Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

The fourth night takes a break from the competition as finally (FINALLY!!!) tonight's performances and results has no weight in the final result whatsoever. If not psychological though. The 29 artists have chosen a cover to do, invited guest acts to do it with - or paired up with another artists from this year! Nice touch! In the end of the night tonight's winner will be awarded separately. Tonight's co-hosts are Eurovision and Sanremo double winner and one of last year's most successful Italian artists globally: Mahmood. He is joined by another Sardinian or comedian, actress and presenter Geppy Cucciari. Read more here   It is said Mahmood will give us a show worth of a Super Bowl half time show.... I don't doubt it! Tonight's guest act is Pop duo Benji & Fede.  Add Roberto Benigni, hopefully he's not doing a half an hour long monologue again..... Read more here Rose Villain / Chiello - Fiori rosa fiori di pesco Enter co-co Mahmood Modà / Francesco Reng...

  Last nights highly enjoyable night with generally pretty good covers, some great moments (Angelina Mango, Mahmood, Alfa. Mr.Rain, Ricchi e Poveri etc) ended with audience in Teatro Ariston booing and whistling in disapprove when Geolier was revealed as the winner of the evening. A common Eurovision fan watching might wonder why and what happened? He's Napolitan and the music industry in Naples is its own empire, not mixing that much with the general Italian music scene. They have their own musical heritage, language even. They have superstars who aren't big outside Naples and its region. Geolier is a bit of a cross over artist like Gigi D'Alessio and late Pino Daniele. Then again, Napolitans tend to vote - or so it is accused - a Napoletan artist no matter what. A bit like in the 1980's/90's in Finland gypsies voted gypsy artists to victory in several singing competitions. Sometimes with merit, sometimes not. The same is happening now in Sanremo it seems. Televote...

Tonight's the night when the 73rd Sanremo festival comes to an end. Eurovision veteran Marco Mengoni is the one to beat, mostly by Ultimo or Lazza most likely and even if his victory on paper seems already clear it is not. The rules are different this year: the top-5 of all these five night's votings (tonight 100% televote) will reach the super final, be re-performed, all votes zeroed and re-voted (by the threesome televote, media and demoscopic). That last round could be crucial. Tonight's co-hostess with Amadeus and Gianni Morandi is Chiara Ferragni. The musical guests are Depeche Mode, Gino Paol (88) and Ornella Vanoni (88), this year Amadeus has really honored the old legends, and yes, they all are still active more or less! Salmo and Achille Lauro will join in from the outdoor stage and the cruise ship. President of Ukraine, Volodymor Zelenskiy has sent a message that will be read by Amadeus. A long stream of awards will be handed out and announced tonight, not only th...

After three nights of proper voting tonight's the night I have never understood. I mean, they sing covers with guest stars and the votes and ranking effect the final results! Wtf?! Why??? Wasn't it enough just to hand a trophy to whoever wins tonight and get over with it. And talking about covers, I don't also get how some are allowed to sing their own songs, or even worse: medley of their own hits as a cover?! This night is total madness and makes no sense at all..... It should only make an entertaining evening to relax before tomorrow's final and pressure . Rant over. And yes, the success continues: 57,6% share and an average of 9.240.000 viewers. The third night is usually the lowest as all the songs have been already heard. In these three days the Rai Sanremo streaming has increased 54% compared to last year with over 13,7 million views on demand.  Tonight's co-hostess is Chiara Francini. The guest is Euroviison veteran Peppino Di Capri, who will receive his liv...

Amadeus keeps delivering: Last night's share was 54,1% aka 9,36 million viewers and yes, again the best showing for the third night since 1997! Also Mahmood & Blanco keep brreaking records and took over again the first place in the ranking when the scores from the first three nights were combined dropping Elisa to the second place. Drusilla Foer was divine. Cesare Cremonini fantastic! His show made me once again think the Ariston's stage is heavily underused for staging when the competiiton is on. Laura Pausini's performance was great, Cremonini's stunning with the scenography and even pyros! Why don't they use it more for the artists, too?  That Cremonini made me think I must re-listen his catalogue as I have a bit forgotten about him, and also reminded me about the fact a long, long time ago when I was doing night portier in a three star hotel in Rome. A group of five teenagers showed up and wanted the cheapest room so they could just rest a bit and hang aroun...

Tonight's main event is the Newcomers final. Besides that all 26 Big artists will perform again and as guest we have Eurovision veterans Mahmood and Emma Marrone aka the highest and lowest placed Italian acts since their return to Eurovision in 2011. And as it seems, Ermal Meta is strongly heading to another victory as he has topped every partial voting so far. Add Alessandra Amoroso, Beatrice Venezi, Barbara Palombelli, Matilde Giodi. Tonight also the first awards are handed out: Premio Sala stampa Wed Lucio Dalla and Premio della Critica Mia Martini. Today's bad news is tomorrow night's co-hostess Simona Ventura has also tested positive for Covid-19 and has to skip her duties tomorrow. As we remember in competition Irama is in quarantine and stays in competition thanks to rehearsal video.  This 71st Sanremo has been a real roller coaster. The first night was a bit of a undertone affair, the second night was a lot of fun and entertainment, the third... well. Yawn. I don...