Sanremo 2026: the report cards of the second (very boring) evening
Another turning point. The second evening of Sanremo Festival 2026 features protagonists fifteen singers competingthe second half will perform Thursday evening. The performances are evaluated through a mixed system which assigns 50% of the weight to the Radio Jury and the remaining 50% to the public via televoting. This second event of the event ends, as far as the big names are concerned, with the definition of a provisional ranking relating to the 15 songs performed. The top five positions are announced, but without indication of the placing order. A significant part of the evening is also dedicated to New Proposals. Four artists, accompanied on stage by Gianluca Gazzoli, compete in two direct challenges: Nicolò Filippucci and Angelica Bove advance to Thursday’s final. For the youth section, the voting system is more complex: televoting, the Press Room, TV and Web Jury and the Radio Jury. The co-hosts who support Carlo Conti are Achille Lauro, Pilar Fogliati and Lillo. Below are the report cards of the big names:
Dargen D’Amico – “Ai Ai” – 5
Current affairs, the virtual world and humanity are intertwined in a nice piece, but it’s not enough to convince.
Fedez and Marco Masini – “Necessary evil” – 4
There is a sense of construction, exaggeration in the interpretations and there is no real project behind it: there is only the idea of a song to make a splash at the Festival.
Thunderbolts – “Stupid bad luck” – 7
One of the pieces that works best: well written, both on the textual and musical front. It comes like a caress on the heart after a boring and at times exhausting evening.
nayt – “Before” – 8
One of the few non-pimping artists present at the Festival: he does himself, without moves, paraculates, accommodating sounds. It puts the truth at the center.
J-Ax – “Italy starter pack” – 4
The choreography changes: cowboys arrive instead of cheerleaders. The idea of bringing country music to the Ariston is nice and fun, but here we are swimming in a sea of banality.
Chiello – “I always think of you” – 5
Song that works better in the studio version (we liked it in January) than on this stage. It doesn’t play much, and we miss Tommaso Ottomano, who played the guitar – the best thing about the piece.
Rag dolls – “Stay with me” – 6
There are many clichés inside, but they have a contagious stage presence and energy.
Levante – “It’s you” – 8
Even better performance than last night, in terms of intensity and stage presence. In the ballad genre it is the best so far.
Ermal Meta – “Stella Stellina” – 5
A song about war, it focuses on the story of a little girl in Gaza. Dardust’s production, with ethnic sounds, is interesting, but it remains a piece that lacks something, which despite the theme does not strike emotionally.
Elettra Lamborghini – “Voilà” – 4
She is a nice and hilarious character, but “musically” only exists in these sporadic contexts, there is no real project, music is not her world, you can see it and hear it.
Tommaso Paradiso – “The romantics” – 6
A piece directly from his repertoire, pop and melancholic. This time, after a slightly uphill start, he interprets it well: he closes his eyes, travels and makes people travel.
Enrico Nigiotti – “Every time I don’t know how to fly” – 5
Intense interpretation – but on the second pass the song doesn’t grow.
Lda & Aka7even – “Clandestine poems” – 4
They have a lot of fun, we don’t. A piece already heard, which gets lost within too large a cast.
Patty Pravo – “Opera” – 4
A song that comes from another time and another dimension.
The evening opens with the semi-finals of the New Proposalsthe final will be on Thursday evening:
Nicolò Filippucci Vs Blind, El Ma & Soniko: Filippucci passes (to whom the vote of the Rockol editorial team went)
Mazzariello Vs Angelica Bove: Angelica Bove passes (which was voted by the Rockol editorial staff)
Mazzariello – “Manifestation of love” – 7
Fun piece and played well, he is an elf perfectly at ease on the Ariston stage.
Angelica Bove – “Brick” – 7
A song that starts from the sound of the piano, the voice grows and the piece intensifies. An excellent interpretation that makes us think: among the big names there are names who sing qualitatively lower than this young artist.
Blind, El Ma & Soniko – “In my DMs” – 6
Here, however, contemporaneity is not only sought, but exhibited right from the title, the presence of the console and the sound. This is a pop song, nice but nothing more.
Nicolò Filippucci – “Laguna” – 7
It’s the huge favorite among young people – but it’s not like the song is very young, except in some small passages of the “phrasing” of the verses or the arrangement. In the end “Laguna” is a good Sanremo ballad in crescendo, interpreted very well.
The big names in the race, in alphabetical order:
Tononellapiaga – “How annoying!”
