Swedish broadcaster SVT has just announced the dates and cities for the shows of the upcoming edition of Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s selection process for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.
As previously, six shows will be used to determine the Nordic country’s entry for Vienna:
Saturday, 7 February: Semi-final 1, Gothenburg
Saturday, 14 February: Semi-final 2, Malmö
Saturday, 21 February: Semi-final 3, Östersund
Saturday, 28 February: Semi-final 4, Örebro
Saturday, 7 March: Andra Chansen, Helsingborg
Saturday, 14 March: Final, Stockholm
Östersund and Helsingborg are new to the list of MF venues and will host heats of the event for the very first time.
The final will again take place at the Friends Arena in the Stockholm suburb of Solna.
New rules
As revealed a few days ago, SVT is introducing new rules for the upcoming Melodifestivalen:
- A total of 28 songs (instead of 32) will participate.
- Thus, each semi-final will feature 7 songs (instead of 8 as has become traditional).
- While 4 songs will progress from each semi-final as previously (2 to the final and 2 to Andra Chansen), Andra Chansen will consist of 4 duels, with each winner proceeding to the final.
- The system described above means there will be 12 songs in the final.
- As at ESC, the number of votes per telephone will be limited to 20.
Recovering from a run of poor form, Sweden has achieved a podium finish in three of the last four editions of the Eurovision Song Contest, placing 3rd in Copenhagen 2014 with Sanna Nielsen’s “Undo”.
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