Belgium | Eliot has come to fight for his second rehearsal

We are on day five of the rehearsals where fifteen countries will sing today, in a bit to update their performances, and fine tune how they will be portrayed on screen. The countries that will be rehearsing today will only have twenty minutes today, as opposed to the forty that they have been accustomed too. Next up this morning was Eliot with the song, "Wake Up".

Eliot rose to fame after appearing on season 7 of The Voice Belgique where he was mentored by Slimane. It was his appearance on this show that caught songwriter and producer Pierre Dumoulin's attention. Having previously written 'City Lights' for Blanche, Pierre expressed interest in working specifically with Eliot and that is how 'Wake Up' came to fruition! At the age of 18, Eliot is one of the youngest participants this year.

Image Credit: Thomas Hanses (Eurovision.tv)

REWIND - BELGIUM - FIRST REHEARSAL

Eliot had some issues at the start of the pre-party tour with vocals, however from the rehearsals this morning we are happy to say this seems to have been fixed. Eliot is joined on stage by two drummers - with three drums. On his left there's a double-drum whilst on his right there's just one giant drum. Later on in the song, the drummers join up with Eliot in the front and join in with their simply choreography.

The background is most dark red dominated, with occasional flashes and blue and purple seeping through. Overall the staging is very dark for the majority of the performance, . Eliot himself is wearing a long black jacket with orange & yellow details and black skinny jeans. Interestingly, Eliot does engage with the triangles on the ceiling which move around during the performance before ultimately moving up along with some arm movements from Eliot at the last chorus - whilst the background turns a lot lighter.

The camera shots mostly close-ups of Eliot and he works with the camera surprisingly well despite his age. He does the fist bump you may have seen from some of his pre-party performances and whilst looking a little bit scared, for the most part Eliot looks emotional but determined which works with the song. The biggest concern for us would be that the stage does look pretty empty and over the three minutes there's not much to really lift the performance.

BELGIUM - SECOND REHEARSAL

Eliot delivered another confident performance on stage with his backing instrumentalists. The staging and visuals have remained the same as they were in the first semi final; the only difference we see this time round is the addition of smoke that we see towards the end of the performance. Eliot looks more at ease on stage for his second rehearsal and he delivered a good vocal performance.

BELGIUM FIRST REHEARSAL vs SECOND REHEARSAL

Both of Eliot's rehearsals have been good, and there has been little change seen between his two rehearsals. Eliot does seem more confident and comfortable on stage in his second rehearsal, and the added effect from the smoke machines adds a little something extra to the whole performance. It has been a solid effort from Eliot so far!

Eliot always manages to deliver a brilliant performance each time. Do you like both the rehearsals? Please tell us your thoughts in the comments below.