So, tonight after 4 qualifying heats and an Andra chansen ( second chance ) round , the Swedes are set to choose who will get their golden ticket to Tel Aviv tonight . Twelve acts will be competing at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, for that golden opportunity to travel to Tel Aviv and represent Sweden in this years Eurovision Song contest . The winner tonight will be decided by a mixture of international juries and public vote and SVT have introduced a new voting format for this year . The new system will divide voters according to age group , each age group has an equal number of points to give . The juries will award points from 12 down to 1 point . Breakdown of the points by age group will be released a week after the final. It should be interesting to see if the voting is influenced by any particular age group and indeed give an idea of how wide a range of viewers Eurovision attracts from different age groups .

So what are the songs and competing acts tonight ? In order of appearance tonight, they are as follows ;

1 Jon Henrik Fjällgren -Norrsken

2 Lisa Ajax – Torn

3 Mohombi – Hello

4 Lina Hedlund-Victorious

5 Bishara -On my own

6 Anna Bergendahl-Ashes to Ashes

7 Nano -Chasing Rivers

8 Hanna Ferm & Liamoo -Hold you

9 Malou Prytz -I do me

10 John Lundvick -Too late for love

11 Wiktoria– Not with me

12 Arvingarna– I do

Join me, Sarah , live at 20.00 CET, 19.00 GMT , when I will be guiding you through the evenings proceedings at the Friends Arena and giving you my thoughts and opinions on the acts as they perform. You may or may not agree with me but please do feel free to leave any comments as to your thoughts and who your favourites are. You know drill, just keep up with events as they happen by REFRESHING THIS PAGE . You can also watch the show live HERE .

REFRESH THE PAGE AT 20.00 CET 19.00 GMT

God kväll Europa och God morgon Australien ! So soon we are going to go live to the Friends Arena in Stockholm to start the contest to find out who Sweden will be sending to fly their flag in the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Looking forward to a fun night of music and tension as the votes come in . Guiding us through the evening as during the last weeks are, Sarah Dawn Finer,( we are hoping to see her play her alter ego Linda Woodruff tonight !) , Eric Saade( Melodifestivalen winner in 2011) , Kodjo Akolor and Marika Carlsson .And according to what I have read in Swedish media this week, we can expect two very special interval performances from two former Eurovision winners ! Please sit back, get drinks and snacks at the ready and let me, Sarah guide you through the night.

Join me again at 20.00 CET , 19.00 GMT …..in the meantime, I’ll be watching the warm up on Swedish news !

So here we go……starting with a recap of last year and then going onto a performance by Benjamin Ingrosso last year’s winner and Felix Sandmann a previous Melfest contestant

Now introducing our hosts for tonight , followed by the contestants tonight

Benjamin now singing a rendition of Lionel Richie’s All Night Long …joined by everyone on stage .

Our hosts now talking us through the proceedings for tonight . Going through the voting procedures and number to ring

So , here we go…… first song up

Those swedes don’t hang about !

Jon Henrik Fjällgren -Norrsken

This guy has tried twice before to represent Sweden and I think he has been extremely unlucky not to win the Golden ticket in either of those times. Can tonight change all that ? Performance same as in the semi final , Jon Henrik dressed in white with a pale blue/ green background with burning fire in front of stage . It’s all very nordic feeling , some fantastic changing scenery , with backing dancers also in white. It’s a great opener but think going first in the running order might just go against him

Lisa Ajax – Torn

Lisa is alone on stage , very dark background with yellow lights , very mood atmosphere, Lisa is dressed in a black trouser suit . Vocals are sound and it’s a nice power ballad . A bit of the old wind machine appearing there . It’s vocally good but is it for Tel Aviv?

Mohombi – Hello
This is so reminiscent of Heroes in 2015 with the moving cartoon figurines . Mahombi casually dressed in a red jacket and grey trousers. The song is called Hello and that’s all I have heard for the last couple of minutes ! It’s ok, but the staging , like I say is very Heroes 2015 . He;s now joined by a female backing dancer in white and black suit . I don’t think this will be the one tonight , but then again who am I to say ?

Lina Hedlund-Victorious

Now this lady is well known to us Melfest veterans as she has performed with Alcazar in the past , who have tried to represent Sweden several times but failed . She is up on a podium , very reminiscent of Cascada who sang for Germany in 2013, dressed in pink . It’s a very up tempo number and Lina certainly belts out the song , this would do ok in Tel Aviv .

Bishara – On my own 
Now I hadn’t seen this before this evening. He looks a bit like a young Benjamin Ingrosso, dressed in all black , his vocals are good , but he  reminds me a bit of Kristian Kostov who sang for Bulgaria in 2017 . Again, dark staging  . Not a winner for me I’m afraid 

Anna Bergendahl -Ashes to Ashes

Poor Anna has the unfortunate record of the only singer so far to not qualify Sweden to the final from the semis in 2010. However she seems to have recovered from that and her maturity now really shows in her performance tonight . Dressed in all silver suit, the staging is great with a spring like scenery of woods and trees . Ann looks and sounds like a much more confident performer than in 2010. Could the swedes forgive her and send her once again to Eurovision? I think she would definitely make the final this time

Haha now we are going over to our EBU spokesperson Linda woodruff , giving us a guide to Tel Aviv and why we are going there, with the winning song as Boy boys, stupid boys , with Lisbon being called Lesban !! :

Gotta love this woman 🙂

Nano -Chasing Rivers

Nano’s performance as in the semi , with an all silver jacket and black trousers backed by a group of backing singers and a clever little image , with a child with the same hairstyle as he has. Very gospel like in presentation and style . Austria did well with a gospel like song last year, could Nano do the same?

Hanna Ferm & Liamoo -Hold You

This seems to be popular with the crowd as they are getting cheers before they even start . Again both dressed in black, which seems to be the main colour theme tonight for most of the acts so far. Staging dark with what looks like a load of bed sheets flapping around . It’s nice and their vocals are good but I am trying to think where I may have seen this kind of song before ? It doesn’t really make me sit up and want to vote for it , sadly .

Malo Prytz -I do Me

Now this girl is apparently only 15 years old , according to swedish media she will be 16 in time for the contest . It’s reflective of that age group too as it all seems like a high school set -up on stage with Malou in a yellow and black check outfit and two backing singers in yellow jumpers and short skirts . It’s a happy little number and for 15 years old , she has sound vocals , I just wonder if she would be able to replicate this performance on the big stage in Tel Aviv ? Aiming for the younger vote me thinks.

John Lundvik-Too Late for love

Now this is the fave to win tonight and the crowd went wild for it as it started . He reminds me a bit of Cesar Sampson last year who sang for Austria in voice and presentation . I can’t really see why this is favourite , it’s a powerful song , with sound vocals but think it this were to go to Tel Aviv ,it would get lost among all the other male solo acts already through . The crowd love him though .

Wiktoria -Not with me

Poor Wiktoria has been disappointed in the past as having been a fave for the win in past years , she has always lost out . Will this be the year she finally makes it to Eurovision ? She’s looking very glam in all black . It’s a ballad and there’s no doubting her vocal ability but for me it’s like a lot of the female ballads we’ve heard before . Staging is effective with blue neons and falling rain but don”t think tonight will be her night either , sadly .

Arvingarna – I do

Now this . for me , was a surprise qualifier from Andra Chansen and I am sure they will be aiming for the mid to older age vote tonight , though who knows, I may be wrong? They have a red background on stage with what looks like a big wheel effect .They’re in dark suits and they are clearly established performers, a bit repetitive for me …lots of I do, I do , I do , I do….. It’s catchy in it’s own way and may appeal to juries and the older televote but not to our younger generation ( here’s me who is a ” senior” fan and I actually don’t like it ! 🙂 )

So that’s it . We’ve heard all the songs …..so now we have the traditional re -cap and reminders about voting . Who is your fave tonight and who do you think should be the winner ? It’s all been a very professional show so far. We now have an interval act… a dance version of last year’s swedish song “Dance you off “

Haha, we are back to Lynda Woodruff again , saying that Benjamin Ingrosso is italian and called Grasini , with the song Wax you off ! Now she’s talking about past swedish participants in Melfest . I love her !!!

Now for the jury results ……

Portugal give 12 points to John Lundvik..

Austria give 12 to John Lundvik

Australia – another 12 to John Lundvik

Cyprus- 12 to John Lundvik

France – 12 to John Lundvik

Finland 12 to John Lundvik

UK -12 to John Lundvik

Israel – 12 to John Lundvik

He’s running away with it so far . This is how the scoreboard looks after the international jury votes . Nano and Hanna Ferm & Liamoo lagging behind in 2nd and third place respectively !

But ……will the public vote change everything ???

Another recap… they do like them here

Interval act now …Charlotte Perreli singing her winner from 1999 Take me to your heaven . Looks like she’s borrowed Kate and Elena ‘s dresses from Australian national final and Eurovision last year!

Now we have Dana International singing Diva from 1998 , she got over to Sweden from Israel quick!!! She’s only just given the israeli votes . Call her Speedy Gonzalez !!! Haha

Haha Eric’s wearing the Jean Paul Gaultier feathers that Dana wore in her winning performance in 1998 ! Very fetching Eric !

Now the hosts get their bit in too . With a little piano song , well they have to don’t they ?

Here we go…. the public vote ….all very tense ….

Hanna Ferm 3rd

Bishara 2nd

It’s John Lundvik !!!!!!

Well, no great surprise there , John has won both the jury and public vote very convincingly . What do you think ? Did the right act win ?

Thanks for following this blog with me tonight , I hope you’ve enjoyed my thoughts and opinions , It’s been a pleasure to entertain you this evening , good night

Author – Sarah Rudman

Source- Eurovision Ireland, Esc xtra , SVT

Image Sources – SVT