The first Semi Final of the Swedish National Final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will begin tonight, live from the Scandanavium in Gothenburg. The show will start at 20:00 CET and will be hosted by Petra Mede.

WEBCAST – Sweden: SVT 1 Live – link on show website (available worldwide) click here!

WEB RADIO – Sweden: Sverige Radio 4 Live (available worldwide) click here!

Eight acts will present one song each and there will be two round of televoting to decide the acts to move forward to the next round. In the first round the top four songs will be chosen and they will be then compete in pair.The song of each pair that gets more votes will go forward to the national final on 14th March, the second placed songs will enter the second chace round on 7th March.

The songs that will be performed tonight are:

1. Nina Söderquist – Tick tock (Johan Lyander, Matti Alfonzetti)
2. Jonathan Fagerlund – Welcome to my life (Samuel Waermö, Didrik Thott)
3. Shirley Clamp – Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus (Henrik Wikström, Bobby Ljungren/Ingela Forsman)
4. Scotta – Jag tror på oss (Lars Diedrison, Martin Hedström/Ingela Forsman)
5. Emilia – You're my world (Emilia Rydberg, Fredrik Figge Bodström)
6. Alcazar – Stay the night (Anders Hansson, Mårten Sanden, Andreas Lundsted, Lina Hedlund, Therese Merkel)
7. Caroline af Ugglas – Snälla, snälla (Caroline af Ugglas, Heinz Liljedahl)
8. Marie Serneholt – Disconnect me (Peter Boström, Tony Nilsson)

Live

The show has started! Petra opens the show wearing what can only be described as a sparkly wedding dress and introduces the 8 acts which will be participating in tonights semi final. Small sketches will be shown during the show which consist of Charlotte Perrelli and Martin Stenmarck in a house.

1. Nina Söderquist – Tick tock

Current poll result: 14.8% (3rd)

Nina is wearing a black leather outfit, surrounded by four male dancers wearing black vests and rather baggy trousers. Very good vocal performance from Nina. Very powerful performance with excellent vocals, great performance and great use of pyrotechnics could put Nina straight to the final. Nina makes a telephone hand gesture at the end of the performance as if to ask the public to vote for her…

2. Jonathan Fagerlund – Welcome to my life

Current poll result: 4.8% (7th)

Jonathan is joined on stage with an all female band, he himself wears a vest and jeans. Vocals are ok but could be better. The songs is a really happy poppy song which makes you smile when you hear it. It has the compulsary key-change straight into the chorus that every eurovision song needs. simple lyrics, simple song, very nice. but powerful enough to get the swedish public voting? we will find out at the end of the show.

3. Shirley Clamp – Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus

Current poll result: 19.2% (2nd)

Shirley is wearing a dark blue dress and starts the song solo on the stage. the song is nice with nice vocals, with a hint of Kärleken är from 1998. the compulsary key change occurs and the wind machine begins and Shirleys vocals are slightly lost but continues well.

4. Scotts – Jag tror på oss

Current poll result: 3.1% (8th)

The Scotts begin the song well and continue to do so. The performance is good but seemd to lack something. The lead singer and the backing singers/dancers seem to be enjoying themselves although the other band members do not. Vocals are great, the song is good and could do well overall if it passes through tonight.

5. Emilia – You're my world

Current poll result: 5.5% (6th)

Before the song begins the audience is informed that Emilia had a world hit with Big Big World. the song begins rather serious and then the chorus hits in and then it becomes happy and clappy. The song sounds a small bit 60's and the stage performance projects the Big Band era, all except Emilia's outfit. This is also a good song with a great vocal performance.

6. Alcazar – Stay the night

Current poll result: 31.9% (1st)

The first time we have seen Alcazar (as a band) on the Melodifestivalen stage since 2005. The performance begins with ultra violet lights shone on the singers. The song is energetic as is the performance. The band wears pink and blue. The performance is good and the band seem to enjoy performing their song.

7. Caroline af Ugglas – Snälla, snälla

Current poll result: 9.6% (5th)

Caroline begins the song arms stretched in the air with a very short white dress. The vocals are ok but the song lacks something, it is pretty monotonous and goes nowhere. Caroline seems upset and angry throughout the performance which adds to the emotion of the song. Tt has a hint of Unsubstantial blues (Hungary 2007).

8. Marie Serneholt – Disconnect me

Current poll result: 10.0% (4th)

Another singer who is no stranger to the world stage, as part of A*Teens Mrie toured the world. Tonight Marie begins her entry in a very sexy white dress. Perfect vocal performance from Marie and a great stage show, four very energetic male dancers add to the power of the song. The famous Eurovision wind machine makes its presence known. Marie seems very happy to perform this song, as do the backing singers. This could also do very well in Moscow.

Results of the first round

The following songs made it to the second round:

• Alcazar – Stay the night
• Emilia – You're my world
• Scotts – Jag tror på oss
• Nina Söderquist – Tick tock
• Caroline af Ugglas – Snälla, snälla

Four songs will now compete in pairs:

• Alcazar vs. Scotts

Alcazar made it to the final!

• Emilia vs. Caroline af Ugglas

Emilia made it to the final!