Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

SVT has announced they received 2.450 songs for the Melodifestivalen 2016. That's more than last year when 2.177 songs were submitted. 1982 come from established artists and the remaining 468 from newcomers and public entries. Now SVT will select the 28 songs and 27 artists to join Smajling Swedes who already qualified through Svensktoppen Nästa. Nearly 2500 entries is a lot but still a far cry from the record 3.832 that were sent in back in 2008.... The song details and artists will be revealed by the end of the year.  Meanwhile the Melodifestivalen tour dates and cities have also been published: February 6, 2016: Semifinal one - Göteborg February 13, 2016: Semifinal two - Malmö February 20, 2016: Semifinal three - Norrköping February 27, 2016: Semifinal four - Gävle March 5, 2016: Second chance - Halmstad March 12, 2016: Final - Stockholm, Friends Arena Smajling Swedes already got their tour ticket....

SVT announced in early July they have chosen Globen area in Stockholm for the 2016 Eurovision song contest venue, with the EBU blessing of course. Globen will host its second Eurovision, after 2000 when it set the whole new look for the whole contest and its development to what it is today really kickstarted. In short Globen 2000 can be considered the first Eurovision of the modern era. This said, 16 years has passed and Globen has been considered a bit old, dull and small by some but this blogger believes they have come up with some unusual and interesting concept to win over the other venues. Time will tell. Notable  fact is that the host is Globen area, not only Globen arena. "The main stage will be in Globen" is written in their website, leaving a lot to imagination..  There are rumours the next door Friends arena will be also used. How? Will some acts perform there instead of Globen thus giving them more time to prepaire the stage for the next act? Ideas, ideas...T...