Glen Vella, Malta’s Eurovision hopeful, was full of beans the second he opened his eyes at 6 a.m. yesterday for a quick breakfast before his first rehearsal on the stage of the Düsseldorf Arena.
His energy was contagious and he was joking around with the two male dancers and three female backing vocalists – Simon, Sandro, Pamela, Isabel and Angela – before he hit the stage.
“I had tears in my eyes when I saw the stage; it was the realisation of my dream to finally compete on the Eurovision stage,” Glen told The Times.
Glen, whose second official rehearsal will be on Thursday, had the chance to run through his performance five times and although the stage looked “enormous” from below, the area they performed in was similar in size to the space they had used in Malta.
He will be competing with the song One Life – penned by Fleur Balzan and composed by Paul Giordimaina – during the first semi-final on May 10. On the night he’ll the be 11th performer to sing from 19 contestants and will have to place among the top 10 to earn the coveted position in the Eurovision final on May 14 – the same day he turns 28. In all, 25 countries will compete in the final. Five countries – Italy, which is returning to the scene for the first time in many years, France, Germany, the UK and Spain – have their place secured.
Anton Attard, Public Broadcasting Services CEO and head of the Maltese delegation, said when contacted that he was happy with the first run, the sound was good and Glen was confident on stage.
Former Eurosong chairman Norman Hamilton, who is consultant to Mr Attard on the Eurovision, added that there were some minor technical hitches in the video but these were ironed out.
Overall, the song went down well, although oikotimes.com’s reviewer said he was “not sure if I love or hate this song but it’s a happy start for the morning”.
Whatever the case, Glen’s enthusiasm was so infectious he had quite a few journalists waiting for him to address the press conference after the rehearsal and Mr Hamilton said he’d never seen so much interest following a first rehearsal.
All the team donned sunglasses – symbolising the fact they were coming from sunny Malta – during the press conference, which generated quite a bit of interest.
Glen said: “On stage I felt quite confident. I felt more anxious before the press conference because I didn’t know what people would ask but it went well.”
In fact, he missed lunch as he was kept on for one-to-one interviews with the international media. By 4 p.m. his energy had dwindled and he was ready to have a nap before hitting the Euroclub last night.