Jessica Mauboy has taken to the Eurovision stage and performed her song We Got Love.
While the first televised appearance of Jessica performing the song will be at the second semi-final on Friday morning, by the time she she steps out on stage she’ll have already delivered the song to a Eurovision audience several times.
OUTinPerth traveled to Eurovision in Copenhagen in 2014 and Vienna in 2015 and got a look at what goes on outside the televised broadcasts.
The artists rehearse their numbers with the television crews many times before they perform in front of an audience, then they take part in a live rehearsal.
The rehearsal shows are exactly like the televised broadcast, the auditorium is filled with paying patrons and the entire show is run through in real time. Its all timed to the second, if a presenter takes just a moment too long with an intro, it’s rewritten to be just right for the televised broadcast. If a camera operator is ‘caught in shot’ during the rehearsal, you can guarantee they’ll be running faster by the time the live show airs.
Then they contestants perform for the Jury show. Eurovision’s scores are made a 50-50 combination of the telephone votes of the audience and a score from each country’s professional jury. Five industry professionals who are picked to cast their judgement on each artist.
This year Australia’s jury is lead by television host Richard Wilkins who is joined by Double J’s Zan Rowe, comedian and musician Jordan Raskopoulos, hip hop artist L-FRESH The LION and music executive Millie Millgate.
The jury show is also features a full audience and is run from start to finish. It’s another chance for the television crews to make sure the broadcast is run like clockwork.
At the rehearsal show in Vienna one of the contestants was picked to have a quick chat while the voting period was occurring, but she stumbled her answer and took too long to say something coherent. When it came time for the live final – the host was speaking to someone else.
There was an elaborate dance presentation from one of Denmark’s leading choreographers at Copenhagen’s jury show that was performed during the voting period, it was stunning – but was mercilessly cut from the live final because it ran too long.
By the time the performers take to the stage they have done their song so many times, they know exactly where every camera is going to be, and it’s synchronised to the millisecond.
A short clip of Jessica’s rehearsal has been released and we know from her jury performance that he stage involves lots of pyrotechnics.
Jessica will be taking to the stage in the early hours of Friday morning, the show is broadcast live on SBS and repeated in the evening.
The singer has also announced that she’s going to be releasing some dance remixes of the tune next week. There are four reworkings of We Got Love. The Tobtok, 7th Heaven, Glammstar and Country Club Martini Crew.
OIP Staff- images Andres Putting
