News - Sweden has rehearsed for the big night | Eurovision Song Contest News - Azerbaijan 2012 

The dress rehearsals for the Swedish national final to select their entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest have now been done. Today’s dress rehearsal saw a full house at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm. Please note: This article contains spoilers of the show that will go out live tonight.

The two hour show is started off with a video greeting from a good Hollywood friend of one of tonight’s hosts, Sylvester Stallone, who has worked with Dolph Lundgren. He starts the proceedings off by singing Eye of the tiger and is joined by the other two hosts, Christine Meltzer and Måns Zelmerlöv. The hosts then introduce all the artists wearing red boxing gowns. The introduction has a boxing theme and is also very contemporary with hints of hit series Glee.

The voting procedure is then explained. 50% of the result will be decided by 11 juries, 5 in Sweden and 6 in different European countries. The other 50% will be decided by the audience, who can use two different numbers to vote, one of the numbers also includes a donation to charity.

The hosts then introduce the backing singers and dancers that have worked during the six weeks that the Melodifestivalen tour has been going.

The first artist Darin is then on. He is now wearing a full white outfit for the final. Second out is veteran Pernilla Wahlgren is rehearsing today in the same golden number she wore in the qualifying heats. Andreas Johnson sings in his green leather jacket next. Fourth act are newcomers Timoteij, four girls with their instruments and four male dancers with drums. Fifth act Ola is wearing a white t-shirt under his black leather outfit. Jessica Andersson has a new cream coloured frock for the final and has her hair down this time. Salem Al-Fakir does his number next, this time also standing up from his piano, followed by Anna Bergendahl in a white dress and red trainers and with her guitar. The show then finishes with Erik Saade, who gets showered wet on stage.

The interval act is then introduced by Dolph Lundgren, and it is a continuation of his task during previous weeks when he has been in search of what is allegedly threatening the Swedish Eurovision selection. He finally seems to have solved the puzzle and is jokingly revealing the threat being neighbours in Norway. This leads into a duel of artists from both Sweden and Norway and a long row of previous Eurovision Song Contest and Melodifestivalen artists sing one after the other. The number of artists we see is spectacular and will please many long-time fans of Eurovision Song Contest. It all finishes with last year's Norwegian winner Alexander Rybak.

The votes from the six international juries are then revealed while the televoting is still open. The  votes are read out by Swedish celebrities and TV personalities with roots in those countries, the 1991 runner-up Amina for France, the Irish Ambassador to Sweden and Alexander Rybak for Norway. Then the five Swedish jury results are given. Another recap of the songs is then shown before the voting lines close.

Then a rock version of last year's Swedish Melodifestivalen winner La Voix is performed by a band called Casablanca, joined by the original singer Malena Ernman.

The result is then revealed  after the televotes are added to the jury votes.

 

Click here to order the Melodifestivalen 2010 CD from CDON.com

Click here to pre-order the 2010 Melodifestivalen Karaoke DVD from CDON.com

Click here to order the 2009 Melodifestivalen CD (5.95 EUROS)

Click here to order the 2009 Melodifesitvalen DVD (7.95 EUROS)

Click here to order the 2008 Melodifestivalen CD (5.95 EUROS)