🇸🇪 Sweden: The first semi-final of the Melodifestivalen 2022 takes place at Avicii Arena
SVT has announced that the first semi-final of the Melodifestivalen 2022 will take place in Avicii Arena in Stockholm.
Following the announcement that the Melodifestivalen 2022 tour has been canceled and that all six performances will be held in Stockholm for the second year in a row, SVT has now announced that the first semi-final of the Melodifestivalen 2022 will take place in Avicii Arena at Stockholm.
Avicii Arena, originally known as the Stockholm Globe Arena, most recently hosted the final of the Melodifestivalen 10 years ago in 2012 and has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in both 2000 and 2016.
The Melodifestivalen’s first sub-competition 2022 will be broadcast from Avicii Arena in Stockholm. #melfest pic.twitter.com/OJ11zg8Z6i
– Melodifestivalen (@SVTmelfest) January 25, 2022
It is still not known if Avicii Arena will host the remaining 5 live shows, or if other arenas in Stockholm will host. However, Eurovoix understands that ticket holders for the final, which will take place on March 12 in Friends Arena, have been informed that SVT still hopes that the show can continue as planned.
SVT is expected to make a final decision on the final within the next few weeks in the light of the covid-19 development in Sweden, where the government’s guidelines currently limit the audience to a capacity of 500 people.
The current Covid-19 situation has meant that the regular Melodifestivalen tour in Sweden has not been able to continue. The venues for the Melodifestivalen 2022 would have been the following:
- 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.
Image source: EBU / Andres Putting | Source: 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.