Russia: Neither lost nor forgotten

As with the first rehearsal, the Peter Nalitch and Friends group comprises of a drummer on a raised platform, a guitarist, two electric guitar players and a keyboard player.

Peter wears a green cardigan, black scarf and black trousers. These could feasibly be the actual costumes that are worn in the Semi-Final as Russia this year are concentrating more on showing off their musical capabilities than presenting gimmicks.

Throughout the performance, flakes are falling around Peter and his group, creating a snow style effect. Vocally today Peter was note perfect, with a very competent performance that the Russian team were very pleased with. The assembled press showed their appreciation with a generous round of applause.

This content is unfortunately no longer available

The second Russian press conference took place after the rehearsal and in general the Russian team were pleased with how the performance had gone. Peter stated that this was because the team were twice as experienced as they were first time around.

An Israeli journalist asked Peter who was the real person in the picture that he was holding on stage, he replied "It's just an abstract drawing that I made yesterday, it's not a real person".

Another journalist asked why the band had opted for an anthemic hymn style song for the Eurovision Song Contest, considering that the earlier material which the band released was more uptempo. Peter stated that the team felt that it was the right time to send a slower song for this particular competition, and that the style was suitable.

Peter said that the team planned to attend some parties before the Semi-Final performance, and purely relax and get in to the right frame of mind for their big performance.

This content is unfortunately no longer available