John Travolta and host Amadeus dance on stage during Sanremo 2024 on Feb. 7, 2024. Maria Laura Antonelli/AGF
On the first night of Sanremo 2024 the co-host was Marco Mengoni (winner of the last edition of the song contest), while the second night saw popular Italian singer Giorgia (who won in 1995).
Giorgia took the stage and proved to be an impeccable co-host. Other notable moments of the show were the performance of the pianist Giovanni Allevi (the first in public after a long period of illness due to myeloma) and the idea of the host and artistic director Amadeus to have the 15 artists of the evening introduced by the other 15 who will sing on night 3. Some of them dressed elegantly for the occasion (like the emo-punk trio La Sad), others just had fun (like I Ricchi e Poveri, Ghali and Alessandra Amoroso).
In the second evening, the performances were voted on by radio stations and the general public. From first to last, the top five included Geolier, Irama, Annalisa, Loredana Bertè and Mahmood.
Here are some of the highlights of night 2 on Wednesday (Feb. 7).
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Giorgia, a Flawless Co-Host & Performer
No one had any doubts about her voice, but her skills as a co-host were a pleasant surprise. On the stage of the Ariston Theater, Giorgia was at ease and spontaneous (like when she talked about that time she missed the opportunity to perform in front of Michael Jackson for fear of flying on an airplane) and elegant, even when she mistook the 11th singer for the first. When she sang her hit songs, her vocal delivery was just flawless. Giorgia is the showwoman that Sanremo didn’t know it needed.
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Giovanni Allevi’s Comeback
Popular Italian pianist Giovanni Allevi moved everyone from the stage of the Ariston Theater and lit up the second night of Sanremo 2024 with his smile. “I haven’t played in front of an audience for two years,” he said. “After the illness, I don’t know what I would give to play in front of 15 people like when I was starting out. Numbers don’t matter, and gratitude is an incredible gift. For everyone: doctors and nurses, for scientific research, for my family.” Then, despite two fractured vertebrae, he performed one of his most hopeful pieces, “Tomorrow.”
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John Travolta’s Appearance
Announced as the international guest of the second night of Sanremo 2024, John Travolta was involved in a series of sketches in which – rather than speaking – he was just asked to replicate with Amadeus the dance moves that made him famous, from Saturday Night Fever to Pulp Fiction, ending with the “Chicken Dance” (where he refused to wear a beak-shaped hat). It is not clear whether he had been made aware of all this.
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The Actors of ‘Mare Fuori’
The Netflix series Mare Fuori, set in a juvenile prison in Naples, was a hit in Italy in 2023. Like last year, Amadeus invited the young actors of the cast to go onstage at the Ariston Theater to sing the main theme of the series. The interpretation was a bit weak, but the actors also used that moment to spread meaningful words about the importance of education against feminicide.
