Three minutes and off we go, on to the next one. The Sanremo Festival is historically a meat grinder for artists, the first evening (zanzan) of 2026, with thirty competitors (zanzan), today’s already laughable attention spans (zanzan) and the Fordist assembly line rhythms of Carlo Conti (zanzan), who didn’t even make co-host Laura Pausini sing (zanzan), contribute to the massacre. It really takes place, everything in a few seconds, the pressure from Ariston is very high and the reaction to this, at least at the beginning, can affect the judgement, even more so in front of a press room (yesterday only she voted) in which the journalists had already heard the songs and, inevitably, voted for the performances. Ok, so, let’s understand something.

Veterans dominate

It goes without saying, or perhaps not, that those who have played their cards best, at least with more fluency, are the veterans, who have great confidence with the camera and the stage. Above all, in addition to a Patty Pravo on whom the sun never seems to set, Arisa shone, a crystal voice and the right piece, Magical fairy taleto slow down the crazy traffic, six in the afternoon style in the center, of this Sanremo. Hard to ignore, he built much of his access to the top 5 on this very aspect. In addition to her, in the first five there are Fedez and Marco Masini (two true camera dragons, them), Serena Brancale, Ditonellapiaga and Fulminacci, who is the only one to have entered with discretion, with the strength of a piece, Stupid bad luckspot on and yet dry, in short, without anything special side. Serena Brancale, on the other hand, can be said to be trying – successfully, eh – her move-Tangoto quote Tananai: we know that in this wretched country – and in this wretched Festival – you have to be taken seriously, so after Anema and core and the memes decided to throw themselves into a soulful ballad that is also emotional, Here with mealmost like Giorgia, with whom, by playing well with his feelings, he can also win. For now, it has held up very well, but there is a risk of overdoing it.

Exactly, the irony. Who knows, in the long run it won’t cripple Totonellapiaga, for now with How annoying! she took over the stage, demonstrating how a dance troupe is not a frill, but serves to amplify its message. The same goes for an old sea dog like J-Ax, one might think Italy Starter Pack can play a championship of its own, without even the subversive ambitions of one A life on holidaybut that’s it. Fine, for the rest, many others: the songs more or less grew up with the orchestra, many performances were punctual, the problem is that in a Sanremo like this leveled – the mischievous will say “…downwards”, certainly there are no big names – you have to get noticed and not always, especially for small fish, a good song is enough. Very free, in this sense, Colombre and Maria Antonietta (does the couple’s complicity help?), worth hearing from Nayt and Tredici Pietro, two submerged treasures of this Sanremo, not to be underestimated, but who, due to the depth of their proposal, need more listens. Others have lost their claws a bit for now.

The postponed ones

Having said that, there are some real delays, two of which are among the favourites, albeit for different reasons. The first is Tommaso Paradiso, whose CV is among the few true big names of the event, partly betrayed by anxiety: looking at it with other eyes, the half-trembling performance of The romantics (which then: the piece is there, eh) tells a story better than many monotonous cantatas, the fact remains that it is up to him to transform the experience behind him – fatherhood, etc. – into a punch to the full stomach. For now, he hasn’t been very successful, but he will do it again. The same goes for Sayf, very excited for the entire first part of I like you a lotas if terrified of meeting the petrifying gaze of the public: the ending in which he raises his eyes and smiles from ear to ear – oh, it went well – says that his Sanremo starts from today.

Inexperience also played a bad joke on Eddie Brock, who, for example, has already cautiously rejected any possibility of Eurovision, because “I come from concerts with a few hundred people”. Well, Sanremo doesn’t give you time to learn, if not the minimum, but Ariston is an incubator and it will certainly be safer from today, also to demonstrate that it didn’t get there prematurely. Similar speech, then, for Elettra Lamborghini, inexplicably a Rio carnival until the song starts, therefore plastered, unlike the corps de ballet all around (whose effect, in this sense, was paradoxical). Sometimes, as we understand, you just need to point, aim and fire: ask Sal Da Vinci, if that wasn’t clear.