ESC United - Rehearsal and Live Show discussion megathread

[Sean]

It's time for the rehearsals to finally get underway for Eurovision 2024 at Malmö Arena! 37 countries will begin their preparations for this year's contest today, with over two weeks of coverage to come from the ESC United team on the ground!

The schedule for rehearsals is below (thank you Eurovisionworld! All times in CEST);

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You can check out Matt's pre-rehearsal live stream below in case you missed it;

DAY ONE

Eurovision 2024 Rehearsals - Day 1 Round-Up Live Stream

Join Matt and his team as they discuss the rehearsals of the day and answer your questions. The first dress rehearsal is closed to the press so we'll be here...

www.youtube.com

The team will be on hand to cover everything going on in Malmö over the coming weeks, so make sure to follow ESC United on Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, and YouTube and Twitch to not miss a minute!

Please also use this thread for any rehearsal coverage and discussion, including for jury shows, dress rehearsals and the live shows!​

 

[Leydan]

I have a vivid memory of finding out electro velvet were the representative by pressing the red button, bbc used to love a red button back in the day

That had to have been the most depressing song reveal i've ever witnessed. I remember watching it and thinking after "wait, that was the song???"

 

[NikolaiMoller]

That was ugly, poor Eden

Oh yeah the war is gonna stop because some singer got booed in a music competition...

 

[njdevils94]

That had to have been the most depressing song reveal i've ever witnessed. I remember watching it and thinking after "wait, that was the song???"

Not the Electro Velvet reveal recall

 

[Zeus]

Having seen 2 minutes and 20 seconds of Europapa what the hell is the never before seen thing joost kept hyping up??

Someone literally not singing the chorus of his song.

 

[nofuxCZ]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1788335659033211029

 

[NemesisNick]

My review of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 First Semi-Final is now available on my blog, 24 hours later than expected or wanted. Sorry for the delay. When reading the main part, read it as if you had seen it during the voting window. This includes my desired qualifiers, predicted qualifiers and the actual qualifiers, and my points of view on the qualifiers.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 First Semi-Final

 

[Looren]

I feel bad for Eden 'cause I think she's not responsible of anything that's happening but the EBU and Israeli delegation had it coming, Israel should've never taken part from the start, so yeah now deal with the consequences of the mess you created

 

[ayzelto]

Tbh I don’t feel bad for Eden. She’s 20 years old, not 15, and I guess she’s capable of making her own decisions. She could have said no to Eurovision but in the end she’s there.

 

[Loindici]

Any codes?

 

[NeoTen]

Belgium and Estonia are getting worse odds by the minute in what should be actually a very easy SF. Somewhere Albanian phones are getting activated. Just someone tell Besa to lose that widowers dress. Looking like she just broke up with her cheating husband who got caught by Interpol for moving cocaine. (yes I know what the Albanians are really good in)

 

[crashworld]

Booing Eden/Israel is the least of their concerns, amidst the greater security risk she and her delegation are facing. I'm pretty sure they anticipated that from these petulant crowd. Doesn't make it less horrible for Eden but I'm sure it'll just fuel her to strive on. The Israelis and Jews have been conditioned to face far worse things in life.

As for those who are simply triggered by Israel's presence in the contest or think by booing Eden/Israel is going to achieve anything other than just to feel good about yourself and ruin the contest for those who truly want to enjoy the contest, it's pathetic at best. Would have been more useful to channel these negative energy towards your local authorities or governments and get them to adhere to your demands.

Anyway, the ROTW is opened for SF2 - https://www.esc.vote/
The recap shown at the beginning is from the rehearsals yesterday.

 

[empo21]

They did use fake cheers during the SF2 preview on Tuesday. Footage from the crowd had little cheers for Eden but the TV edit had cheers for all entrants, so I'm assuming the same will happen for the live shows, which is deceiving but anyway.

It's unfortunate that Eden is at the receiving end of the booing, but we all know (or should know) that the criticism is towards the Israeli delegation, their government and EBU. Eden just happened to be the face of it all, much to her misfortune.

The crowd has all the reasons and rights to vocalise their support for Palestine because it's become the elephant in the room thanks to EBU and trying to silence and warn the audience members is just EBU falling deeper and deeper in the shithole they dug for themselves.

The Israeli delegation was willing to bring a political song into the contest, so they should be able to handle when other political views are shouted at them, no?

 

[hpp0]

Irrelevant to why it's happening in Israel's case, I don't see what's so bad with booing. When you are online, you see plenty of people writing negative comments for any song out there, so I don't think there is anything wrong with doing the same thing when you are live in the arena. I'm not saying people should act like hooligans, but honesty is preferred to a forced fake niceness.

Also I wonder if an entry ever gets booed just cause people dislike it, with no politics or controversy involved, if they will try to use the "anti-booing" thing there too.

 

[ag89]

Not the first or last time there is booing in Eurovision, so what's the problem? Eurovision is not all flowers and happiness and the fact EBU is doing everything to fake the vibe we are having this year is almost comedic. With each move they dig the hole deeper. One thing is Eden and her delegation: everything should be done to protect these people, security wise. But, not allowing people to express their feelings (even if it includes booing acts/songs/representatives) and adding fake cheers?! Please.
Luckily, we have all social media available where we can see the reality.
Russia was booed regularly. Cyprus and Greece are booed regularly when they exchange 12s. Bosnia was booed in 2011 when it received 12s from the Balkan countries. Iceland was booed in 2006. Lithuania was booed in 2006.

 

[Uto]

As for those who are simply triggered by Israel's presence in the contest or think by booing Eden/Israel is going to achieve anything other than just to feel good about yourself and ruin the contest for those who truly want to enjoy the contest, it's pathetic at best.

It is for most people not their choice exactly to be faced with this entity that was supposed to be used for propaganda for a state that commits a comprehensive list of crimes against humanity. Since they are already there the bar is set quite low to stage a very simple protest by booing it. To me it would be ruining the contest if no dissent was shown, as I feel apathy is worse. If silence would be protest you will find that you hear others cheering, tactily approving with the treatment of Palestinians. Unacceptable to many. So you boo to drown it out. You don't like the politics seeping into ESC, fine, I get that. I don't like crimes against humanity, no one does. Calling it 'pathetic at best' is asinine, it's an attempt to judge a group of people very harshly while ignoring their reasons for doing what they do.

Do not see me as disagreeing with you though, I disagree with your harshness. The idea of divorcing ESC from politics is understood, we want a party of unity in diversity, the rainbow dream cast broadly and loadly across our lands, a dream of us being truly free and equal. We want the perfect ode to joy. It can't always be like this. The booing is an unfortunate echo of a situation we would rather just ignore on the night, but yeah well Israel is performing and it's not really something you can ignore. It happens with Ukraine too. When Ukraine starts and I see the blue spread across the yellow and one second later am met with the strong defiance in the face of Jerry and I know what the context is immediately. I think about the war because they designed it like this and it works. I will think about my friends in Ukraine and their suffering. It exists, it is real, I can not ignore it and I do not even want to ignore it. I want to be reminded of their suffering, it is important that we understand and feel that. Seeing the flag of Israel is the same. I think of Gaza, I am disgusted by the crimes happening. ESC exists in this world, it exists in a political space, it can not be helped. The dream is still there, but one can not dream when one is supposed to be awake. I expect the vast majority of people to work like this. Appreciate their humanity. They are not pathetic.

Would have been more useful to channel these negative energy towards your local authorities or governments and get them to adhere to your demands.

1. EBU is an authority, the world might hear the boos or hear of the boos and these authorities might hear through the news etc.
2. They can do both.
3. It is still quite obviously a valid goal to channel it towards other parties than the ones stated by you.

It's not a sensible argument you make, like every single point in the construction of your argument here is fallacious.

 

[Jay25]

Not the first or last time there is booing in Eurovision, so what's the problem?

Booing has never been ok at Eurovision in my opinion. Especially if it has nothing to do with song but the country they are representing.

 

[ag89]

Booing has never been ok at Eurovision in my opinion. Especially if it has nothing to do with song but the country they are representing.

Booing is not a comfortable thing to face as it changes the mood of the whole event, but for me alternative is much worse than this and that alternative includes fake cheers, stopping people from expressing their feelings and, based on some comments online, threatening people in the arena (who booed Israel) by security guards to stop doing it. I am sorry, but I pick booing (as an expression of freedom and stance) instead of these measures the EBU is trying to impose.

 

[nofuxCZ]

Any codes?

VK.com | VK

vk.com

 

[NemesisNick]

Today is Thursday 9 May 2024. The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Second Semi-Final takes place at Malmö Arena, Malmö, Sweden tonight, starting at 20:00 BST. The 16 countries taking part tonight, in order of appearance, will be:

Malta, Albania, Greece, Switzerland, Czechia, Austria, Denmark, Armenia, Latvia, San Marino, Georgia, Belgium, Estonia, Israel, Norway, Netherlands.

Three of the six direct finalists: France, Spain and Italy will also have their artists perform their songs live, in full, on a non-competive basis, at certain points between the above competing countries' songs.

This year's semi-final results are being decided by televoting only. Although juries vote in the semi-finals, their points will only be used in the semi-finals if a country is unable to provide a valid televote result. The 16 countries taking part tonight will be able to vote in tonight's semi-final. France, Spain and Italy will also be able to vote in tonight's semi-final. In addition, selected countries around the world will be able to vote in a "Rest of the World" online vote, which will count as one extra country towards tonight's result.

The ten highest placed countries will proceed to Saturday night's Grand Final. Those ten qualifying countries will be announced in a random order just before the end of tonight's semi-final; the actual results of tonight's 16 participating countries will only be revealed to the public after Saturday night's Grand Final is all over. Anyway good luck to tonight's 16 semi-finalists, may the best ten qualify to Saturday night's Grand Final. #Eurovision2024 #UnitedByMusic

 

[EscGeek]

My spoiled impressions

Sarah is a honeypot, but the song is just too weak. Even the Debs couldn't save it. She did however squeeze into my top 20. Yaaay.
This song has no soul. Sorry.
Very good eurovision performance, the social media filter gimmick will age poorly in 20 years though
I was entertained by the performance but i'm not feeling the song. I can't argue with his skills of performing.
Please get rid of that red bra. Giggity
Kaleen is one of the artists whose career i'll be following intensely. She's the best female artist this year and i'm awe everytime i see and hear her. Please qualify.
This is a typical danish song (and i mean that as an insult, those of you who follow the NFs know what i mean). Saba deserves so much better. I'm getting good vibes from her.
. This is quite repetitive, but unique enough to qualify and stand out.
I love this and i'm hoping for a shock Q, though i'm not as confident as i used to be in February. His voice is the best ths year out of anyone.
I love that they're going all in to make the show as entertaining as possible. They better get 12 from Spain or i'll riot
Georgia is finally qualifying and i'm so happy for my favorite esc country
Boring start, but the last minute is as repetitive as Armenia, but in a good way. It's so easy to lose yourself in the song.
The bookies are underrating this. Vsauce and co. will qualify and with a little luck get to the left side of the scoreboard.
Very solid all things considered.
I love how unique sounding this song is
I need him to be louder during the "Welkom in Europa" part. But i'm sticking with this as my winner. The most fun song with little easter eggs everywhere.

In the last two months, France climbed my rank list by the most places. (five) . Anyways, i can see why he's popular and i love the "far away from mic" gimmick.
I feel like if she sang loudly i'd be more invested in it. I guess it's fun in their own way.
This is so good and Angelina is a future superstar. I might be a little bit worred for her televoting score. The song is not a stereotypical italian ballad. I hope i'm wrong.