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May. 12th, 2005 @ 04:39 am I'm here!
Current Mood: calm
Hi. Peter here. First of all apologies for delay. Getting used to the routine in Kiev. The press Conference centre is in the Palats Sportu but the Press Centre area is a 3 to four minute walk away so to watch rehearsals you have to keep going to the venue and going through security all the time!



Kyiv itself is a very nice city. Very Clean . Lots of long straight streets. My hotel is about a 10 to fifteen minute walk from the venue.

And it's raining!!


Anyway, I'm here now. Three countries have rehearsed so far so I'll give you my thoughts on those.


Apologies in advance for any missed rehearsals. I'll try to cover as many as possible!

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 04:45 am Austria 12th May Rehearsal
Austria was first to open the proceedings.

The set is very flexible I have to say. There is a backdrop where video is run a bit like last year. In front of that at the back there are 6 fin like apertures which can be raised or lowered and video again can be shown here. Then there are 8 funnel like cylinders which descend from the ceiling . These then also be condensed into thick disk shapes so that allows for different looks for each song. Also there are 2 thick cyliders on the stage itself for even more video!! The floor os the set looks really well on TV as it does give the appearance that some of the performers are floating in mid air!!


Ok, that's a brief synopsis of the set, now onto Austria. No costumes were shown yet so no clue as of yet if they are wearing the same outfits as the national final. 6 on stage. Sound quality was good. They have used the theme of their preview video a little as the video onstage contains lots of continuous old style cinema reel. Similar performance to the national final with lead singer and 'yodeller'!
Went down well in the hall. A good opener.
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 04:57 am Lithuania Rehearsal 12th May
Lithuania next.

Six on stage again. The stage theme for this is definitely 'Stars'!!!

The backdrop and cylinders on stage consist of white flowing stars, the 8 'hanging' cylinders contain muticoloured flowing stars reminiscent of the 1998 Eurovision logo. and the backstage fins have large red flowing stars , so LOTS of on stage stars basically. Laura and the Lovers had a decent rehearsal. The sound sounded a little flat to me so hopefully that will improve. Not sure if that was due to Laura's voice or sound problems in the venue.

No costumes again so have to wait until their next rehearsal to see them I assume.

Overall, a 'nice'rehearsal, a little flat .

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 05:10 am Portugal Rehearsal 112th May 2005
Now, the timetable for rehearsals is not being kept. Portual started their rehearsal over 30 minutes behind schedule so at this rate Norway will rehearse at about midnight and the Eurovision will take place on June 5th!!

We finally saw a costume!(for those who are interested). A VERY short Red skirt and a lilac top. Hope this is for Luciana . Don't think they would suit Rui!!

Now 4 backing dancers here, all female. They are using head mics for this one and there were definitely sound problems. Worst rehearsal for sound so far. They did not seem happy on stage about it. An energetic performance simialar to the stage element of the preview video finishing with a one of the backing dancers doing a forward somersault. Very energetic for a Thursday morning!

The set has a 'sea' theme, lots if blue flowing sea video and the backdrop has the appearance of a sunken shipwreck.

Overall, the most energetic performance of the day so far with sound problems that will need to be sorted out at their next rehearsal.

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 06:05 am (no subject)
Good Afternoon from a very wet Kiev

In addition to Peter's thoughts and comments I thought i would come in with some of mine.

Things did start on schedule this morning but quickly fell far behind .

Its currently lunch break and I am writing this from the press centre which indeed is separated
to the hall ans conference centre by a laborious security check.

I have managed to attend all of Austria's Rehearshal and some of Lithuania and a couple of runs of
Portugal. So far Austria seems the best as far a preparation. Portugal was Lively and bouncy enough
but felt has room to improve. Lithuania was again not too bad.

The Stage setting and lighting is superb this year.
The Floating tubes with conical shapes within light up in different ways and expand and retract to change
their length. Diagonal paddles at the back of the stage along with two round platforms/podiums all light
up in with various scenes. The lighting is all looking good so far.


I was at all the above countries press conferences and Austria gave us a few songs in addition to a rendition of
Britneys Toxic during the rehearsal. A very cheery bunch are Global Kryner.
Lithuania had a few bags containing the usual stuff as well as special condom packs for those who wish to make love
here in Ukraine. Dont know if i will have time to use them mind.
Portugal's Rui and Lusiana look very pretty and really do look good together. I think they appear confident that they may
do rather well this year. They were only handing out Cd copies of their song this morning.

So onto this afternoon shortly.

Israel are not appearing today as I believe they are not here yet, so they will be slotted into the schedule tomorrow.
Latvia is on first this afternoon so more reports later.
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 10:32 am Belarus Rehearsal May 12th 2005
Belarus next. Now, there is a big cape involved in this performance. Angelica had 2 to choose from on stage, one completely in gold, the other mainly a rich pink with a gold trim at the bottom. The pink one did have a bit of a 'blamange' look to it and one person in the hall(not me I hasten to add) wondered if she had borrowed Chiara's dress! She also had 2 female backing singers and 3 male dancers.

The video footage for this was basically bright lights like car headlights and the backdrop fins where displayed in a red white and blue effect. The vertical mirrors were very much in evidence with 2 rows of them spinning madly through the performance.

This got the best reaction in the hall thus far. the dancers were a little manic on stage hurling themselves from one end of the stage to the other! Luckily no injuries occurred. The camera work on this was also good especially in the instrumental and clapping part of the song.

Overall, an excellent rehearsal for Belarus.


Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 12:13 pm Just a couple of titbits...
Current Mood: excited

All going well I'll have the photbucket account ready to go this afternoon, and my esteeming collague Dermot Manning will hopefully get a chance to upload some pictures from Saturday as well.

Don't forget to check out the "friends" section at the top for some alternate views from Kyiv from the OnEurope team. They're always good for a good naturelty giggle!

Donna & Joe have and the Irish delegation have now apparently reached Kyiv. So keep your eyes peeled! The Milky Bars are on me!

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May. 12th, 2005 @ 04:22 pm More titbits
Current Mood: groggy
News from Dublin, is that the planeload of supporters that were supposed to be going out to support Donna & Joesph has been cancelled after only 23 tickets were sold!. I'm not sure what is happening with the excess tickets, or hotel spaces.

Other news I'm picking up on the wires is that the Albanian song is in trouble beause a dispute between the songwriters and the television company. If it isn't sorted out, they may withdraw.
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 07:52 pm Latvia Rehearsal May 12th 2005
Ok, Moldova next. Or , at least they should be next!. They have been moved to after Monaco and then they are having problems getting into the country so they will not be rehearsing at all today! So, I assume, when all is sorted, they will be added to tomorrow's rehersal schedule.

So, onto Latvia then. 'bubbles' is the stage theme for this one, not the monkey, the water variety :))

Backdrop, funnel effects and cylinders on stage are all either bubbles or water with bubbles! The 2 guys are sitting on their stools at the start of the song but they leave the stools and the guitars behind at the end of the first chorus and move to the front of the stage. then they split up and go to either end of the stage before returning to the centre of the stage to microphone stands and sing the last chorus while also 'signing' it as well for those who are hard of hearing. that basically encapsulates the performance. Simple and effective.

The only bit that was strange to me was when they left the guitars behind they just placed them very precariously on the stools. that seems risky to me as if one fell on Live TV, it would look a little odd. Maybe they will sort it out later.

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 07:59 pm Monaco rehearsal May 12th 2005
Next on was Monaco.

Lise has 2 backing singers. They look like they will be dressed in black while Julie's costume is a primarily pink and red low cut dress.

Moving on from bubbles for latvia, we now have clouds for Monaco on backdrop, cylinders and funnel effects some of which have been compressed to cylinders and others which remain expanded with a hint of green added to the effect. Good orchestral backing track as in the preview video. A new stage element was also introduced here with 12 vertical rectangular mirrors at the back of the stage which reflects a lot of the effects and looks quite good on TV!

The rehearsal was popular in the hall. Sound was good . Not sure how it will do in the semi but it was a good rehearsal for Monaco.


Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 08:04 pm Netherlands Rehearsal May 12th 2005
First of all, there was a bit of a mixup on the clock on the PC I was working on for the review of Belarus so the review is further down after Latvia. Hopefully this one ends up in the right place!!

Netherlands was next up. Glennis is on the stage on her own. No backing singers or dancers for this one. Her dress looks a pale salmon pink colour to me.

She got the best reaction in the hall by a mile when she sang the song the first time and that was only a sound check!!!!

Falling points of light with bursts of gold lighting is the main theme of the stage with a mix of red and purple. In the 2 cyliders that are on the stage they have a close up of Glennis in a cinema reel look during the performance , a little like in the Dutch final except that this is not a recording, it's the live performance.

The camera work was also excelling with lots of sweeping shots and excellent editing. I don't think that the Dutch delegation will have many complaint with this rehearsal from Glennis. One to watch I feel(but then again, what do I know!)

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 08:08 pm Iceland rehearsal May 12th 2005
Next up we had Iceland. Now, Selma's dress is red in a similar style to the one she wore in the nightclub part of the preview video. She has 4 backing dancers and one non dancing backing singer.

Gold is definitely the colour on stage for this one! Lots of sparkling and twisting gold disks , with Gold lighting in the background and more spinning mirrors. Also the lights in the floor which up to now had remained static erer now blinking in time to the music. A very energetic performance from Selma. She adds a few squeals and husky aaaahhs during the instrumental break which helps to make it appear shorter.

Overall, another good rehearsal from Iceland. Personally, the last 3 rehearsals, Belarus, Netherlands and Iceland were very strong. My worry is that with 3 good songs together, one of them may not do as well as expected. this has definitely happened before!
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 08:12 pm Belgium rehearsal May 12th 2005
Belgium were next up, last rehearsal before the dinner break. I'll try and get back for Estonia and Norway as I have to nip back top hotel and change. The official opening of the Euroclub is tonight.

Back to Belgium. Nuno was dressed in a black jacket and jeans , not sure if this is what he will be wearing on the night yet though. The set is much darker for this one. The backdrop fins are a flowing grey/white colour while the cylinders are a dark vibrant blue.

Lots of closeup of Nuno at the start followed by more sweeping shots. As the song builds a lot more white comes into the stage so the stage is a lot brighter when the song ends.

Nunos voice was a lot stronger than I remember it in the Belgian fina. Again, another good rehearsal. I'm impressed so far by how few rehearsals so far have been dogged by sound problems.

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 09:00 pm Estonia Rehearsal May 12th 2005
More bubbles as a stage theme for Estonia this time. Big pink/lilac bubbles on the background fins and big red bubbles on the 2 cylinders on the stage. Red and Yellow are the background colours , the red especially being used to good effect with the vertical mirors.

The five members of Suntribe are together onstage with their record decks like the original four members were in the Estonian final. Lots of arm waving of arms and hand gestures in this one. the harmonies sounded a bit off key to me. After the first half of the song they move to the front of the stage. Lots of shouting of 'Lets get loud' in the instrumental part of the song, much more than in the preview version again some of it sounded more shouting than singing to me, them we finished off with the chorus twice with a very choreographed dance routine and by the end the girls did seem a bit tired out trying to cope with both the dancing and the vocals.

Personally, this was not a great rehearsal for Estonia. they seemed the most nervous on stage so far but there are still other rehearsals to go!

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 09:30 pm Norway Rehearsal May 12th 2005
And Finally Norway!

The main colour onstage at the start of the song is blue along with white spirals on a black background on the cylinders and funnels. Red gets incorporated a lot more as the song pregresses.

The four members of the band are onstage along with 2 female backing singers. This really got the crowd in the hall going as it was a rock style song so it woke everyone up! Even though not all of the costumes for the performers were seen today, it was a rule that the shoes had to be worn and WigWam's lead singer is balancing on stage in his six inch plus platform shoes!

This was a good rehearsal fpr Norway, a dufferent song from any other today and one that cannot be discounted in the final shakeup I think(but I really hope I'k wrong!!!)


Well, that's it for today!! Hope everyone enjoyed my contributions to the site. I'm off to the Euroclub in a few minutes so hopefully my head will be recovered enough tomorrow morning to review tomorrows set of , what could be 14 rehearsals!!

Peter
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May. 12th, 2005 @ 09:56 pm All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...
Current Mood: aggravated
Thanks to Peter and Andrew for their excellent reports. Tomorrow I fly out to Kyiv. I'm being picked up at 5.15 am so it woill be a long day.

I know I'm not going to be popular with those in Kyiv, but tomorrow I'm hoping for delays, which might give me a chance to catch the Irish performance or press conference. One way ot another I hope to be blogging by the end of the day tomorrow, and I better warn you all I have the sniffles and I'm going to be exceedingly grumpy after such a long day, so I'l be sharpening my nails!!!
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