Hello Europe ! God Kveld Europa! God morgen Australia . 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 continue their search to choose the successor to Alessandra . who successfully took her country to fifth place in last year’s contest in Liverpool,UK. Heat 3, which is the final heat , takes place at the NRK studios in Oslo. Six acts will compete for the 3 golden tickets to next week’s Grand Final in Trondheim , where they will battle it out for the honour of representing Norway in Malmö. Tonight includes former MGP winners and the winners of the public vote in the Eurovision Song contest of 2019 , Keiino .The acts are as follows ( in running order):

Vidar Villa – “Mer”

Mistra-“Waltz of Death”

Thomas Jenssen-“Take me to Heaven”

Annprincess -“Save me”

MiiA -“Green Lights”

Keiino “Damdiggida”

The show will , as in the previous 2 weeks, be presented by Marion Ravn and Fredrik Solvang. You’ll have grown to know and love them by now.

Please join me, Sarah , as I take you through tonight’s proceedings with my comments and thoughts on the acts as they perform and who I think may have the potential to do Norway proud in Malmö in May. As always , please feel free to leave your own thoughts and comments in our comments box as we go through tonight’s show .Let’s see if we agree or not ! :-)

You can also watch the show via the NRK Weblink HERE

LIVE BLOG STARTS HERE

You’re a little too early ! :-) Check back in with us at 19.50 CET , 18.50 GMT and #joinus for the show

And….welcome back, we’re shortly going to hopefully pick up the live webstream from Oslo and start off tonight’s Heat 3. There’s still a few minutes to go, so take this time to get your drinks and snacks at the ready, get comfortable and enjoy what we hope will be an entertaining evening !

And we’re through to the live link , at the moment have the Norwegian adverts and their lottery draw, Good luck to those in Norway, someone will be a bit richer tonight !

And here we go, with the usual recap of the last week .Now being introduced to the evening by our hosts, Marion and Fredrik. They are just explaining the proceedings for the evening.

We’re just getting an explanation of how to vote….for Norway obviously ! Onto our first act for the evening …..

Vidar Villa – “Mer”

Starts off with Vidar’s shadow in 4 boxes on screen, then we see the man himself . He’s dressed in black, joined on stage by three backing performers, playing guitar, drums,etc. Changing background colours on stage with each performer in front of a screen changing colour, then finishing off with pyros. A lively opener.

He seems pleased with how it went.

Mistra-“Waltz of Death”

Starts off with lead singer Benedicte, dressed in red, with Goth make up on what looks like crackling glass on stage , Anders, the other half of Mistra, also goth -like is surrounded by flying cloths everywhere on stage . It’s a very unique song I have to say, sounds like a horror film theme music . It’s eery, not really a happy song and probably not one you’d want your elderly relatives to see , but certainly stands out and is very different from a lot of what we have seen so far. Kind of reminds me a bit of Bambi Thug in the Irish National final last night!

We have some guest panelists discussing the songs heard so far.

Thomas Jenssen-“Take me to Heaven”

Thomas is in a red lace shirt with black leather trousers , stood on a podium , alongside his two backing singers/dancers, dressed the same as Thomas . It’s a very typical eurovision friendly pop song. The vocals are sound, have to say his backing singers are very enthusiastic with their dance movements! Pyros again finish of a polished performance. Just wonder if coming after Mistra will be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on what you think of Mistra .

Annprincess -“Save me”

We’re on to the 4th song already ! The Norwegians certainly don’t waste any time ! :-) . We start off with 4  backing dancers sat around what looks like a broken table in grey outfits.Staging is very dark throughout . Ann Princess is in white and looks like she’s dressed more for a spell in prison rather than a song contest. But then again, the song is called “Save me “. There’s a lot of strutting and pawing between AnnPrincess and her backing dancers . A bit dark for me. May struggle to get the votes needed to qualify.

Only two more acts to come and one of those is very well known ….. :-)

MiiA -“Green Lights”

MiiA is alone in stage , dressed in greyish trousers with a half cut top She moves around the stage very much in Kate Bush mode.Green strobe lights accompany the song at one point . While MiiA has sound vocals, for me, there is something lacking in the performance, but I can’t put my finger on it . The staging just seems a bit dull and needs an extra something to give it a lift . Needs work on it should it go to Malmö.

Keiino “Damdiggida”

They need no introduction . Keiino are back for another go. They successfully represented Norway at Tel Aviv 2019 with Spirit in the Sky and tried again to represent their country in 2021 with “Monument” but were pipped at the post by Tixx. Starts off with Alexandra , dressed in black in front of what looks like a large blue-green ice cube, which changes colour as the song progresses.We then see Tom and Fred  and two other backing dancers, with their heads covered in a kind of box with a silver foil mask inside this ice cube as they sing the chorus . I can’t help but feel that the song is more about Alexandra’s vocals and the rest of the band are taking more of a back seat, but nevertheless it’s a very lively performance and very polished, as expected from Keiino .With their large fanbase, a sure qualifier .

So that’s it ! We have seen all the songs , now it’s time to vote. Fredrik and Marion explain the voting rules and how to vote.

We get the usual recap of the performances. Who do you think should go through ? I think Keiino will definitely go through and it’s a matter of which other two join them .I think Mistra could get through , based on the weirdness of the performance.

We are now being treated to some Norway MGP history, as seems to be a tradition every year.Including tonight the late Jahn Teigen with his 1983 winner “Do , Re, Mi “. Anita Skorgen in 1979 and Elisabeth Andreassen in 1996 with “I Evight”.

Voting is now closed , apparently. That was quick ! There’s just lots of talking now with the two panelists .

We’re ready for the results …..

Keiino are through !! Not a great shock at all

Miia is through . so now it’s Mistra or AnnPrincess for the final spot .Thomas Jenssen already eliminated .

Annprincess has the final spot !!

Congratulations to them . Commiserations to those who didn’t get through.So that completes tonight’s show and indeed , the line up for next week’s Grand Final.

Thanks for joining us tonight it’s been fun . Tune in again next week for the Grand Final of MGP , to see who Norway will send to the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, in May .

Goodnight Europe

Author: Sarah Rudman

Source : Eurovision Ireland NRK