ESCBEAT Commentary: Eurovision 2023 Semi-Final 2

Live from the media press, we are honored to commentare for you the dress rehearsals for semi-final 2.
16 songs will be performed in semi-final 2:

01 – 🇩🇰 Denmark: Reiley – Breaking My Heart
02 – 🇦🇲 Armenia – Brunette – Future Lover
03 – 🇷🇴 Romania: Theodor Andrei – D.G.T (Off And On)
04 – 🇪🇪 Estonia: ALIKA – Bridges
05 – 🇧🇪 Belgium: Gustaph – Because Of You
06 – 🇨🇾 Cyprus: Andrew Lambrou – Break A Broken Heart
07 – 🇮🇸 Iceland: Diljá – Power
08 – 🇬🇷 Greece: Victor Vernikos – What They Say
09 – 🇵🇱 Poland: Blanka – Solo
10 – 🇸🇮 Slovenia: Joker Out – Carpe Diem
11 – 🇬🇪 Georgia: Iru – Echo
12 – 🇸🇲 San Marino: Piqued Jacks – Like an animal
13 – 🇦🇹 Austria: Teya and Salena – Who The Hell Is Edgar?
14 – 🇦🇱 Albania: Albina and Familja Kelmendi – Duje
15 – 🇱🇹 Lithuania: Monika Linkytė – Stay
16 – 🇦🇺 Australia: Voyager – Promise

Note: This article will be gradually updated during the rehearsal

🇩🇰 Denmark: Reiley – Breaking My Heart

Reiley wore a candy floss pink sparkly suit. The jacket has silver dots on top of it, while the pants have a heart-shaped tear.
His performance relies on transitioning between different rooms/locations
Reiley moves through the doorways, while there is a diverse use of the floor LED screen.
In the second chorus, he lay on the floor that is led by a pink LED screen with clouds.
The different rooms come in the colors of purple, pink turquoise, light green, and red.
The backdrop screens clouds, emojis and some geometric shapes.
Towards the end, he walks and stands on the main stage.

Gallery – second rehearsals:

🇦🇲 Armenia – Brunette – Future Lover

Brunette wore a white dress designed by a local designer, with delicate gray paintings. The dress features black thread interwoven.
She started the performance while lying on a 3D beveled white wedge, that it is lit in different colors along the performance. This prop is located at the edge of the stage.
The lights are reflected on her fress and the prop, and therefore it looks like her ouffit is pink-purple.
The effects created an illusion of motion, even though she is static.
Lights change from circular beam lights to richer ones.
The Armenian delegation uses LED screens to create purple, pink and red swirls that probably showcase the loud inside love she dreams about, or maybe a volcano that is going to explode in a second?
Before the second chorus, there is a dramatic pause with a modern dance by her. Then, we have a lot of flickering lights and the production of the song is more electronic. This is a kind of revamp of the song.
The frequency and the volume of the lights change according to the rhythm of the song
No changes were made

🇷🇴 Romania: Theodor Andrei – D.G.T (Off And On)

Romanian delegation has decided to make changes in both the production of the song, and the the staging (compared to the one in the national selection).
Theodor wore a pink shorts suit, with pink socks
Thedor stands in the back part of the stage, while in the backdrop we can see 2 dancers inside a huge white outfit.
The floor shows a red background, with Theodor’s pre-recorded videos while he moves his legs, with a guitar near him.
LED screens show dramatic views of rocks, waterfalls of fire and lava. In other parts they show dark blue themed circles.
Towards the end, the performance features an additional dancer to increase the drama.
The first half of the song is more acoustic and mainly based on acoustic guitar playing (Theodor plays it himself)
The second half gives us the up-tempo rock vibe that we’ve received from Theodor in the past.

🇪🇪 Estonia: ALIKA – Bridges

Alika wore a light blue dress with a long train
On the stage we can see the classic piano, as it was in the “Eesti Laul 2023“.
The concept of the performance is classic and emotional.
This is one of the performances, where the LED screens were used at every single moment. They convey drama and hope that the song delivers.
In the beginning, we can see the “auto-played” piano.
The lighting is mostly blue, white and yellow.
The artwork shows a dreamy blue atmosphere, while part of the floor looks like it is studded with gems or small stars
The backdrop shows different graphics, as the lights accompany Alika.
Vocally, it was excellent

@eurovision
No pretending, Alika and her haunted piano hit all the right notes 🎹🇪🇪 #Eurovision2023 #Eurovision @Alika Milova
♬ original sound – Eurovision

🇧🇪 Belgium: Gustaph – Because Of You

Gustaph wore an elegant white suit with a hat that completed the look. Beneath, he wore a pink outfit (shirt and corresponding pants).
Gustaph was accompanied by 3 female backing vocalists, all of whom wore black outfits.
Backdrop LED shows dancing drag queens
The main prop on stage is a median black staircase. In the beginning, Gustaph is standing on the top of is, thereafter the backing singers are located on the staircase.
Ballroom dancer PussCee West will also accompany him on stage, while dancing and doing some gymnastic movements.

@eurovision
The party gets started in Liverpool and it’s all because of YOU Gustaph 🤩🇧🇪 #Eurovision2023 #Eurovision @Gustaph
♬ original sound – Eurovision

🇧🇪 VRT has released a behind-the-scenes video of Gustaph's first #Eurovision rehearsal, including some new tv footage from his performance.

[🎥 eenbe] pic.twitter.com/B3vtBRXqcO
— ESC Discord (@ESCdiscord) May 2, 2023

🇨🇾 Cyprus: Andrew Lambrou – Break A Broken Heart

Andrew wears a black bolero, and he is almost bare chest.
In the second rehearsal, he chose to appear barefoot.
The LED backdrop shows different figures, from waterfalls to flames.
At a certain point, the floor will be full of smoke.
The artwork behind him shows a visual that looks like a giant waterfall.
Another interesting effect will be the 4 banks of flames.

@eurovision
Red lights, flashes, Andrew Lambrou rises out of the ashes ☄️🇨🇾 #Eurovision2023 #Eurovision @Andrew Lambrou
♬ original sound – Eurovision

🇮🇸 Iceland: Diljá – Power

Diljá will bring a staging concept that reminds the national selection.
She wore a silver suit with jacket and undershirt. As the song progresses, she will get rid of the jacket.
Her staging includes a rotating tiny black platform, on which she lies, stands and sits.
The performance starts with sitting on the platform. The scene is quite dark, and we can see green shiny lights.
As the song progresses, the lights are converted to a blue color.
Like in the national selection, we will be able to see her walking, lying on the floor, running and kicking, all of these while delivering one of the most powerful voices of this year’s contest.
Most of them, the scene is dark, but the lights appear as the drum and bass go bigger
The backdrop shows sunflowers, green branches, purple and blue wallpaper and more

🇬🇷 Greece: Victor Vernikos – What They Say

The backdrop LED screen shows multiple giant characters of Victor.
Victor wore an off white suit with 3 parts (shirt, jacket and short pants).
He started the performance while lying on the floor. The floor shows Greek and Lativ letters around him, while we can see a pre-recorded video of him on the floor, next to him.
From time to time, Victor does some dance moves to elevate the performance.
In the second part of the song, the floor shows golden brown amotphic structures.
The lighting is mostly white and yellow.
You can see some letters and text on the back LED screens.
Towwards the end, we can expect some pyro with low smoke.
Vocally, there’s a space to improve. From time to time he looked confused.

🇵🇱 Poland: Blanka – Solo

Blanka is accompanied by 4 backing dancers (2 males and 2 females).
She wore a purple-orange dress with sequins on the sleeve. Her shows are brown/orange hells.
Her dancers wore shiny outfits with sequins.
Backdrop LEDs will support summer hit vibes with tropical visuals. Part of the time, we can see lava as well
In the beginning, we can see the dancers taking “selfies”
In the chorus, we can see a black background with a lot of purple hands that shows us danceable hand moves.
The lighting is mostly orange and white
Some changes were made in the song as we got a dance break towards the end.
One of the most exciting moments will be the dress reveal.
In the final chorus, there is a rain of fireworks.
The performance includes a lot of video effects, like disappearing, fire, clouds of smoke and more.
The dance break is performed while we can see some effects like blurry screen and more. During the dance break, the dancers joined as well

🇸🇮 Slovenia: Joker Out – Carpe Diem

The band members wore glamour and flowerish outfits, as you can see in the image below.
The lead singer Bojan wore pink velvet trousers. Their top outfits come in bright colors like gray, light blue, off white, gold and green.
There are neon letters behind them with the words “Carpe Diem”, lit by pink and ren lights.
The performance is said to be effortless and conquering.
Lighting is mainly blue, purple and red, as the scene is quite dark.
The dance shows shiny lights, which convert it to a dance floor
From time to time, Bojan gives us some dance move, as he walks along the stage and interacts with the different band members.

@eurovision
Joker Out truly did seize the day! 😉 🇸🇮 #Eurovision2023 #Eurovision @Joker Out Official
♬ original sound – Eurovision

🇬🇪 Georgia: Iru – Echo

The main prop on stage will be the wind machine, to demonstrate some effects that we could have seen in the video clip.
Iru wore a half white-transparent dress, her nails were painted peach pink, and she wore a huge silver arm jeweler. I the second rehearsals, the dress train is much longer.
LED screens create a dark mysterious atmosphere, they show great gray swirling and stormy weather.
As always, Iru’s vocals are said to be strong and on point.
As in 2015, Georgia will use fog and smoke on stage.

@eurovision
This thing is known…Iru’s first rehearsal was breathtaking 🫢 🇬🇪 #Eurovision2023 #Eurovision @IruKhechanovi
♬ original sound – Eurovision

🇸🇲 San Marino: Piqued Jacks – Like an animal

Piqued Jacks wore black leather outfits.
The lead singer Andre has a special outfit with sparkly effect that shines on stage, beneath the stage lights.
The backdrop shows red and black graphics. One of these are big sensual red lips, with a black and white swirl coming from within
Their performance relies on their energy and Andre’s charisma

@eurovision
Full of rizz, you can smell their stage presence a mile off! 🇸🇲 #Eurovision2023 #Eurovision @Piqued Jacks
♬ original sound – Eurovision

🇦🇹 Austria: Teya and Salena – Who The Hell Is Edgar?

Teya and Salena wore red-fabric base outfits. Teya wore a black leather jacket and suitable pants, while Salena wore a white fashioned top.
Their performance relies on a catchy dance routine and excellent vocals.
Backdrop LED screens show varied visuals: composition of Edgar Allen Poe’s face, a lot of people wearing red and dancing, a huge black typewriter and more.
The lights are mainly red and white.
As per TV production, the LED artwork is one of the most impressive this year.

@eurovision
LET’S GO! Time for some POE POE POE 🇦🇹 #Eurovision2023 #Eurovision @whothehellareteyaandsalena
♬ original sound – Eurovision

🇦🇱 Albania: Albina and Familja Kelmendi – Duje

The LED screens show visuals in red and black, just like the Albanian flag.
They walk in circles around Albina. Her forehead is covered with a black cloth with sequins
At a certain point, we can see a kind of tall red tree growing behind Albina, on the LED screens.
In another part of the performance, we can see a golden orange visuals with white vivid lights above
The whole family wore black outfits
Towards the end, there are a lot of flames.
The majority of the dancing looks traditional, with hand movements. Their choreography includes waving red napkins.

🇱🇹 Lithuania: Monika Linkytė – Stay

At the first rehearsal, Monika wore an orange strapless minidress with matching platform heels.trail.
She is accomanmied by 4 British female backing singers, all of whom wore black outfits.
The backdrop LED screens show orange visuals, as well as circular black arcs with traditional tribal Lithuanian paints, colored white and gray.
Part of the graphic is in light purple.
The camera angles include long shots that show how the purple lights wrap the stage.

Second rehearsals gallery can be found here: