Melodifestivalen 2014 – Heat 4. Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

Sweden – Welcome to our live rolling blog for the Fourth Heat of Melodifestivalen 2014 aka The Swedish Eurovision National Selection for Eurovision 2014. Just refresh the page for our live commentary on the show from 20:00 (CET). You can watch the show with us HERE on the SVT Play and tell us if you agree with our thoughts

Andrew James Main is here once again  with more thoughts on all that is going on in Sweden.

The show comes from Örnsköldsvik but I will be once again reporting from Gracielands near Edinburgh.

RUNNING ORDER

01 Blame It On The Disco –  Alcazar
02 Fight Me If You Dare –  I.D.A
03 Hollow – Janet Leon
04 Raise Your Hands – Ammotrack
05 Hela natten – Josef Johansson
06 Ta mig –  Linda Bengtzing
07 En himmelsk sång – Ellinore Holmer
08 Natural – Anton Ewald

LIVE BLOG – Starts 20:00 CET – Just refresh the page for LIVE UPDATES

So here we are at the beginning of the broadcast, another recap on last week’s show.

We have our two hosts along with a bunch of ice hockey players, all the best Sweden for the gold medal in Sochi.

Also we have football players, rhythmic dancers etc.

We are introduced to tonight’s artists. Then we get all the voting numbers.

01 Blame It On The Disco –  Alcazar

Alcazar. Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

First up tonight are veterans of MF who have been here many times before. This is all there previous songs rolled into one.

They start inside a huge disco ball which opens up  and descends from the roof. This is actually a good song in itself but

is so much like all they have done before. All the old moves have been dragged out again, their outfits light up and there

is the obligatory key change. Everything a Schlager queen wants.

02 Fight Me If You Dare –  I.D.A

IDA.  Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

On 2nd tonight is the group I.D.A. who consist of a lead female vocalist and 3 guys. We have a slow build up then it

hits us with a good old rocky number. Vocally this is fine but it cannot make up its mind what kind of song it wants to be.

Shlager rock I suppose is the best way to describe it.

03 Hollow – Janet Leon

Janet Leon.  Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

Janet Leon on next resplendent in an all white outfit. She has a couple of ballet backing dancers making good use

of a park bench. We have a mid tempo moody song here, vocally Janet sounds fine though a bit too much low range.

A mixed reaction both here and in the hall.

04 Raise Your Hands – Ammotrack

Ammotrack. Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

Next up we have Ammotrack with a piece a piece of heavy metal. Sounds like AC/DC which aint a bad thing at all.

I used to have long curly hair when I was young you know. A standard heavy metal vibe but it does have a tune to it.

The drummer looks pretty yummy and now we have an extended guitar solo.  It could progress I guess as it will have

plenty fans out there.

05 Hela natten – Josef Johansson

Josef Johansson. Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

Josef Johansson up next with another Lord G:Son penned song. He is a bit out of tune in the opening part of the song.

A very interesting outfit blacks and mainly white patterns a jacket skirt trouser combo thing(I am sure it has a name).

His song builds quite nicely and I can see this attracting a younger vote tonight. He is joined by a rather interesting choir

on an island in the hall. A good reaction.

06 Ta mig –  Linda Bengtzing

Linda Bengtzing. Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

Another veteran of MF up next its Linda Bengtzing. She is wearing a black and white top with gold trousers.

A good beat to this one its rather typical of what we have heard from Linda before. Good strong vocals and this

really builds into a good little pop song with catchy beats. She is accompanied by 4 backing vocalists and 2 drummers.

07 En himmelsk sång – Ellinore Holmer

Ellinore Holmers. Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

Now we slow down proceedings with our ballad of the night from Ellinore Holmers. A very shaky start with the vocals.

She is resplendent in a blue corseted dress. Lots of lights held up by the audience for effect. Sadly the vocals do not improve

as it is shaky and out of tune almost all the way through. It’s a pretty little song but sadly poorly sung and presented.

Should be last.

08 Natural – Anton Ewald

Anton Ewald. Photo Olle Kirchmeir/SVT

The last song of the night is the highly fancied Anton Ewald. He is rather out of tune but his song is poppy enough

for all the girlies to vote for him. The dance routine is good along with 2 male dancers. We also get a key change

and it does have a good vibe to it but if it gets through he will have to improve his vocal.

PREDICTIONS

Ok so now we are getting a recap of the songs. Here in Gracielands we have our largest audience of the NF season

season with 8 Eurovision die hards here, the general consensus was this was the poorest semi final.

Our top 5 were Alcazar followed by Linda Bengtzing then we had joint 3rd IDA, Josef and Anton.

I personally think Anton and Alcazar will go direct to the final and Josef and Linda to Anderen Chansen.

The top 5 are Anton Ewald, Linda, Ammotack, Ellinore(What?) and Alcazar.

Well there are always shocks at Melofestivalen we have to say.

We have Thomas Leden on for the interval act who went to Eurovision in 1980.

RESULTS – Direct Finalists

The first act through to the final is Anton Ewald with Natural.

The second act through to the final is Alcazar with Blame it on the Disco.

RESULTS – Second Chance Round

The first act through to Anderen Chansen is Ammotrack

The second act through  is Ellinore.

Thank you once again for another fun evening, now I am off to Spain to cover the Spanish Final.