Today the first rehearsals for Eurovision 2023 continue in Liverpool. Countries rehearsing on Day 2 includes Israel, Azerbaijan, Czechia, The Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Armenia, Romania, Belgium, and Cyprus. The ninth to rehearse today is Belgium’s Gustaph.
Gustaph’s first rehearsal
The ninth artist to take to the Eurovision 2023 stage at Liverpool Arena in Liverpool today was Gustaph. Gustaph will be competing in this year’s competition with his entry “Because of You” following his win at Belgium’s national selection Eurosong.
Following Gustaph’s first rehearsal a clip of what went on was posted on the official TikTok account of the Eurovision Song Contest. The clip showed Gustaph before and after he took to the Eurovision stage for the first time, as well as giving us some insight into how well his first rehearsal went.
*We will update this article with the Tiktok of Gustaph’s first rehearsal in the arena when it becomes available!*
What did we learn about Gustaph’s staging?
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
The Belgian performance sees Gustaph use a flight of stairs in his glitz and glam performance. The two backing vocalists that Gustaph had at his national final performance return, alongside a new addition to really add to the vocal richness. The performance is incredibly queer, with drag queens galore vogueing across the stage. He is dressed in an all-white suit with a wide-brimmed hat, his now-signature accessory.
What we thought of Gustaph’s first rehearsal
After Gustaph’s first rehearsal, Rosie gave her initial thoughts on the snippet that we saw.
Who is Gustaph?
Gustaph – real name Stef Caers – is a Belgian singer-songwriter from Leuven. He has been making music for over twenty years and released his debut single “Gonna Lose You” in 2000, which became a hit and entered the Flemish Singles Chart. More recently he released the singles “Second Coming” with Adam Joseph in 2020 and “Call” with Lady Linn in 2022.
Gustaph has also been a prolific backing vocalist in recent years, and provided backing vocals at Eurovision on two occasions. He supported Sennek in 2018 and Hooverphonic in 2021. In addition to his singing career, he is also a vocal coach at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent.
“Because of You”, which Gustaph describes as a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community (of which he is a part), was written by Gustaph along with Jaouad Alloul.
Belgium’s Eurovision Journey
Belgium was one of the debutant countries at the beginning of the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956. Back in 1956, countries could submit two songs, and for Belgium that year, ‘Messieurs les noyes de la Seine’ by Fud Leclerc and ‘Le plus beau jour de ma vie’ by Mony Marc represented the nation. To this day we do not know the final results of Eurovision 1956.
Belgium have taken part in every Eurovision Song Contest since 1956; however they have only ever won once; in 1986 with Sandra Kim singing the song ‘J’amie la vie’, scoring 176 points. In 2022, Belgium was represented by Jérémie Makiese with the song “Miss You”. Makiese came 19th scoring 64 points in the Grand Final.
What do you think of “Because of You”? Can Gustaph bring Eurovision back to Belgium? Let us know your thoughts! Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as we prepare for Eurovision 2023!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
