Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – The lights of the X Factor Arena are about to come back on. After the exciting and intense selection phases, the X Factor 2026 journey enters its most anticipated and spectacular phase. The Live Shows will kick off today, Thursday, October 22nd, in prime time on Sky and streamed live on NOW from the Teatro Repower in Assago.
Giorgia will be the host, ready to guide the students and lead the audience through the heart of the competition. The judges will include four strong and complementary personalities from the auditions: Francesco Gabbani, this year's newcomer Irama, Jake La Furia, and Paola Iezzi. Their mission is to manage their teams and compete with each other, closely monitoring every detail of their artists' preparation, from song selection to performance planning.
They will do so from the first Live Show, in which the 12 contestants will divide into two cover rounds.
The lowest-rated artists in each round will go to a runoff, and then the judges will have their say: if at least three of them vote for the same person, they'll be eliminated; if they're split in half, the Tilt will be triggered. Also during the first Live, the names of the two artists Giorgia has backed with her 'Škoda X Pass' will be revealed: these are two of the artists eliminated during the Last Call, who will perform one of their signature songs, after which they will be judged by the audience at home, who will choose their favorite through flash televoting.
The winner of this ballot will return to the competition, entering directly into the team that will be left without a competitor at the end of the two heats of Live Show 1.
And to kick off the Live Shows, a piece of the show's history returns: Marco Mengoni returns to the X Factor Arena stage with a brand-new set, created exclusively for the show. The competition among the 12 official contestants will unfold performance after performance, with the ultimate goal of reaching the stage of the Unipol Forum in Assago, which will host the grand finale on Thursday, December 3rd.
Meanwhile, the four teams are ready to compete at the X Factor Arena at the Teatro Repower in Assago. Francesco Gabbani's team will field his X Pass Giacomo Calò, a twenty-two-year-old from Nardò, eighteen-year-old Alice Fregoso from Genoa, and the Tuscan band Scraffs. Jake La Furia will bring to the live shows twenty-year-old Veronica Bruganelli from Fano, twenty-seven-year-old Alex Fontana from Naples, and his X Pass Martina Cerutti, aka Alìa, a nineteen-year-old from Desenzano del Garda. Paola Iezzi's selections include her X Pass Camilla Guerini, a twenty-three-year-old from Brescia, the alternative rock band Mad-Dog from Sassari, and nineteen-year-old Manuel Gargano from Palermo. Finally, Irama's team is made up of the band Le Distanze, twenty-five-year-old Danny Anania, aka Lenanie, from Prato, and twenty-one-year-old Patrizia Napolano from Campania.
In the following weeks, the themed episodes, the famous carousel, and the evening of unreleased songs will return, among other things, the first real milestone of the season for all the competing singers.
shows
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