Tonight the first semi final of this year's Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, Melodifestivalen, will take place in Luleå. Eight acts will fight for the two lucky tickets with the destination Stockholm.

The show

SVT will broadcast the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen at 20:00 CET. The show will take place in Lulea and will be hosted by Marie Serneholt and Rickard Olsson. Eight acts will fight for the two lucky tickets with the destination Globen Arena, Stockholm.

How to watch

• Live on SVT1 at 20:00 CET
• Webcast (SVT official)

The participants

1. Dilba – Try again (Niklas Pettersson, Linda Sonnvik)
2. Swingfly – Me and my drum (Johan Ramström, Patrik Magnusson, Teron Beal, Swingfly)
3. Jenny Silver – Something in your eyes (Erik Bernholm, Thomas G:son, Henrik Sethsson)
4. Jonas Matsson – On my own (Sari Autio Olsson, Peter Autio)
5. Le Kid – Oh my God (Märta Grauers, Anton Malmborg Hård af Segerstad, Felix Persson)
6. Rasmus Viberg – Social butterfly (Amir Aly, Henrik Wikström)
7. Pernilla Andersson – Desperados (Pernilla Andersson)
8. Danny – In the club (Figge Boström, Peter Boström, Danny Saucedo)

Have your say

You can vote for your favourite act in tonight's show in our poll here.

Live

The show starts. Tonight's hosts Marie Serneholt and Rickard Olsson appear on stage.They perform a medley of past Swedish entries at the Eurovision Song Contest. Now, they explain to the public the rules of tonight's show.

The performances have started!

Song 1. Dilba – Try again

The first act of tonight's show is now on stage. Dilba, a Swedish pop singer of Kurdish origin performs the disco up-tempo song Try again. The song was written by Niklas Pettersson and Linda Sonnvik, two respected names of the Swedish show-business. The vocal performance is at a high level and Dilba delivers a pretty impressive rendition of this song.

Try again is a contemporany up-tempo song with obvious American influences that may top any of the tracklistings of the radio stations all over Europe. One could say that this routine was inspired by Britney Spears' Blackout project. The stage background is all blue and white. The choreography of this routine seems to be inspired by Ruslana's recent work.

Song 2. Swingfly – Me and my drum

Next on stage is American-Swedish rapper Swingfly performing his Melodifestivalen bid Me and my drum. Although the title might remember the Eurovision fans of last year's Belgian entry Me an my guitar, this song has nothing to do with Tom Dice's entry.

Me and my drum is a up-tempo electro pop rap track which features a fast key change on the pre-chorus. Unlike the previously performed act, this routine gets highlighted by the poppy chorus. The vocal performance is interesting enough, but fits well this type of tracks. The stage features a colorful light show and Swingly is being surronded by a group of dancers dressed as American cheerleaders.

Song 3. Jenny Silver – Something in your eyes

Swedish singer Jenny Silver takes the stage by performing her up-tempo pop song Something in your eyes. Famous Swedish song-writer Thomas G:Son is one of the responsible people for this typical Melodifestivalen act. Something in your eyes is one of that songs you get the impression of deja-vu while listening to it.

Jenny delivers a strong vocal performance and the audience seems to enjoy it as she receives a warm applause.

Song 4. Jonas Mattson – On my own

Now it's the time for Jonas Matsson to try to conquer the Swedish hearts. He tries to achieve this by performing his song On my own which was penned by Sari Autio Olsson and Peter Autio. His entry is a mid-tempo poppy song with some country influences that create a very colorful atmosphere.

Thumbs up to the composers for the interestingly manner of writing the chorus of this track. During this performance, Jonas Matsson interacts well with the public and he proves that he is a good entertainer.

5. Le Kid – Oh my God

The group Le Kid is next on stage and they perform their song "Oh my God" written by Märta Grauers, Anton Malmborg Hård af Segerstad and Felix Persson. This entry could easily break the tops of any European chart as it features a very contemporany vibe, closely following the tendencies of today's world hits.

The vocal perforamance is strong and nicely fits this type of melodies. The line-up of the band is dressed up in colorful outfits just like the stage background. Overall, this routine seems to be lacking something but the twirling cup cakes are fun.

6. Rasmus Viberg – Social butterfly

Rasmus Viberg takes the stage and performs a very interesting song written by Amir Aly and Henrik Wikström. Social butterfly sounds as a top track played by the radio stations of Northern Africa or the Middle East. Rasmus delivers a decent vocal performance of this Arabic inspired act with the artists dressed in 1970s hippy style outfits.

7. Pernilla Andersson – Desperados

Pernilla Andersson decided to enter this year's Melodifestivalen with a self-composed song called "Desperados". Although the song title is written in Spanish, the Swedish artist performs her entry in Swedish, the only native tongue entry this week. Desperados is a mid-tempo pop song with American country influences and it should become a hit in Texas. The stage's main colour is red.

8. Danny – In the club

Danny closes tonight's show performances with his rendition of "In the club", an up-tempo techno-pop song written by himself together with Figge Boström and Peter Boström. "In the club" is the hot favourite of tonight's songs. The vocal performance is interesting enough, but as it's a techno song, this is not a problem.

This concludes the evening's competition. The voting lines are now open. Shortly, the bottom three songs will be eliminated and the winner will be announced, and a second round of voting will determine which other song qualifies for the final, which two songs go to the second chance round and which is the fourth song to be eliminated tonight.

The first round of voting is over and The following three songs are elimiated:

6th place: Social Butterfly
7th place, On my own
8th place: Try again

• The winner of the semi final is: Song Number 8, Danny – In the club

The remaining four songs continue to battle for the remaining place in the final and two places in the second chance round… and now the results:

• 5th place and eliminated: Le Kid

To the Second Chance Round

• Desperados, Pernilla Andersson
• Something in your eyes, Jenny Silver

Second Place, and qualifying for the final is:

• Me and my drum, Swingfly