The opening night of the 74th Sanremo Festival in Italy was long, even though it ended ahead of schedule. For Amadeus (the event’s host and artistic director for five consecutive years), staying up late is normal. It must have certainly been more complicated for rapper Il Torre, who had to wait until 2am to take to the Ariston Theater stage.
Last year’s winner Marco Mengoni was visibly excited as he performed the opening ceremony of Sanremo 2024. He co-hosted the entire night with Amadeus. To conclude the night, the announcement of the top five as voted by accredited media outlets brought a few surprises.
In first place in the ranking is Loredana Berte, ahead of Angelina Mango, Annalisa, Diodato and Mahmoud. Both Diodato and Mahmoud have already won previous tournaments (2020, 2019 and 2022, respectively).
In the coming days, the press vote will be joined by votes from radio stations and the general public. An average of the various votes will determine the overall winner on Saturday (February 10).
Below are the best moments from the first night of Sanremo Festival 2024. The winner of the song contest will represent Italy at Eurovision.
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In memory of Giovambattista Cutolo
A touching moment was when Daniela Di Maggio remembered her late son Giovambattista Cutolo. The 24-year-old was killed in September in Naples in a shooting that started for no good reason. Also, as his nickname suggests, “Giogio” plays the horn in the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, and was supposed to appear at the Ariston Theater this year as well.
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Raza hugging Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Supporting a particular soccer team, like the hug between Raza (the chart-topping rapper was the night’s guest) and former AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Raza is his greatest player) There are moments when everyone transcends boundaries and unites. fan). Lazza finished second in Sanremo in 2023, with his song “Cenere” being the most streamed song of the year in Italy, as well as being sung by Milan AC supporters during the match.
The team, always one of the most important in Italian football, is Billboard Italia’s media partner for Sanremo 2024. This is the beginning of a project that will allow the two worlds of music and football to communicate more with each other.
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Tribute to Toto Cutugno
Another very emotional moment on the opening night of the Sanremo Festival was the tribute to Toto Cutugno, who passed away in August. “He will live in Sanremo forever,” Amadeus said before a screening of his 1990 performance “Guri Amori” with live orchestral accompaniment. Toto Cutugno is the symbol of the Sanremo festival. Together with Al Bano, Milva, Anna Oksa and Peppino di Capri, he holds the record of having participated in the festival 15 times. His song “L’Italiano” remains one of the most successful Italian songs.
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Dargen D’Amico’s Petition
Sanremo is not just about music. There was a speech that attracted attention. It belonged to Dargen D’Amico, who at the end of the performance thanked him for giving him the opportunity to perform his song “Onda Alta,” about immigrants in the Mediterranean. D’Amico was carrying a large number of stuffed bears that looked like bears that had been thrown away by children who couldn’t make it across the ocean to their destination. He dedicated the song to his cousin Marta, who is studying abroad in Malta, where many children in the Mediterranean region are currently living under bombing. Malta is lucky because you can go anywhere you want. “It’s a truce now,” D’Amico said before leaving the stage.
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Tedua performance on a cruise ship
Last year’s live performance aboard the Costa Smeralda (a cruise ship anchored off the coast of Sanremo) wasn’t all that memorable. So his performance on “Hoe” came as a pleasant surprise, as we thought things might not work out for chart-topping rapper Tedua as well. It’s difficult to be convincing in this rather surreal situation to a cruise audience, but Tedua did it.