Hello Europe ! God Kveld Europa! Yes, it’s that time of year again when countries around Europe hold their National selections to choose which act they will send to the Eurovision Song Contest , which as we all know by now , takes place in Malmö , Sweden ,in May . Tonight , Norway start their search to choose the successor to Alessandra . who successfully took her country to fifth place in last year’s contest in Liverpool,UK , when they hold the first of the three heats to determine who will go to the Grand Final of MGP on 3rd February 2024 at the Spektrum Trondheim . Tonight Heat 1 takes place at the NRK studios in Oslo when 6 acts will compete for the coveted 3 places in the Grand Final of MGP on 3rd February to compete for the golden ticket to represent Norway in Malmö. The acts are as follows ( in running order):

Mathilde SPZ ft Chris Archer and Slam Dunk ”Woman Show”

Fredrik Halland -“Stranded”

Myra -“Heart on Fire”

Gothminster-“We come alive”

Ingrid Jasmin -“Eya”

Margaret Berger -“Oblivion”.

All shows this year will be presented by Marion Ravn and Fredrik Solvang

Join Eurovision’s Ireland very own Sarah as we bring you our live blog of the show giving you my thoughts and opinions of the acts as they perform and the show in general . As always you can watch the show yourself via the NRK link HERE .

LIVE BLOG STARTS HERE….

I appreciate your enthusiasm but it’s not quite time to start yet . Please #joinus at 18.50 GMT ,19.50 CET , when we will join the live link from NRK and blog events as they happen.

And welcome back . We’re just waiting for the live stream to come in , then we’ll get started . In the meantime just grab your drinks and snacks , sit back and make yourselves comfortable , ready for what we hope will be an entertaining night.

And we’re into the live stream. First we’re being treated to the delights of the Norwegian lottery….Someone will be happy tonight in Norway!

And we’re off ….first we see Fredrik, one of the hosts . He’s doing a bit of a routine to Fuego!! He’s then joined by his co host Marion and backing performers.

Here they are, Frederik and Marion …you’ll grow to love them in the next weeks :-)

They go through the usual introductions including how to vote tonight. Tonight’s results will be decided by public vote only .All the performers and writers are in the green room at the moment, so we’re told.Think we’re getting to our first act of the night , who are just introducing themselves

Mathilde SPZ ft Chris Archer and Slam Dunk ”Woman Show”

This lady has been singing since aged 9 years old and she has performed at various music festivals . Joined tonight by Chris and Slam Dunk .Mathilde starts off looking as if she’s lying in a bath , staging changes to a settee and two chairs, all pink and she’s joined on stage by the two guys who are dressed in all silver and gold. It’s very lively a lot of rap and shouting , with Mathilde in shorts a, pink top and cake . Pink backdrop in staging lighting . A great ,lively start to the contest , this would get the audience in Malmo bopping along .

Fredrik Halland -“Stranded”

Now we meet Fredrik Halland , he studied at the Musicians institute in the USA ,Then toured with the American artist Colbie Caillet .

Fredrik starts at a piano , stage in darkness with several blue spotlights. certainly can’t fault his vocals, he sings with feeling . The only thing is , will it stand out enough tonight amongst the uptempo songs ?Nice performance but think it lacks the oomph to make an impression in Malmo

We now have two guests giving their opinions on the first two acts .I’ll catch their names later as I just missed them on screen ! These Nordic countries seem to do everything very quickly ! :-)

Difficult for me to tell you what they are saying as I have no knowledge of Norwegian !

Myra -“Heart on Fire”

Onto Myra now , who is an award winning song writer and artist in Norway .

Pink and black seems to be the colour theme tonight as this is Myra’s staging , although she herself is dressed in a short spangly purple dress. , accompanied by four backing dancers , with equally short spangly dresses . Now then, Myra does perform well, and it has a very “Eurovision ” feel about it . The only thing is that I feel it’s a bit repetitive and not really engaging me enough to sit up and take more notice of it , vital with a public vote .

Interview with Fredrik now .

Now we’re seeing some interviews with the public in Norway, asking people about the MGP

Gothminister-“We come alive”

Gothminster , otherwise known as Bjørn Alexander Brem , is a lawyer by day but at night becomes GOTHMINISTER. They have toured in more than 40 countries over the years Their song tonight is about believing in yourself and standing up for justice.

Staging starts off with one of the dancers dressed as a child , playing with a large doll’s house with Gothminster on a platform just above, the Doll’s house then disappears As expected it’s very Goth / rock themed , with tight , black costumes , apart from the one in pink .Stage used to maximum effect Pyros at the end , this is something that will engage an audience in Malmo .With a larger stage , they could do a lot more with this ! Might qualify if there are enough fans of this genre of music out there.

Ingrid Jasmin -“Eya”

This has a great mixture of electro and ethnic sounds , with choreography not unlike Ruslana’s Wild dances in parts. Ingrid is joined on stage by four backing dancers , all similarly dressed in white suits showing their waists , which look as if they have been put through the shredder in parts ! I think this has the potential to do more on stage, than we have seen tonight . Not bad.

Margaret Berger -“Oblivion”.

This lady needs no introduction! She won MGP in 2013 and got 4th place for Norway at Eurovision….ironically in Malmo ! Will the Norwegians choose to send her there again and see if she can do better than that ?

As expected we have a very electro feel , Margaret joined by four backing dancers who all stand and dance on individual blocks . They are all wearing grey suits and we have the strobe effects that are very similar to those we had with Feed you my love in 2013. Margaret as you can imagine , performs this very competently , she interacts with the backing dancers well on stage and it’s all very slick and polished, as expected. She looks happy with her performance and rightly so.

Back to our guests ( who I still don’t know the names of !) , talking about the final two performers. Think they are giving favourable comments about Margaret Berger!

Now we’re being told how to vote ..again . Followed by a recap of the songs . who is your favourite tonight ?

Looks like we are getting a tribute to past Norwegian acts .Tonight we look at Elisabeth Andreasson and Jan Werner Danielsen, who sang Duett in the 1994 contest in Dublin . Elisabeth then appears on stage with a backing image of Danielsen alongside , who sadly died in 2006 . Elisabeth herself has aged really well , doesn’t look much different to how she looked back in 1994! A lovely tribute to Jan, and I am sure that there’s many a Norwegian tear being shed tonight .

It’s just a case of waiting for the results now . Remember , three acts will qualify for the final tonight and this will be the case in the next two heats too. There are no wildcards or second chance rounds as in previous years.

Think we’re getting the results now ……..This is tense !!!

And the first act to qualify ……

Ingrid Jasmin

Margaret Berger

It’s down to Mathilde or Gothminister for the final place!

And it’s ……Gothminister !

So we have our first three qualifiers ! I have to say not a great shock with those three, they were the three I selected!

What do you think? Do you think the right three qualified? Let us know what you think by dropping us a line below , or on our Facebook and X pages .

That completes our blog for this evening. Thanks for tuning in , It’s been enjoyable . Please check in again next Saturday, same time , when we will bring you Heat 2 . Goodnight .

Author : Sarah Rudman

Source : Eurovision Ireland ,NRK