For this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the first two rehearsals were locked to the press, so as to protect the artists’ mental health and keep the suspense up high. This doesn’t mean we can’t tell you what happened during rehearsals, with all the good, bad and ugly!
(Disclaimer: This is just made in jest, rather than really speculating what happened during rehearsals. In other words, it’s a joke)
- Iceland
- Væb have brought a real iceberg on stage, rumor has it the majority of Iceland’s budget was put towards cold shipping and cold storage.
- Poland
- Justyna’s spinner spun so quickly that it turned into a helicopter and got stuck in a lighting rig.
- Slovenia
- In lieu of his regular LEDs, during the first runthrough, a giant clock appeared behind Klemen, loudly ticking throughout the rehearsal. Several of the delegations then talked about the Doomsday Clock, which almost completely ruined the mood of the song.
- Estonia
- Tommy Cash has changed the title of his song to “Orange Mocha Frappuccino!”.
- Ukraine
- Rumor has it, Ziferblat planned to surprise the audience with thousands of doves flying over the arena. However, it was quickly shut down by the EBU.
- Sweden
- The towels from Melfest have been abandoned and replaced with nothing, whether or not the backing dancer’s full nudity will be censored in the broadcast has yet to be revealed.
- Portugal
- Everyone called home midway through NAPA’s final runthrough. Somebody told the crowd of the translation, of which they called their families as soon as possible.
- Norway
- Alessandro’s performance was sponsored by Bic.
- Belgium
- Red Sebastian revealed that human cloning is real and is joined on stage by the three most successful clones grown since the National Final.
- Azerbaijan
- The saz Asaf tried to mimic lost a string, which nobody noticed because they couldn’t hear it from the backing track.
- San Marino
- A member of the audience asked Gabry why they would sing about Italy despite representing San Marino, at which the David in the LEDs frowned.
- Albania
- During one run-through, Beatrice hit her drumstick in the wrong place, causing all the lights to go out. It took an hour to get everything back together, at which Shkodra Elektronike had to rehearse in the dark.
- Netherlands
- Claude developed vertigo trying to meet up with the camera, at which he crashed into the violinists and missed his cues. He simply responded with “C’est la vie!”
- Croatia
- Buranovskiye Babushki’s oven was flown in from Baku.
- Cyprus
- The staging references multiple of Leonardo Da Vinci’s works. Not only the Vitruvian man, but the Mona Lisa, Last Supper, and Lady with an Ermine.
SF2:
- Australia
- During rehearsals, the ice cream Go-Jo brought melted. Nobody was happy about this, because they were all looking forward to free milkshakes!
- Montenegro
- Nina missed her cue on when to take her blindfold off, at which she stepped off the stage and fell into a cameraman.
- Ireland
- Graciously, Emmy received advice from NASA.
- Latvia
- One of the singers of Tautumeitas accidentally mixed up the lyrics, resulting in the song turning from a chant for happiness to a funeral lament.
- Armenia
- PARG’s choreography references Destiny Child’s for their song “Survivor”.
- Austria
- JJ’s high notes almost managed to pop the eardrums of everybody watching. In addition, the performance, possibly involving a boat, almost made JJ seasick, even though he was always on land.
- Greece
- A shooting star passed over the Greek delegation just after rehearsals, and everyone involved closed their eyes and tried to make a wish. None of it was related to Eurovision.
- One of the set designers got chased out because they had the audacity to bring blue paint on stage.
- Lithuania
- The entire crowd who watched the rehearsal chanted “TAVO”…for twelve hours!
- Malta
- The fitness balls from the national final have been replaced by giant beauty blenders.
- Georgia
- At one point, the backing track was switched to “Freedom! 90” by George Michael. Mariam tried to impress the crowd with her powerful vocals to this track, but she missed a few cues.
- Denmark
- The security guards asked Sissal if she had any hallucinogens in her bag, particularly special mushrooms. In response, she claims she “(really) doesn’t know (anything) about (those) drugs”, saying they were actually treats for her daughters.
- Czechia
- As part of rehearsing, ADONXS broke the space-time-continuum and is currently awaiting trial with the TVC.
- Luxembourg
- During one of the run-throughs, the delegation accidentally summoned the ghost of France Gall, who approved of Laura’s performance. When they tried again to summon her for winning advice, she was surprisingly quiet.
- Israel
- The crystals on the contraption played like windchimes.
- Serbia
- Zeljko Joksimovic snuck himself within the Serbian delegation. Rumor has it, he can be seen discussing about getting internally selected for the next contest, assuming that PzE might not be coming back.
- Finland
- Erika’s risqué pvc leotard from the National final has now been replaced by a chaste wedding gown complete with cathedral train. The nun costume which Erika suggested on TikTok was shot down because of “religious sensitivities”