🇸🇪 Sweden: Melodifestivalen 2022 Tour may be canceled
Local media have reported that SVT due to new covid restrictions in Sweden is considering canceling the planned Melodifestivalen 2022 tour.
Reports from Expressen reveal that SVT is considering canceling the planned tour of the Melodifestivalen 2022, which would have made the show go back to the pre-pandemic tradition of touring. Sweden with each show hosted in a different city.
The news follows in the footsteps of new restrictions from the Swedish government which now limits all public gatherings and public events to a maximum capacity of 500 people. The latest live shows for the Melodifestivalen have seen over 20,000 people in the show’s audience.
According to Expressen, one of SVT’s plans is to simply cancel the planned tour in 2022 and host all shows from kl. Stockholm, as they did last year 2021. Much of this would be due to the high costs of moving the stage and crew all over Sweden without the income from ticket sales, thousands of which have already been sold before the live shows.
Already in October, SVT has also announced that it plans to have a live audience that returns to the Melodifestivalen 2022. In 2021, the live shows took place without live audiences due to the ongoing pandemic. From the time of publication, it is still possible to buy tickets for all live shows from live nation website. Tickets for the performances were released at the end of last year on November 8.
Under the new restrictions, a small live audience of now more than 500 is possible, but with many of the planned venues that can accommodate well over 10,000 people, this would lead to most ticket holders not being able to participate in the live shows. According to Expressen, insiders in the SVT team only want to cancel the tour and live audiences only if restrictions do not allow it.
The new measures that have been received will be evaluated after two weeks, but will not change in at least four weeks, which means that the first two live and jury shows will be affected. This means that it may still be possible for a full size audience to be present for shows that take place in late February and early March.
The event’s official social media published that alternatives were being explored following the new restrictions and that an official announcement should be expected soon.
Dear #Melfest friends, given the new restrictions in Sweden, we are exploring our options regarding audiences together with our partners. We will notify you as soon as a decision has been made ❤️
– Melodifestivalen (en) (@melfest_en) 11 January 2022
The currently planned Melodifestivalen 2022 tour will look like this:
- Semifinal 1: Malmö – Malmö Arena (February 5)
- Semifinal 2: Gothenburg – Scandinavium (February 12)
- Semifinal 3: Linköping – Saab Arena (19 February)
- Semifinal 4: Lidköping – Sparbanken Arena (26 February)
- Second Chance: Örnsköldsvik – Hägglunds Arena (March 5)
- Final: Stockholm – Friends Arena (March 12)
This year, Oscar Zia will host the 2022 edition of the Melodifestivalen. Oscar has participated in the Melodifestivalen on three occasions. In 2013, he was the background singer for Behrang Miri on the song “Jalla Dansa Sawa”. In 2014, he participated for the first time as a solo artist and finished eight in the final with “Yes We Can”. The same year he was a member of the Swedish jury for Eurovision 2014. In 2016, he participated as a solo singer again with “Human” and finished second in the final. Last year he hosted semifinal 2 in the Melodifestivalen together with Christer Björkman and Anis Don Demina.
Source: Expressen | Photo: SVT
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
Sweden debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 and has continued to be one of the competition’s most successful countries. The country has won the competition six times, the most recent was 2015. Sweden’s first victory came in 1974 when ABBA won the competition in Brighton with “Waterloo”. Since missing in the final in 2010, Sweden has finished third twice and won the competition twice, only in 2013 did the country end up outside the top 10 in the final.