IN PHOTOS: A Hot Evening With Even Hotter Acts – Here’s What Went Down At Last Night’s Isle Of MTV Concert
This year’s Isle of MTV has already come and gone. Heads are being rested, traffic has resumed and we’re already perched on the edge of our seats, waiting to hear the lineup of next year’s big gig.
Last night saw a host of local and international acts hit the stage at Floriana’s Granaries for a whole night of live performances, DJ sets, dancing and disco lights. For the first time since it landed in Malta, the audience numbers saw a slight decline towards the beginning of the show before the sun fully set, but with the heatwave, we’re currently experiencing, it makes total sense. It didn’t take long, however, for the crowds to descend onto the Fosos for another unforgettable year for the massive free music festival.
Manager and producer extraordinaire Howard Keith took to Facebook to praise the X Factor Malta artists who opened the show in style, Owen Leuellen and Michela Pace
“Both were extremely shy in the room auditions but it starts with spotting their X Factor,” Debono remarked, making reference to both Leuellen and Pace’s impressive runs on the popular talent show’s first Maltese season.
Speaking of young local talent, Gaia and Emma Muscat also hit the behemoth MTV stage on Tuesday evening.
Wiley was the first international name to hit the stage, followed by a DJ set from Supre.
Early arrivals were treated to the King of Grime’s best raps from his 25-year long repertoire.
Next to hit the stage was the glamorous new kid on the pop block, Ava Max.
With hits like Sweet But Psycho and Not Your Barbie Girl’rearing the crowds up and a cover of Alicia Keys’s Fallin’, she set a powerful tone for the action-packed night ahead.
Bebe Rexha soared to new heights throughout her set, stopping to comment on the weather, heat and our favourite thing traffic, between nearly every song.
Can we blame her? It was shit-the-bed level hot last night, and with an event that pulls in tens of thousands, would you have wanted to be in Floriana without a fan?
Highlights of the set were Call You Mine and FFF (Fuck Fake Friends), which also gave Rexha a chance to highlight her love/hate relationship with G-Eazy (the two have released a number of collaborations together and have been rumoured to have been dating on and off for a while).
Martin Garrix then took to the stage to tear it down once again (he had played the closing set in 2015’s concert).
Despite having sustained an injury to his leg prior to arriving in Malta, Garrix kept the crowd pumped and drummed up the hype for those heading to the afterparty. Animals made a return to the set and of course, no event in Malta would be complete without fireworks and pyrotechnics.
Photos by Andrew Mercieca
Malta Music Week continues through to Sunday with a number of events taking place every night.