Text and photo: Mattias O.
The audience was bravely awaiting Schlager Night to start and after an opening big screen drama all about how Schlagerfeber came to produce the evenings show, the hosts finally entered the stage.
There to launch us into the first part of the evening's show was Shirley Clamp who was met with a big hand from the audience. She quickly changed from her cashiers uniform into her well-known turquoise outfit. She performed her big hit Min Kärlek. She was followed by:
Magnus Carlsson was there to perform a medley of not only his own songs, but also Barbado's and Alcazar's previous entries in the Song Contest. When Shirley Clamp was delayed for her second act, a little extra time was given for Magnus to sing his latest single, This Is Disco. Shirley continued with her Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus.
Jean & Jaques pantomimed Linda Bengtzings Hur svårt kan det va after which our hosts sang Starpilots 1000 Miles. Stars one after another ... Now it was time for Sarah Dawn Finer to perform her songs I Remember Love and Moving On. The crowd met her with screaming ovations.
Schlagerfeber got on again and showed us their diversity when doing the mega medley containing BWO's You're Not Alone, Roger Pontare's När vindarna viskar mitt namn, Friends' Lyssna till ditt hjärta, Afrodite's Never Let It Go, Fame's Give Me Your Love, Lena's Det gör ont, Martin's Las Vegas, Carola's I evighet and The Ark's I Am Not The Worrying Kind.
The first international star of the evening was Maria Haukaas to sing her Hold On Be Strong and following her was Anna Sahlene who all dressed in black sung This Woman.
The crowd went wild when ESC-winner Charlotte Perrelli got on to perform her Take Me To Your Heaven, which ended the first half of the show.
The second part was initiated by Alcazar doing Stay The Night.
Shirley came back on, now in a black hat and a lot of strong opinions. Then it was Velvet's turn to do her Deja Vú and The Queen.
Lili and Susie performed their classic songs Oh Mama, Boyfriend, Okey Okey and What's The Colour Of Love and then Schlagerfeber's next medley with Emilias You're My World, Marie's Disconnect Me, EMD's Baby Goodbye, Måns' Hope And Glory and Agnes Love Love Love.
Maria Haukaas and Anna Sahlene sung Killing Me Tenderly and were followed by Schlagerfeber's version of Sofie's Alla. Lili & Susie came on again to sing Gimme Gimme and Shirley her Att älska dig.
Schlagerfeber remenisced over ESC history with Sandra Kim's J'aime la vie, Johnny Logan's Hold me now och Sertab's Every way that I can.
Yohanna, runner up in this year's ESC from Iceland sung her song Is It True and Charlotte Perrelli her Hero. And finally - what many had been waiting for - Alexander Rybak with his ESC winning song Fairytale.
There to round things off where Diamond Dogs that took on the Song Contest and ESC in their own fashion ...