No, not that disco anthem by the Village People! I’m referring to the YMCA Music Festival held at Manoel Island last Wednesday. Although I wasn’t there from the beginning of the event, sources which were filled me in, mostly about the apparently brilliant performance by Carrie and her band of funk-rockers. Incidentally I also totally missed Coldplace (not much though!) and most of New2’s sets. What I did hear didn’t quite blow me away, so that didn’t matter much anyway…
I was a bit sceptical about Killer Queen, whom I had seen perform some years ago at the MCC and had come away less than impressed. Not so this time! The band was totally on fire, the audience loved it and the vibe was at an all-time high, with Freddie Mercury (aka Patrick Myers) really strutting his stuff and pulling it off! Both Ira Losco and Winter Moods took advantage of the electric atmosphere already in the air, giving performances that continued to rev up the crowd present. So far so good…well, almost!
The downside of the festival was primarily the exceedingly long wait between each act, and the worst one off was ultimately the headliner. Never one to mince his words, a visibly upset Bob Geldof was quick to apologise to the crowd in his usual colourful vocabulary, even dishing out some crass humour to some members of the audience that apparently offended some local critics who expected better behaviour from a “knight”! So what if he is a knight? Should a title mean Geldof has to change his personality? He didn’t change when he first started campaigning against poverty, he didn’t change when he was nominated for the Nobel Prize nor did he change when he received his knighthood. So why should he change now? Besides, anyone feeling “shocked” need only think for just a couple of seconds about the majority of the Maltese people’s consistent and equally (if not more) colourful application of its native tongue before casting any stones!
Despite the largely Maltese audience not being too familiar with Geldof’s set, it still kept the crowd captivated enough to stay on till the early hours. In between calls for I Don’t Like Mondays, Geldof – backed by a veteran and very tight band – offered a varied and powerful set that blended his solo work with the best of his Boomtown Rats recordings. Kicking off with The Great Song of Indifference, the set also featured numbers such as Love or Something, Room 19, Mudslide, One For Me, Scream In Vain, Harvest Moon, Rat Trap, Mary of the Fourth Form, Banana Republic, The Birthday Suit, Joey’s On The Street Again and of course I Don’t Like Mondays, though not necessarily in that order!
Where it mattered, Geldof also offered a few words to explain the story behind the music, the most interesting being Banana Republic and Scream In Vain which, incidentally, were among his best numbers on the night!
In the end, tired as I was, I couldn’t help but smile on my way home. It had, after all, been a great night out, albeit one that might have turned out even better with a little more attention to detail in the backstage organisation, the sound department (Bohemian Rhapsody gaffe, anyone?), the blessed congested bars… oh, and yes, perhaps more Maltese talent instead of so many tribute bands! Cheers, YMCA – looking forward to a bigger, better event next time!