Ira Losco does support act for Elton John

Ira Losco recently returned from one of the biggest highlights of her tour of Germany - as the support act for Elton John.

Ms Losco was booked as the only support act for Elton John in his only stadium concert in Germany this year. She also performed an acoustic set, again as the only support act to Katie Melua.

This was the second part of Ms Losco's promotional tour in Germany following performances she gave in the summer festivals on the same stage as singers like Ronan Keating, Nena, Jimmy Sommerville, Fragma and Nova Space.

Paul Zammit Cutajar of Bridge Productions said the Radio SAW tour was a very important promotional campaign.

"It takes her to various cities in Germany where she can share her music with wide audiences in each city that average 2,500 to 3,500. This enables her to build a good, solid fan-base," he said.

The Bielefeld area, where the Elton John concert was being held, was struck by panic at the last moment when it started pouring and the equipment got wet. Ms Losco walked on the stage and started talking to the 17,000 audience, getting them to put their hands in the air. The crowd immediately warmed to Ms Losco and within minutes the show started and she and her band gave one of the best performances to date.

With most of the band returning to Malta, Ms Losco set off to Stuttgart for the Katie Melua concert. Staged in an amphitheatre, in the middle of a park, the event was a 4,500 sell-out.

Ms Losco had met Ms Melua last year on a TV show where both of them were performing.

Ms Melua, who has topped the UK charts for the past six weeks, went on to win an Echo Award in Germany.

"It's really great for Katie and Ira to be performing on the same stage again. This really was a challenge as it was our first-ever acoustic set in Germany. Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end," Mr Zammit Cutajar said.

Ms Losco also caught the attention of Radio SWR3, which is arguably Germany's largest radio station.

The single Get Out is getting high rotation on radio in Germany and is expected to be released in the first week of September.

On her return to Malta, Ms Losco released the first new single Everyday from her forthcoming album, by the same name. The album is scheduled for release in late October. The single, together with other songs on her new album, was co-written in Sweden with well-known songwriters who also write for chart-topping stars.

Ms Losco will be performing some of the new songs from her next album, live with her band, at The Farsons Great Beer Festival on Saturday, after which she will again set off for Germany for four weeks.