Croatia | Roko brings the roof down with his vocals to kick off Day 4

Welcome back to Eurovoxx's coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 rehearsals! We're already at day four which means today we will see the first rehearsals of all nine countries which drew second half of the second semi final - including the two current favourites to win! Join us all day on our YouTube channel, website & other social media for the latest updates and video content.

Image Credit: Damjan Fiket/Marko Košutić (Eurovision.tv)

The first to take to the Eurovision stage this morning is Croatia! Roko Blažević is bringing one of the biggest ballads this year with 'The Dream', a half-English, half-Croatian traditional Balkan ballad written by Jacques Houdek who represented Croatia in 2017.

The child of two singers, it was sort of expected that Roko grew up surrounded by music. In 2017, he won Serbian show 'Pinkove Zvezdice' and then came second place a year later in Croatian talent show 'Zvijezde'. Croatia's national selection show 'Dora' aired this year for the first time since their return to Eurovision in 2016. Roko was highly favoured from the moment he was announced as competing along with Jacques Houdek as his songwriter and mentor, ultimately taking home the win in February.

Image Credit: Thomas Hanses (Eurovision.tv)

CROATIA - FIRST REHEARSAL

Roko starts the performance without his wings! He begins the performance on the floor with the story depicting a fallen angel being saved and returning to heaven. Despite rumours of the whole song being sung in Croatian the first half is actually in English.

For the first verse, backdrop very red, fiery, asteroids looking things. He also lies down on the floor at one point with red LED wings behind him on the stage. Then just ahead of the first chorus two LED angels come down and then bam - they appear on the stage. Two quite attractive backing dancers, shirtless, with white wings. They dance around Roko for the first chorus. The LEDs then change to blue, making it look more heavenly and like clouds.

The Croatian delegation teased that Roko would not have wings but ... he gets given a pair of golden wings halfway through the performance which he then keeps for the rest of the performance. Light flashes and lightning in the background, but it stays blueish with the heavenly colours.