🇸🇪 Sweden: Melodifestivalen 2022 takes place at Avicii Arena and Friends Arena
It has been announced that the first three shows of the Melodifestivalen 2022 will take place at Avicii Arena and the remaining shows will take place at Friends Arena.
After the announcement that the Melodifestivalen 2022 tour had been canceled and that all six performances would be held in Stockholm for the second year in a row, and the announcement that the first show would take place in Avicii Arena. It has now been announced that all performances will take place at Avicii Arena and Friends Arena, both of which are located in the city of 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.
Friends Arena, which opened in 2013, is the largest indoor arena in Sweden with a capacity of over 50,000 for certain events. Friends Arena has hosted the final of all Melodifestivalen since 2013 with the exception of 2021.
Both venues will host three shows each, with the Avicii Area hosting the first three and Friends Arena hosting the remaining shows. This will mark the first time that Friends Arena is hosting a semifinal and Second Chance round.
- Semifinal 1: Avicii Arena (February 5)
- Semifinal 2: Avicii Arena (February 12)
- Semifinal 3: Avicii Arena (February 19)
- Semifinal 4: Friends Arena (February 26)
- Second Chance: Friends Arena (March 5)
- Final: Friends Arena (March 12)
The move is likely to come as current government guidelines currently limit the audience to a capacity of 500 people will be removed along with all restrictions on the coronavirus on February 9, meaning SVT is legally free to host the event as they would have done before Covid. The first performance on the 5th will still take place with a limited audience of 500 seats as it takes place according to current guidelines.
This year, Oscar Zia is hosting 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.