling behind him.
Some of the artists have had difficulties with their voices, but Robin is not one of them. He sings with power and feeling in his voice in every single run-through.
Song number 10: YOHIO – Heartbreak Hotel
(Johan Fransson, Tobias Lundgren, Tim Larsson, Henrik Göranson and YOHIO)
Just as in the semifinal YOHIO starts out on a platform on the back of the stage. In the middle of the first verse YOHIO leaves the platform and walks to the front of the stage. The performance seem to be the same as in the semifinal, they´ve only added small details in the choreography to enhance parts of the song. In the middle of the song YOHIO leaves the stage and walks out on the catwalk for a short while but he soon joins his band on stage again. During the last run-through they also add pyrotechnic to the choruses and silver confetti at the end of the performance. Between the rehearsals they talk the performance through with the production crew. YOHIO and his band also find a little time to hang out and jam while they are waiting on the production crew to be ready to rehears again. After the second run-through, YOHIO borrows the drums for a while.
During the first three run-throughs YOHIO will sing play back, probably to save his voice a little. We don’t get to hear YOHIO sing until the last run-through and he sings well but sound a little strained especially when he tries to find the high notes.
