The long hot political summer we are facing on the eve of an election is being somewhat compensated with the long list of music concerts involving international guests that have already started and will continue till late August.
Last Saturday, the Granaries in Floriana were the venue of yet another Joseph Calleja concert, with the Maltese tenor once again delighting his many Maltese fans with a string of arias from his growing repertoire. Calleja’s magnificent voice literally filled Malta’s largest open space.
The concert – in which Ronan Keating and Gigi d’Alessio also took part – followed the Isle of MTV spectacular show which Europe will see in the coming weeks. That catered more for the younger generations, although it attracted older people who probably thought they could go back to their younger days at least for one night.
The concerts will not stop here. There are others which will take place in the next few weeks, starting off with the Pink Floyd Tribute Band, and continuing with Loreen, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in May, Laura Pausini, Smokie and Antonello Venditti. This is not to mention other cultural activities that will take place with the participation of Maltese artists.
No doubt, there is something for everybody, and the Maltese have always attended these activities in great numbers, encouraging the organisers to go for top-class performers.
There is one hitch, however, and this is the fact that to bring over these musicians it takes a lot of money, and this means that the ticket prices for these shows are quite on the high side. With so many concerts concentrated within a few weeks during summer, this might push some people into making choices as to which concerts they can attend – because it is too expensive for them to buy tickets for all of the concerts.
Still, it must be pointed out that the Maltese have grown accustomed to have so much to choose from each and every summer. It started off with one mega-concert every summer, and it has escalated to having a number of them, almost one every week during the hotter months.
This is also helping our tourism industry, both in terms of exposure, such as through the Isle of MTV, and also through the number of people who fly to Malta to watch their favourite singers perform here.