Dress Rehearsal for the Final!

17 May 2013 at 16:34 CEST

At around 14:30 CET, the Grand Final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest was rehearsed in full length in the Malmö Arena for the first time. A total of 26 countries will be represented in this show, which will go LIVE tomorrow, Saturday May 18th, at 21:00 CET.

This is the full line-up:

France: L'Enfer Et Moi by Amandine Bourgeois
Lithuania: Something by Andrius Pojavis
Moldova: O Mie by Aliona Moon
Finland: Marry Me by Krista Siegfrids
Spain: Contigo Hasta El Final (With You Until The End) by ESDM
Belgium: Love Kills by Roberto Bellarosa
Estonia: Et Uus Saaks Alguse by Birgit
Belarus: Solayoh by Alyona Lanskaya
Malta:Tomorrow by Gianluca
Russia: What If by Dina Garipova
Germany: Glorious by Cascada
Armenia: Lonely Planet by Dorians
The Netherlands: Birds by Anouk
Romania: It's My Life by Cezar
United Kingdom: Believe In Me by Bonnie Tyler
Sweden: You by Robin Stjernberg
Hungary:: Kedvesem by ByeAlex
Denmark: Only Teardrops by Emmelie de Forest
Iceland:Ég Á Líf by Eyþór Ingi
Azerbaijan: Hold Me by Farid Mammadov
Greece: Alcohol Is Free by Koza Mostra featuring Agathon Iakovidis
Ukraine: Gravity by Zlata Ognevich
Italy: L'Essenziale by Marco Mengoni
Norway: I Feed Your Love by Margaret Berger
Georgia: Waterfall by Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani
Ireland: Only Love Survives by Ryan Dolan

The opening film starts in Baku, with the larva emerging from the ground, before transforming into a butterfly and making its way to Malmö.

The show opens with anthem We Write The Story song. While the choir sing the song, all 26 finalists cross the bridge, following their flag bearers. the whole piece runs to nearly six and a half minutes. Then Petra Mede enters the stage.

She thanks the contribution of the collaboration of Avicii, Björn and Benny, and says they couldn't get ABBA, but at least they got ABB.

There is a brief background about the creation of Eurovision, and that here we are 57 years later, with over 50 countries watching, and an explanation of how the voting is done.

Then we are onto the first song;

France - Amandince is wearing her same stage outfit she wore in her rehearsals, and gives a dramatic performance of the opening song in the contest, which of course is one of the songs that the audience who has been watching the contest this week hasn't yet seen performed on stage. Amandince is the main focus on the centre stage, with her backing singers in the shadow.

The second song is Something sung by Andrius Pojavis for Lithuania. He is dressed this afternoon with the same leather jacket that he wore in the Semi-Final, but today has a blue T-Shirt with an artistic drawing of face on it.

For her rehearsal this afternoon Aliona Moon from Moldova is wearing a casual green top, over her amazing dress, providing a strange contrast for the limited audience in the arena and in the press centre, but otherwise the performance is the same as earlier this week, with very convincing vocals.

It's fun time now, as it's ding-dong all the way with Krista Siegfrids and Marry Me for Finland. As you would expect it is the full on performance from the Finnish singer and her backing group. Despite it being only last night that she secured her place in the Final, she is still full of energy.

Now time for another song that the worldwide audience hasn't seen yet on the Malmö stage, and that is the entry of Spain, by th group EDSM. From the quiet celtic opening it soon explodes into energy with the pyros going off and picks up, as the lead singer moves out onto the catwalk stage.

Next up was Roberto Bellarosa from Belgium. The uptempo pop song was well performed by the young singer, who, just like his backing artists, wore all black clothes. The projections on the backdrop were showing the song lyrics on a blue background.

Black and white video images kick off the Estonian entry, sung by Birgit. She is wearing a long white dress, as in the Semi-Final, and the whole act irradiates a beautifully nostalgic atmosphere, supported also by artificial smoke on the stage floor and the warm colours of the backdrop.

Solayoh, Solayoh - by the time the Belarusian entry starts playing, good mood is taking over in the audience. Alyona Lanskaya steps out of a huge disco ball in the beginning and, together with her backing dancers, shows a really intoxicating performance.

With the Maltese song, another very positive entry immediately follows suit. Gianluca, the "singing doctor", wears casual clothes, like his backing artists. This is another entry where parts of the song lyrics are displayed on the backdrop.

Dina Garipova, the Russian hopeful, was next in line with her powerful ballad What If. With another vocally perfect performance, she proved once more that she is definitely one to look out for in the Final. In today's rehearsal, the whole team wore casual clothes but that will change in the Jury Final tonight.

There is no need to "evacuate the dancefloor" when Cascada from Germany take over the stage in the Malmö Arena, quite the opposite! Lead singer Natalie Horler delivers a confident performance on a stage set in purple and pink. In the beginning she stands on a transparent staircase, and towards the end she goes over the catwalk. At the same time, the so-called "waterfall pyros" are applied.

Dorians, the Armenian rock band, take the stage as the 12th act. Their song Lonely Planet was written by Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath. Lead singer Gor Sujyan shows a very convincing vocal performance, and flame pyros added to the power of this rock entry.

Now it's time for another funny clip with Lynda Woodruff, an alleged EBU spokesperson impersonated by Sarah Dawn Finer.

After the break, Anouk from The Netherlands enters the stage with her slow and melancholic song Birds. She performs it vocally safe and the dark stage matches the atmosphere of the ballad.

When Cezar, the Romanian counter tenor, starts singing the chorus of his eccentric song It's My Life, it certainly doesn't go unnoticed. Along with his singing goes an elaborate stage act, involving ballet-like dancing. Towards the end of the song, the singer is lifted on a podium, and rose petals are falling.

Bonnie Tyler is the representative of the United Kingdom this year. She wears black clothes, just like the artists in the band backing her on stage in the Malmö Arena. The stage is set in warm colours, with yellow and red dominating the scenery.

The host country Sweden's representative Robin Stjernberg is bound to get a big reception by the audience tonight, but he does have a captivating song indeed. White and light grey are the main colours of the outfits, and the six artists on stage showed what is probably the most elaborate choreography of the night.

ByeAlex from Hungary is definitely an exceptional artist, and he sells his song Kedvesem very well in today's rehearsal. He wears a grey cap again, which has already become his trademark on home ground. On the backdrop illustrations created by his sister are shown, as well as the English translation of the song lyrics.

Pyros, ethnic flutes and a strong chorus - Denmark's Only Teardrops surely has all the ingredients a typical "Eurovision song" needs, and Emmelie de Forest performs it once again very nicely. The main colours of the stage are yellow and red.

Eyþór Ingi from Iceland does a great job performing his anthem on a stage set in blue. He wears a black suit, and four backing vocals support him. On the backdrop, scenes from a Nordic fishing village are displayed - it could well be the singer's home town in fact.

Azerbaijan comes up with yet another well-thought-out act where main singer Farid Mammadov first stands on and next to a glass box inside which a dancer moves as if he is a mirror image of Farid. As the song builds up towards the end, a female dancer in a red dress joins the act.

Alcohol Is Free - at least if we believe the lyrics of the Greek entry, sung by Koza Mostra featuring Agathon Iakovidis. The spotlights are well applied to emphasize the strong and danceable rhythm of this song, and typical Greek sounds as well as a Sirtaki routine make its origin very obvious.

A Ukrainian fairytale is impersonated by Zlata Ognevich and her fellow artist Igor Vovkovinskiy, the tallest man in the US who carries her on stage. Images of a forest at night on the backdrop and smoke effects add to the mystic air, and single pyro shots are well applied in the end of the song.

Contrasting with the entries performed before, Marco Mengoni's L'Essenziale is stripped down to what the lyrics already suggest: The Essential. The Italian singer performs alone on a blue stage, without any special effects - which comes across as very refreshing at this point.

One of the most modern entries this year is performed by Margaret Berger from Norway. Today she didn't wear her white stage costume but just casual clothes. Moving white spotlights and a dark blue backdrop added to the cool atmosphere on stage.

A ballad, sung as a duet is the Georgian entry this year. Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani deliver another heartwarming performance today, and another set of "waterfall pyros" underline this truly uplifting entry.

The last entry to be performed is Only Love Survives by Ryan Dolan from Ireland. He performs in black leather jacket and trousers. Drumming and dancing, adds to the energy of this song, performed in front of a red backdrop displaying black patterns.

In the interval, last year's winner Loreen performs a medley of her most popular songs, We Got The Power, My Heart Is Refusing Me, and of course Euphoria.

After that, a "funny" video about Swedishness is shown, followed by a singing performance of Petra Mede called Swedish Smorgasbord and another piece of Eurovision history.

Then, at this point, it will get exciting on the big night, as the voting will start. The host from the green room will be Eric Saade, who represented Sweden in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.

Have a look at our galleries from the first rehearsal.

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