Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  The total audience for the second night was 60,1% share or  10,9 million, out of which 320,000 were on Raiplay and other devices instead of good old television. The record for those was at 22.37 (670.000) when Mahmood was on. There's an increase of +50% for those other devices compared to last year. The regular television viewers are a bit down in both viewers and share from last year but then again last year the second night was still featuring the songs for the first time, this year they were all presented already the first night instead. 13,434.000 (57,6%) were watching the first part, 6.899.000 (66,2%) were still watching the second part (from 23.30 onward)  The radio Top-5 is Annalisa, The Kolors, Angelina Mango, Emma and Mahmood . The most watched performances are Angelina Mango, Annalisa, Loredana Bertè, Irama and Geolier . The most watched music videos are Geolier, Annalisa, Irama, Angelina Mango and Mahmood. The most streamed songs are Geolier, Annalisa, Mahm...

Last night 15 acts performed and the voting was 50-50 by radios and televoters and the ranking went all upside down on the top: Geolier first, Irama second. Annalisa, Loredana Berté and Mahmood managed to keep their Top-5 going on.  The Fantasanremo thingy is getting very annoying as the artists are collecting points by wearing black, sunglasses, giving flowers to conductors, kissing people in the audience, taking the broom on stage and other stupid things that get very tiring in the end. Especially in the wardrobe as if I counted right 11 out of 15 wore black. Clara stands out even more so as the real beauty of elegance this year sporting another stunning gown last night. That was not black. Today's news is John Travolta didn't sign the permission to use the footage they have of his visit never ever anywhere again and totally understandably. It was ridiculous. As Fiorello admitted after it was probably the most stupid thing ever seen on Italian television. I don't think Tr...

Tonight the second Sanremo 2024 night takes place in Teatro Ariston. Next to Amadeus will be singer and Sanremo winner Giorgia who has the hard task of following Marco Mengoni who seems to have convinced everyone last night as a showman, comic and host besides singer. There's already a demand for his own show on Rai1 sometime i the future, or at least his presence every night this year in Sanremo. Poor Giorgia. The real reason for her presence is however to celebrate her Sanremo debut (7th among newcomers) with classic E poi... that turns 30 this year. She was back in Sanremo the year after and won. Then she came back as a reigning winner and placed 3rd. And then she returned again in 2001 and placed 2nd. She finally got back last year placing 6th. Tonight as there are only 15 songs to perform there are a lot of guests on stage and outside Teatro Ariston: John Travolta, Giovanni Allevi, Bob Sinclair. Rosa Chemical, Leo Gassmann, Matteo Bussola, the cast of Mare fuori tv-serie (that...

Finnish (pop) rapper Mikael Gabriel and Estonian nublu join forces for the third time for UMK 2024 and Eurovision with Vox populi. The previous efforts Universum and Vihje have been very different in style though, even between them. When the names were announced most thought this is the one to beat but then Sara Siipola kinda stole their thunder. We'll see how it goes next Saturday. Mikael Kristian Gabriel Sohlman (34) has Estonian mother which gives a little connection to this Finnish-Estonian affair. He tried Idols 2007 as a singer but didn't pass so he decided to go rapping instead. That has now come to a full circle as his releases in the past few years have been pure pop. He released his debut album in 2009 and his 7th came out in 2022. He has 5 n.o 1's to his credit, and 23 Top-10 singles. 3 of the albums have sold gold and his singles have sold/streamed 29 gold/platinum/multiplatinum. He has starred also in two long films as an actor.  He comes from a broken home a...

Amadeus did it again! Or he outdid himself. Sanremo 2024 started with a bang. Record breaking shares and viewing figures. 65,1% share! That's highest since 1995. Or 10.561.000 viewers in average. The first part was 64,34% or 15.075.000 viewers in average and the second part 66,85% or 6.527.000, mind you the show ended around 2am, actually before than scheduled! Now that's a record, too! The most viewers had Annalisa's performance with 16,5 million viewers in front of their television that time. The highest share was during Mahmood's performance in the first half (69,2%) and Bigmama's performance at 00.15 in the second part: 70,13% In social media hashtag #sanremo2024  was used over 1,4 millio times during the show and the most mentioned there was Marco Mengoni with 212.000 hits followed my Mahmood with 181.000.  And let's not forget his success as creating hits as well, last year is a good example, read more here . 

So, the media vote put Loredana Berté's Pazza in lead but quite frankly that feels like an award for career and her rebirth rather than the song. Angelina Mango with La noia second as expected followed by Annalisa, Diodato and Mahmood. Should this go on like this after other voting I see a little trouble in Eurovision. Pazza just isn't for the international audience, La noia has already (and surely more to come) Malta and Luxemburg for the same votes. On the other hand Annalisa, Diodato and Mahmood all would work very well. Add The Kolors and Il Volo to the mix and Italy should land at least top-10 again easily. Angelina Mango - La noia Annalisa - Sinceramente Diodato - Ti muovi Mahmood - Tuta gold The Kolors - Un ragazzo, una ragazza Il Volo - Capolavoro Clara - Diamanti grezzi Ghali - Casa mia Alessandra Amoroso - Fino a qui Ricchi e Poveri - Ma non tutta la vita Fred De palma - Il cielo non ci vuole Emma - Apnea lfa - Vai! Gazzelle - Tutto qui Irama - Tu no Negramaro - Ricom...

Tonight's the first night of the 74th Sanremo and unlike the previous years all 30 acts will perform tonight. Prepaire yourself for a long long night! How the voting is tonight and the coming night you can read in detail here .  I will follow tonight and comment and judge the songs live so do come back and join in the fun. Before the live show from Tatro Ariston di Sanremo at 20.40 CET we have a Primafestival at 20.30 CET. It all should end at 1.30 CET (believe it if you dare!) and it's followed by Via Raidue! ... Viva Sanremo until 2.25 CET. That's six hours for tonight, lol. Tonight's running order has been revealed and it is below. Apparently the last ones tonight will be the first ones tomorrow and day after tomorrow in reverse order. Maybe. (In brackets the odds this afternoon. You may notice all the favorites (1-10) are more or less grouped together in the first half of the show, with some midtable entries (11-20) in between and the underdogs have to perform la...