Today the tickets for the Swedish national final and its tour around the country went on sale. Although most tickets are now sold out, the pace of sales was slower than in recent years. A few tickets remain for the national final where Sweden will decide who represents the country at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf.

Swedish national final Melodifestivalen will be held in six different cities during February and March. Today, tickets went on sale for all four semifinals (held in Luleå, Gothenburg, Linköping and Malmö), the second chance contest (Sundsvall) and the grand final on March 12 in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. Tickets are also available for the two dress rehearsals on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon before each show. The prices range from 175 SEK (≈18€) for dress rehearsals up to 990 SEK (≈100€) for the grand final live show.

Normally the tickets for the final and semifinals held in smaller arenas are gone within a couple of minutes. This year however there were still tickets more than an hour after the box offices had opened, probably depending on a somewhat higher price and because bookings could no longer be done at the arena sites, but only through telephone and internet. There are still at this moment tickets left for all semifinals as well as the second chance contest's live shows. To the final however only dress rehearsal tickets are available.

For further information and purchasing of tickets, go to www.ticnet.se, where information in English is also found.

Tour Plan Melodifestivalen 2011:
Semifinal 1 Luleå, Feb 5
Semifinal 2 Gothenburg, Feb 12
Semifinal 3 Linköping, Feb 19
Semifinal 4 Malmö, Feb 26
Second Chance Contest Sundsvall, Mar 5
Grand Final Stockholm Mar 12

Special thanks to Anders Ringquist for this article.