Sanremo Highlights and Iconic Moments: Night 1

Teatro Ariston - The Stage for Sanremo 2021

Welcome to five days of pure-distilled-Italian-genius which is the Sanremo Music Festival! For those who are unfamiliar - the competition is held in the picturesque town of Sanremo in the North-Western pocket of Italy. Beginning in 1951, many of the best known names in Italian music took part as competitors, guests or composers. For Italians it is *the* music event on the calendar and will propel artists straight to the top of the charts.

Half of the artists performed this morning with the other half tomorrow - here were the standouts:

Performance Highlights

Måneskin 'Zitti e buoni'

Absolutely one of the stand out performances - lead singer Damiano David prowls around the stage with his band absolutely smashing it in the background. It's not often we see this type of rock at Sanremo but it went down well online. Additionally, Sanremo is one for minimalist staging so it certainly got our pulses racing to have such a frenetic performance. Bravo. Buonissima.

Annalisa 'Dieci'

A song about a love she has lost and reminiscing about the last times they spent time together before parting. Not as immediately grabbing as 'Il mondo prima di te' but a wonderful entry nonetheless. 'Dieci' stays in a much narrower range and tone - I would have loved to see her reach for the sky with her vocals but alas not this year. It is to be noted Annalisa scored the highest with the demoscopic jury for the first evening.

Naomi 'Glicine'

No stranger to the Sanremo music festival - this is Naomi's sixth entry into the contest. She delivered a stunning, simple performance with her iconic vocals. I would go as far to say this was her strongest entry to date! One to watch.

Fasma 'Parlami'

Another artist who has worked up the ranks from the newcomer section in recent years. One to watch in the Italian music industry for years to come. He has a strong local fanbase and 'Parlami' has instant appeal, beautiful sentiment and a catchy chorus.

Aiello 'Ora'

Buckets of stage presence and prowl. A strong song with a good hook and lots to keep you on your toes - something a bit different in the line-up.

Madame 'Voce'

A relatively young performer in the line-up at just nineteen but gave one solid performance. 'Voce' is very interesting song that will definitely elevate without the orchestra. Atmospheric and powerful. A raw explosion of Madame on stage.

Franceso Renga 'Quando trovo te'

Perhaps not as contemporary as some of his competition - this song has all the hallmarks of something the Italian juries would gobble up. A "typicale" Renga song with a very catch chorus.

Francesca Michielin & Fedez 'Chiamami per nome'

The highly beloved Francesca Michielin (Italian Eurovision Entrant 2016) & Fedez bring nice variety between the sweetness of Francesca's voice and the timbre of Fedez's rapping. A bit clunky at times but overall a well produced and strong entry.

Notable Moments

• Amadeus and Fiorello being an iconic hosting duo

• Diodato's lighting for his rendition of 'Fai Rumore'

• L O R E D A N A B E R T È

• Healthcare working being acknowledged and thanked for their hard working during the pandemic. On stage with Amadeus is Alessia Bonari - a frontline nurse from Milan who went viral in March of 2020 for posting a photo of the marks on her face from the N-95 masks.

• Interval act 'Love Sanremo'

• Colapesce and Dimartino's random roller-blading backup dancer

• Football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic showing up at random times to provide some stoic comic relief

• Achille Lauro gave Tix some pointers on dramatic feathered performances

• Fiorello, Diodato and Amadeus recreating their iconic winning photo from last year - with some added pizzazz

This morning was the opening night of the five day festival - the rest of the week will proceed as follows (Australian Dates - 6:30am AEDT):

• Night 1 (Wednesday): The first half of the 26 artists will perform their entry

• Night 2 (Thursday): The second half of the 26 artists will perform their entry

• Night 3 (Friday): All 26 artists will perform a cover of a piece of their choice. The artists will be able to decide whether to perform alone or be accompanied by Italian or foreign guests.

• Night 4 (Saturday): All 26 artists will perform their entry

• Night 5 (Sunday): All 26 artists will perform their entry...again. At the end of the voting, the final ranking will be drawn up, determined by the average between the percentages of the final evening and those of the previous evenings, which will establish the final ranking from the twenty-sixth to the fourth position. A new vote will then follow with zeroing of the previous ones for the first three classified, voted by the opinion poll jury (33%), by the press room (33%) and by the public via televoting (34%) who will decide the winning song of the Festival

Italians don't do anything in halves so ensure you've scheduled an entire morning to watch - each show goes for around 5 hours a piece! .

To stay up to date with the news emerging from Italy and for each nights recaps follow @aussievisionnet on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.