Benidorm Fest details are like mini eurodramas within the Spanish fandom: There’s always something extra. And on Wednesday, the composition of both semi finals — and a week full of events staged alongside the contest — were announced. There’s even a tapas competition. Let’s dig in…
Benidorm Fest 2023: The Semi Finals
First things first: Producers revealed which artists will compete in each semi final. They did not, however, reveal the running order. Only four of the nine contestants will qualify for the finale. This is bound to be a blood bath:
Benidorm Fest 2023: Semi Final 1
- Agoney – “Quiero Arder”
- Alice Wonder – “Yo quisiera”
- Aritz – “Flamenco”
- Fusa Nocta – “Mi Familia”
- Megara – “Arcadia”
- Meler – “No Nos Moverán”
- Sharonne – “Aire”
- Sofía Martín – “Tuki”
- Twin Melody – “Sayonara”
Benidorm Fest 2023: Semi Final 2
- Alfred García – “Desde Que Tú Estás”
- Blanca Paloma – “Eaea”
- E’FEMME – “Uff!”
- Famous – “La Lola”
- José Otero – “Inviernos en Marte”
- Karmento – “Quiero y Duelo”
- Rakky Ripper – “Tracción”
- Siderland – “Que Esclati Tot”
- Vicco – “Nochentera”
Benidorm Fest 2023: Side events
Benidorm Fest is set to become a mini Eurovision in 2023. There are already two weekly Eurovision parties set for the evening, hosted by our colleagues at Eurovision-Spain.com and EuroFansClub. Today RTVE announced several side events.
Kicking things off will be the Red Carpet, set for Sunday 29 at 20.00 CET. Right after that Benidorm’s local orchestra will perform as well as Eurovision 2002 singer Rosa López and Spain’s JESC 2022 entrant Carlos Higes.
Benidorm Fest’s semi finals happen on Tuesday and Thursday. On Monday and Wednesday there will be two concerts which will mix past Eurovision stars, Benidorm Fest 2022 entrants and some of the artists who were almost selected for BF 2023.
This has the aim of bringing new talents together with established stars. Among the names you may recognise are Ruth Lorenzo, Tanxugueiras, Azúcar Moreno, Karina and yes, Sara Deop.
¡En esta edición vamos a más en el festival! ?
— Eurovisión RTVE (@eurovision_tve) January 11, 2023
Más emoción y más música. Tenemos más actividades previstas durante los días del Benidorm Fest entre el 29 de enero y el 4 de febrero con el Euroclub.
¡APUNTAD! #ElFestivalQueQuieres |#BenidormFest https://t.co/LUBVpehlAr pic.twitter.com/v5cIBqX7sQ
Finally, right before the final on Friday, an open air concert will take place in Tecnohito. That’s a square in downtown Benidorm. It’s home to that tower which projects Benidorm Fest promotion all year long.
Soraya (Spain 2009), Ronela Hajati (Albania 2022) and WRS (Romania 2022) will perform there with former Benidorm Fest stars Marta Sango and Gonzalo Hermida.
Tapas Fest
If there’s any kind of food that defines Spain, that’s tapas. And so, Benidorm city hall, the regional government and a couple dozen bars in the city will host Tapa Fest during the week.
In this event, each bar will have a special tapa for 2,5 euros and people will be able to vote for their favourite. And as someone who’s been many times to Benidorm, let me say this: most of this places are amazing **drooling face emoji**
El cartel que quieres: estas son las tapas del concurso del #BenidormFest. Por todo Benidorm, voy a volver con 125 kilos más pic.twitter.com/0vHZu2NoXc
— Luis Fuster (@luisgfuster) January 11, 2023
Are you ready for Benidorm Fest? Who will qualify from each semi final? Excited to see any returning artist? Which tapas is your favourite? Are you planning to come? Let us know in the comment section below!
Prediction:
Semi 1:
-Agoney
-Fusa Nocta
-Megara
-Alice Wonder or Sharonne
Semi2:
-Blanca Paloma
-José Otero
-Vicco
-Karmento
Aritz can sing and dance as the same time as chanel. He barely can´t sing a ballad, He is not going to win
I’m predicting Alice Wonder to win it all. I’ve seen some of her live performances and her vocals will stand out so much. I can also see her staging this extremely well
Also I think nochentera will cruise to the finals and possibly have a top 3 placement. Watch her live performances as well she’s very impressive
Oops not Vicco, I meant karmento
Well, Blanca Paloma has almost no competition in her semi. Semi 1 will be the tough one
But i think the main diference between the two os that Channel is a Very well trained singer, and aritz showed us in the first show that he cannot sing very well even just standing. So i fonte think he is reaching the final this year
I remember last year I payed no attention to Channel until I heard her live – so while I have my favourites I’m also curious about the songs that didn’t stand out for me in the studio version.
Also – I want all the tapas. Yum
I really hope Benidorm Fest can transform Spain into a Eurovision Powerhouse. The quality of these songs is unbelievable.
Looks like they put all the pop bops in semi 1 so some get eliminated and we don’t have a final with all kinds of the same type of song.
Semi final 1: Agoney, Fusa Nocta, Megara and Sharonne
Semi Final 2: Alfred Garcia, Famous, Karmento and Vicco
Damn Semi 1 is stacked. One of the more popular entries is bound to be eliminated in semi 1 (The likes of Agony,Alice Wonder, Fusa Nocta,Megara and Sofia Martin have consistently placed highly in yt rankings).
Semi 2 whilst appearing to be a less competitive semi still has plenty of good entries so it’ll be interesting to see who qualifies.
Should be a good watch.
I forgot to mention Aritz, I’m not sure if its as popular as some of the others but it certainly has its fans.
Semi Final 1 is the much harder one to survive since you have several fan favorites there
Oh, boy, semifinal one is a bloodbath. We might lose one of the contenders if they drop the ball on the night.
Winner will be from semi 1
Spain needs to send Rakky Ripper or Megara to CHANGE their sound!
We all know already that Spain wont send Rakky Ripper lol
Lets hope and pray! I am tired of BOP sound songs in Eurovision …
Semi Final 2 is MUCH less stacked and hence, it’ll be easier if you have a favourite in this final…like me. I’m over the moon, because this means Vicco could qualify. But Megara will have a harder time in the first one.
My predictions:
Semi 1: I think Alice Wonder, Agoney, Fusa Nocta and Megara/Sofia will advance.
Semi 2: Vicco, Blanca, Alfred and maybe Famous?
I also predict that the winner will be Alice Wonder or Fusa Nocta (depends on her live vocals). Maybe Vicco if not Fusa.
After listening to all of them again and again, I find myself immensely drawn to Alice Wonder. I think the song is amazing and her presence on stage is mesmerising.
Agree with Alice. But think karmento will win the jury for semi 2
Prediction:
Semi 1: Agoney, Fusa Nocta, Alice Wonder & Megara. (5th Aritz)
Semi 2: this one is more unpredictable but Vicco and Blanca Paloma for sure. José Otero too because he could do well on the jury and also in the demoscopic as happened last year with Gonzalo with a worst song. The 4th place is between Alfred (jury), Karmento (demoscopic) and EFemme (televoting). I hope its not Alfred.
My prediction (I’m waiting lives) :
SF 1 (4 qualified) :
. Agoney
. Alice Wonder
. Megara
. I think it’s Sharonne or Sofia Martin because Fusa Nocta her live i don’t know…
SF 2 (4 qualified) :
. Alfred Garcia (juries….)
. Blanca Paloma
. José Otero
. Vicco or Famous (the live will be decisive)