Praise and complaints on new festival venue

The Song for Europe festival's new venue - a gigantic tent in Tà Qali - has been welcomed by some and hated by others.

After years of being held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta the organising committee, Maltasong, decided to shift the festival to a bigger place to allow more people to attend.

Year after year the organising committee has had to face the wrath of people who missed out on tickets. But this time there were 4,000 tickets available compared to the usual 1,500.

The organisation ran smoothly and there were no major mishaps despite the rough weather which threatened to blow everything away.

After a sell-out audience on both nights of the festival, Maltasong chairman Charlò Bonnici said that going back to the MCC was no longer an option.

"MCC was a great and comfortable place but it had become too small for the festival. After we managed to pack both nights we will continue holding the contest in bigger premises," he said.

The stage, designed by Pierre Portelli, was much bigger and the mammoth task of arranging the lighting and sound in the tent was left in the hands of experts Nexos Lighting Technology Ltd and Wave Enterprises Ltd.

Mr Bonnici said the shift of venue was an experiment he felt had worked well. The committee would now be analysing the constructive criticism to see how to perfect things.

Television presenter Antonella Vassallo praised the organisation and welcomed the shift from MCC, even though the seats were not as comfortable.

"Abroad such festivals are held in a similar set-up and at least this time round there was no battle for tickets. I guess my only suggestion for next time is to make the stage higher so that guests will have an clearer view," she said.

Home Affairs Parliamentary Secretary George Pullicino too welcomed the change and said the premises gave more people the opportunity to watch the festival live.

On the other hand, Valerie Scicluna from Xemxija complained about the lack of road signs to the venue on Friday.

The black plastic chairs, she added, were very uncomfortable and placed too close together so patrons had to sit with their arms in front of them.

"Apart from that I was sitting in row 24, and the sound from that position was so bad that I had to leave by the first break."

Another dissatisfied patron was Marita Saliba from Cospicua who was annoyed that she paid Lm10 to be seated near a door with a freezing draught blowing through.

"Apart from that I could not see a thing from my seat so I decided to leave halfway through the festival," she said.

Mr Bonnici said they would be taking note of all the comments to ensure such problems were tackled by next year's festival.