Today see the first rehearsals of the big 5 and Ukraine, the 6 countries that are automatically in the final.

It’s France up first to rehearse after the lunch break with chanteuse La Zarra singing Évidemment. It’s sung in French in the most French way imaginable, and then the whole thing goes joyfully disco.

Eurovision.tv seems excited. Ooh la la, this is FABULOUS. It’s Edith Piaf meets Lady Gaga, with La Zarra standing on top of a sparkle-draped plinth wearing a fitted gown made entirely from black and red sequins. And when we say ‘plinth’, we mean a moving column five meters off the ground, draped in sparkly black fabric all the way to the floor. The fabric disappears to reveal a cylindrical column with a mirror-tiled top, upon which La Zarra is giving this vocal everything – bonus points for the French flag on the LED wall at the end. This is ART. Put it in the Louvre immediately.

Stephan Herholdt designed a promo CD single of the French entry for ESC Covers and here it is.