Norway: Melodi Grand Prix Final 2020 moves to Trondheim Spektrum
The Norwegian national broadcaster, NRK, has revealed that the next Melodi Grand Prix Grand Final will not be taking place in Oslo for the first time after 31 years. It’s new home is located in Trondheim in central Norway.
About The Arena
This year’s MGP national final is set to take place on February 15 at the Trondheim Spektrum . Trondheim Spectrum is a multi-use arena on the island of Trondheim with 8600 seats. The new arena was completed in 2019 and replaced a group of multi-use halls in the same location. The former halls originally went by the name Nidarø Hall.
The City
Trondheim ,historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It has a population of 196,939 , and is the third most populous municipality in Norway, although the fourth largest urban area. Trondheim lies on the south shore of Trondheim Fjord at the mouth of the River Nidelva. The city is dominated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (SINTEF), St. Olavs University Hospital and other technology-oriented institutions.
Melodi Grand Prix 2020
The 2020 Norwegian national selection will include 6 televised shows ( 5 semi-finals and a Grand Final). A total of 10 acts will battle for the golden ticket to Rotterdam ( 5 pre-qualified/ 5 selected via the semi-finals).
Grand Prix 2020 will kick off with its first semi final show on January 11, with four more semi finals to follow week by week, leading to the Grand final that will take place on February 15. While the final will take place at Trondheim Spektrum, the five semi final shows leading to that will be held at the H3 Arena in Fornebu, Oslo and will be broadcasted every Saturday on NRK 1.
Each semi final will see a number of 4 competing acts from a specific parts of Norway. Thus we will see the Norwegian selection unfold pretty much as following:
1st semi final show : 4 entries from Northern Norway
2nd semi final show : 4 entries from Central Norway
3rd semi final show: 4 entries from Western Norway
4th semi final show : 4 entries from Eastern Norway
5th semi final show : 4 entries from Southern Norway
Grand Final: A total of 10 competing entries ( 2 qualifiers from each previous semi final show)
In each semi final round, one qualifier of the two will be determined by public voting while the second one will be selected by the jury. The 2020 Norwegian Eurovision outcome will be determined by televoting 100%. Tickets for the shows will go on sale on Thursday 14 November, while in December the MGP hosts will be unveiled. On January 3 , just a week away from the first semi final show a special conference will be held to reveal the 5 pre-qualified acts .
The Eurovision story so far
Norway has been competing in the Eurovision Song contest since 1960 and has won the competition three times, in 1985, 1995 and 2009. However the country has marked some record scorings , as it has finished in the last place most times than any other country, finishing in the bottom spot of the scoreboard 11 times. A total of four times it has received zero points, while in 2009 victory it received the remarkable number 16 sets of 12 points and was voted by every single country, reaching the impressive winning score of 387 points! Norway hasn’t qualified two times in the final the last decade, in 2011 with Stella Mwangi and in 2016 with Agnete
In 2018 was represented for the second time by Alexander Rybak and his song That’s How You Write A Song, which finished in the 15th place of the grand final. This year the three member group KEiiNo with their entry “Spirit in the Sky” defended the Norwegian colors in Tel Aviv achieving a remarkable 1st place in the televoting while they finished 6th on the overall scoreboard. Lets remember KEiiNO’s energetic performance on the Expo Tel Aviv stage:
