Isle Of MTV Malta

The Isle of MTV Festival Malta 2018 was a date in the calendar that I had to put down. This event sells out very quickly and sometimes their free tickets can be difficult to obtain. Myself and my housemates scoured the website for weeks in advance of the event, in the hope that we would get our hands on some free tickets for the event.

Above: The Isle of MTV festival stage

The free event lineup included, Jason Derulo, Hailee Steinfeld, Paloma Faith, Ella Eyre and the DJ pair Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.

The festival has been running for 12 years and has seen a plethora of amazing artists gracing the stage at Il-Foso in Valletta. Artists such as “The Chainsmokers, DNCE, Steve Aoki, Jason Derulo, Jess Glynne, Martin Garrix, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessie J, Will.i.am, Rita Ora, Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Far East Movement, David Guetta, Kid Rock, Kelis, The Scissor Sisters, Lady Gaga, The Black-Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado, Maroon 5, The Chemical Brothers, Enrique Iglesias, N*E*R*D, Shaggy, Garbage, Jazzy Jeff, Gorillaz and OneRepublic” have all rocked the Isle of MTV stage.

It was only until the day before the event, that we were successful in finding free tickets for the first day of the event, on the 27th of June.

My wonderful boss let me finish early on the day, so I was headed home to find the most glitter possible and cover every inch of my body in the sparkly stuff. After, all when it’s a festival you have to make it known, right!?

Above: Me and my house mate laden with glitter before the festival

Me and my friends headed over to Il-Foso Square in Valletta, where we were welcomed with swarms of people clearly heading in the same direction.

We were not the only ones glittered to the nines, but we sure as hell made an impression!

After going through a thorough security check, by some pretty unfriendly guards, we made our way into the square at around 7 o’clock in the evening. The event had begun at 3pm, but due to our work commitments we had to go later.

We had a quick glance around some of the stalls available at the event, which there were many of and we made our way into the centre of the crowd. I am very happy that I remembered to bring my fan that day, as the sweltering heat along with being stuck in a crowd, was not one of my most favoured memories!

Although we arrived at the event a little later than we had liked to, due to work commitments, we managed to see Sigala as our first act for the night. Sigala’s set was very impressive and it also saw a live collaborative performance with Ella Eyre and Paloma Faith. Ella Eyre was the first to take the stage with a rendition of ‘Came Here for Love’ which was accompanied by bursts of confetti and streamers at the bass drops of the song. Sigala then played a few more of his well-known tracks and that is when the beautiful Paloma Faith graced us with her presence. Dressed in a cobalt-blue sequin dress, her long and wavy red hair fell effortlessly over her shoulders.

She began her song ‘Lullaby’ which really got the crowd going. She is not an artist that sticks to one specific place of the stage, she moves with graceful fluidity but makes sure that the audience is having a great time. I will say however, that her performance sounded very comparable to the original track version. I cannot confirm whether she was lip syncing or not, but it did seem strange that her breathing patterns were not matched or ‘picked up’ by her microphone.

Next up was the wonderful Hailee Steinfeld. After originally hearing about Steinfeld in the Pitch Perfect films, her music career seems to have developed just as well, if not better than her acting career. She rose onto the stage in a silver sequin bralette with purple trousers, and her dance troop followed foot with the shimmery theme. Her set featured some of her more well-known songs such as ‘Let Me Go’, ‘Starving’ and ‘Most Girls’, with some of her other less well-known songs also being featured. She ended her set with my personal favourite of hers, ‘Capital Letters’ – which is featured in the newFifty Shades Freedmovie.

After Steinfeld got the crowd suitably ‘hyped’, we were then ready for Jason Derulo to grace us with his presence. A shimmering, glittery body swirled onto the stage accompanied by blaring lights and a focal bass. It was time for some serious dancing and singing, or in my case, more so shouting.

Above: Myself and my house mate waiting for Jason Derulo

Derulo’s set was filled with dancing, high-notes, strong beats, harmonious melodies and all round up-beat environment. Nearly everyone around me knew the words to al the songs that Derulo sang that night and it seemed like a collective rendition between Derulo and the audience.

The run up and actual day of the event were incredibly well organised, with frequent updates on the availability of free tickets during the lead up to the festival day, along with a sufficient amount of information visiting Malta to go to the concert on where they should stay, flights, Maltese travel and Maltese night life. All sections on the Isle of MTV site were informative and detailed, to really ensure that the customer experience was the best that it could be.

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