SWEDEN– LIVE BLOG of

Melodifestivalen Semi Final 2 from 2000 CET!!!

Sweden– Join us today at 20:00 CET for our LIVE rolling blog of the second Semi Final 2017 of Melodifestivalen where 7 acts will compete for a place in the Final in Stockholm and hope to go on to represent their country in Eurovision 2017. The Semi Final is being beamed live from the Malmö Arena in  Malmö.  The hosts of the show will be Clara Henry, David Lindgren and Hasse Andersson.

You can watch the show live here at 20:00 CET. Just refresh our page here to get the views, comments and points of view from Andrew Main who you will know from previous musings  here at Eurovision Ireland and his sparkling charm and witty repartee should keep you entertained… or bored to hell, who knows!!

The 7 Acts tonight are :

1. Mariette – A Million Years
2. Roger Pontare – Himmel Och Ha
3. Etzia – Up
4. Allyawan – Vart Haru Varit
5. Dismissed – Hearts Align
6. Lisa Ajax – I Don’t Give A
7. Benjamin Ingrosso – Good Lovin’

The results will be decided by public voting. Soon we will find out who will succeed in taking on the Swedish golden ticket from Frans who finished 5th in the Grand Final last year.

So sit back and get ready for Andrew to give you his spin on tonight’s offerings from Sweden – JUST REFRESH THE PAGE for the up to date comments – at your own risk!

ROLLING BLOG

So the show begins with the hosts singing a nice laid back jazzy scat song. Hasse and David on stage with some dancers. Clara then comes on with a more jazzy part of the song in a red dress.

Song 1 – Mariette – A Million Years

The first song on tonight from Mariette who came close previously. This is one of the big favourites to win not only tonight but the ticket to Kyiv and we can see why tonight. She is dressed all in white, she also has some dancers on stage who are attached to ropes. It starts slow then kicks into a good heavy disco beat. The dancers use the ropes to swing around and do acrobatics to the music. This is a real good opener and is very well staged. Mariete sounds great too and I can see this going direct till Final.

Song 2 – Roger Pontare – Himmel Och Ha

A real veteran of not only Melodifestivalen but Eurovision on next, Roger having represented Sweden twice before. We have lots of torch fires on stage and he is dressed in traditional costume as is his norm. I do love his voice and this is a good song too. It has a good traditional feel to it.  I do not think it will get to the Final but may sneak into the Anderen Chansen.

Song 3 – Etzia – Up

Etzia has a good uptempo song which has a bit of an African feel to it. Her song is  nice and she has a good style to her. Her vocal is not the best but she is trying her best. But sadly I don’t think this has requirements to get through tonight. I think bottom 2 tonight.

Song 4 – Allyawan – Vart Haru Varit

Allywan bring a hip hop style to Melodifestivalen. His song is not the sort of thing I normally go for. And sadly this is not going to help me change my mind. He is off key and pitch and its quite awful really. One of the worst vocal performances I have heard in a National competition in quite some time. He is a cute guy so its a shame he is not giving us a good showing of a modern style of music.

Song 5 – Dismissed – Hearts Align

Ok something completely different a nice piece of pop rock, All the guys are gender different and wear feminine clothes, The song is good with a really good vocal from the lead singer. This could shake everyone else up tonight and could be the surprise package of the night, possible anderen chansen I think.

Song 6 – Lisa Ajax – I Don’t Give A

Lisa with the song that has controversial lyrics with the word F@@K used at least 9 times. She has a big screen behind her which projects her face. She wears what looks a bit like a rain mack . It is a midtempo to slow pop song which is sung well and with attitude. Its quite hilarious hearing the word so many times through a song , I think it could pass to second chance though.

Song 7 – Benjamin Ingrosso – Good Lovin’

The last song of the night and Benjamin certainly is a looker and is the son of Pernilla Wahlgren. So we have a family connection in Melfest and he has a good voice and confident style about him. He is really interacting well with the camera and his song is real catchy, Yes I like this a lot and can see this go direct till Final for me.

So there we have it all the songs tonight. We now will have a period where the public can vote and we are shown the voting numbers. Then we have a run through of all the songs.

We have the first result. The top 5 are Mariette, Benjamin, Roger Pontare, Lisa Ajax and Dismissed.

Etzia came 6th and Allywan was 7th.

We now have our second recap of the five songs left.

We have the final result coming in now. Direct Till Final is Mariette with A Million Years. So she now sings her song again. To Andere Chansen we have Dismissed with Hearts Align and Lisa Ajax with I Don’t Give A. Direct Till Final is Benjamin Ingrosso with Good Loving. Roger Pontare comes 5th and leaves the competition. Benjamin sings his song again to close the show.

Thanks and good night from Scotland where I had a  Swedish film crew in my home while the show was on doing an article about Melodifestivalen in Scotland and why its popular here. Highly entertaining evening and see you all next time.

Did Sweden make the right choices why don’t you comment below?

Author – Andrew James Main

Source: Eurovision Ireland, SVT