[GTranslate]SANREMO – It is the first Sanremo Festival without the audience in the hall and with recorded applause: due to Covid-19, in fact, the historic event dedicated to the Italian song – which starts tonight (Tuesday 2 March) and ends Saturday 6 March – takes place “behind closed doors”.

It had never happened, not even in the very first editions of the singing festival in the 1950s: at that time, the festival was held in the party hall of the Casino of Sanremo, in front of a perhaps not very attentive audience – who continued to dine and chat during the performances of the singers – but still present. This year, the Ariston Theater (seat of the event since the 1977 edition) will remain empty: there will be only the orchestra, the singers with their musicians, the conductors and the guests of the festival, immersed in the spectacular scenography created by Gaetano Castelli which was able to indulge itself thanks to the enormous space available, in the absence of the public. Artistic director and conductor: Amadeus, flanked every evening by Fiorello (in the pic above) and different co-hosts.

But let’s move on to the program, night by night, of this 71st edition of the festival which will see 26 “big” singers compete with as many unreleased songs and 8 “new proposals”, night by night.

First evening, Tuesday 2 March
On stage the 13 “bigs” of this edition: Aiello, Annalisa, Arisa, Colapesce and Dimartino, Coma_Cose, Fasma, Francesca Michielin and Fedez, Francesco Renga, Ghemon, Irama, Madame, Måneskin, Max Gazzè with the Trifluoperazina Monstery Band who will sing their new songs and will be voted by the opinion poll jury. Four of the eight “new proposals” will also perform (Avincola, Elena Faggi, Folcast and Gaudiano) that will be submitted to the vote of the opinion poll and journalistic jury with the public connected through televoting: the first two new classified proposals will have access to the fourth evening , the remaining two will be eliminated from the race. Guests of the evening: Achille Lauro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Diodato, Loredana Bertè, Alessia Bonari and the State Police Band with Stefano Di Battista.

Second evening, Wednesday 3 March
In the second evening the remaining 13 “big” will perform: Bugo, Gaia, Ermal Meta, Extraliscio feat. Davide Toffolo, Gio Evan, Fulminacci, The List Representative, The Social State, Malika Ayane, Noemi, Orietta Berti, Random and Willie Peyote, who will be voted by the opinion poll jury. At the end of the voting, the provisional ranking will be drawn up which will be added to that of the 13 competing artists judged in the first evening. On stage, also the other four new proposals: Davide Shorty, Dellai, Wrongonyou and Greta Zuccoli with the same mechanism of the previous evening. Achille Lauro will be the star of the five days with the presentation of a different painting every night, while Elodie will be next to Amadeus. Guests Laura Pausini (in the pic), fresh winner of the Golden Globe, Negramaro, Gigliola Cinquetti, Fausto Leali and Marcella Bella.

Third evening, Thursday 4 March
Back on stage all 26 “big” in the race but this time with covers, that is remakes of other people’s songs. For the champions there will be the possibility of being joined by a second voice, Italian or foreign. Even these performances, however, will be subjected to a judgment: that of the musicians and choristers of the Festival orchestra. The ranking that will be produced by the third evening will in turn add up to those of the two previous evenings. Co-coder, together with Amadeus, the supermodel Vittoria Ceretti.

Fourth evening, Friday 5 March
Final of the new proposals. The opinion polls jury, the journalistic jury and the public will vote again, again through televoting: therefore, the winner will be announced. Then the 26 “bigs” will perform with the vote of the journalistic jury that will go to average with the percentages of votes obtained in the previous rankings. The female face next to Amadeus will this time be Barbara Palombelli, who has prepared a surprise performance with Fiorello, and the conductor Beatrice Venezi (in the pic).

Fifth evening, Saturday 6 March: the final
During the fifth evening, or the highly anticipated final, the protagonists of the Ariston will again be the 26 “big ones”. The first three classified will have to perform a second time, to seek a new consent of the public and the juries and get on the first step of the podium. Then, opinion poll, journalistic jury with the public through televoting will decide the winner. The last evening of the Festival will see three co-hosts on stage: Ornella Vanoni, Serena Rossi and Simona Ventura together with Amadeus and Fiorello.

Where and when to see it in Canada.
The live broadcast in Canada is visible on Rai Italia. The festival is scheduled today (Tuesday 2 March), tomorrow (Wednesday 3 March), Thursday, Friday and Saturday, always at the same times: it starts at 2.30 in the afternoon with the Preview, then at 2.45pm the Festival begins. At 9.45 in the evening, the full rerun is scheduled.