Good evening Europe, God kveld Europa. After three weeks of heats ,18 acts have become 9 and tonight the Grand Final of Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix takes place , where we will see who will succeed last year’s winner , Alessandra and win the golden ticket to represent Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest , to take place in Malmö, Sweden, in May. Nine acts will perform at the Trondheim Spektrum in Trondheim, Norway and the show will be hosted , as in the last three weeks by Fredrik Solvang and Marion Ravn . The winner will be chosen by a 60 % public and 40 % international jury vote .

The acts performing tonight are as follows :

KEiiNO – “Damdiggida”

Annprincess – “Save Me”

Gothminister – “We Come Alive”

Ingrid Jasmin – “Eya”

MIIA – “Green Lights”

Margaret Berger – “Oblivion”

Anne Fagermo & Dag Erik Oksvold – “Judge Tenderly of Me”

Gåte – “Ulveham” (Wolf man)

Erika Norwich & Super Rob – “My AI”

Join me, Sarah, from Eurovision Ireland at 18.50 GMT, 19.50 CET , as we bring you our live blog of the show , where I will be giving you my thoughts on the acts as we go through the evening . Please do feel free to let me know you thoughts too, it’s always interesting to hear what you think .

You can follow the action yourself via NRK ‘s webstream HERE

LIVE BLOG STARTS HERE

You’re just a bit early ! :-) Please come back at 19.50 CET , 18.50 GMT and #joinus for the fun and action live from Norway.

Welcome back everyone . Shortly , we’ll hopefully be joining the live link to the Trondheim Spektrum for the start of MGP 2024. Are you excited ? You’ve just got time to get your drinks and snacks and make yourself comfortable for the evening. Sit back and enjoy the show and my thoughts and comments this evening .

And we’re through to the live link , with the Norwegian lottery as usual .Someone in Norway will be happy and richer tonight ! :-) .

Lotto over, looks like we’re about to go live .

And here we are, starting with the ringing of bells from Trondheim church . We then have last year’s winner , Alessandra, singing the song she came a very credible 5th place with in Liverpool, “Queen of Kings “. Only without her crown tonight .

The to the Trondheim stage where we have drummers and pyros and then the “flag ” parade of tonight’s finalists . Who are you supporting tonight?

We meet the hosts Marion and Fredrik , you’ll know them well by now as they have presented the 3 heats too .

Big crowd there tonight.The hosts explain the voting procedure tonight. We have a 60 % public vote and the remaining 40 % decided by an expert international jury.

Looks like we’re ready to start the performances ….Keiino up first .

Our running order tonight

KEiiNO – “Damdiggida”

performance very much as in the heat .Large green- like ice cube prop , with Alexandra outside it singing her faultless vocals. All dressed in black .Fred and Tom inside it with two backing dancers in weird hoods . It’s catchy but I don’t think it beats Spirit in the Sky if I’m honest. No doubt Keiino fans will vote for them but will this appeal to the wider public and juries?I’m not sure . Big cheer from the crowd . A great opener but will going first put a bit of a spanner in the works for them ?

Annprincess – “Save Me”

Annprincess is a big advocate for mental health and her song save me, very much reflects this . It ‘s dark staging but this perhaps reflects the mood of the song. With Annprincess dressed in white and her backing dancers dressed in very plain looking grey suits , dancing and cavorting around a prop that looks like a broken table . I will always vouch for any song that advocates mental health but I just wonder whether this might be just a bit too dark for ESC in May . Can’t fault Ann’s vocals though . The chorus sounds a bit like the spoken part of Madonna’s “Vogue” !

Gothminister – “We Come Alive”

Fans of goth and rock will love this . On first impressions , it’s like being taken into the set of a horror film, with a girl dressed in pink sat by a large dolls house on stage with Gothminster on top dressed in goth attire .We then have some female goths cavorting around stage with the girl in pink This is definitely not for the nervous or for your grandmother to watch ! “We will control you, we live under your bed ” they sing . This might just give you nightmares, but would be an interesting choice to send to Malmö !Do you dare do it Norway ?

A bit of an interval now. with a giant car with popcorn being brought down the arena to the audience !

The two ladies are supporting Gåte ,apparently !

Ingrid Jasmin – “Eya”

And back down to earth with song 4 .Ingrid is in all white along with her two backing dancers performing contemporary movements beside her. They are then joined by another two lovely ladies and dance around Ingrid. Parts of the dance routine remind me a bit of Eleni and her dancer’s movements in Fuego ( 2018). It’s a good performance but for me , it may not be strong enough to stand out against some of the other . more popular acts. She seems pleased with her performance though.

MIIA – “Green Lights”

Song 5 already! Miia starts off on stage alone, dressed in silver grey with backdrop of LED lights , which , as the song depicts, do turn green . Powerful vocals and Miia can sell this song herself without any need for backing vocals . Will she win the hearts of the public and jury?

Margaret Berger – “Oblivion”

Big cheer in the audience for Margaret , who represented Norway in 2013 , when the contest was last in Malmö ! Will she get the opportunity to return there? As expected with Margaret , there’s very much an electro pop feel to this . With Margeret dressed in grey , joined by 4 backing dancers , she gives a very polished performance. It’s good but I am not sure it has the impact that “Feed you my love “did in 2013. This will get a lot of votes I’m sure but maybe not enough to keep up with some of the other acts tonight .

Another break and we’re back with the popcorn car again. A great idea, they should do this in Malmö! We also get a rendition of Norway’s 2005 entry by Wigwam from the audience .

Anne Fagermo & Dag Erik Oksvold – “Judge Tenderly of Me”

This is the first time I have actually seen this performance .as I was away sunning myself in Portugal when the heat in which they were in was broadcast. It has a bit of a country and western feel about it .We start off with Erik , who is then joined by Anne on her guitar. Reminds me a bit of The Common Linnets from 2014 in the way they are by each other on stage , at one point opposite each other like Waylon and Ilse de Lange were. Audience seem to like them . County songs tend to have mixed fortunes at Eurovision , I am not sure that this would be the right choice to send to Malmö

Gåte – “Ulveham” (Wolf man)

Now these are one of the favourites to win tonight. As you may know by now , they have had to change their lyrics due to the song having been found to have lyrics from a 1,000 years old medieval ballad ! Make of that what you will ! The change of lyrics hasn’t altered the performance, we still have the very traditional , Norwegian folk sound and instruments , same staging. It’s dark , with a real folk feel about it with the cries , in between the song vocals, flashing strobe lights .It’s powerful , grabs you instantly , all the ingredients to make an impact at Eurovision. Big, big cheer from the audience, definitely the most powerful performance tonight . This will do well .

Erika Norwich & Super Rob – “My AI”

And we’re already at the final song! Now if anything can beat Gåte, it might just be this one , especially as we are now in the world of AI !It’s a song that has seemed to be very much a love/hate song in social media comments . If you’re looking for a song that is catchy , reflects the world we are in now, but is a bit like being in the Barbie world, this is probably it ! Erika is all in pink joined on stage by Rob the robot and two backing dancers in pink outfits .It’s annoyingly catchy and it really is one of those songs you either love or hate . I am just wondering whether Norway has the love for it to put it ahead of other strong acts .

And that’s it . We have films of past eurovision performers such as Mans Zelmerlow, Johnny Logan, Rosa Lynn, telling Norway to vote!

So , what are we thinking ? I really can’t see the jury going for “My AI ” but it might get a big public vote . Keiino may be in the running but they are up against some strong entries this time . The jury may go for something like MIIA or Ingrid Jasmin . Tonight’s voting will be interesting for sure.

We’re just getting a recap of the songs . Oh goodness, we’re getting a bit of cabaret now !

With past eurovision act!s included , including Bobby Sox ! I don’t know Norwegian but the song seems to be an ode to popcorn and MGP !

Showing some of the songs already selected for Malmö- Go Bambi Thug !

Ulrikke’s back !!! Might she consider another try in 2025?

Marion just reminding everyone to vote again and we get another recap of the songs .

Alessandra reflects back on her experience in Liverpool .

We are about to start the Jury voting …I think !! Fredrik explains how the points will be allocated by each jury .

UK Jury up first – 8 to MIIA , 10 to SuperRob 12 to Dag Erik and Anne

Finland – 8 to Keiino 10 to Gate 12 to MIIA 

This is weird marking so far ….

Switzerland -8 -SuperRob 10 Gate 12 to Keiino

Estonia -8 to Gag Erik and Anne 10 to Gate 12 to Keiino

Azerbaijan -8-SuperRob 10 to Gate 12 to Keiino

Position so far

Denmark 8-Margaret 10 to Keiino 12 to Dag erik and Anne

Netherlands 8 to Margaret B 10 to MIIA 12 to Keiino

Iceland 8-Dag Erik and Anne 10 to Gate 12 to Keiino

Keiino way ahead so far

Czechia - 8 to MIIA 10 to Dag Erik 12 Gåte

Sweden- 8 to Keiino 10 Gate 12 Gothminster!

Result of Jury Vote . Keiino in the lead, followed by Gåte but remember, we still have the public vote to come and everything can change !

An interval now with Marion singing Loreen’s winning song from last year “Tattoo”

Followed by Bobbysox singing “Waterloo”

Tix singing “Heroes”

Ulrikke Brandstorp singing Euphoria

Alexander Rybak singing DiggiLoo, Diggi Ley

Carola herself, singing her own song ”Framling” from 1983.

Then “Fangad av en Stormvind”

She mingles with the audience !

All the acts join each other on stage !

There’s a real party atmosphere in that audience! We now get a little film about the rehearsals for MGP during the week.

Now we get the public vote …..This is going to be tense !!!

AnnPricess 17 points

Ingrid -20 points

Margaret -19 points

Gothminster 80 points

Superrob 120 points! Thought they would do well with the public

MIIA 22 points

Dag Erik 47

Gate – 174 points!!! wow !!

Keiino …can they beat Gåte ?

Keiino or Gate ?

Keiinno get 156 Not enough

Gåte have won !!!!

So

So , they will go to Malmö and represent Norway in May with Ulveham .

What do you think? Do you think the right result happened tonight?

So that concludes our coverage tonight. Thanks for joining me tonight , it’s been fun .

Goodnight Europe , Good day Australia .