Swedish stage show adapts to the cameras

Just as in the first rehearsal, Anna Bergendahl began the song on Friday alone on stage with an acoustic guitar. The guitar is then removed outside of the picture, and soon afterwards a choir of five backing singers becomes visible on a ramp in the back of the stage. For this second part of the performance, a wind machine sets in, as is common for Scandinavian entries. For the peak of the song, the backdrop changes from red to white.

The Swedish delegation has rented premises in Oslo to rehearse the choreography of the entry on their own. The usual procedure of the Eurovision Song Contest is to do the organised rehearsals in the arena. However, the Swedes rehearsed on their own, adjusting the choreography after the camera production provided to them. Therefore, the discussions with the production team on Friday were kept to a minimum.

The changes discussed at this point includes subtle things like the level of the in-ear sound of Anna. Furthermore, the backing singers start the performance backstage, before entering for the second part of the song. After the first rehearsal, they discovered that they stood slightly visible, dressed in white clothes, in a small opening of the backdrop. Therefore, they removed their backstage position a few metres for Friday's second rehearsal. This is the kind of small adjustments that every delegation undertakes for the second round of rehearsing.

The Swedish Eurovision Song Contest entry is kept similar to the one used in the national selections Melodifestivalen, meaning that Anna Bergendahl has practised her performance since January. This came across to many fans after her first rehearsal. After her completion of this, many fans adjusted their expectations for the result for Sweden in the contest, and after rehearsing for the second time on Friday, Anna received a big round of applause from the fans and journalists attending the rehearsal.

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"Exactly where we want to be"

Entering the press conference later in the evening, Anna admitted that she had forgot her guitar at home for the first rehearsal. She said that this threw her off a bit for that day. However, the Swedish Head of Delegation Christer Björkman confessed that the team was actually the ones responsible for forgetting the guitar, not Anna. Christer, himself representing Sweden in 1992, now with experience from almost 20 Eurovision Song Contests, went on to explain why the Swedish team are pleased at this point.

"We are exactly where we want to be. We have only a few adjustments now, so we left the viewing room very happy today. The host broadcaster NRK has been very professional," he said.

The Swedish delegation told that they have spent their days in Oslo visiting different attractions. They have attended the Swedish embassy on a reception as well as being on a boat trip together with the Norwegian delegation. Their only remark at this point was that the unusually warm weather in Oslo is better than expected, which means that many of the clothes that they brought from Sweden are useless.

At the press conference, Anna Bergendahl was also asked about her shoes. The red basketball shoes have become a trademark for her in Sweden, and she told the assembly that they originally belonged to her sister, who wore them to a music festival. This made them quite worn and dirty, which created a look for shoes that appealed to Anna.

"And you will wear them in the in the Final?" the journalist asked.

"In the Semi-Final, yes," Anna corrected, humbly.

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