Are you ready Globen?

I scribbled down a few notes during the dress rehearsal in Globen last night so everybody will know what to expect tonight...

- The opening is a clip of Petra Mede together with the singers in a board room. Then comes Christer Björkman driving into Globen in a golf cart with Petra as the queen of schlager singing a battle song to the music of Kylie's Your disco needs you. I couldn't hear much of the lyrics except the words Moscow, Hallelujah and Fight. After the golf cart the singers walk together in a troop up on stage. Petra then has a stand-up before the first song. She was witty all the way through the show.

- The audience were supportive of Måns throughout the song but I was getting bored half way through.

- Caroline got a spontanious applaud after the first "Snälla, snälla" and on one more occation. Oh, I am so in love with that song!

- Between song 2 and 3 Petra Mede is at it again. For me one of the funniest jokes of the night. Quite subtile but worked wonders. Exactly my kind of humour.

- Agnes did not get a heavy response before the song but when it explodes into disco after the first few lines people started clapping. The number is well placed after Caroline's naked performance. But what is wrong with her voice? Wonders if she was just saving it for today or if she's not well? She let the backing singers do the heavy work most of the time.

- The audince start clapping to HEAT from the beginning. The lead singer's voice is really very good. I couldn't sit still myself but the staging is boring. Little fires of pyro don't help much but the respons in the hall for 1000 Miles was good.

- A comedy postcard from Shirley Clamp is next. Perfect! Loved it and the line "Ett kycklinglår, åh så gott" will stay in my heart forever.

- What a joyful little number and Emilia is adorable. I couldn't sit still. Cute and with an addition of a pyro in the last chorus.

- Alcazar got a huge response before their presentation and before they even got up on stage. Talk about clapping along for support once the song started. And holy cow how good the number looks! The LED-screens works wonders when you are in the hall. The group saved their voices but still had heaps of energy and danced like crazy. Most applauds afterwards so far in the show.

- Sarah gave me schlagertastic goosebumps as soon as she opened her mouth. Whistles and applauds every now and then from the crowd. Her voice is increadably strong live. Almost lifted the roof. Wow!

- People with seats on the floor stood up throughout EMD:s performace clapping their little hands as hard as they possibly could. And the number IS a crowd-pleaser. The change of clothes was a smart move. Now you can actually see who is singing and who is just dancing. However, I could only hear Danny and not the other two guys. Loud applauds in the end. Me on the other hand just got Martin Stenmarck vibes. I don't believe in this in Moscow. At all.

- Poor Sofia coming after a big favourite. She recieved a few polite applauds in the beginning but they quickly faded away. It's an ok song but it doesn't touch people or speak to them whatsoever. The audience were suspicous and the applauds in the end stopped before Sofia got off stage.

- How sugary and innocent the stage show and Molly looks. The song is nowhere near as good as she is. Shame. But what's with the vibrato? Was something wrong with the microphone? Was she nervous? Or was it there back in the semi final as well?

- What luck Malena has coming straight after a Disney ballad and ending the whole thing. Handclapping as soon as the disco starts pumping in the first verse. Her voice is even stronger than Sarah's. My God, she doesn't even need a microphone to fill Globen. Amazing!

- At this point it felt rather obvious that the winner is going to be Malena. She blew the others away completely. But if people already decided before the show who they would vote for then they will probably stick with that choice as nobody made a fool out of themselves. (Except maybe Mathias in EMD but that's just my personal view...)

- During the reprise of the songs Caroline was gesticulating with great feeling in the greenroom. She seemed to like all the songs and was very supportive. Was fun to see. She reminded me of Siw Malmkvist in 1996 when she was singing and dancing during the songs when she was a presenter, standing on the side of the stage.

- Next is the international jury supposed to give their points while the viewers can still vote. A special guest who has been in this jury will come on stage to give the votes. Who it is is a secret until tonight but it appears to be someone people will recognise. A safe bet is Dana International.

- While SVT collects the voting from the regular juries we get to hear "Tingeling tingeling" on stage with a touch of Russia. Tacky dancers and the lot. I wonder what SVT was thinking? They will get in so much trouble over this when angry Russians take actions. It's not very flattering to the country and full of prejudice.

- Petra Mede is always hilarious in the greenroom chatting to the singers. She was saving the real jokes for today so she was just chit-chatting with them about nothing and still managed to be funny. Looking forward to this part tonight!

- The 11 juries cast their votes before the last reprise of the songs since the viewers can vote a few more minutes. This time Emilia was dancing away to all the songs in the greenroom and the members of HEAT went crazy when La Voix came on.

- While people are voting there's a clip of MF-songs in the last ten years ending with the obligatory performance of last year's winning song. This time MotoBoy interprets Hero. He does a decent job but wasn't as good as when I saw him do Dusty Springfield covers a few months ago.

- The televotes will be in at this point and the result will be ready to announce. During the rehearsal Therese Löf sang Hero as the show ended instead of a mockup winner from the competing songs. Caroline and Emilia were at it again dancing like crazy. On a personal level I would prefer if Caroline sing instead of dance at the end of the program tonight.