Today accredited press had the chance to watch the first dress rehearsal of the Second Semi-final in the arena. We got to see the walk-through of the whole show, which was amazing. Before a lot of media said that the First Semi-final would be the one where all the carnage would take place, but after seeing the Second Semi-final, I am not sure about that anymore. The First Semi-final had many acts that have been popular for months now, but the music diversity is most definitely in the Second Semi-final.
I have to admit this time around, that I was not in the arena for the opening of the show, and I only got to see the last minute of Denmark’s (Reiley) performance (sorry), but apart from that I got to see everything. Lucky me, because Semi-final 2 looks a-ma-zing!
This second Semi-final is presented again by Julia Sanina, Alesha Dixon, and Hannah Waddingham, and they are doing an amazing job; not exceptionally amazing, because all the Eurovision presenting shenanigans are in there again: Word mistakes, wrong pronunciation of words, things falling, etc. We know how that works by now. Hannah Waddingham is very funny though, and she goes off-road a couple of times, at least during this dress rehearsal, so kind of hoping that she will do this as well during the actual live show.
About the rehearsal of the songs; there are so many good ones in this Second Semi-final, I am in awe. My “personal” favourites are the following acts: Armenia, Estonia, Belgium, Cyprus, Poland, Georgia, Austria, Albania, Lithuania, and Australia. Of these I am most surprised by Armenia, such a beautiful act with LED effects, and even dancing, which we did not see from Brunette before. Belgium has a very vibrant act, and it is a definite shout out to the LGBTQIA+ community. I also like our “bejba” from Poland, such a well thought out act. Austria and Lithuania I liked from the word go, and Australia might just be one of the best bands in the contest this year.
Exciting times tomorrow when we get to see where the Second Semi-final will lead to. And, like said before, this Semi-final might be the hardest one.
EUROVISION 2023
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place on May 9th, 11th, and 13th 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. 37 countries will compete for the crown. This year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be a joint venture, since last year’s winner Ukraine cannot organize the contest on home soil because of the ongoing war with Russia.
