These cities will host Melodifestivalen 2016
The cities for the 6 episodes of Melodifestivalen 2016 are known!
Six cities are needed as every one of the 4 semifinals (deltävlingar) are held in a different city, as well as the second chance round (Andra Chansen) and the grand final, traditionally taking place in Stockholm.
A debutee when it comes to hosting a Melodifestivalen show this year is Halmstad who gets the honour of hosting Andra Chansen in their Halmstad Arena.
Anette Helenius, the new project leader for Melodifestivalen explains that because Melodifestivalen is both Sweden’s biggest entertainment programme and a huge public event in the cities it visits and that meeting the audience is an important thing for SVT as public service company, so the fact they’re still, after 14 years of MF being a touring event, able to visit new cities is fantastic!
Just like last year the first show will be held in Göteborg and the final, as it has been since 2013, in Friends Arenan in Solna, a little bit outside of Stockholm.
Here is the full list of the cities and dates for Melodifestivalen 2016 (with the years the city hosted a show before in brackets) :
- Deltävling 1: 6 February, Göteborg, Scandinvium (2003–2015)
- Deltävling 2: 13 February, Malmö, Malmö Arena (2004, 2009–2015)
- Deltävling 3: 20 February, Norrköping, Himmelstalundshallen (2002, 2009)
- Deltävling 4: 27 February, Gävle, Gavlerinken Arena (2007)
- Andra chansen: 5 March, Halmstad, Halmstad Arena (debut)
- Final: 12 March, Stockholm, Friends Arena (2002–2015; 2002–2012 in Ericsson Globe (Globen))