This Tuesday the first rehearsals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 semi-finalists have ended. We tell you what has happened in them (click on the participants to watch a small video of those rehearsals).
Brooke (Ireland): “That’s Rich”
The Irish representative has chosen for her performance a electric blue ensemble, with hotpants and a chiffon overskirt.
It’s a confident performance that makes great use of the floor projections and overhead camera rig, with four backing dancers and a playful dance routine.
Andrea (North Macedonia): “Circles”
This is a really classy, stripped-back performance from Andrea – she’s alone on stage, dressed all in black, supported by nothing more than pulsing graphics and dramatic lighting. She also uses the lift bridges over the water feature as graphic screens, which is only the second time we’ve seen them used this way so far – Moldova was the first. It’s really impactful, and the staging definitely gives Andrea’s powerful voice space to shine.
Stefan kicks this performance off on the B Stage, with just a guitar for company and a retro filter on the visual. But as the song builds he goes mobile, covering the whole stage in three minutes and making a really nice connection with the audience.
We wondered if he might bring the two cowboys from the Estonian national final, but he delivers a really great performance all on his own, and the Estonian delegation seem very happy with how he comes across. Sing your heart out, Stefan.
WRS is in wet look sparkly trousers and a red frilly shirt that comes off at the end to reveal a silver sequinned vest – our first outfit reveal of the competition! His male backing dancers are wearing tops so short it looks like they’re each wearing a Speedo as a t-shirt.
This ticks lots of Eurovision boxes – great dancing, fabulous costumes, lots of different musical influences and a proper party tune.
Ochman’s wearing a very stylish black suit, with four contemporary dancers in black outfits with masks that maybe remind us the Greek or the Roman Mythology. The fringing gives them a ethereal quality, like ghosts. it’s visually really powerful, particularly when combined with flashing lighting effects and Ochman’s huge vocals.
Vladana (Montenegro):“Breathe”
Vladana is wearing an elegant blue dress that’s very much in keeping with this year’s high fashion styling – we’re having our own Met Gala over here in Turin.
The lighting effects throughout this song are stunning and make the whole performance really memorable, and Vladana’s extraordinary voice is taking the roof off.
Jérémie Makiese (Belgium): “Miss You”
Is this most laid-back song in this year’s Eurovision? We think it might be. Jérémie has an incredible voice, and he and his four male backing dancers make this whole performance look effortlessly cool.
Cornelia Jakobs (Sweden): “Hold Me Closer”
Cornelia has brought the same circular projection screen she used in Melfest, and it’s the same outfit too – black trousers and a silver top with lots of sparkly fringing. Also she sings over the stage barefoot.
This has such clever movement and camera work, which makes it feel like a really intimate, intense performance. The Sweden delegation should be really happy with that.
We Are Domi (Czech Republic): “Lights Off ”
Well this is a HUGE finish – I think We Are Domi have deployed every light rig in the arena, and suddenly we’re quite keen to go clubbing. We’ve also learned that the guitarist made his cello-string guitar himself – he plays it with a bow on stage, and that might be the coolest thing we’ve seen today.
Bonus points for a) rhyming ‘lovers’ with ‘bed covers’ and b) excellent use of the word ‘peripheral’. You don’t hear that in pop lyrics every day, and we should definitely celebrate it.
