Eurovision 2013 - 14/16/18 May 2013

Baku, Azerbaijan - At the EBU Press Conference held this afternoon in Baku, the provisional dates were announced for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The Final of the 58th edition will take place on Saturday the 18th of May, 2013, with the First Semi-Final on Tuesday 14th May, and the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 16th May.


more details ……..

EUROVISION.TV
23-May-2012 @ 13:55

The EBU also rejected the idea of participating countries having mandatory national-finals, so looks like another internal selection next year.

So where in Sweden will it be held?

Globen Stockholm almost certainly.

Interestingly it affords the EBU with the opportunity to downscale without offending a new winner. It'll be fascinating to see how things develop.

Maybe not Globen, but the new arena next to it, where Melodifestivalen is coming from next year.

Is it that certain? The Swedish commentator said that they hadn't decided which city would get to host the event. And it would be somewhat controversial if SVT decided to essentially make Stockholm the permanent location for Swedish Eurovision finals. If there isn't something crucial I'm not aware of, I'd say it seems just as likely that the 2013 event will take place in Gothenburg.

Speculation based on the EBU wanting to downsize the event, however looking at the websites, post posting my earlier thoughts, I'd have to agree now with The Friends Arena suggestion.

This year it did help as the Half time show was a bit meh..

Stockholmsarenan.

It looks brilliant

Here's an interesting article about the upcoming contest, containing an interview with Eva Hamilton, CEO of SVT. (In Swedish - Google Translate it if you want to read all of it.)

Hamilton says there are three possible cities with arenas deemed capable of hosting the event - Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. The article concludes that the Globe is out of consideration, as it will be occupied by the World Ice Hockey Championships.

She also informs us that the company will not hire foreign personnel, as SVT has enough experience within the company to produce this kind of event.

http://www.sydsvenskan.se/kultur-och-nojen/musik/svt-redan-forberedda

That's good news. This year's contest was practically identical in everyway to last year, even down to the one minute sped-up footage of the arena getting built!

With presenters who weren't very good.