Transcript:
Hello everyone, I'm Davide Passeri. Over these five podcasts, I'm going to share my thoughts on what I saw across the five nights of the 74th Sanremo Music Festival. I want to thank Ombre e Luci for this opportunity.
Let me be clear upfront: I'm not a music critic or a professional DJ. I'm just a devoted music listener who's been buying records since childhood and has followed Sanremo for years.
Welcome to episode three of "Sanremo as Far as I Could See." I have a confession to make: I didn't actually watch Sanremo last night in real time. I caught up with it later on RaiPlay, which I'd recommend everyone download. The platform is well-designed and lets you watch the entire Festival plus plenty more. I was at the Teatro Brancaccio seeing Virginia Raffaele, a brilliant comic actress and dancer, in the show "Samusa." I might do an audio review of that soon. It was a beautiful performance—I'd highly recommend it to anyone who can get to the Teatro Brancaccio in Rome before February 11, and it's also touring the rest of Italy.
Back to Sanremo. Before I talk about night three, I want to share a few thoughts. Amadeus actually addressed a question I raised in the first podcast. I'd asked why he didn't split the thirty competing artists into two groups of fifteen per night, instead of having all thirty perform in one night and the others spread across two separate evenings. Amadeus explained that his system ensures everyone debuts simultaneously without penalizing anyone. Splitting them would have created more suspense, but they wouldn't all have had equal visibility at the same moment—which is what I discussed in episode one.
Something I forgot to mention from night two: the evening's co-host, Giorgia, opened with a performance and then did a medley of her greatest hits.
Now to night three. Co-host Teresa Mannino was fantastic—she has a natural gift for making people laugh and brought real freshness to the show. Then came the guest of honor, Russell Crowe, who's not just an actor but also a rock singer with his own band. He announced a summer tour of Italy, with a special date in Rome on June 23. Eros Ramazzotti also performed, doing "Terra promessa," the song that made him famous forty years ago.
Night three featured the second fifteen of the thirty competing artists, while the other fifteen were introduced by performers from the previous evening.
Various guests enriched the night, including Gianni Morandi, Sabrina Ferilli, and Paola and Chiara. Teresa Mannino delivered a reflective monologue on linguistic differences and the importance of art. The evening closed with the Arena Foundation choir from Verona performing "Va pensiero" from Verdi's Nabucco.
The top five artists so far: Mr. Rain with "Due Altalene" in fifth place, Il Tre with "Fragili" in fourth, Alessandra Amoroso with "Fino a Qui" in third, Ghali with "Casa Mia" in second, and Angelina Mango with "La Noia" in first.
That wraps up episode three. I'll see you for the fourth installment. Thanks and goodbye! Davide Passeri.