Late on Tuesday afternoon, Taylor Swift revealed new international dates for The Eras Tour. As eagle-eyed Eurovision fans noticed, she’ll be making a stop in Stockholm’s Friends Arena on Friday May 17th.
Friends, which has hosted the Melodifestivalen final since 2013, is an incredible space. It can host up to 65,000 people for concerts. And it’s no surprise that it’s been a huge fan favourite to host Eurovision 2024. But Taylor’s concert seems to put the kibosh on that. Host broadcasters typically want the venue for four to six weeks before the event (for set up) and for a week afterwards to de-construct the space.
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So if not Friends, then where?
Well, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter has obtained Stockholm’s host city bid. According to DN the city plans to build a temporary arena in Frihamnen, a cruise port, with room for 14,700 people. Frihamnen is located in central Stockholm and is also very close to SVT´s headquarter.
The idea is that Frihamnen will be the centerpiece of the entire arrangement and the arena will be retained for some time afterwards for other events.
Both Visit Sweden and the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce are said to be supportive of the bid.
The Swedish news article points out what many host cities have learned in recent years: The demands of Eurovision — and the required load-in time — make it difficult to find a venue that is available.
“Stockholm seeks to raise ambitions by showing a sustainable and flexible concept — a mobile arena.”
Do you like the idea of a temporary venue in Stockholm? Would you prefer to be in Malmö? Let us know down below
Its Malmö 2024 Malmö will host the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in May 2024
Wiwibloggs should contact Netta and ask her for prediction XD
Out of all countries, you’d think everything would go smoothly with the country that has a massive tour as a selection and wins so often.
Given the issues and requirements to have a strong roof structure to hold rigging and stage elements I would imagine a temporary arena would need some hefty structural work to comply with this.
I could imagine a temporary Abba Voyage show being hosted in such a venue post ESC
ABBA Voyage Show cost 168€ (140£ /175$) million and third of that went to build the venue, and that venue having around 3k capacity means we’d need three times larger one and it would have to be built within the next 10 to 11 months, while ABBA Voyage Show had six years to plan and build. Then we’d need press centre too, so the costs would be massive!
Source on the the ABBA Voyage Show budget: https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/05/27/abba-and-the-rise-of-the-work-from-home-rock-star
I will be furious if Stockholm can’t host just because the football teams and Taylor Swift’s concert organizers are too stubborn to temporarily move out of the stadium.
Taylor Swift is already doing The Eras Tour, so I think her team booked Friends Arena long ago. Football teams are stubborn like in 2013 and 2015, but we can’t blame all football clubs since in 2011 the football club that plays in Dusseldorf arena said they’d be willing to play elsewhere so that Eurovision can be hosted in Germany, which was very nice of them.
I just don’t know why Swedish footballers seem to hate Eurovision though?
wah
Welp, Stockholm’s out
Tampere would’ve been a great host (and I think it’ll be so eventually), but EBU preferred Sweden to win so they could possibly host ESC in a tent wtf
But if Sweden’s ultimately doing that, at least give Gothenburg the chance to host smh
Thanks Captain Ovious . We know this already , Sweden is known to bribe and rig things their way. Especially when they basically own the contest now. The Swedish Lovers EBU will always pick this country over the rest because of favoritism and bribery/blackmailing.
Ridiculous claim… the hurt attitude needs to stop
bribe??? its been more than a month calm down.
“OVIOUS” do you mean Obvious…oh dear, for someone who tried to “educate” another, it looks like you should have stayed in school
I see Malmö hosting…
i will not see, as i’m not gonna watch this contest anymore, until it finally changes back to the glory days with the own language rule
Get a life, won’t you. Zuurpruim.
Bye, you will not be missed! 😀
this isn’t an airport, there is no need to announce your departure
Using an existing venue is far more sustainable than building a new one…
The Tele2 arena in Stockholm has a retractable roof, it’s the second-biggest stadium in Sweden. It’s probably the most realistic choice.
Düsseldorf’s edition was held in a football stadium with a temproary roof and it looked amazing (and the tickets were rather cheap). Aren’t there any stadiums close-by?
I honestly don’t think this is a bad idea to make a temporary arena. Denmark did something similar in 2014 and that had one of the best stages/ productions ever. I love friends arena but at least Frihamnen is in central Stockholm so you would be closer to more hotels, bars and restaurants etc all within walking distance. The euro village could be close to it too. I think Sweden know what they are doing and they will put on a great show wherever it is held.
The difference is that B&W Hallerne was an actual industrial building that just needed renovations such as pillars away from blocking the view and so on, and due to EU directives those had to be taken away, after the contest since it was a privately owned property. In short: Public funds aren’t allowed to be used on privately owned facilities.
Main concern around this years idea is, that we have nothing, first they’d have to clear out the area and then build everything. This would cost a lot, since we’d need that press centre too.
Don’t forget the broadcaster SVT needs to cut on expenses for next year. So they need to have a smaller budget. That is also why they speak of Stockholm. Because it’s closer to the SVT staff, most sound and lighting engineers etc
That would make sense. Saves money on travel and hotel expenses when you can just do it in your home city.
SVT has large regional offices in Göteborg and Malmö.
I’m rooting for Örnsköldsvik with 33 000 inhabitants! 🙂
Me too.
Are you serious? Where do you think fans can stay? Taxi’s? Flight tickets?
Worst scenario ever!!
It’s not 1993 and Millstreet anymore.
Go go Gothenburg! Or…at least a place we haven’t been to!
EBU: Lets rig it for Sweden, they are marvelous! *blinks with love eyes
Sweden/Stockholm: Lets hold it in a tent!
Or Sweden just won because Loreen is amazing
Nice joke.
Loreen the copy and paste worsely?
Worsely? Nice English.
I’m talking theorically here, but shows like Eurovision and Big Name Artists like TS are talked and preplanned way before the announcement, the talks between TS’s team and the management of the Friends Arena might have been going before Loreen won, so it makes me think two things. 1- There’s internal intel that ESC 2024 is definitely going to be on the 11th of May, and, with TS’s plans in hand, it’s feasible to dismantle ESC’s stage and build TS’s in a week. With her stage plans in hand, it might be even possible to design the ESC 24 in… Read more »
Stockholm is only Sweden huh? If they are having trouble finding a venue for eurovision in a timely manner, maybe it’s time to let another city have a chance to host.
From what I understand finding a venue in Gothenburg will be tough and the central and local government are unenthusiastic about Malmo because it would allow Copenhagen to free ride off the benefits of ESC hosting while Sweden and Malmo foot the bill for what surrounds the event.
Strange argument Rotterdam is relatively close to Belgium, but it didn’t stop the Netherlands to organise Eurovision over there…
Everything in The Netherlands is close to Belgium, it’s not like they had a choice 😀
It’s Örnskvikvik’s (?) time to shine!!
One problem I see is that it’s far away from an international airport (ESC states that the host city needs to be close to an international airport)
We’re a bit over a month from Sweden’s win and this whole things seems already so messy! I mean no suitable venues, no available venues, third time SVT tries to get Tele2 or Friends Arena and gets turned down?
All of this coming from a country, that is explained to be some sort of prime example of Eurovision?
Is it the arena or the show that makes the ESC?
If Stockholm do not work there are other cities .
It was SVT who rejected Tele2 Arena in 2016. Because they were afraid it would be impossible to sell 30.000 tickets for each of the semifinals. A half empty arena look very bad on TV.
Then they need to lower their greed. In case you notice during your research that only 1/3 of the seats in the 30K seat venue will be filled at the price of 200€ per seat, you go and research the venue at a lowered price. Of course, if you’re entitled to get 30K seats sold out at 200€ with no deviations, no wonder it’s going to be hard to find that many people ready to pay 200€ per single show + flight tickets + registered baggage + overpriced hotels + food and drinks for a week + outgoings in the… Read more »
Tele2 Arena actually was SVT’s main choice in 2016.
“SVT announced on 24 May 2015 that Tele2 Arena was their first choice venue for the contest. However, it was not possible to use the venue due to the 4–6 week organisation requirement, which would impact on the pre-scheduled home games of Hammarby Fotboll.”
Whats messy. .? Eurovision requires 5-7 weeks of reservation to prepare for the event, that area of the temporary venue is great and would make things go smoothly.
What are you trying to say with that last sentence? ?
Sweden is often praised on their skills on managing events, such as Eurovision to go smoothly. They were so good that the 2017 contest had some of the previous years team with them, making the contest happen after Jamala’s win. Even the Executive producer (Martin Österdahl) from 2013 and 2016 is currently Executive supervisor of Eurovision. Every year Sweden gets praised on holding a massive national selection Melodifestivalen, so much that it is told to be even bigger than Eurovision. Surely after all that hard work, this type of scrambling on building a tent on a shipyard is a big… Read more »
I don’t understand the outrage. If we use the Dutch host city bid process for comparison, Amsterdam didn’t even bid to host Eurovision 2020 (and what would inadvertently become Eurovision 2021), Utrecht didn’t really want it, and The Hague didn’t even have a suitable venue. The final two cities left bidding were Rotterdam and Maastricht (and it was down to the wire, if I remember correctly). Maybe it’s a sign of the times because I think we’re moving towards host cities that will really embrace the contest, even if they don’t necessarily have the best infrastructure in the host country… Read more »
Netherland hosting Eurovision in 1980 and then next
2020(cancelled) to 2021 would mean a gap of 40-41 years, so hosting was bit of a shock of a moment for them.Sweden’s last hosting is from 2016 and now 2024, which would mean a gap of 8 years. Not forgetting of course that they’ve consistently been considered as a winning candidate and hosting in 1992, 2000 and 2013 recently.
So you’d expect them to be quite well prepared for these situations, right?
Amsterdam knew in advance there wasn’t a venue available, that’s why they left it to others.
This is not just the case in sweden, the Netherlands couldn’t organise Eurovision in Amsterdam because there wasn’t a venue available, they asked other cities to make aproposal, fair enough
It could still be held in the Friends Arena (if they hold it on the 7th, 9th and 11th May). Afterwards, they could quickly disassemble the stage for TS’s concert a week later.
If not, then the Tele2 Arena. I don’t want to go to dreary Malmö
Neither of them are part of Stockholm’s bid
Friends Arena 25th of May , problem solved
Yes because stage construction and rehearsals are lightning fast!
you know that setting up the stage takes around one month, right…?
Tbh I don’t hate Malmo hosting. It would be so great to see it experiencing glow-up in production compared to 2013.
No way EBU would accept building temporary arena over ready arena. Tele 2 can’t be used because football teams can’t lose both Friends and Tele 2. At this point fans better accept that Malmo is going to host ESC 2024.
They accepted it for Copenhagen
So choose May 11th. Or another city.
This is a non issue really. Although a temporary arena sounds intruging enough and actually could work
You’re making a sensation as if the dates for Eurovision 2024 were confirmed.
Don’t know what you mean by that. It is a given that eurovision will be held in may like every other year and they’ll need a venue up to 6 weeks before eurovision for preparation.
For all we know publicly, dates for the Eurovision 2024 were not confirmed yet. While Tay’s concert is indeed scheduled for May 17 at Friends Arena, it does not mean the Eurovision could not happen a week before. And while I’m not implying wiwi is unaware of this fact, spreading fans’ hypotheses as per the news is a choice.
Unlikely because it needs one week after the contest to de- construct. That would leave one day to rig for Taylor
I personally think a 65,000 seat stadium is insane for a televised event like Eurovision. It’s hard enough for people in recent arenas to see what is happening onstage why would you want to see Eurovision artists looking like ants. You won’t be able to fill a venue of that size for 2 semis and all the dress rehearsals. The jury shows will be half empty. Sweden needs to pick a city that will embrace Eurovision like Liverpool did with a total takeover of the city and Stockholm won’t care as much as other cities.
They wouldn’t use that capacity: in 2011 Dusseldorf hosted in a big stadium, but at the end there were between 27.000 and 32.000 in the arena (that can host more people). So, normally they cut the capacity + you add the stage so at the end you lose around 30% of seats in the arena.
Jury shows in 2011 didn’t have any attendees
I think it would be cool if the small city Örnsköldsvik would be the host city!
It’s Malmo then.
It looks more and and more like we are going to Malmö in 2024. It is the only possibility. Scandinavium in Göteborg is unsuitabel.
Welcome to Malmö!
Last time I checked it still hasn’t been chosen between 11 and 18 for the final. So why couldn’t it be 11? Or you know, different city.
Because they need 1 week after the contest to full de-construct and clear it out and Taylors concert is 6 days after the contest so there would be overlap in taking down the stage etc and setting up for Taylor
Then maybe Taylor can perform on the Eurovision stage lol. jk
Like I said – Eurovision can be elsewhere (Malmö? That would be nice)
Noooo this is extremely upsetting!!!!!!! Five it to Finland then!
Damn it Taylor! Choose Tele2, better sound in there…
Sweden wins for the 7th time and gets a two time winner, 50 years from ABBA’s win and we have to celebrate it on a shipyard where there would be some sort of plastic tent because football clubs won’t move, Taylor Swift performs on the other venue and SVT hates other cities for some reason?
This is Sweden’s 3rd time hosting in 12 years and this is the the masterplan?
That is typical Swedish politics right there, only Stockholm oriented, nothing else in the country matters
I didn’t expect Sweden to be that centralized, reminds me of my country in a bad way. Not to mention that Stockholmians are as annoying and woke as chilangos.
Also, why do football teams are that important? I don’t think they fill all of their matches nowadays either
Since Malmö in 2013 lost a lot of money due to people staying in Copenhagen and Gothenburgs arena has been shut down many years ago, it was obviously Stockholm to be picked. Given the fact that Aviici Arena will be under construction in 2024, we were looking at Friends Arena or Tele 2. Those decisions are based on arena capacity because we are all sick and tired of Eurovision being held in small exhibition centers and are somewhat glad that a country finally won, whose national selection arena was always bigger than most Eurovision arenas of the past 10 years.… Read more »
An arena in plastic for an event in plastic, let’s go it’s perfect.
Life in plastic its fantastic!
Just give it to Gothenburg and be done with it.
Suggesting to build a temporary arena while you already have plenty of ready to use arenas sounds beyond wild. Events can be moved, it’s much easier than constructing and the deconstructing a 15K capacity building.
If they are going to build a temporary arena why can’t they do that in Gothenburg instead ?
Yeah no, Stockholm hosted Eurovision last time and has hosted twice in the past 25 years. If the two main arenas in Stockholm aren’t available it’s time to give the other two cities a chance, especially Gothenburg which hasn’t hosted in almost 40 years and is Sweden’s second largest city.
No! We want big Eurovision! It’s not ok the national final of Sweden to be bigger than the actual ESC
Who is we? I want the Eurovision that looks the best on tv as an Australian- so I’m very pro-Malmö
Eurovision is bigger than Taylor Swift. Think she might get bumped if they really want Stockholm
I really don’t think that’s going to happen.
Argument could definitely be made that Taylor would bring in more money than Eurovision
That would make Swifties seethe in rage, but that’s pretty unlikely to happen
Not Table Swift I don’t know of any Swedish that really listens to this kinds of music but ok.. Stockholm clearly does Not want this hosting and will make excuses Like Always … I do Not think that Swedish Broadcasting is suitable to be a Host currantly due to these constant Corruption practices and Rigging.
Lol not really. A lot of these fans are actually bot accounts and Payola . Her managers create a lot of the hype by paying for these bots to stream
Are you for real? I know Bl*nka stans are delusional but this is a whole new level to think Taylor Swift has no fans in Sweden, of all places.
nope, not delusional myself, and i kinda knew Blanka was gonna do well with Solo, she really proved her haters wrong, she isn’t a spoiled rich girl who gets everything on a silver plate, she really worked hard to pull off the result she got, and vocally she sounds a lot better now too compared to in the NF, and i want more from Blanka at ESC in a few years from now
she did well because she acknowledged a meme + diaspora
i used to, am a fan of 1989 but more recently i prefer listening to others, am more of a BTS fan now, as well as Coldplay, Rihanna, Selena Gomez
basically my music taste is very diverse, i like a lot of genres, apart from rap
Ok so Bejba = Anonymous91
As if .
Do you have evidence that Sweden rigged anything?
How I expected it. You have no evidence and dislike my comment instead.
Childish
So basically they are pulling a Copenhagen 2014 and building a temporary arena….it remains to be seen if it’s a success… because it was a nightmare for Denmark back in 2014!
Let’s hope it’s something revolutionary and out of the box!
I’d still prefer Tele2 and Friends Arena because of their sizes but I’m curious about this mobile arena.
Go Stockholm!
Why was it a nightmare?
Well difference is SVT likes to do things on a reasonable budget (Copenhagen was not) and Denmark didn’t really have many options for 2014 whereas Malmo and Gothenburg are perfect
Nightmare? It was one of the best produced ESC shows and the arena looked great on tv. Nobody who is watching cares if Eurovision is in a shipyard, a village or in some fancy arena.
Yes but DR also went over budget. And had to scrap several segments
This led to DR getting massive debts, all for a concert basically.
I wonder if DR is still in financial trouble even almost a decade later after their hosting. It might explain why they’re in a eurovision slump lately.
Yes I heard the same thing too