With the ticket sale underway and the first national finals approaching – even though it’s still only November! – that must make it time for an esc-chat.com round-up of all the latest news concerning the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö.

First things first: for those wishing to attend the show in person, tickets for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest went on sale today at ticnet.se. Prices range from SEK 90 for a ticket behind the stage for the semi-finals (or SEK 250 for a more conventional ticket in the cheapest category) through to SEK 1950 for the best seats in the house for the grand final – something affordable for everybody, then. Although the initial wave of traffic on the ticket site has now died down, as in previous years it is expected that additional packages of tickets and “returns” will be released at regular intervals, so watch this space!

The big news with regard to ticketing was that the entire floor of the arena will be “standing room only”, initially reserved for OGAE fan club applicants and to go on public sale at a later date. Whether this means a huge heaving mass of fans with flags and inflatable hammers, or a green room in the middle of the arena like in Baku (and hence far less in the way of actual standing capacity), remains to be seen – but the impact in terms of creating a “gig” atmosphere in Malmö will certainly be interesting. Will they build the stage high enough? Will people simply sit down on the floor during the voting – and the more boring songs? As always, May will be full of intrigues!

Two countries that won’t be providing any surprises on the Malmö stage are Poland and Portugal, both of whom have recently announced that they will not be participating in the 2013 event. For Poland, this marks the second consecutive year of absence, while Portugal is expected to return in 2014 once the national television company’s finances are in healthier shape.

As if to make up for that disappointment, a whole raft of countries are following the “Albanian model” and selecting their 2013 entries while it’s still 2012. Over the coming weeks, you can look forward to the finals in Belarus on 7 December and Ukraine on 23 December – although whether the winners eventually travel to Sweden will depend on the whims of Mr. Lukashenko and whoever happens to be in charge in Kiev that week, respectively.

The heats in Lithuania are already underway, with the final scheduled for 20 December. Five days before that, Switzerland will again select its entry this side of the festive season – tragically, though, the final will be devoid of Lys Assia, whose pseudo-rap entry “All In Your Head” failed to make it through the online selection. Scandalous!

Even Albania, which normally provides some welcome distraction for bellies and brains full of Christmas food and drink, will complete its selection process before Santa Claus gets on his sleigh as the 51st Festivali i Këngës concludes on 22 December.

Meanwhile, Belgium are showing that you can cut costs while still taking part in ESC. Singer Roberto Bellarosa, the first winner of The Voice Belgique, will sing three songs in a radio preselection to be held on 16 December, with the winning song going forward to represent Francophone broadcaster RTBF in Malmö.

Finally for now, the only other internally selected artist to have been announced for ESC 2013 is Anouk, who will represent the Netherlands after a career stretching back to the second half of the 1990s. Although her commercial peak is some way behind her (internationally at least, where she enjoyed success with the song “Nobody’s Wife” – see below), the Dutch will be hoping that this move to attract a more high-profile singer returns them to the Saturday night final for the first time since 2004, following Joan Franka’s near-miss in Baku.

Stay tuned to esc-chat.com as the aforementioned finals warm up an otherwise chilly December – and join us in the chatroom to discuss them live!