David Lindgren to return as Melodifestivalen host!
It’s still early days for the Eurovision 2018 National Final season, but we’re slowly getting more information on how the nations are planning on choosing their acts for Eurovision 2018. It was no surprise that Sweden would be continuing with Melodifestivalen, as the national final has been an annual staple for the Swedes and international fans who tune in to hear some of the best acts from across Sweden.
In our last post about Sweden’s upcoming Melodifestivalen, we learnt that the Swedish broadcaster had received close to 2800 song submissions for the iconic national selection. Most of these entries were submitted through an open submission, however some were submitted through the music industry, meaning we could be seeing some big names in the line-up. We do know the first act, which is Stiko Per Larsson who won the competition P4 Nästa.
The next piece of the puzzle is now in place as we find out who will be hosting the competition. This year, there will be only one host, and that will be David Lindgren. David hosted the competition for 2017, and as such this will make him only the third person who will host Melodifestivalen two years in a row after Kristian Luuk, who hosted in 2007 and 2008 and Gina Dirawi who hosted in 2012 and 2013. David has also competed at the contest various times as an artist. He first participated in 2012 and finished in 4th with his song ‘Shout It Out’ and participated the year after with the song ‘Skyline’ which finished in 8th place. He then returned in 2016 with the song ‘We Are Your Tomorrow’ where he placed 11th.
We now also know the dates and hosting cities of the competition:
03/02/2018 (Semi-Final 1): Löfbergs Arena, Karlstad
10/02/2018 (Semi-Final 2): Scandinavium, Gothenburg
17/02/2018 (Semi-Final 3): Malmö Arena, Malmö
24/02/2018 (Semi-Final 4): Fjällräven Center, Örnsköldsvik
03/03/2018 (Second Chance Round): Kristianstad Arena, Kristianstad
10/03/2018 (Grand Final): Friends Arena, Stockholm
Tickets for the show went on sale on the 31st of October, but you can still purchase tickets at Livenation.se.
Stay tuned for more news on Melodifestivalen 2018!
