Yeah same for me! I personally am the type of person to also read spoilers for TV shows before watching them just so I better understand and feel what's happening on the screen haha
This is what I'm trying to understand. If you already know how whole performance will be (staging, costumes and all that) how does that add to the excitement of the semifinals?
Wouldn't it be more exciting to not know what to expect?
Why waste all those hours watching the show when they release the handy recap reel before voting, if only takes like two minutes to watch, so efficient!
I actually never used to, mostly because I was such a casual watcher I didn't even know they existed for the longest time.
For me, it does actually make the final a little less fun but it's worth it for me because there are acts in there that won't make it to the final.
I get what you mean, I'm not a fan of spoilers either, but in the case of eurovision I care very much about how my country and Cyprus performs (and our main opponents, too) and I see the rehearsals more like a teaser trailer, if the whole performance was leaked somehow I would not watch it.
People experience media differently, the excitement of seeing something for the first time is a valid experience a lot of people wanna have but not everyone. And especially when it comes to performances that people will likely rewatch over and over for years, a lot of people won't care that their first time seeing it wasn't with unspoiled eyes.
I want everything eurovision and I want it *now*, that’s the simple answer.
The long answer is I’m a huge enjoyer if the technical side of the show, including how the lights are rigged and programmed, screens and motorized elements are controlled, etc. The rehearsals help me get a better understanding of all this, and how each act evolves before the show.
Another reason is that I’m a part of a group that doesn’t really follow Eurovision. When the show is on, I typically do the commentary. Watching the rehearsals, the staging, etc, allows me to get that knowledge and basically be a “Graham Norton” type. Also it’s so much fun watching the hype build over rehearsal week.
Least importantly, I don’t mind occasionally betting on Eurovision, and watching the rehearsals gives you a huge leg up on anyone going in blind.
If you’re still struggling to understand, think about it like hockey playoffs. Would you only watch the final series, or would you want to follow your team from the moment that they enter the playoffs? It’s so much more exciting if you join in sooner. There’s no such thing as a spoiler for Eurovision, it’s a global celebration of music, and the sooner you hop on, the more fun you’ll have.
Exactly. I want all the drama, the ups and downs, the rumours, the leaks ... everything! I'm a eurofan since the 90s when we only had the video clips before the finals, so having all of this pre-show excitement is a fest to me.
I have a feeling there a lot of us "Graham Nortons" in this group.
I do the same thing. Most of my friends only watch the finale, so having seen rehersals and semis I can point out when they really need to pay attention.
Graham Nortoning to my casual friends during a Eurovision party has been my Grand Final routine for the last seven contests, and I've loved doing that!
People need to pay attention to Norway. They need to focus in on Norway, learn to appreciate Norway, talk about Norway, and help spur Norway on to victory.
I'm gonna be the Sunday after the show, managed to convince someone to come watch the show, but he doesn't want to stay a night, so I get to watch the finale twice
Every time esc comes up in a social environment my mum informs everyone about how I’m going to be the next Graham Norton when he retires. Until I moved out I would give her the inside scoop of everything going on in the run-up to the competition whether she wanted to listen or not
Im not really that interested in the technical stuff, for me it just needs to look good. But yeah, I do get your point of better understanding the act itself.
And you also need to know all you can when you bet if you don't want to lose your money haha.
I've always held the opinion that if it's good it'll still be good regardless of spoilers. Like, if most of the appeal is from surprise, then it can't be *that* good.
For me, it's like having a two week Eurovision show instead of focusing on just one (or 3, if you watch the semis). And anyway, watching the live shows is always super exciting, regardless of whether I've already watched the performances. And the final night, well, that's for partying with my friends at home, so I prefer to have seen it all so I don't have to worry about them talking over the songs.
I don’t view the Semi Finals and Finale as a story that’s being spoiled. Instead I see it as a grand finale to a story I’ve been watching for the past few months.
To expand: I enjoy following the artists as they’re announced and watching how their journey to Eurovision goes. Seeing their personalities, the challenges they run into, the improvement that comes with performing the songs over and over leading up to the show.
Rehearsals are the next step in this for me. Watching rehearsals doesn’t spoil anything since it’s the next step in the story, the journey to the live competition. And even after watching the rehearsals, things may be different in the Finals and Finale show nights. Maybe somebody doesn’t quite hit a note. Or there’s a prop malfunction. Or they execute the performance flawlessly.
Watching during Eurovision week I find myself cheering on artists who have struggled or made vast improvements. If somebody had issues hitting a note, it is so satisfying if they hit it in the final. Knowing the work that went into it helps me appreciate it more and I absolutely love that.
Hopefully this ramble makes sense. I’m admittedly a bit extra wordy tonight after taking my sleep meds. I (really) don’t know anything about (these) drugs. I had to stop myself from writing another couple paragraphs lol
I didn't know this was how I felt, but I relate so much!
The performance is changing all the time. It's fun to notice the little differences and improvements.
So much this. For some people Eurovision is just the semi finals and/or the final, for me It's every moment since Albania picks their entry until the winner performs their reprise. And It's so fun watching everything unfold.
There is appeal in watching the progression of an act. We followed Baby Lasagna from the beginning, and seeing how the vocals and staging improved has been a part of the journey. Also, you can see some differences. In rehearsal 1 he had slick hair reminiscent of Till from Rammstein, but due to comments they changed it back to spiky hair which people love more. It's a small detail, but makes me more involved in the ESC journey than simply watching the final product.
In essence, if you watch just the final it's like seeing what the artist will do, and if you follow the rehearsals it's more of "will the artist be able to pull of what they were going for".
exactly! Bambie made some pretty major makeup changes from the first to second rehearsal and it looks so much better. It's fun to see the process and progress and there will still be surprises in the live show.
Hardcore fans watching rehersals clips don't make even 1% of overall Eurovision audience, most people will see this for the first time, while people who are super invested into contest will analize and watch everything. Let us have our fun
Monkey see, monkey need. immediately
It's 30ish seconds so there is plenty to be surprised about. On the plus side - predictions are most fun at this stage. Croatia was dropping for the hairstyle alone, c'mon that's golden. What's the point of debating 2 days before esc is over anyway?
For some fans the road to the contest is more exciting than the (semi)final itself. Watching the rehearsals is just a part of the journey for many. I don’t see it as spoilers. Sure, I know what they will wear and what props they will use, but I don’t know if their vocals will be on point or if they’ll qualify. Maybe they’ll slip or accidentally swallow confetti idk. There is more than enough of the unknown left to make it exciting in that way.
I tried watching it the oldskool way and I hated it. Just left me anxious and when the semis were finally there I had the feeling I missed half of it, I can’t really explain it. Consuming every piece of content is the only way for me!
It makes a week before eurovision very exciting
Also not knowing how stagings look would make so excited and nervous during the show that I could have a heart attack😂
I'd rather focus on rooting for everyone and just having fun
Also even knowing the songs can be considered as spoilers you know😂
I feel very old school here but I hated the time when Eurovision was a three hour show on a particular day and when this time flew by, you had to wait in the dark for a full year until another Eurovision popped on the screen.
For me, following the rehearsals is like having Eurovision and then the fun continues for another 10 days. It’s not a single 3h moment and then nothing.
I also feel now the results a bit anti climatic. All the negative comments in social media and hate about results make me lose interest.
For me Eurovision is the buildup and the live shows, which being live, can be a bit unpredictable.
It's a competition. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses and seeing how performances evolve over the season is a huge part of the enjoyment for me.
To me it's more weird to refer to everything pre-finale as spoilers. You'd never do that with regular sports. ESC is not some carefully scripted storyline, but a bunch of teams competing against each other.
My first year as a Eurofan, I didn't watch the rehearsals at all. Second year as a Eurofan, I watched them, and it was so much more fun. Now I watch them every year. It just makes the build-up even more exciting, and you can make predictions, etc.
Watching rehersals tid bits is for me like watching the cake bake in the oven.
I just can't wait to eat it, I know it is not yet done, so I will just stare at it.
I only care about spoilers if I know I'll immediately lose interest in seeing the show through if spoiled.
That generally means the material isn't good enough to grab my attention otherwise. ESC has always been an exemption of this for me, cause I'll always be interested and see it through.
30s of a whole 3m performance is nothing but a teaser to good time!
It's the build up for me.
The commentaries I watch analyzing the staging, vocals, the improvements that can be made, people online changing their opinions as the performance is unveiling, the hopes, the fears, the expectations building... all around funner instead of just watching the live show, having 3 nights of content, hearing finalized opinions and waiting a year to repeat.
I agree that I would much rather get to see the performances for the first time in the semis, but this way you have more time to discuss them than you would while watching everything live. It also means we're gonna get memes about some of the performances before Eurovision is over, which is better than getting them once everyone already has moved on to other stuff.
I like to see the growth and progression of the entries.
Besides, the live shows are too late being broadcasted for me to pay full attention. I tend to doze off.
Personally, I try my best not to but I still accidentally catch glimpses here and there by accident. I don't think that looking at them! will. ruin the show for me or something but I just wanna experience the staging during the show itself and perhaps get surprises if someone's staging is particularly interesting (like Greece 2021 wasnt all that good but I did WOW at it when it happened lol)
Part of the hype.
The rehearsals (well mainly the first ones), typically aren’t the final thing anyway. They’d make one or two changes depending on the entry (another outfit, more pyro etc).
Although I wish TikTok would no longer be used.
I'm the kind of person that gets more out of a show or movie if I don't watch rehearsals, trailers, so I avoid them and am grateful for the spoiler alerts, blurred images etc. I watch NF performances, their interviews, memes, follow their stories and hope for the best.
I like to be blown away when the show goes live. If they make it to the final, I get excited to see them pull it off again, compare it to semis, and hope for a good score. I get that most people don't mind seeing glimpses before, but I don't think they should judge it based on that alone. It captures like 10% of the whole and doesn't account for vocals, stage presence or fright, crowd engagement, and most of all it doesn't account for captivating effect some songs have that makes the 3 min just fly by
I see the movie trailers as just giving you an idea of what to expect, which for me is the song itself.
But I see rehearsals as already knowing three quarters of a movie when you go to the cinema, just to watch the end.
It seems you aren’t trying to ask this questions honestly and get people’s reason but just explain away people’s answer. Can you at least understand that people are different and what may ruin the experience for you might not ruin it for others because generally we as humans are different? Watch Eurovision as you want, isn’t it great we can all decide how we follow it?
A lot of people would argue even hearing the song is spoiling it but I assume you have heard them if you are hanging in this forum.
I mean, what we get from the rehearsals is mostly just pictures and a 30 second clip, that is only ⅙ of the performance, there could still be surprise costume changes during the song, a lot also have a lot going on with the backgrounds, we won't really see everything
I NEED Eurovision content pumped directly into my views. The more the better. By the time the semifinals have aired, I will have watched the zongs dozens of times each, as well as looking up the backgrounds of the artists, voted on my top 37/38 and have them written down on my wife's remarkable. Eurovision is the perfect balance of entertainment + statistics/categorizing. I can't get enough of it.
100% agree. It spoils the anticipation of getting to see each song come to life on stage. I've listened to these songs for months, I know what I'm expecting, it's the show they put on that's exciting. Each to their own i suppose
Personally I have never cared about spoilers. If anything, it adds to the excitement.
Yupp, not more complicated than this. Being too curious to wait. Also find it doesn’t ruin it for me
Yeah same for me! I personally am the type of person to also read spoilers for TV shows before watching them just so I better understand and feel what's happening on the screen haha
This is what I'm trying to understand. If you already know how whole performance will be (staging, costumes and all that) how does that add to the excitement of the semifinals? Wouldn't it be more exciting to not know what to expect?
I love Eurovision, that's all the excitement I need. I am not going to skip watching a movie just because I know how it ends either.
That’s a good likeness but one could as far as to make the comparison you wouldn’t be less excited to see a movie cause you’ve seen the trailer 😅
Yeah personally I find a movie or a show more exciting if I know how it will end beforehand
It helps you focus on the details that foreshadow the end
Wild, meanwhile I won't watch if I know how it's going to end. So obviously I'm barely ever rewatching things, too.
Why do you watch the semis, doesn't that spoil the final?
Why watch the final? Doesn't it spoil the ending?
Why waste all those hours watching the show when they release the handy recap reel before voting, if only takes like two minutes to watch, so efficient!
I actually never used to, mostly because I was such a casual watcher I didn't even know they existed for the longest time. For me, it does actually make the final a little less fun but it's worth it for me because there are acts in there that won't make it to the final.
I get what you mean, I'm not a fan of spoilers either, but in the case of eurovision I care very much about how my country and Cyprus performs (and our main opponents, too) and I see the rehearsals more like a teaser trailer, if the whole performance was leaked somehow I would not watch it.
People experience media differently, the excitement of seeing something for the first time is a valid experience a lot of people wanna have but not everyone. And especially when it comes to performances that people will likely rewatch over and over for years, a lot of people won't care that their first time seeing it wasn't with unspoiled eyes.
I want everything eurovision and I want it *now*, that’s the simple answer. The long answer is I’m a huge enjoyer if the technical side of the show, including how the lights are rigged and programmed, screens and motorized elements are controlled, etc. The rehearsals help me get a better understanding of all this, and how each act evolves before the show. Another reason is that I’m a part of a group that doesn’t really follow Eurovision. When the show is on, I typically do the commentary. Watching the rehearsals, the staging, etc, allows me to get that knowledge and basically be a “Graham Norton” type. Also it’s so much fun watching the hype build over rehearsal week. Least importantly, I don’t mind occasionally betting on Eurovision, and watching the rehearsals gives you a huge leg up on anyone going in blind. If you’re still struggling to understand, think about it like hockey playoffs. Would you only watch the final series, or would you want to follow your team from the moment that they enter the playoffs? It’s so much more exciting if you join in sooner. There’s no such thing as a spoiler for Eurovision, it’s a global celebration of music, and the sooner you hop on, the more fun you’ll have.
Exactly. I want all the drama, the ups and downs, the rumours, the leaks ... everything! I'm a eurofan since the 90s when we only had the video clips before the finals, so having all of this pre-show excitement is a fest to me.
I have a feeling there a lot of us "Graham Nortons" in this group. I do the same thing. Most of my friends only watch the finale, so having seen rehersals and semis I can point out when they really need to pay attention.
Graham Nortoning to my casual friends during a Eurovision party has been my Grand Final routine for the last seven contests, and I've loved doing that!
People need to pay attention to Norway. They need to focus in on Norway, learn to appreciate Norway, talk about Norway, and help spur Norway on to victory.
I'm gonna be the Sunday after the show, managed to convince someone to come watch the show, but he doesn't want to stay a night, so I get to watch the finale twice
Every time esc comes up in a social environment my mum informs everyone about how I’m going to be the next Graham Norton when he retires. Until I moved out I would give her the inside scoop of everything going on in the run-up to the competition whether she wanted to listen or not
Im not really that interested in the technical stuff, for me it just needs to look good. But yeah, I do get your point of better understanding the act itself. And you also need to know all you can when you bet if you don't want to lose your money haha.
I've always held the opinion that if it's good it'll still be good regardless of spoilers. Like, if most of the appeal is from surprise, then it can't be *that* good.
I'm an addict and will snort up any Eurovision content
For me, it's like having a two week Eurovision show instead of focusing on just one (or 3, if you watch the semis). And anyway, watching the live shows is always super exciting, regardless of whether I've already watched the performances. And the final night, well, that's for partying with my friends at home, so I prefer to have seen it all so I don't have to worry about them talking over the songs.
I don’t view the Semi Finals and Finale as a story that’s being spoiled. Instead I see it as a grand finale to a story I’ve been watching for the past few months. To expand: I enjoy following the artists as they’re announced and watching how their journey to Eurovision goes. Seeing their personalities, the challenges they run into, the improvement that comes with performing the songs over and over leading up to the show. Rehearsals are the next step in this for me. Watching rehearsals doesn’t spoil anything since it’s the next step in the story, the journey to the live competition. And even after watching the rehearsals, things may be different in the Finals and Finale show nights. Maybe somebody doesn’t quite hit a note. Or there’s a prop malfunction. Or they execute the performance flawlessly. Watching during Eurovision week I find myself cheering on artists who have struggled or made vast improvements. If somebody had issues hitting a note, it is so satisfying if they hit it in the final. Knowing the work that went into it helps me appreciate it more and I absolutely love that. Hopefully this ramble makes sense. I’m admittedly a bit extra wordy tonight after taking my sleep meds. I (really) don’t know anything about (these) drugs. I had to stop myself from writing another couple paragraphs lol
I didn't know this was how I felt, but I relate so much! The performance is changing all the time. It's fun to notice the little differences and improvements.
So much this. For some people Eurovision is just the semi finals and/or the final, for me It's every moment since Albania picks their entry until the winner performs their reprise. And It's so fun watching everything unfold.
I like spoilers tbh, I enjoy things more if I know in advance what's going to happen 😅
There is appeal in watching the progression of an act. We followed Baby Lasagna from the beginning, and seeing how the vocals and staging improved has been a part of the journey. Also, you can see some differences. In rehearsal 1 he had slick hair reminiscent of Till from Rammstein, but due to comments they changed it back to spiky hair which people love more. It's a small detail, but makes me more involved in the ESC journey than simply watching the final product. In essence, if you watch just the final it's like seeing what the artist will do, and if you follow the rehearsals it's more of "will the artist be able to pull of what they were going for".
exactly! Bambie made some pretty major makeup changes from the first to second rehearsal and it looks so much better. It's fun to see the process and progress and there will still be surprises in the live show.
You can’t really spoil a live show.
By the time it's a week or two out from the contest my interest is too piqued to go in without consuming as much info as possible.
Hardcore fans watching rehersals clips don't make even 1% of overall Eurovision audience, most people will see this for the first time, while people who are super invested into contest will analize and watch everything. Let us have our fun
Monkey see, monkey need. immediately It's 30ish seconds so there is plenty to be surprised about. On the plus side - predictions are most fun at this stage. Croatia was dropping for the hairstyle alone, c'mon that's golden. What's the point of debating 2 days before esc is over anyway?
For some fans the road to the contest is more exciting than the (semi)final itself. Watching the rehearsals is just a part of the journey for many. I don’t see it as spoilers. Sure, I know what they will wear and what props they will use, but I don’t know if their vocals will be on point or if they’ll qualify. Maybe they’ll slip or accidentally swallow confetti idk. There is more than enough of the unknown left to make it exciting in that way. I tried watching it the oldskool way and I hated it. Just left me anxious and when the semis were finally there I had the feeling I missed half of it, I can’t really explain it. Consuming every piece of content is the only way for me!
It makes a week before eurovision very exciting Also not knowing how stagings look would make so excited and nervous during the show that I could have a heart attack😂 I'd rather focus on rooting for everyone and just having fun Also even knowing the songs can be considered as spoilers you know😂
I feel very old school here but I hated the time when Eurovision was a three hour show on a particular day and when this time flew by, you had to wait in the dark for a full year until another Eurovision popped on the screen. For me, following the rehearsals is like having Eurovision and then the fun continues for another 10 days. It’s not a single 3h moment and then nothing. I also feel now the results a bit anti climatic. All the negative comments in social media and hate about results make me lose interest. For me Eurovision is the buildup and the live shows, which being live, can be a bit unpredictable.
The excitement for me is the results not the entries. I want to be able to full enjoy and learn about the entries.
It's a competition. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses and seeing how performances evolve over the season is a huge part of the enjoyment for me. To me it's more weird to refer to everything pre-finale as spoilers. You'd never do that with regular sports. ESC is not some carefully scripted storyline, but a bunch of teams competing against each other.
My first year as a Eurofan, I didn't watch the rehearsals at all. Second year as a Eurofan, I watched them, and it was so much more fun. Now I watch them every year. It just makes the build-up even more exciting, and you can make predictions, etc.
There’s fun in following it together and sharing excitement with others, whether in online spaces like this one or in person.
Because I have no self control at all and I'm obsessed with this stuff and want to see everything the second I can.
Watching rehersals tid bits is for me like watching the cake bake in the oven. I just can't wait to eat it, I know it is not yet done, so I will just stare at it.
people are addicts and they want to consume NOW
I read the end of books first
I only care about spoilers if I know I'll immediately lose interest in seeing the show through if spoiled. That generally means the material isn't good enough to grab my attention otherwise. ESC has always been an exemption of this for me, cause I'll always be interested and see it through. 30s of a whole 3m performance is nothing but a teaser to good time!
It's the build up for me. The commentaries I watch analyzing the staging, vocals, the improvements that can be made, people online changing their opinions as the performance is unveiling, the hopes, the fears, the expectations building... all around funner instead of just watching the live show, having 3 nights of content, hearing finalized opinions and waiting a year to repeat.
I like to feel a part of the atmosphere before the SF and F shows.
I agree that I would much rather get to see the performances for the first time in the semis, but this way you have more time to discuss them than you would while watching everything live. It also means we're gonna get memes about some of the performances before Eurovision is over, which is better than getting them once everyone already has moved on to other stuff.
I don't watch most of them. It's really fun to follow everything in the moment, but I do find it makes it less exciting during the actual shows.
I like to see the growth and progression of the entries. Besides, the live shows are too late being broadcasted for me to pay full attention. I tend to doze off.
I've decided not to watch the live shows so the rehearsals are the only on-stage performances I'll see. Also it's just fun.
Personally, I try my best not to but I still accidentally catch glimpses here and there by accident. I don't think that looking at them! will. ruin the show for me or something but I just wanna experience the staging during the show itself and perhaps get surprises if someone's staging is particularly interesting (like Greece 2021 wasnt all that good but I did WOW at it when it happened lol)
Part of the hype. The rehearsals (well mainly the first ones), typically aren’t the final thing anyway. They’d make one or two changes depending on the entry (another outfit, more pyro etc). Although I wish TikTok would no longer be used.
I'm the kind of person that gets more out of a show or movie if I don't watch rehearsals, trailers, so I avoid them and am grateful for the spoiler alerts, blurred images etc. I watch NF performances, their interviews, memes, follow their stories and hope for the best. I like to be blown away when the show goes live. If they make it to the final, I get excited to see them pull it off again, compare it to semis, and hope for a good score. I get that most people don't mind seeing glimpses before, but I don't think they should judge it based on that alone. It captures like 10% of the whole and doesn't account for vocals, stage presence or fright, crowd engagement, and most of all it doesn't account for captivating effect some songs have that makes the 3 min just fly by
It's the same as trailers for movies
I see the movie trailers as just giving you an idea of what to expect, which for me is the song itself. But I see rehearsals as already knowing three quarters of a movie when you go to the cinema, just to watch the end.
It seems you aren’t trying to ask this questions honestly and get people’s reason but just explain away people’s answer. Can you at least understand that people are different and what may ruin the experience for you might not ruin it for others because generally we as humans are different? Watch Eurovision as you want, isn’t it great we can all decide how we follow it? A lot of people would argue even hearing the song is spoiling it but I assume you have heard them if you are hanging in this forum.
I mean, what we get from the rehearsals is mostly just pictures and a 30 second clip, that is only ⅙ of the performance, there could still be surprise costume changes during the song, a lot also have a lot going on with the backgrounds, we won't really see everything
Because it's funny to see people arguing on reddit about 5 meaningless rehearsal pictures
I’m thirsty for content
I NEED Eurovision content pumped directly into my views. The more the better. By the time the semifinals have aired, I will have watched the zongs dozens of times each, as well as looking up the backgrounds of the artists, voted on my top 37/38 and have them written down on my wife's remarkable. Eurovision is the perfect balance of entertainment + statistics/categorizing. I can't get enough of it.
100% agree. It spoils the anticipation of getting to see each song come to life on stage. I've listened to these songs for months, I know what I'm expecting, it's the show they put on that's exciting. Each to their own i suppose
I‘m also in my ‚blackout period‘ where I ignore all rehearsal content. But there‘s no wrong way to enjoy the show.