Tonight, the 74th edition of the Italian music festival Sanremo will begin, hosted by Amadeus and Eurovision 2023 4th placer, and Sanremo 2023 winner, Marco Mengoni. After Italy gaining another top 5 finish last year, attention turns to this year’s five-night contest to find the successor of ‘Due Vite’ to represent the nation in Malmö.
If you would like to read more about the competing acts and what we can expect from their entries, you can read our previous article here.
Here we let you know what you can expect from night one tonight.
Running order
All 30 acts will be performing their songs for the first time tonight, so we will officially hear Italy’s next Eurovision entry before tomorrow… without knowing which song it will be yet of course. Notably there are past Eurovision competitors in the lineup. Mahmood competed twice, finishing 2nd with ‘Soldi’ in 2019, and 6th alongside Blanco with ‘Brividi’ in 2022, Diodato represented Italy (or rather would have) with ‘Fai rumore’ in the cancelled contest of 2020, Il Volo placed 3rd in 2015 with ‘Grande amore’, Ricchi e Poveri competed in 1978 and placed 12th with ‘Questo amore’, and Emma participated in 2014 with ‘La mia città ’ placing 21st.
- Clara – ‘Diamanti grezzi’ (Raw diamonds)
- Sangiovanni – ‘Finiscimi’ (End me)
- Fiorella Mannoia – ‘Mariposa’ (Butterfly)
- La Sad – ‘Autodistruttivo’ (Self-destructive)
- Irama – ‘Tu no’ (Not you)
- Ghali – ‘Casa mia’ (My home)
- Negramaro – ‘Ricominciamo tutto’ (Let’s restart it all again)
- Annalisa – ‘Sinceramente’ (Sincerely)
- Mahmood – ‘Tuta gold’ (Golden tracksuit)
- Diodato – ‘Ti muovi’ (You move)
- Loredana Bertè – ‘Pazza’ (Crazy)
- Geolier – ‘I p’ me, tu p’ te’ (Me for you, you for me)
- Alessandra Amoroso – ‘Fino a qui’ (Until now)
- The Kolors – ‘Un ragazzo una ragazza’ (A boy, a girl)
- Angelina Mango – ‘La noia’ (The boredom)
- Il Volo – ‘Capolavoro’ (Masterpiece)
- BigMama – ‘La rabbia non ti basta’ (Rage is not enough for you)
- Ricchi e Poveri – ‘Ma non tutta la vita’ (But not the whole life)
- Emma – ‘Apnea’ (Apnoea)
- Renga e Nek – ‘Pazzo di te’ (Crazy for you)
- Mr. Rain – ‘Due altalene’ (Two swings)
- Bnkr44 – ‘Governo punk’ (Punk goverment)
- Gazzelle – ‘Tutto qui’ (That’s all)
- Dargen D’Amico – ‘Onda alta’ (High wave)
- Rose Villain – ‘Click Boom!’
- Santi Francesi – ‘L’amore in bocca’ (Love in the mouth)
- Fred De Palma – ‘Il cielo non ci vuole’ (The sky doesn’t want us)
- Maninni – ‘Spettacolare’ (Spectacular)
- Alfa – ‘Vai!’ (Go!)
- Il Tre – ‘Fragili’ (Fragile)
Special guests
Co-host and reigning winner Marco Mengoni will perform his Sanremo and Eurovision 2023 entry ‘Due Vite’, and he will also have other performances throughout the show. There also be a tribute to Toto Cutugno, winner of Eurovision 1990 with ‘Insieme: 1992’, who unfortunately passed away last year. In a link to the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, we will see Tedua perform, and from the Suzuki Stage in Piazza Colombo we will see Lazza, who placed 2nd in Sanremo last year with ‘Cenere’. Fiorello, Fabrizio Biggio, and Alessia Marcuzzi will also appear in connection from the after-show Viva Rai2’s glass box.
Voting
A jury comprising of journalists and jurors from press (newspapers/magazines), TV, and web, will vote on the performances. A full top 30 will be drawn up, but here is where it gets interesting. Unlike previous years, we will NOT see the full ranking until the final night. Instead, we will see an initial top five, as the podium stands, before we head into night two.
There we have it! The first night of Sanremo can be watched on Rai 1, or Rai Play (which will be un-geoblocked for the show during the week) from 20:40 CET. The show is scheduled to end at 1:30 CET, however it has been said in this morning’s press conference that 2:00 CET is a more accurate time. It will be followed by aftershow Viva Rai2 if you are craving more. The songs will be released on streaming services immediately after the show.
Who are you most excited to see? Who do you think will have the best song? Who do you think will be a dark horse? Let us know!
