Allsång 2008: what's gone wrong?

According to this week's Swedish press, "Allsång på Skansen" is going through a crisis, and this week's show had the lowest viewing figures since 1996.

Why? Well, IMHO, this summer's series started quite well but over the last couple of weeks the line-up has been below-par to say the least, and if Balkan party band Andra Generationen of "Kebabpizza" fame was the best they could get to headline the show this week, then the mighty have indeed fallen.

Don't even start me on that Harrysson bloke or Vocal Six, who have already committed a crime in my book for singing acappella which I can’t stand anyway, and I thought their Tom Jones medley was unspeakably bad.

Of course if truth be told I only watch Allsång for the current/recent pop stuff anyway, and therefore I was very keen to see Adam Tensta. He did "My Cool" which at least woke up the crowd after a first twenty minutes which quite frankly would have sent anyone to sleep.

Likewise Veronica Maggio (pictured above, photo courtesy of Aftonbladet) was also a welcome sight, and performed "Måndagsbarn" very well even if at times she looked a little uncomfortable and out of place in this particular environment.

At the end of the day Allsång is a variety show, but I've felt on occasions during this series that the 'modern' element - the current/recent pop hits, haven't always fitted in well with the more old-fashioned parts of the show - the uniquely Swedish cosy little singalongs and comedy interludes.. Host Anders Lundin is still very good though, and it's not his fault if he's stuck with a substandard line-up of guests.

When it’s on form, Allsång is great: but last week and this week's shows were very poor. Hopefully the show will redeem itself in its final two weeks, and at least we have BWO to look forward to on Tuesday.