Eurovision 2022, in Turin the final with the 25 competitors

Turin – After two semifinals followed by over 5 million viewers, the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, kicks off with an invocation for peace. The opening act of Rocking 1000 with Give peace a chance by John Lennon recorded in Piazza San Carlo in Turin amid the clapping of the audience. This is followed by a medley by Laura Pausini, who in a pompous orange dress sings Benvenuto in Italian and Spanish. Then I Canto, in the French version. Finally, La solitudine in English, Le cose che vivi and his latest single Box.

All 25 competitors take to the stage, complete with flags and flags. In perfect Olympic style. The three conductors arrive, greeting the audience. Laura Pausini, Alessandro Cattelan and Mika explain the regulation. The competition starts with the Czech Republic. We Are Domi’s Lights Off electronics are all to dance to. Romania gets it all wrong with Wrs: Llámame’s Latin rhythms do not drag at all. Indeed, they are rather out of place. The Portuguese Maro is very delicate with Saudade, Saudade, a song written for the late grandfather. She intends the staging with the singer and the members of the choir, who sing in a circle looking at each other. The Rasmus go wild on stage with Jezebel, but the Finnish rock is not convincing: too dated. The Swiss Marius Bear conquers for the voice, but Boys Do Cry goes unnoticed. The French Alvan & Ahez perform Fulenn, a dance song in Breton. The Norwegian “wolves” amuse themselves. A delirious audience for Subwoolfer, the ballet of Give That Wolf A Banana is contagious. Folk references for Rosa Linn and her Snap of her, beautiful scenery with all the white cards to tear.

Mahmood and Blanco make the whole arena shiver. Pure determination for the Spanish Chanel, who warms the atmosphere with SloMo and a very sensual ballet. The Dutch S10 convinces with De Diepte, a song with a chorus that immediately enters the head.

Excellent performance for the Kalush Orchestra with “Stefania”, incisive the rap insert. At the end of the performance the Ukrainian rapper launches an appeal to support Mariupol and the Azovstal steel mills. But now they could face a disqualificationshould their appeal be judged “political” and therefore contrary to Eurovision rules.

The official video of “Stefania”, the song of the Kalush Orchestra

German Malik Harris switches from instrument to instrument on stage to emphasize his Rockstars. Very elegant Monika Liu, refined also the Sentimentai of her. The scenography with the stairs by Nadir Rustamli is beautiful, in Fade To Black you can hear all the vocal quality of her. The very young Jérémie Makiese who brilliantly performs Miss You for Belgium. All dressed in white, Amanda Georgia of Tenfjord thrills with Die Together.

Minimal country for the Icelandic Systur, the three sisters are in perfect harmony on the notes of MeÐ Hækkandi Sól. After the performance they shout: “Peace for Ukraine”. The Moldovans Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers arrive and it’s immediately a party thanks to the enthralling rhythm of their Trenulețul. The pace drops again when Cornelia Jackobs takes the stage. With Hold Me Closer Sweden is destined for a very high place in the standings, if not for victory.

An intense performance by Sheldon Riley, who comes from Australia. Bella le voce and Not the Same is one of those songs that cannot go unnoticed. He ends his performance moved.

Laura Pausini sings a cappella In the blue painted blue and the whole Pala Olimpico joins her. Immediately after the presentation of Sam Ryder who from Great Britain arrived in Turin to sing Space Man. This year the British definitely do not run the risk of collecting zero votes as they did in 2021 in Rotterdam. The song is “catchy” and it works.

The microphone passes with Cattelan and Mika among the artists in the “green room” before returning to the stage for the song proposed by Poland which has entrusted its fate to the song River by Ochman, winner of the Polish edition of The Voice.

Of notable impact is the performance of Konstrakta who from Serbia entrusts his social criticism with the song In corpore sano. The song is liked, the staging strikes, the message arrives: operation done. In summary, «the body is healthy and patience if the mind is ill. Everything OK?”.
The performances of the singers in the competition end with Estonia. Hope by Stefan is a song that recalls in a senseless way to western atmospheres and resembles a little too much to Wake me up by Avicii.

After the performances, voting begins.

How to vote
The score that will decide the winner is formed by the sum of the votes given by the other participants, by the spectators from home and by a jury made up of 5 people per country. The televoting window opens at the end of the performances and lasts 45 minutes.

The super guests
The Måneskin ignite the Pala Olimpico with the new Supermodel, even if Damiano is practically immobile due to an ankle injury suffered on the set of the video in London. In these days, which in these days he has in fact been seen walking around on crutches. Following, a hint of the song written for Elivs, the new biopic on Elvis Presley signed by Baz Lurhmann.

After the Roman band comes Gigliola Cinquetti singing I’m not old, the song with which she won Eurovision in 1964. The Turin audience sings with her. The “Interval Act” ends with a beautiful medley by Mika, an extraordinary artist.

At this point begins what is perhaps the funniest and most exciting part of Eurovision, that is the counting of the votes with the ranking that changes continuously. First the vote of the quality juries of each country is communicated and then the televoting from Europe, Australia and Israel. However, only Alessandro Cattelan and Mika remained at the helm, it is not clear what happened to Laura Pausini which has not been on stage for several minutes. She comes back only after a long absence, for her an illness.

The hacker alert
Since the start of Eurovision, several hacker threats have been reported by the KillNet group, near the Kremlin. But at the moment no criticality has been detected.