1e repetitie, van de Eurovision live blog
11:10 CEST: Rehearsal 2: 🇬🇪 Georgia - Mariam Shengelia – Freedom
Next up to rehearse is Georgia’s Mariam Shengalia, singing her orchestral power ballad Freedom. It’s sung in both Georgian and English, and there are definitely some 1960s influences in the production of this track. So we’re really interesting to see how it comes to life on the big stage.
Mariam comes from a small town in Georgia, and took part in both The X Factor Georgia and The Voice Georgia. She’s also a member of Mixtura, a band known for its fusion of diverse musical influences.
We have another big prop – it’s a geometric rock that stands in the centre of the stage - Mariam performs on top of it, wearing a stunning silver gown that looks like it’s made from satin with organza layers that give it structure, so she becomes part of the rock. Four male dancers perform on the stage around her, all wearing traditional Georgian chokha coats in black, with close fitting headdresses and black boots – during the second verse they perform a complex flag dance routine with blue and white flags
The graphics on the back wall are simple but beautiful, with a moon rising behind Mariam between the two stage mountains that transitions into a red sun with storm clouds and neon rings. The graphics become faster and more dynamic as the song progresses – lots of performances have used lighting and graphics as a way to drive the performance this year, and this is a really effective example.
There’s also a dress reveal! During the middle eight, Mariam comes down from her rock, steps seamlessly out of her dress (it doesn’t move an inch, which suggests it’s VERY heavy), to reveal a red sequinned jumpsuit for the final chorus, which she performs on the frame stage against a backdrop of mountains. The strings and drums in this song are HUGE – it feels like the music is rising up through the arena floor
🔥 PYRO update! Heavy fog around the rock at the start, which dissipates to make it look like Mariam and her dancers are rising out of it. Today is going to be ALL about the drama.
IT'S GREYSIE IT'S PARTY