Just when you thought it's all over

Bryan Adams played to the biggest-ever rock audience in Malta. Tenors Joseph Calleja and José Carreras shook the foundations of Mdina and Valletta and Robert Plant shook his locks for the first edition of the Blues and Wine Festival. The Valletta Waterfront swayed to The Wailers and Zucchero last night sent thousands of his fans into overdrive.

Just when you thought the musical extravaganza was over, Malta is bracing itself for the "biggest-ever" music festival for the Isle of MTV summer festival on the Floriana granaries on Thursday.

"It's like the Festivalbar for Europe, only bigger," organiser Owen Spiteri told The Times.

Spanish heart throb Enrique Iglesias, R&B icon Akon and pop-rock band Maroon 5 will each star on the night for a 30- to 40-minute performance.

MTV only confirmed the line-up last month to ensure the hottest stars of the moment. In fact, all three stars are dominating most of the Top 10 charts worldwide.

Grammy award-winning artiste Enrique Iglesias has enjoyed a monumental return to the world stage, after he spent a three-year hiatus crafting his latest album Insomniac. He will be the first of the international acts to take to the stage at about 9 p.m.

Capturing their first of two Grammys as Best New Artiste and going on to sell more than 10 million albums worldwide, Maroon 5 won plaudits with the hybrid rock/R&B and are now back with the new album It Won't Be Soon Before Long. Akon made an explosive return to the international music scene last year with his latest album Konvicted.

They will be preceded by Malta's own pop star Ira Losco and rock outfit Winter Moods as DJs like Tony Toni, Pierre Cordina, Ruby, Miss Roberta, Joseph Armani and J Joy complete the line-up.

The organisers are expecting over 20,000 revellers to swarm to the festival, which is free of charge. Most English language schools have postponed their evening's activities to enable students to attend the festival.

Though the MTV generation normally spans the ages 14-30, Mr Spiteri says that such a big event should reach to a wider audience.

"This is going to be the biggest-ever music festival with an A-list line-up."

The government is coughing up €700,000 for the event, which includes €300,000 that will be tied to advertising Malta on MTV stations across Europe. Some of the filming will focus on Malta's beaches and historical monuments and a camera will even be placed on top of the Floriana church to shoot the Grand Harbour.

The footage will be broadcast in an hour-long special to MTV's 166 million homes in Europe in September.