YOHIO at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

SWEDEN – Welcome to our live rolling blog for the first Heat of Melodifestivalen 2014 aka The Swedish Eurovision National Selection for Eurovision 2014. Just refresh the page for our live commentary on the show. You can watch the show with us HERE on the SVT Play and tell us if you agree with our thoughts

Tonight you will be in the hands of Andrew James Main from the team. The show starts at 20:00 (CET) so get ready for a smorgasbord of Schlager, Dance, Pop, Rock and Ballads. “Something for everyone in the audience!”

8 Acts compete for 2 direct places in the Grand final and then another 2 for “Second Chance Contest” – Remember Robin Sternberg had to go that route to win Melodifestivalen 2013.

The running order for tonight will be as follows

1 YOHIO “To the End” (Andreas Johnson, Johan Lyander, Peter Kvint, YOHIO)

2 Mahan Moin “Aleo” (Mahan Moin, Anderz Wrethov)

3 Linus Svenning “Bröder” (Brothers) (Fredrik Kempe)

4 Elisa Lindström “Casanova” (Ingela “Pling” Forsman, Bobby Ljunggren, Jimmy Jansson)

5 Alvaro Estrella “Bedroom” (Jakke Erixson, Jon Bordon, Loren Francis, Kristofer Östergren)

6 Ellen Benediktson “Songbird” (Sharon Vaughn, Johan Fransson, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren)

7 Sylvester Schlegel “Bygdens son” (The neighbourhood’s son) (Sylvester Schlegel)

8 Helena Paparizou “Survivor” (Bobby Ljunggren, Henrik Wikström, Karl-Ola Kjellholm, Sharon Vaughn)

20:00 CET is when we start our coverage here. Just refresh the page.

Happy Melodifestivalen

So the broadcast begins with some Swedish commercials.

And we are back where Eurovision 2013 ended in Malmo.

Taking the piss of Danish winner, burning all tin whistles in the audience.

Very tongue in cheek opening.

All the artists are introduced then they explain the voting and show the numbers to call.

So first up we have YOHIO who won the public vote last year but came 2nd in the final.

His song is called To The End written by Andreas Johnson among others. His look is very striking

in black leather with gold flashing. Similar to last years song, very glam rock feel to it.

I like the song but it has a mixed reaction from the audience at Gracieland(where I am watching it from).

The second song tonight is Aleo from Mahan Moin who is Iranian decent. Her song does have some eastern touches to it.

She is all in black with five dancers also in black. There is use of fabric and wind machines. I little bit off key at times

but a reasonable performance overall.

Mahan Moin at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

Song 3 is written by Frederick Kempe who is no stranger to Eurovision. Linus Svenning sings Broder(Brother)

and is a heavily tattooed skinhead with lots of piercings. A good voice he is getting into his song with good gusto.

It builds well and has a good feel to it. I think this could be an unlikely dark horse to progress.

Linus Svenning at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

Now we move onto song 4 which is Casanova sung by Elisa Lindstrom. This is old style schlager/danse band

which is still very popular in Sweden as well as among many Eurovision fans but it seems to have lost its

appeal with the voters generally. 6 male dancer Elisa is in a black and white number. It is sung well and will

appeal to many but I am not sure it will have the broad appeal to progress.

Elisa Lindstrom at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

Song 5 is up next and we are transported into his Bedroom (I wish) and the singer is Alvaro Estrella

who is named after my favourite Spanish lager. This is the most poppy sound so far. A good beat and very catchy.

He is dressed fairly plain in a mauve shirt and black trousers. He has 2 male backing singers as well as male band with him.

He moves up onto a clear cube and this gets the best reaction in the hall so far.

Alvaro Estrella at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

Song number 6 is Songbird which is sung by Ellen Benediktson. The first  and only ballad in tonight’s show.

Ellen has a quirky but lovely voice. The song is gentle to start but really rather lovely. The song then builds to a

really nice finish. This could be another dark horse tonight.

Ellen Benediktson at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

Song number 7 is Sylvester Schlegel with the 2nd song tonight in Swedish. He looks like a version of Dr. Who

in a striped jacket and wide brimmed hat. It has a very sixties feel and his voice is a bit rough around the edges.

He is accompanied on stage by a mixed male/female group. He certainly gives the song plenty emotion

and we finish with ticker tape.

Sylvester Schlegel at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

Last but not least tonight is song 8 performed by Eurovision winner Helena Paperazou who of course twice

represented Greece and won in Kiev in 2005. She wears a black dress with see through lacey bits on the sleeves

and the bottom of the dress. I very accomplished performance as you might expect. Survivor does have a certain

oomph to it. We get a pyro display toward the end. A decent song for sure.

Helena Paparizou at Melodifestivalen. Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

LIVE BLOG

So there we have it. Here at Gracieland we have 5 people watching and our overall result for comparison with the

real result has  Alvaro and Helena going direct to the final. YOHIO and Ellen are off to the Andere Chancen

That is our thoughts but we will find out shortly the real results.

We now have the results

Song 3 in the top 5

Song 4 in the Top 5

Song 6 in the Top 5

Song 8 in the Top 5

Song 1 in the top 5

Alvaro is out as is Mahan and Sylvester.

Alvaro was our personal winner here so what do we know.

Now we have the next set of results.

The first song direct to the final is Yohio with To The End.

he looks mighty relieved I have to say.

The next song goes to Andere Chansen and it is

Bruder by Linus Svenning

and then it Survivor by Helena Paparizou.

and finally Ellen goes direct to the final with Songbird.

Overall an interesting result.

Thank you for following the blog. Did the best songs go through, what do you think?

Author : Andrew James Main

Source : SVT and Eurovision ireland