Melodifestivalen 2016 dates released
The 2016 Swedish national Final will be in Stockholm one more time. For fourteen years now Melodifestivalen is both Sweden’s largest entertainment program and a big people’s festival in the towns it visits. The festival has produced six Eurovision winners and eighteen top-five placings for Sweden at the contest. The winner of the Melodifestival has been chosen by panels of jurors since its inception. Since 1999, the juries have been joined by a public telephone vote which has an equal influence over the final outcome. The competition makes a considerable impact on music charts in Sweden.
The introduction of semifinals in 2002 raised the potential number of contestants from around twelve to thirty-two. The 2016 tour kicks off, as last year, in Gothenburg. The remaining three Semi-Finals follow in Malmö, Norrköping and Gävle before it’s time for the second chance round in Halmstad. The Final, where the Swedish candidate for the Eurovision Song Contest is decided, will take place at the Friends Arena outside Stockholm, just like in the past three editions of Melodifestivalen.
A total of 6 shows have been lined up: 4 semifinals, 1 Second Chance and 1 grand final.
06/02 – Semifinal 1 -Göteborg – Scandinavium
13/02 – Semifinal 2 – Malmö, Malmö Arena
20/02- Semifinal 3 -Norrköping- Himmelstalundshallen
27/02- Semifinal 4 -Gävle-Gavlerinken Arena
05/03- Andra Chansen-Halmstad- Halmstad Arena
12/03- Grand final -Stockholm- Friends Arena
