On Friday night in the Globen Arena in Stockholm, the ten finalists in this year's “Melodifestivalen 2005” had an opportunity to rehearse in front of a near capacity audience of around 13,000, as they prepared for tonight's final, and the chance to represent Sweden in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Esctoday.com was present to guage the reactions to the songs, and to provide a guide as to what you can expect to see in this evening's programme.

The show will open with presenter Jill Johnson, who sung the 1998 entry for Sweden, Kärleken är, performing a song that appears to be celebrating Swedish culture, and she is joined on stage towards the end of the song by co-presenter Mark Levengood (who previously compered “Melodifestivalen” in 2003), and an ensemble of adults and children, dressed in national costumes (vikings, skiers etc). Though this may possibly change before tonight's final transmission.

After the introductions, it is onto the presentation of the ten competing songs. Each act will be introduced by a short film of the composers, several of which are done with a sense of Swedish humour.

Each act was strongly supported in the arena last night. In the opinion of the editors present, the acts that received the greatest amount of applause and support were Alcazar, Nanne Grönvall, Shirley Clamp and Martin Stenmarck. Others also very well received were Linda Bentzing and Caroline Wennergren. It is also worth commenting that several acts use the same backing singers–necessitating some rapid costume changes required by a couple of them throughout the evening.

Following the final song, the first interval will feature the drag artists After Dark, impersonating Carola, Lena Philipsson, Charlotte Nilsson, Herrey's and ABBA. It's a highly entertaining and funny routine, including some highly accurate costumes…except for an amusing addition to the Herrey's outfits!

The real Carola is due to be the next performer on stage, however she was not present at last night's rehearsal.

Then it will be onto the first stage of the voting, which is the juries, located in eleven districts throughout Sweden. They will be awarding points to their top seven songs, with 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and finally 12 points. Watch out for some familiar faces amongst the spokespersons, including Roger Pontare who represented Sweden in 1994 (with Marie Bergman) and in 2000. Ulf Elfving, who presented “Melodifestivalen” between 1977 and 1979, and Kattis Ahlström who presented “Melodifestivalen 1994” and was co-presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.

At this half way stage of the voting, there will be a second interval, while the Swedish public continue to televote for their favourite song. This interval starts with a short flashback sequence from previous “Melodifestivalen” performances, before Jill takes to the stage to perform a 'red neck girl' type song, watch out for Mark joining in the backing group, complete with false wig!

Then it is the turn of last year's winner Lena Philipsson performing a medley of her entries in the Swedish finals, concluding with last year's 6th place Eurovision Song Contest entry Det gör ont. If last night is anything to go by, she should receive a rapturous reception as she takes her performance out amongst the audience in the arena.

Then the tension will be high throughout Sweden, as the results of the televoting are revealed. The points will be for the top seven songs, starting with 11 points, then 22, 44, 66, 88, 110 and finally, what could well be the decisive 132 points for the number one song from the public.

The show will conclude with the presentations to the victorious artists and songwriters, and the traditional reprise of the song that will go onto represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest final on the 21st May in Kiev.

Tonight's “Melodifestivalen 2005” will commence at 20.00 CET and can be followed live on SVT1 and via the internet.

Photo gallery

Click here to check out the pictures from the dress rehearsal