Good morning from Day 5 at the press centre! We’ve now seen all of the first rehearsals for the semi finalists, so each country will return over the next few days for a shorter, second rehearsal. Any technical difficulties or camera glitches will hopefully have been resolved and the final changes made to the staging in preparation for the shows next week.

Today we will see 14 countries take to the Ahoy Arena for their second rehearsals, with today being all of the countries in semi final one except for Malta, who will be rehearsing tomorrow first thing, and the rehearsal slot for Australia has also been removed – suggesting that we won’t be seeing any of their performance footage until the semi final performance in a weeks time. UPDATE: Whilst we didn’t see any footage for Australia, they have now included an exlusive rehearsal video which you can find below!

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We will be overviewing all rehearsals this morning – where we saw Lithuania, Slovenia, Russia and Sweden rehearse, with Australia’s video below.

Lithuania:

Lithuania kicked off this morning with yet another slick rehearsal session. Minus a slight issue with the mic pack on one of his runs, they have a super polished performance already with very little noticeable changes. The section where Vaidotas grabs the camera is a lot smoother and they have touched up on some of the sharper camera angles. But all in all, a solid performance that is all ready for the shows next week!

Slovenia:

Slovenia’s Ana Soklic took the stage next and once again gave us a completely refined performance. We’re quite simply in awe at how strong her vocal is. The staging remains the same however why change what already worked? The only thing would be that there needs to be more of a focus on her for the big note kicking off the final chorus – at the moment it lacks the impact it could have as it’s quite a quick camera shot of Ana before panning out to a wide shot. A voice can carry a performance and Ana does a masterful job of doing just that.

Russia:

Russia have made the most changes of the four second rehearsals this morning, and we are so glad they did! ESCBubble’s David has been tough on Russia’s first rehearsal for not conveying the message enough, however it is clear that they have worked on this as they follow a similar trick to Italy 2018, in having English terms which convey the message of the song visible in the background and in various shots. This definitely makes the whole package more effective. There’s also a longer dance period whilst she’s in the dress (above). The Russian women singing/dancing along in the back drop doesn’t come in until later on in the song which also works effectively to ensure that the message isn’t lost to those who can’t speak Russian.

Sweden:

Sweden have also made some changes to make the whole performance look more effective. There are light changes to the LED screens at the background and more importantly they have made the whole stage a lot lighter which is a big positive. The other day we reported that the stage as a whole looked too dark which has been known to hinder performances in the past. Sweden are back in the game with this one!

Australia:

Whilst we sadly did not get any rehearsal footage for Montaigne, as the Australian delegation regretfully were unable to attend the contest in person, we did receive some goodies in the form of official press photos from SBS and also an exclusive look at her performance! Australia have well and truly delivered the good with what looks like a pretty spectacular performance. Check it out below.

Who was your favourite of this mornings performances? Let us know on our social media!

Make sure to vote in the official ESCBubble qualifiers poll too – who do YOU want to see make the final?