Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Claudia Baglioni has announced there will be only Italian superguests in Sanremo 2019 so forget likes of Lady Gaga, Madonna, Sting, Rihanna, Ed Sheeran... whoever could have been on that stage. Instead he will invite only Italian superstars from Eros Ramazzotti to Giorgia and Marco Mengoni, from Elisa to Ligabue and Andrea Bocelli with his son. Add Fedez and already Sanremo regular Laura Pausini with Biagio Antonacci (they will be touring Italy later this year together) and a couple of more like Fiorella Mannoia perhaps as there's supposed to be two of them each night. All names will be confirmed later once the contracts have been signed. There's one exception to the cast though: Luis Despacito Fonsi, but only because he duets in Ramazzotti's new single Per le strade una canzone ... It's great he favours Italian over international stars but then again, the gap of getting these real big stars to participate in the contest is getting slimmer every year.  ...

If the Italians really sucked in the annual most sold singles  chart they take a sweet revenge in albums, when only Coldplay makes the top10, and only David Bowie and Adele are featured in Top20. Marco Mengoni has three albums in the chart: 14th, 15th and 70th, only one of them released in 2016. Laura Pausini has two albums in Top20, the recently released Christmas album making it to 6th! Il Volo's classic album is at 22 and the previous pop album at 52. Also Vasco Rossi has two albums in Top20.  Top15 includes also Eurovision veterams Riccardo Fogli (with I Pooh) and Gianni Morandi (with Claudio Baglioni).  Emma's latest effort is at 23 and Francesca Michielin makes it to n.o 55 just ahead of Raphael Gualazzi's latest at 57.  Check out more videos from top selling albums after the jump....

After four nights of disappointing viewing figures Sanremo comes to its final. I must say I have enjoyed the show; Fabio Fazio and Luciana Littizzetto are a great couple. There are useless moments and intervals but we have experiences far worse in the past. Do we miss the huge divas like Madonna, Celine Dion and likes to steal the show? The models pretending to be presenters without even speaking Italian showcasing some 4-6 haute coiture dresses per night? Not really. If they only manage to tighten the script, reorganize the running order - start with a guest, let the competing singers sing and after do as many interval acts you want to until the early hours - it would be great. Apparently Fazio will do also Sanremo 2015 if he only wants to. Luciana has said this is her last Sanremo, but she said the same last year. We will see. After all, just like RAI pointed out today in the press conference, the viewing figures have been lower than expected but getting better night after nigh...

Marco Mengoni will return to the stage of Teatro Ariston and the Festival in Sanremo this Friday,. He will pay tribute to singer-songwriter Luigi Tenco. Last year Mengoni did wonder's when singing Tenco's Ciao amore ciao on Friday night and really cemented his newfound success with a very emotional performance, approved even my late Tenco's family. He also dedicated his victory last year to him and now.... he will be back singing more Tenco for all of us! It seems he will open the show, just like Ligabue did yesterday singing Fabrizio De André. How fab is that?

We are about to start the 64th Sanremo festival. I will blog and comment live so please tune in. Allegria! 20.35 The preshow has started with Pif. We have a quick lesson of Sanremo; it's people, food, sights and all sort of useless facts.... Quite useless even if quite funny at times. The festival itself could have started at 20.30 instead of 21, as it will drag on way past midnight anyways.... 20.51 Sigla Eurovision!  20.53 Technical mistake to start with, the curtain didn't open! LOL. Fazio needs to improvise the opening..... remembering the events in Italy resently, train accidents, floods... and then it seems there are protesters in the theater shouting to be heard.... to Fazio to read their letter... Oh dear, this is going to be a loooong night! 21.01 Fazio gets their letter on stage and intends to read it. The guys are escorted down from the ceiling. They seem to be workers with problems from Naples and Caserta. Social networks are already in fire. Is this p...

Italian veteran rocker Ligabue released something new in 2010 and the album Arrivederci, mostro! went 5 x platinum in no time and the single Un colpo all'anima #1, as always. Liga makes no thrills rock and it works, even better live. No gimmicks needed. Twenty years in business in 2010 and this is his 8th #1 album.

While in Italy I obviosuly had time to visit some recordstores and bought this and that. First a real bargain, Pago's second album for 0,90 euros! Well, it's maybe worth a bit more but compared to the first one it's rather lame offering. Ti ricordi saves the album but it also includes Love my love and  Un'estate fa . (The debut included jewels like Parlo di te e Non cambi mai. ...). I also bought Nek's greatest hits cd including songs like Almeno stavolta , Laura non c'é , Sei grande , Se una regola c'é , Sei solo tu e In te . I have always liked him but this is actually first album by him I bought. In sales I admit. Then a very pleasant surprise my Mango: a double live cd including his greatest hits like La rondine , Nella mia cittá , Bella d'estate , and many more. Incredible voice and beautiful songs. And over 25 years of memories! I also got Biagio Antonacci's Mis canciones en espanol , including Iris , Cuánto tempo y aún sigues and Si tu es...