1e repetitie, van de Eurovision live blog
12:30 CEST: Rehearsal 4: 🇱🇻 Latvia - Tautumeitas – Bur Man Laimi
Our final rehearsal before lunch is Latvia’s Tautumeitas, a 6-piece ethno-pop group who combine Latvian folk melodies with contemporary beats. This is the first time we’ve seen a song fully in Latvian for some years, and from the first note the harmonies sound glorious in the empty space of this arena. Bur Man Laimi translates as 'a chant for happiness' - the whole thing has a feel of mystical spell-casting.
We’ve been wondering if Tautumeitas would retain the ethereal curtain we saw at Supernova, or whether they would lean more into the fairy forest vibe from the official video with a different staging concept. We’re not surprised to see that they’ve retained the curtain – it’s such a simple way to create atmosphere and intimacy, and the way this performance uses light on sections of the curtain to create pools of shadow is really immersive and hypnotic.
In fact, the whole routine is more or less exactly the same as Supernova – during the second run-through we simultaneously played the Supernova version on our
laptop to see if we could spot any differences, and the changes are VERY subtle. The lighting is definitely more dramatic and powerful, and at one point the LED wall gives them tails to make them look like animals, which requires them to be in exactly the right place on the stage. They are, and it looks really effective.
Their costumes are also different – instead of the floaty dresses we saw at Supernova, Tautumeitas are all wearing matching gold catsuits with detailing that looks like branches and fins, and stunning gold headdresses that light up and change colour through the song. Hopefully you’ll be able to see some of the detailing on the TikTok video later, but you’ll definitely get a better look on the photos tomorrow.
🔥 PYRO update - low fog for added magic and mysticism.