Melodifestivalen 2014 Heat 2 Live Blog. Photograph courtesy of SVT

SWEDEN – Welcome to our live rolling blog for the fSECOND 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

01 Love Trigger – Artist: JEM
Songwriters: Thomas G:son, Peter Boström, Julimar ”J-Son” Santos

02 Hallelujah – Artist: The Refreshments*
Songwriters: Joakim Arnell

03 Glow – Artist: Manda
Songwriters: Joy Deb, Linnéa Deb, Melanie Wehbe, Charlie Mason

04 Efter solsken – Artist: Panetoz
Songwriters: Johan Hirvi, Mats Lie Skåre, Nebeyu Baheru, Njol Badjie, Pa Modou Badjie

05 I Am Somebody – Artist: Pink Pistols
Songwriters: Joakim Törnqvist, Nestor Geli, Per Ivar Hed, Susie Päivärinta, Tord Bäckström

06 Undo – Artist: Sanna Nielsen
Songwriters: Fredrik Kempe, David Kreuger, Hamed “K-One” Pirouzpanah

07 Set Yourself Free – Artist: Little Great Things
Songwriters: Charlie Grönvall, Cristoffer Wernqvist, Felix Grönvall, Adam Dahlström

08 När änglarna går hem -Artist: Martin Stenmarck
Songwriters: Andreas Öhrn, Alexander Bard, Martin Stenmarck, Peter Boström

Welcome once again to my rolling blog of Semi Final 2 live from Linnkoping.

I am once again watching at Gracieland our home of Schlager in Scotland.

We open with a montage celebrating Abba and Herreys winning Eurovision.

We are then introduced to all the artists.

First on tonight is JEM singing a G:son song called Love Trigger.

This is a really heavy uptempo sound. I find this one coming across as quite modern and very

catchy, a good dance track. The vocals are also pretty good too.

Photo : Olle Kirchmeier/SVT

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Next on are The Refreshments with Hallelujah. This a big rockabilly number and all the band are wearing

highly colourful outfits and we have 3 girl backing singer in a car a la Sheila’s Wheels, The lead singers

vocal is rather weak and shaky. I do not see this as having a huge impact tonight.

Photo : Olle Kirchmeier/SVT

The third song on tonight is Glow sung by the lovely Manda. She reminds me of Krista from Finland last year.

She is wearing a huge puffy white dress with black top. She has 3 rather tall backing ladies playing violins.

I think they are on stilts. The vocals are at best rather ropey. It is a potentially good song though.

Photo: Olle Kirchmeier / SVT

Song 4 is the group Panetoz with the first Swedish song tonight.  A very distinct African beat to this with lots of

rap throughout, not normally my cup of tea. It does sound good though and is fairly catchy and the beat does

make you want to dance.  It gets a good reaction in the hall.

Photo : Olle Kirchmeier/SVT

Song 5 is the group The Pink Pistols with the song  I am Somebody.  2 of the group are ladies and 2 are men

although those ladies are not really ladies but drag queens. A good uptempo sound but it is very gay, which

will help pick up any gay votes floating about. I liked this but not sure its a qualifier.

Photo : Olle Kirchmeier/SVT

Song 6 is the lovely Sanna Neilson with the Frederick Kempe penned Undo.

Sanna is dressed in a lovely black dress and has blue spotlights shining upwards.

A very slow haunting ballad that builds as it progresses. The vocals are in the main excellent with

a few shaky moments. Yes I can see the potential in this song and performance, deserves a place in the final.

Photo : Olle Kirchmeier/SVT

Next up its a new young group with a lot of pedigree. Little Great Things consist of the Gronvalle brothers,

who are Nanne’s sons and Benny from Abba’s grandsons. A good rocky feel to this song.

Its a bit shouty in the main vocals but it does not detract from the overall effect. I like it.

Photo : Olle Kirchmeier/SVT

Last but by no means least tonight is Martin Stenmarck who represented Sweden in Kiev.

He is wearing bright red tartan trousers along with a black leather jacket. His song is sung

in Swedish and he is a very accomplished singer giving a good performance of his modern rock/pop song.

Photo : Olle Kirchmeier/SVT

So that is all the songs and we are now watching the review of all the songs again and a chance to vote for your favourite.

WE have our favourites here at Gracieland. Sanna is top followed by Pink Pistols with Martin Stenmarck

and JEM joint third.  Let us wait and see what the real result will be.

We have the first result.

Song 6 and Sanna is in the top 5.

Song 2 and refreshments are in the top 5.

Song 1 and Jem are in the top 5.

Song 4 and Panetoz are in the top 5.

Song 8 and Martin Stenmarck is in the top 5.

Pink Pistols and Manda and Little Great Things are all out.

Now we have an interval act with Sean Banan doing Diggiloo Diggyley.

So we move onto the results.

First song through to the Final is Undo by Sanna Neilson.

We had a lovely reprise of the song.

The next song through to Anderen Chansen is Love trigger by JEM.

Another song  through to Anderen Chansen is Martin Stenmarck.

The final song through to the Final is Panetoz with Efter Solsken.

So thanks once again for joining me tonight and did you think the right songs got through?

Let us know what you think. Hope to see you all again next week for Semi Final 3.

Author : Andrew James Main

Source : Eurovision Ireland and SVT