Local media has reported that due to new covid restrictions in Sweden, SVT is considering canceling the planned Melodifestivalen 2022 tour.
Reports from Expressen reveal that SVT is considering canceling the planned tour of Melodifestivalen 2022 which would have seen the show head back to the pre-pandemic tradition of touring Sweden with each show hosted in a different city.
The news follows in the footsteps of new restrictions from the Swedish Government which now restrict all public gatherings and public events to a maximum capacity of 500 people. In the past live shows for Melodifestivalen have seen over 20,000 people in the show’s audience.
According to Expressen, one of SVT’s plans is to simply cancel the planned 2022 tour and host all shows from Stockholm, as was done last year in 2021. Much of this would be due to the high costs of moving the stage and crew all over Sweden without the income from ticket sales, of which thousands have already been sold ahead of the live shows.
Back in October SVT has also announced that it planned to have a live audience return for Melodifestivalen 2022. 2021 the live shows took place without a live audience due to the ongoing pandemic. As of the time of publishing it is still possible to buy tickets for all of the live shows from the live nation website. Tickets for the shows went on sale late last year on November 8th.
Under the new restrictions, a small live audience of now more than 500 is possible but with many of the planned venues being able to hold well over 10,000 people this would lead to most ticket holders being unable to take part in the live shows. According to Expressen insiders in the SVT team only wish to cancel the tour and live audience only if the restrictions don’t allow it.
The new measures that have come in will be evaluated after two weeks, but will not be changed for at least four weeks, meaning the first two live and jury shows would be affected. This means it still could be possible for a full-size audience to be present for shows taking place in late February and early March.
The official social media of the event posted that options were being explored following the new restrictions and that an official announcement should be expected soon.
The current planned Melodifestivalen 2022 tour will be as follows:
- Semi-Final 1: Malmö – Malmö Arena (February 5)
- Semi-Final 2: Gothenburg – Scandinavium (Feburary 12)
- Semi-Final 3: Linköping – Saab Arena (February 19)
- Semi-Final 4: Lidköping – Sparbanken Arena (February 26)
- Andra Chansen: Örnsköldsvik – Hägglunds Arena (March 5)
- Final: Stockholm – Friends Arena (March 12)
This year Oscar Zia will host the 2022 edition of Melodifestivalen. Oscar has taken part in Melodifestivalen on three occasions. In 2013, he was a backing singer for Behrang Miri on the song “Jalla Dansa Sawa”. In 2014, he participated for the first time as a solo artist and finished eighth in the final with “Yes We Can”. That same year, he was a member of the Swedish jury for Eurovision 2014. In 2016, he took part as a solo singer again with “Human” and finished second in the final. Last year, he hosted Semi-Final 2 of Melodifestivalen alongside Christer Björkman and Anis Don Demina.
Source: Expressen | Photo: SVT
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
Sweden debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 and has gone on to be one of the contest’s most successful countries. The country has won the contest six times, the most recent being in 2015. Sweden’s first victory came in 1974 when ABBA won the contest in Brighton with “Waterloo”. Since missing out on the final in 2010, Sweden has gone on to finish 3rd twice and has won the contest twice, only in 2013 did the country place outside of the top 10 in the final.
