Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
After we witnessed some great rehearsals yesterday that potentially saw a few more countries strengthen their chances at qualification, today we saw the second half of Semi-Final 2 take to the stage for their rehearsals in the PalaOlimpico in Turin.
Here’s all the action from today’s first rehearsals, thanks to the EBU live blog and rehearsal footage on TikTok.
🇮🇪 Ireland: Brooke – That’s Rich
Looking beautiful in blue today we have Ireland’s Brooke! She gives an energetic performance of her song ‘That’s Rich’, really making her mark on the Eurovision stage. Brooke’s confidence shines throughout, and she nails the choreography alongside her 4 backing dancers. This year, Ireland has added pyro to the performance to give it an extra wow factor for the final section of the song, really helping to elevate it to its maximum potential live.
Brooke has experience performing live on television, and her lack of nerves shows that. Whatever happens, this is a performance Irish fans can be proud of. Fingers crossed for her in the semi-final!
In the Press Conference, Brooke spoke about how she found the jump from The Late Late Show studio to the Eurovision stage, saying:
If I hadn’t gone on the Eurotour, I wouldn’t be fit for this right now at all. The jump from Late Late to this stage is insane but at least I got to use an LED screen onstage in Tel Aviv! My confidence just grew throughout the tour and if I hadn’t have done that I don’t know what I’d be doing right now.
Brooke Scullion, Eurovision Press Conference, Tuesday 3rd May 2022
Brooke also revealed her method behind how she has been preparing her voice for the semi-final:
I’ve been running and singing – not on the treadmill by the way, on my road where I live. Apparently the neighbours aren’t too happy about it!
Brooke Scullion, Eurovision Press Conference, Tuesday 3rd May 2022
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇲🇰 North Macedonia: Andrea – Circles
Next up is Andrea from North Macedonia. ‘Circles‘ has minimal staging, giving full focus to Andrea’s emotional performance and vocals. They clearly have decided to let the song do the talking (or ‘have a healthy conversation’ with the audience), pairing it with a few lights and graphics in the background. They also make use of the lift bridges on stage, only the second country after Moldova to do so this year.
When asked about the simple production of the track Andrea replied:
The melody sings my emotions, we just wrote lyrics to verbalise it.
Andrea, Eurovision Press Conference, Tuesday May 3rd 2022
North Macedonia don’t have the best record when it comes to qualifying, however in 2019, Tamara Todevska’s entry ‘Proud‘ became the first North Macedonian act to qualify for the Grand Final in 7 years, winning the jury vote, placing 7th overall. Andrea spoke to Tamara and their 2012 and 2016 representative Kaliopi ahead of the contest:
Tamara said this will be the greatest experience of your life [Andrea] so live it!
Andrea, Eurovision Press Conference, Tuesday May 3rd 2022
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇪🇪 Estonia: Stefan – Hope
Starting out with his performance with a guitar and a retro filter, we have Stefan from Estonia. We saw a western scene played out at Eesti Laul in order to tie in with the country vibe of ‘Hope‘, yet this time Stefan remains alone on stage throughout the entire performance. Towards the end, he jumps off the main stage and onto the B stage, hyping up the “crowd” in the final chorus. Even in the rehearsals, his energy and joy to be on stage is clear for all to see – he’s making the most of every minute. Stefan has tried to represent Estonia at Eurovision for the last 4 years, and he’s really giving his all now he’s finally here. Jaagup Tuisk, who you may know from Eesti Laul 2020 and 2022, is behind the staging.
You may notice Stefan wears a necklace on stage – he revealed in the press conference that it has a significant meaning to him, relating it to his Armenian grandmother.
He was questioned about how satisfied he was with his first rehearsal:
We wanted to add more movement, more energy. For a first rehearsal it was very good.
Stefan, Eurovision Press Conference, May 3rd 2022
He also revealed the best piece of advice that he had been given:
To be myself, as you are, sincere, and to not let the fame hit you.
Stefan, Eurovision Press Conference, May 3rd 2022
Image Credit: Andres Putting // Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇷🇴 Romania: WRS – Llámame
Hola WRS! The Romanian star gave it his everything today, despite the trouble with the kinetic sun blocking out the LED lyrics to ‘Llámame‘ on screen. We also get an outfit reveal for the final chorus, going from a red t-shirt to a bejewelled black vest. This really gets the second half into full swing, adding a great Flamenco style to the running order. Its party vibes make it a real stand-out.
Today’s rehearsal shows a complete elevation from what we saw at Selectia Nationala, putting Romania in a great position to potentially qualify for the final for the first time since 2017.
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇵🇱 Poland: Ochman – River
Well, this is a world away from the more colourful graphics they provided at Tu Bije Serce Europy!. For ‘River‘, Poland has opted for a darker staging, that is a lot more fitting to the vibe of the song. The LED (from what we can see) has a video of Ochman singing the song, which then fades into what seems to be a forest-looking setting as soon as the chorus hits. He’s looking sharp in his black suit, which also has some elements of blue on the shoulders. As always, his vocal is pitch-perfect.
He’s joined onstage by dancers dressed in all black, including having their faces covered. They dance around the B-stage before joining Ochman on the main stage. This is certainly a stronger, more refined staging than what we saw at the national final. In Eurovision’s official TikTok, Ochman says that there’s ‘still some work to be done’, but overall seems pleased with the first rehearsal.
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇲🇪 Montenegro: Vladana – Breathe
Vladana looks beautiful in a long blue dress, which seems to have some sort of LED disc prop potentially attached to the back of it. We know from previous performances that Vladana loves her quirky fashion so it’s not a surprise that we’ll be seeing it at Eurovision. She has said that we’ll only see this in action on the night of semi-final two so her fans will definitely be waiting to see what exactly it is that she’ll deliver.
The staging is also very blue and sees Vladana standing in the middle of the B-stage surrounded by smoke. The LEDs show a person who seems to be falling backwards. It seems understated but fitting from what we can tell from the current content we have of ‘Breathe’s first rehearsal, but it’s a lot more polished than what Montenegro provided us with when they last participated with ‘Heaven‘.
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇧🇪 Belgium: Jérémie Makiese – Miss You
We’re feeling the 2000’s vibes with this one! On stage, Jérémie is casually dressed in a black shirt and jeans, with a metallic silver jacket. At the start of ‘Miss You‘, he’s solo on the stage, with the lights solely focusing on him. Later on, he is joined by four male dancers dressed in all black (a running theme for this rehearsal day with the dancers it seems) and they do some simple choreography towards the end of the song. From both the TikTok footage and official images, we can’t see much of the LED, but it appears as if it could be glitter/stars moving in some kind of formation.
After coming off stage, Jérémie seemed super excited with his performance – could Belgium qualify once again?
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇸🇪 Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs – Hold Me Closer
There certainly isn’t much difference between Cornelia’s staging at Melfest and her staging at ESC but this is something we’ve come to expect from the Scandinavian nation. She’s also in the same outfit she wore at Melodifestivalen, but everything does look more scaled up and the colours on the circle prop are a lot more vibrant. For ‘Hold Me Closer‘, the trick is in the camera work, which we’re likely to see in action for the second rehearsal. There seems to be the addition of red lasers at one point in her performance but aside from that everything remains the same.
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
🇨🇿 Czech Republic: We Are Domi – Lights Off
‘Lights Off‘? More like lights on! We Are Domi has made the most of the lighting provided, which is likely to elevate the song from previous performances we’ve seen. The group are all wearing similar outfits featuring black, white and beige details. Dominika is the main focus and Casper and Benjamin are playing their instruments in the background but are still visible. The staging set-up seems to show the inner workings of their instruments. This is a great way to close semi-final 2 and one that might just see the Czech Republic back in the final.
The camera work for this will be interesting, especially with the volume of strobe lighting they’re clearly using. We’re certain they’ll bring the Eurovision semi-finals of 2022 to an energetic end.
Image Credit: Nathan Reinds // EBU
We Made It!
And there you have it! All of the semi-finalists of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest have now rehearsed on stage for the first time. Who were your favourites? Who do you think is qualifying from semi-final 2? Let us know in the comments!
