Hola Benidorm! Spain’s broadcaster RTVE has unveiled the running order for Benidorm Fest and it has announced the show will have a live audience.

Earlier on Thursday, RTVE held a press conference where they unveiled the running order of the two semi-final shows and confirmed further details on tickets.

The first semi-final kicks off with Luna Ki who will open the show with her entry “Voy a morir”. Seven songs later, Chanel will close the show with her song “SloMo”.

The next day, semi-final two will open with “Xeinn” and his song “Eco”. The final semi-finalist to perform will be Sara Deop with her song “Make you say”.

While eurofans sometimes put great weight on the running order of national final shows, performing later in the lineup does not necessarily make a big difference in shows with a small number of acts. In 2016, Barei won Objetivo Eurovisión after performing second with her song “Say Yay!”.

Benidorm Fest: Running order

Semi-final 1 – Wednesday 26, 22.40 CET

  1. Luna Ki – “Voy a morir”
  2. Varry Brava – “Raffaella”
  3. Azúcar Moreno – “Postureo”
  4. Blanca Paloma – “Secreto de agua”
  5. Unique – “Mejores”
  6. Tanxugueiras – “Terra”
  7. Chanel – “SloMo”

Semi-final 2 – Thursday 27, 22.40 CET

  1. Xeinn – “Eco”
  2. Marta Sango – “Sigues en mi mente”
  3. Javiera Mena – “Culpa”
  4. Gonzalo Hermida – “Quién lo diría”
  5. Rigoberta Bandini – “Ay mamá”
  6. Rayden – “Calle de la llorería”
  7. Sara Deop – “Make you say”

All shows will have a live audience

RTVE have also confirmed that the two semi-finals and the grand final will all have a live audience. Tickets are free. Details about how to reserve tickets can be found here.

Benidorm Fest organisers say they want as many people to attend the shows as possible. However, organisers are staying in regular contact with health authorities to ensure that the audience is the right size under current pandemic precautions, and that the correct public health procedures are followed.

The show will be held at Palau d’Esports l’Illa de Benidorm in Alicante.

Benidorm Fest voting system revealed

RTVE has confirmed details of how the Benidorm Fest voting will operate. From each semi-final, four artists will qualify for the grand final. The results will be determined by a combination of expert jury (50%), public televote (25%) and demographic jury (25%).

The jury will be made up of five experts, three from Spain and two international.

The demographic jury will be made up of 350 statistically selected people who represent the Spanish population. It will represent the different regions of Spain and different gender and age ranges. Potential jury members are asked if they like Spanish music. Only those who answer , can be considered for the jury.

Benidorm’s demographic jury is similar to Sanremo’s demoscopic jury, as well as the people’s juries used to help internally select the Swiss Eurovision entry.

What do you think? Is running order important for a semi-final? Do you plan to attend any of the Benidorm Fest shows? Tell us your thoughts below!

19 Comments
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gaizka3
gaizka3
2 years ago

as a spanish person I would say that the qualifiers will be: Tanxugueiras, Rigoberta, Rayden, Xeinn, Gonzalo Hermida (Because is similar tu Pablo Alborán), Blanca Paloma, Chanel, Luna Ki/Varry Brava.

Pancake
Pancake
2 years ago

Basing on the running order, this is how I see who’s going to the finals (in random order):

SF1: Azucar Moreno, Tanxugiera, Chanel, Luna Ki
Although gut feeling tells me, Varry Brava might qualify over Luna Ki because of the vocoder/autotune part of Voy a morir is putting some people off.

SF2: Rigoberta Bandini, Rayden, Javiera Mena, Sara Deop
Although I think Eco could qualify over Culpa or Make You Say, I’m on the fence on this one.

Benidorm Fest is a strong selection but I guess RTVE made it easy for us who to root and/or vote for.

Alex
Alex
2 years ago

SloMo is underrated, it’s a great pop banger.

Blanca Paloma’s Agua song is sooo beautiful and atmospheric. I wish it was the Spanish entry in previous years.

Terra needs a BIG staging and voila, it can go very high in the scoreboard because it’s unique. I can imagine some background images of terra, maybe fire and lots of smoke/lightning. Vocals will be exceptional ofc unless they get sick ( hope not!)

sasha
sasha
2 years ago

i really hope terra wins. it would be something different to eurovision, and (if i’m remembering right) the first song in galician

ete sech
ete sech
2 years ago
Reply to  sasha

And the first one in any minority language from Spain (besides Catalonian, but that one has been represented by Andorra) iirc

Last edited 2 years ago by ete sech
Héctor
Héctor
2 years ago

Btw, as far as I know, there are 5 tickets to the final in each SF. Maybe I’ve missed the news lately.

Rich
Rich
2 years ago
Reply to  Héctor

Four will qualify from each semifinal, with a total of eight finalists. RTVE confirmed this yesterday.

Héctor
Héctor
2 years ago

In my opinion, the SF1 is way stronger. Tbh it’s hard to choose 5 and I’d be sad about losing the other two. I’ve never thought I’dsay something like this about a Spanish NF. My qualifiers: SF1 Tanxugueiras Luna Ki (this could go both ways, I think they will allow her to use vocal fx) Varry Brava Blanca Paloma Chanel NON QF: Unique, Azúcar Moreno (Unique were 1st in the odds a couple of days ago, and Azúcar Moreno are iconic. They may take the spot of some other and I couldn’t be angry about that) SF2 Rayden Xeinn Rigoberta… Read more »

Sabrina
Sabrina
2 years ago

The 1st semi seems stronger than the 2nd. Tanxugueiras are the obvious favorites there, but the fight for the other 3 spots will be fierce, I’ll be rooting for Varry Brava.

On the 2nd, Rayden and Rigoberta won’t have problems qualifying and Xeinn seems to have a solid fanbase behind him either. The 4th spot seems quite open though.

esc_fl
esc_fl
2 years ago

My qualifiers:

SF1: Varry Brava, Azúcar Moreno, Blanca Paloma y Tanxugueiras
SF2: Xeinn, Gonzalo, Javiera y Rayden

I can’t make any conclusions about Luna’s performance bc of the autotune, and Rigoberta still hasn’t grown on me tbh

Rich
Rich
2 years ago

What I want:

Semi 1: Tanxugueiras, Azúcar Moreno, Varry Brava, Chanel

Semi 2: Rigoberta Bandini, Rayden, Javiera Mena, Sara Deop

What I think:

Semi 1: Tanxugueiras, Luna Ki, Unique, Chanel

Semi 2: Rigoberta Bandini, Rayden, Javiera Mena, Xeinn

Mustafa
Mustafa
2 years ago

My qualifiers:
SF 1 – Tanxugueiras, Chanel, Varry Brava, Luna Ki
SF 2 – Xeinn, Rayden, Rigoberta Bandini, Sara Deop

Jessica Folcker
Jessica Folcker
2 years ago

It seems like my guilty pleasure SloMo has a chance for the final.

Then may the best song win!

Devito
Devito
2 years ago

SARA DEOP is 7th on the SF-2. They must be thinking she’s going to slay. And I hope she will, go go go, her song is the best! Well, at least the studio version, I’m completely unaware of her skills at delivering presence live. Still, my favourite so far.

Grftn
Grftn
2 years ago

Come on Rigoberta!!

oli
oli
2 years ago

I love the small icons next to the artist in the promotional image <3 This is such a promising national final! I’d be OK with any of these songs representing Spain: Tanxugeias, Rigoberta, Varry Brava, Azucar Moreno, Blanca paloma, Rayden.

Ukraine stan
Ukraine stan
2 years ago

idk something about Postureo not competing first feels like such a waste, it really fits the vibe of other openers.

just an esc fan
just an esc fan
2 years ago

the semis are kinda uneven.. out of my top8, 6 are in first semi and rest in the 2nd.

we’re gonna lose some good songs, but at least it’s gonna be a great mental preparation for the next NFs

Mi7lel
Mi7lel
2 years ago

The running order was decided based on a criteria of giving a dynamic show based on the style of the song (ballad, bop…); And also based on the requirements of the staging basically, that’s what they said in the press conference. So, closing the show is meant to be for stagings that somehow are more complicated or with props or things not so easily removed. (Sorry, there goes my English xd.)