And that completes our blog of the first day of rehearsals from the Stadthalle in Vienna! We’ll be here bright and early for more coverage tomorrow – in the meantime, stay tuned to escgo, and look out for updates from around the host city in our liveblog on the right-hand side of the page!

MACEDONIA
One of my favourite betting sites has restricted the amount I can place on qualification bets! Boo! And the reason I’ve discovered this is from trying to bet against Macedonia. In fairness, that was based on an instinctive first impression, and things have improved throughout their 40-minute rehearsal session.

Basically, the initial shock here is that they’ve turned the whole thing into a faux-R&B number. We knew there’d be three ex-members of Blackstreet joining Danijel on stage, but we didn’t realise they’d be incorporating some slidey-dance moves that Justin Timberlake could get away with, but that don’t really work coming from a Macedonian man with the facial hair of a teenager. If it seems underrehearsed, that’s because it is – apparently they were still coming up with the moves earlier today, and the choreographer has just been on stage to practice it with them again! – but it’s become more natural and less forced with each passing run-through. It’s still a somewhat odd combination though, and not one that I feel necessarily has a natural home at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Danijel is wearing a long cream-coloured jacket over a white shirt with what looks like black gaffer tape where a tie should be. Maybe that’s what passes for autumnal clothing in Skopje. The backdrop is certainly autumnal, with some kind of churchway/graveyard arch stretching up to the skies and red, orange and yellow leaves all around, including on the video floor. Vocally everything is pretty decent – the backing guys are experienced vocalists and it shows, while Danijel himself does a decent parody of “mainstream urban” just like on the studio version of the song. They’ve also added a nice couple of seconds to the finish of the song with all four of them harmonising on an a cappella ending (it’s not as bolted-on as I make it sound).

The problem is and remains that jarring visual imagery – awkward and unnatural dance moves and a group of people who don’t really seem to belong together. To put it bluntly, it feels too much like a white man playing at being black, and that’s not a great impression to leave. Suffice to say, I’ll be keeping a close eye on Friday’s second rehearsal to see how this one develops. (But I won’t be chasing up that non-qualification bet just yet.)

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

ESTONIA
We expected some kind of striking staging from Estonia – we just didn’t know exactly what it was going to be. And indeed they’ve delivered. The video floor and backdrop of the stage are used for two long black-on-white “shadows”, one behind Stig and one behind Elina, giving the impression of silhouettes in a doorway. That’s what they’re going for instead of a monochrome effect on the camera itself, and it’s definitely a wise choice – plenty of overhead shots of that silhouette motif are used throughout the three minutes, and it works.

Elina and her silhouette emerge from behind Stig when her vocal begins, and generally there’s more interaction between the two singers than we’ve seen before – they look at each other and “play” the roles, although that does still include looking mournful and pissed-off, which is appropriate for the song but possibly a bit jarring if you’re not paying attention to the lyrics. The colour scheme and their interaction does lend itself to a lazy (but not entirely inappropriate) comparison with last year’s Dutch entry, which is something I thought they might try to avoid a bit more. Staging-wise, basically imagine the Common Linnets but without the “calm” part. The sulk after the storm, if you will.

It’s worth noting that they’ve delivered on another promise, which is to change up the vocals a bit towards the end: Elina provides a kind of harmony counterpoint on Stig’s last line, and vice versa when it’s Elina’s turn to complete her part of the narrative. It probably helps in terms of keeping things interesting, although it’s a little off-putting when you’re used to the studio version. But 99% of the people watching aren’t going to know the difference, obviously.

It’s hard to know exactly what the final version of the visuals will be, because they’ve spent most of their allotted rehearsal time playing with different variants (Stig in darkness to end the song; both of them together; Elina’s silhouette being projected the wrong way round for some reason), but that’s rehearsals for you! The main thing is that we have an idea of their concept, and it looks like a strong one. Equally, though, if you already thought the performers were miserable and acting “too cool for school” before then this staging won’t change your mind.

Incidentally, this is the second rehearsal that’s been interrupted by the sound of “Don’t Deny” floating across the press centre. Those Genealogy guys and girls really enjoy a singsong.

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

GREECE
Perhaps predictably, the prevailing colour scheme for Greece is blue and white. As the artists have been instructed to do this year, Maria Elena has turned up in what we assume is already her final outfit, unless she makes a habit of wearing a glittery silver dress and glamorous pink lipstick in her day-to-day life (which isn’t entirely impossible). She starts the song illuminated against a circle of lights, accompanied by a pianist at a white baby grand – we discover in the course of the song that there are backing vocalists, they’re just well hidden. A wind machine is used to predictable but good effect.

As the song picks up speed, the backdrop starts to fizz and whizz with explosions of light (you guessed it – white on a blue background), and it’s all very effective in terms of framing the drama of the musical climax, even if it does look a bit like something out of a mid-90s Eurovision. But then the same could be said of the song. Absolutely no complaints about Maria Elena’s vocals, which are strong and persuasive. And if I was praising Finland for being something the average viewer will recognise and accept, the same is certainly true of this most conventional of Euro-ballads.

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

FINLAND

Lots of dry ice and bright lights for the Finns in every single performance. There’s nothing unexpected in PKN’s delivery of the song – they’re a punk band doing what they do, after all. What’s quite clever here is the camerawork, which is a bit more dynamic than we saw it in the Finnish final – lots of quick cuts and short, moving shots that give it a bit of vibrancy that the performance lacks. Although the interactions with the crew between the performances suggest the band are enjoying themselves perfectly well in this rather alien environment! The press centre response is predictably muted (though no booing, I’m pleased to say), but after a quite weird first four songs in terms of outfit choices and choreography, I have a hunch that Finland might actually come across as refreshingly normal to the average viewer…

image copyright: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

Introduction
After breaking for a late lunch, we’re back in the Stadthalle press centre for the afternoon’s rehearsals on Day 1! Four more countries to go today, so we’ll shortly be hearing from Finland, Greece, Estonia and Macedonia.