Welcome to the escgo! liveblog of the Friday night dress rehearsal!
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Hello Hi, everyone! escgo.com is in Friends Arena to report live from the Friday night dress rehearsal for Melodifestivalen 2015.

Tomorrow, the final of the Swedish preselection is staged here, the sixth and last show of Melodifestivalen. Tomorrow night we will finally know who’s going to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna. Stay tuned for our updates, no need to hit the refresh button!

22:03

The dress rehearsal is over! Thank you very much for staying tuned to our liveblog from Stockholm, it was a pleasure to keep you updated about what’s going on in tomorrow’s show!

21:57

Robin says we have the winner, but that was a mistake. After all the percentages got translated into points, JTR won the fake voting. We are seeing stand-ins for JTR, who are now coming towards the stage, receiving the trophy. Now we’re hearing Stay The Night from Alcazar as the winner’s reprise!

21:54

Sverige, vi har ett resultat! Drum roll as the first results from the viewers are coming in. If I understood Sanna correctly, she said she’s having a bit of a cold (her nose is running, which she’s fighting against), she also seems a bit nervous but it’s more positive excitement I bet.

21:52

Robin is sitting in a red leather armchair, singing a duet with Sanna Nielsen called “Det här hänt en del“. In my interview with them yesterday, I asked Robin if he’d consider taking part in Eurovision as a singer, and they had the idea to do a duet.. now you get the idea what that would sound like!

21:48

We see the second interval act, a video featuring the duo Ylvis from Norway, who are popular for their hit “The Fox” (What does the fox say?). We also see them on stage now, with a rock song and performance that I don’t really get.

21:42

Now some time for a verdict and prediction!

This is a great Melodifestival final lineup, I think.

The entries that benefit the most from the the running order are Dinah Nah, Isa and Hasse. Jessica Andersson and the snoozefest by Linus Svenning suffer a bit.

Måns Zelmerlöw and Jon Henrik Fjällgren are the two big favourites, but I don’t know how the international juries would rate the latter. Will joik be welcome in Europe? Will Måns’ light show function just like Ukraine’s sandwoman did?

Also, my feeling solidifies that Eric Saade will drown a bit tomorrow. I don’t wish him that fate… but I just can’t deny that I have this impression.

21:40

That’s all for the international juries, now it’s time for the next snabbrepris. The televoters still have 5 minutes time to cast their votes.

21:37

Now Robin Paulsson says (really!) “Hello Hi” to the United Kingdom’s Simon Proctor.

The Netherlands are represented by Hendrik Bakhuijsen.

Austria’s spokesperson is Conchita Wurst.

21:35

The next juries and their spokesmen are:

Cyprus, with the guy with the legendary name, Klitos Klitou

In the fake voting, Building It Up is leading ahead of Groupie. I have my doubts if that will be the case tomorrow.

Axel Hirsoux will give the points from Belgium!

21:31

Just explaining: The juries have a total of 473 points to allocate, as do the viewers.

We are now getting the next international juries:

France (Bruno Berberes)

Israel (Moshe Morad)

Slovenia (Maja Keuc)

21:28

Robin and Sanna explain the voting and say hi to the first international jury from Estonia (Mart Normet). These juries are of course all stand-ins.

Now Malta with Daniel D’Anastasi.

Armenia now (Gohar Gasparyan).

21:24

Here I am with my next cup of coffee, as the hosts annouce the interval act on stage: “Dirty Loops”. There’s a band on stage, doing a weird funk (?) cover version of Undo, Sanna Nielsen’s entry at last year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

This won’t find a lot of fans, you don’t miss anything at this point, tomorrow.

21:19

Filippa Bark now introduces herself to the international viewers: Filippa Bark, like the dog (she now does like a dog does…)

..and tells to Jessica, if she gets hurt again, she should say “My name is Nossica. Not Jessica”…

Now Filippa moves from Eric Saade’s legs to the seat next to Hasse.

Filippa surely doesn’t work well with the international viewers, but the Swedes here in the press centre like it.

21:16

Now I get the chance to listen to all song snippets one after the other, Don’t Stop somehow stands out. I didn’t have this on the radar for chances before, but I might change my mind rightnow. I get the odd feeling that Mister Saade won’t get an excellent result tomorrow. Hasse might surprise,  Jessica Andersson most likely to end up on the last place, despite being the only big ballad.

21:13

Now that we heard all the entries, Robin and Sanna are back on stage, explaining the voting, inclusive the Radiohjälpen. Here comes the Snabbrepris!

By the way, I can’t tell anything about the reactions in the press centre, as apart of the sign language people, noone is reacting to the songs here.

21:09 Hasse Andersson – Guld och gröna skogar

Hasse – for a change! – wears a black shirt and a white jacket.

He comes across very happy to be a part of this! I really like this, it immediately sets me into a better mood, and I won’t be the only one.

Everything is as usual, but I can tell that the start number is supporting it a lot. A very cheerful end to this Melodifestivalen lineup, perfect draw for it, and it could surprise.

The sign language translators in the press room also have a lot of fun “translating” this.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

21:04 Mariette – Don’t Stop Believing

In the postcards, all artists reveal what they would do if they win Melodifestivalen. Mariette said, she would cut off her dreadlocks!

The stage is very blue, Mariette all in black. Vocally, this is very good – but again, you can never really tell what’s coming from the main singer and what’s from the support vocals.

LOTS of fog and wind for this. Decent reaction from the audience.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:58 Eric Saade – Sting

The kids in the arena scream as soon as Eric Saade is announced.

Some joking about his naame (pun intended) by the hosts, then the postcard. Yesterday, it took quite long to build his “gondola”, so probably they take some time to overbridge.

Eric Saade is all in white, on a very blue stage, which somehow reminds me of Sakis Rouvas…

This song isn’t nearly as good as Popular or Manboy, I think. It’s all a bit flat. Now we finally get the lots of glitter, that the venue speaker promised, as Eric is flying over the audience. At the end, fireworks come out of the flying platform, and we get a final “WEOOOHW!” from Eric.

Weirdly calm response, if I heard right!

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:54 Magnus Carlsson – Möt mig i Gamla Stan

Magnus seems a bit nervous, as you could tell his hands and fingers were shaking a bit when he did the spegelbild movement.

The song is a grower, but not sure if it’s the right uptempo number for Eurovision. It isn’t as infectious as Isa, Dinah Nah or JTR’s performances.

All in all rather confident though, no big changes to his previous appearances. The last note was quite off, though.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:50

As Filippa Bark is just on stage, I took the time to get me some coffee and a compulsory cookie. She now is in the green room, talking to Dinah Nah and Jon Henrik. Jon Henrik seems to have lipstick on, as pink as Dinah Nah’s hair, but maybe it’s just a problem with our screens here, I am not sure…

Filippa now fell backwards on Måns Zelmerlöw’s lap. Now Måns is laying himself down on Filippa Bark. The hosts take over again, maybe for the better.

20:45 Isa – Don’t Stop

Isa is all dressed in white, the backing singers all in black. What is it with black and white on colour TV?

Just as I was saying about JTR’s rehearsal, this is also very dynamic and effective. You’re getting into the rhythm really quickly and can’t stop teeter your leg up and down.

This is all very buoyant and works very very well on screen. Another song that this Eurovision Song Contest might urgently need.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:41 Linus Svenning – Forever Starts Today

Now it’s time for tattoos and piercings.

His voice is a bit shaky in the first verse. He wears a white longsleeve and lots of armbands. At Eurovision, he might attract more attention by his looks, rather than by the song. The entry isn’t very arena friendly, as many of the camera angles mean that he isn’t directed towards the audience.

Decent performance, but not striking.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:36 Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes

Now the big favourite.

Måns is wearing his grey longseeve and looks happy. He sounds a bit off in the low tones, but it’s all on a minimal range.

His lightshow works very well, and it could also be a huge support for the song in Vienna. There isn’t much to say about it, but that it’s very effective. The arena is drowned in red and blue lights.

As expected, big cheer from the audience.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:31 Jessica Andersson – Can’t Hurt Me Now

It’s Jessica’s 7th time as competitor in Melodifestivalen, so she can lean back on a lot of experience. She is confident, but – honestly – very boring. As is the song, by far the weakest composition in the line-up. In my opinion, this shouldn’t even have qualified from semi-final 1.

Jessica is wearing a golden sequin dress, the stage is all yellow, and her hair are blonde. At least, there are a few pink spots here and there (not in her hair, but the light makes her skin look pink, indeed!), otherwise this would be very monotoneous on stage.

A chilly applause for a chilly artist. All routine. Off stage again. Forgotten.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:26 Jon Henrik Fjällgren – Jag Är Fri (Manne Leam Frijje)

Some personal notes first: This is my big favourite for tomorrow. It’s got an impressive staging. Jon Henrik is now wearing a blue traditional outfit.

While Jon Henrik is having his spoken moment, it’s SNOWING!

This all works very well on screen. ABsolutely beautiful song and performance. I want this to win, as do a lot of people in the audience, judging by the cheer.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:23 Dinah Nah – Make Me (La La La)

A very blue stage for Dinah Nah, who wears a white dress, no black jacket, and her iconic pink hair.

I think this is a very strong entry, which doesn’t get old as soon as some other songs do. This could do very well at Eurovision with the current line-up, which isn’t gonna change a lot more!

Thanks to the translators in the press room, I know what “La La La” is in sign language!

The vocals are good as always, but you can’t really tell if it’s her or support vocals. Biggest cheer in the audience so far.

20:21 

Sanna is wearing a combination in black. Now it’s time for Dinah Nah, bringing some colour into this contest!

20:18 JTR – Building It Up

The three guys from JTR are all wearing white shirts and black jackets. So far, not a lot of variation in fashion, as Robin Paulsson also wears a white shirt with black jacket.

I think this is a rather weak or weird song, but it works very well on screen. Better than Samir & Viktor. It’s all very dynamic and comes across rather powerful and enchanting. I’m not in the right age group for this, but it will have its fans.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:16 

Now Filippa Bark is on stage, talking to Robin. Filippa asks the arena for a big applause for “JTR”, pronounced as “Jetre” or something similar.

20:11 1. Samir & Viktor – Groupie

Samir is wearing a white shirt, Viktor a white shirt and a black jacket.

They seem a bit more stiff than usually, but on the other side, more in tune. Now Viktor got his jacket out as well. A lot of blue and violet lights.

Samir has some words standing on the back of his shirt, but the camera didn’t really capture it, so I didn’t have enough time to read. In the end, they fall backwards from their screen pedestal and one of them shouts “shit!”.

Photo from yesterday’s rehearsal:

20:09

Sanna and Robin are now on stage again, saying hi to the audience. Sanna is explaining the voting, now the artists get introduced.

Dinah Nah, Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Måns Zelmerlöw, Eric Saade and Hasse Andersson get the biggest cheer from the audience!

20:07

Time for Conchita Wurst now, singing her Eurovision winning entry Rise Like A Phoenix. She herself isn’t hear yet, it’s a stand-in dressed as Conchita, with beard and all…

20:04

The intro is over, we’re now seeing Sanna Nielsen, Robin Paulsson and a fake Conchita Wurst, singing The Final Countdown. Now all the artists appear with their photos, as we get a countdown from 12 to 1.

20:02

The intro video contains snippets of all the songs, also a short clip of Björn Ranelid is there. I don’t know why exactly, but I approve.

20:01

We’re kicking off! Sponsor adverts appear on screen, Te Deum being played.

19:58

The hosts, Sanna Nielsen and Robin Paulsson, are now on stage, talking to the audience before we all kick off. The venue speaker is announcing that there will be a lot of glitter. He repeats  this alert several times. If you happen to sit in the hall: There will be a lot of glitter!

19:56

There is also MF coverage in sign language! I know, because we were just asked if it’s okay if they turn the music very loud, so that their colleagues can hear it for the translation. Noone will be able to talk over the music for me, so that’s good.

19:55

We have picture on the screens! This means we are beginning very soon.

19:52

Now only a few minutes left until we take off. In the meantime, see what I found standing in front of the venue:

19:50

The Friday night dress rehearsals are traditionally full with families and children attending in the hall. These balloons weren’t there yesterday:

19:14

I’m sitting in the press room of the Friends Arena, getting ready for the dress rehearsal!

Compulsory hotdogs, cookies and water are all prepared at my desk, coffee still coming later.
Minute by minute, the buzz in the press room is getting louder and louder, which will surely also lead to the one or other hectical scene, the closer we get to 20:00.