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A New Chapter For The Maltese Rock Scene Starts This Weekend

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With iconic venues like Coconut and De Olde Keg (among so many others) closing their doors for the last time in 2016, last year was a dark one for the Maltese rock scene. 

A small group of people are planning to change all of that this weekend, however, with the opening of a brand new venue for all things rock, The Garage.

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“The idea started a couple of years ago when I was chatting with my friend Darren in his bar Kickstart,” said owner Rene Farrugia. “As it has countless times before, the discussion quickly turned to the lack of a proper venue for all kinds of bands, and how difficult it is to find a club which accepts to host rock, metal, goth, industrial, indie and alternative rock nights.”

After last year’s shitstorm of closing venues, Rene decided to take things to a new level and actually start looking for a successor to the Maltese rock venues of old. “It suddenly got even more difficult for rock lovers to have somewhere they could call home, so Darren and I decided to start search for a well-sized venue.” 

True to their promise to each other and themselves, a new venue was indeed found.

“One of the most common things we kept getting was people begging us to keep the whole thing as far away as Paceville as possible,” said Rene. And in 2017, it’s quite easy to see why so many people would be terrified of having another anticlimactic venue opening, only to fade into a sea of gentlemen’s clubs after a couple of years of hype.

“As soon as we walked in, we knew this was the ideal place,” Rene continued. The Garage is situated in Żebbuġ, right on top of the famous Sofra by the roundabout. “The location is very central, so we decided to go for it and start working on it immediately.”

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“It will definitely be a challenge until everyone gets to know about the place, but the feedback is already amazing, and we already have a good number of events which are booked,” Rene concluded. 

And a quick look at the venue’s upcoming events shows just that, with gigs, parties, and even festivals booked until as late as December 2017!

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The Garage is set to open its doors for the first time this Sunday, with a rock and metal night on a public holiday seeing two bands, three DJs take the stage. Entrance is absolutely free, and if that’s not enough to convince you, remember there’s always delicious cheeky kebabs just downstairs!

Tag a friend who loves rock music!

READ NEXT: 6 Other Rock Music Venues That We’ve Lost In The Last 6 Years

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).

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