Last night the esctoday.com team arrived in Örnsköldsvik after a 7 hour long drive from Stockholm. We were met by a winter landscape and a city in a Melodifestivalen mode. We will hear eight new songs this week and some strong names will be on stage this Saturday.

The rehearsals at Swedbank Arena yesterday went very well even though almost all the artists heldback a bit on their performances since they are afraid of catching a cold, they all remember Regina Lund from last weekwho's performance was hamperedher cold.

First out on stage yesterday was Måns Zelmerlöf with his song Cara Mia, an uptempo disco song. Måns was a bit nervous on stage but this will probably get better after a couple of more rehersals. After this action loaded opening song it was time for the girlsfrom MissMatch and their entry Drop Dead. This a rock song and the girls did their best to look like their favourite group, Tatu. The performance was good and they do perform a good tough rock song.

Third song is from Magnus Carlsson and Live forever. Almost all the press and people around Magnus think that this is the best song he has ever performed in Melodifestivalen. It's a strong uptempo entry where he can use his strong voice to its maximum potential. He is considered to be one of the favourites to take one of tickets to Globen on Saturday.

Next it was tIme for some ethnic music with the song Mani armani taha performed by the group Sheida. This is a very special song and we haven't heard anything like this in Melodifestivalen before. Sheida did an ok performance and it will be very exciting to see how this act will be judged by the people on Saturday. It could be a dark horse for Saturday night.

Then time for some action again with The Arrival performed by The Attic feat. Therese. This is a very modern uptempo dance song and the performance wasstrong. At the opening party last night Therese told esctoday.com that she thought she looked a bit strange on stage.

Time for this week's wildcard Sebastian and his song When the night comes falling. Sebastian was runner up in Pop Idol 2005 and has been working very hard on his career since then. The song is a rock pop anthem. He has a good voice and good song.

The only ballad in this heat is called För att du finns performed by Sonja Aldén who sang Etymon in last year's Melodifestivalen. This is a big strong ballad and Sonja is doing a very good performance and she has been raised as one the favourites by the bookies. Last song on Saturday will be Jag måste kyssa dig (I have to kiss you) byfans favourite Nanne Grönvall.She delivered the strongest performance of all artists during Thursday's rehersals.

Tomorrow, we will discover which two acts from arguably the toughest of all the Swedish semi finals will progress to the final at the Globen. After Carola finished in 5th place in Athens, the winner of Melodifestivalen will go directly to the Eurovision Song Contest final on May 12th.