Spot the Toto
Italian Eurovision legends are playing a massive part in this year’s competition with Diodato already providing interval entertainment, Il Volo performing tonight, and previous winners Maneksin and Gigliola Cinquetti due for Grand Final.
There’s been a worry by many within the Eurovision community that Italy’s other Eurovision champion and legendary co-presenter from the country’s last hosting in 1991 Toto Cutugo would not be making an appearance at the Song Contest. We’re delighted to say having watched last night’s Jury show that he does make an appearance at some point over the course of this second Semi Final. See if you can spot the power of Allora.
Serbi-art
We already knew that Konstrakta’s performance of this year’s Serbian entry ‘In corpore sano’ was going to be a bit weird and abstract. Fortunately, she has used the period between Pesma za Evroviziju and Turin to fine-tune her performance and adapt it to better fit the Eurovision stage.
The hand-washing has stayed with sharper camera angles on her backing… dancers? She has also added subtitles which pop up infrequently but just enough to draw you into wanting to understand exactly what is going on with the performance. Impressively, the performance went big in the hall and the press centre yesterday as the audience joined in with the clapping and hand gestures during the chorus. It gives the performance a Madame Monsieur (France’s 2018) vibe but the French duo could only dream of presenting something quite as crazy artistic as this, especially live on the Eurovision stage.
You Can’t Take Your Eyes Off San Marino
What should you be looking out for during Achille Lauro’s three minute masterpiece that is ‘Stripper‘? Absolutely everything!
Every component of this staging is perfect from the drummers in the cages to the mechanical bull that Achille rides like a maniac during the guitar solo and then all the pyrotechnics that the Italian organisers would allow him to safely use. That’s before we talk about his perfect vocals, his rock-star swagger and the sequined body-stocking and cowboy hat he steps on stage with.
If any other nation sent this performance, it would be talked about as a potential winner. As it happens, that’s not the case but whatever happens to this competitively from tonight, Achille Lauro has thrown the kitchen sink at making this production exactly what he would have wanted his debut at Eurovision to be and it’s an utter joy to witness. We’re going to be watching back this performance for years to come regardless of if it qualifies tonight.
The Sound of Beauty?
Our Italian hosts are going to fascinating lengths to try to explain to the rest of Europe what the sound of beauty actually means. On Tuesday’s Semi the show was opened with a sing that definitely had a sound but perhaps wasn’t entirely beautiful. Tonight, they’re back at it again with the presenters discussing their “sound of beauty” with competing artists, asking the crowd in the arena to provide the “sound of beauty” and my favourite of the three, a short video with a number of different sounds which might be considered beautiful.
This video comes on during one of the big set changes midway through the show and includes a range of different sounds in there to cater to people of all tastes from babies to football cheers to gentle streams. The video represents a palette cleanser in the middle of a very brash and bold Semi Final and whilst I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s unmissable, you will enjoy it slightly more than many of the other videos inserted into parts of tonight’s show.
Estonia’s Wild West Adventure
Of all of the entries this year, Estonia’s seemed one of the most confident in terms of what they were going to deliver on the Eurovision stage. It was going to be Stefan standing in the middle flanked on the two catwalks by his Mexican stand-off friends and some sepia effects on the camera just like it was at Eesti Laul.
For whatever reason, that’s now not the case. The two other cowboys have headed back to the ranch whilst Stefan has made his performance much more active, engaging and organic. Stefan starts out performing on his guitar out on the satellite stage before making clever use of camera angles to take you on a journey around the stage. It’s a fantastic example of an easy and simple trick suddenly lifting a performance and giving it an entirely different meaning.
This journey culminates towards the end of the song’s bridge when Stefan jumps over the waterfall. During both rehearsals, the arena and press centre have held their breath in hope (no pun intended) that he didn’t overshoot the jump and go over the catwalk into the lights or undershoot it and end up falling into the waterfall. Either way, it will be something to look out for!
Krystian Ochman and the Shadows
Somebody call the Ghostbusers, because we have some ghostly shadows that are haunting the Eurovision stage for this year’s Polish act.
Thankfully, it’s only a dance troup in very dark, flowy costumes but it can’t be denied that its a little bit creepy but a superb addition to the staging. Ochman’s vocals however are superb as per usual and with this song set to pick up both jury points and televotes, the mythical horrors may return on Saturday.
Vladana’s Dress
Right from the first Tiktok showcasing her first day rehearsing in the arena, we knew that Vladana’s dress was going to do something interesting. The answer to that is that the bodice as well as the circular disk behind the dress light up at various points. This is representative of this year’s Montenegrin entry being called ‘Breathe’ and means Vladana is doing slightly more than just standing on stage delivering her ballad. It will still be a tall order to get this into Saturday night’s Grand Final, but hey, at least we know the mystery of the dress.
The Return of Il Volo
Seven years after winning the televote in Vienna, Il Volo are back on the Eurovision stage and ‘Grande Amore’ has had some English lyrics added to it. Whilst they don’t do the song or performance any favours and are abundantly unnecessary, it doesn’t detract from Il Volo’s competence as performers and the fact that just like in Vienna in 2015, when their operatic voices come together live, it is pure alchemy.
I’ll Always Know What Sam Did to Chanel’s Outfit
And finally, the last thing you’ll see before the results are revealed in this Semi Final are clips from the remaining Big 5 countries yet to present their clips. Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany have all staged their performances expertly and it’s well worth seeking out the videos of their performances after the show. In the semi itself however, look out for Chanel’s outfit, a gorgeous be-jeweled matador-inspired outfit. Then look out for Sam’s outfit which looks remarkably similar. With quite a bit of material on Chanel’s outfit missing around the legs and posterior area, there’s an interesting explanation there for how the British entrant’s wardrobe choice ended up being almost identical.
There Will Be More Surprises
Tuesday nights ten qualifiers had some surprises in there, and there will be more this evening as well. The mix of televoting and jury voting always throws up differing views, but in the end the ten songs with the most points go through.
Stay tuned to ESC Insight for a review of the second Semi Final on the ESC Insight podcast. Check out the latest version of the ESC Insight newsletter here, or subscribe here to receive regular updates direct to your inbox.
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