Live blog
15:00 CEST: Rehearsal 6: 🇸🇪 Sweden - KAJ – Bara Bada Bastu
So last year Sweden were represented by Norwegian twins, and this year it’s Finnish trio Kevin, Axel and Jakob, aka KAJ. But despite being the first Finnish act to represent Sweden, they’re from the Swedish-speaking part of Finland and are singing in Swedish. It’s also the first time Sweden have sung in their own language since 1998. Are you keeping up? No matter if not, your local TV commentator will almost certainly explain this all again next week.
All of which, excitingly, means we’re six rehearsals in, and have already clocked up six different languages, and we still have Portuguese to come. Bara Bada Bastu means ‘just sauna’ – this song is an invitation for the Eurovision fandom to steam it up, let go of stress and turn up the heat like a Swede/Finn.
Staging-wise, we can confirm the changes from Melfest that KAJ have already spoken about – the same greeny-brown suits, a firepit that’s more like the wooden heat rock box you get in a sauna, and a log store that is easier for the (now three) dancers to tilt into sauna mode.
However: a few additional things to note: the opening sausage is SIGNIFICANTLY LARGER than the one we saw in Melfest. The LED backdrop provides an entire forest complete with deer, until the key change when the entire arena goes full neon laser party for an epic finish.
And finally, KAJ have found some fir trees! We’re too far away to tell if they’re real or fake, sorry. Will try to sneak into the prop store later – we did it last year to check if the Windows95man denim egg had pockets.
🔥 PYRO update! Flames in the fire pit, and flame jets in the middle eight just before the key change. Then smoke jets to accompany the laser party ending. Sweden have left nothing unsteamed.
IT'S GREYSIE IT'S PARTY