The first rehearsals of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest got underway with Montenegro opening proceedings. Rambo Amadeus was the first artist to get a feel for what it was like to be on the huge stage in the Baku Crystal Hall when he rehearsed the Montenegrin entry Euro Neuro.
The Montenegrin rehearsal started more than an hour later than planned so we expect several rehearsals to be delayed today.
This politically inspired rap is not a conventional Eurovision Song Contest entry, in fact, this is probably the oddest entry in this year’s contest and many could not wait to see how this was staged because literally anything could happen.
We all remember the donkey that appears with Rambo in the video clip, right? Well, it will also be present in his performance at the contest! Do not think we will have a real animal on stage this year. It is not a real donkey but a wooden one with wheels. It was at the back of the stage as part of the decoration but no one interacted with it.
Rambo comes out from behind the donkey playing an electronic guitar and wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. With him on stage, from the beginning of the performance, there were a guitar player and a drummer located on the right of the stage.
There were also three dancers performing a hip hop routine all of them dressed in casual clothes. They were not too synchronized and they did not know exactly where to place themselves. After the first chorus, they showed a red banner where we could read part of the lyrics of the song "Euro Neuro, give me chance to refinance" in white letters. This was practically their only role because they did nothing else during the performance.
The stage lighting was dark blue with white highlights. In the background screens we could see all kinds of colourful and fast changing pictures such as a cruise ship as the one which appeared in the video clip or a clock with a countdown.
The song does not depend on a strong vocal but Rambo was not very enthusiastic for this rehearsal maybe because there were some problems with the sound mix and he did not feel very comfortable. He also asked for five seconds to walk before the music kicks in.
It was all a bit messy. Not a good first impression from Montenegro.
It could be a shock qualifier but it is on first in the first semi-final which is never great news. After becoming an independent country Montenegro has never managed to qualify from the semi-final. Will they manage it this year?
