Will.i.am will be the star of the Isle of MTV

BlackEyedPeas front man Will.i.am was announced yesterday as the headline act for Isle of MTV Malta 2012.

The sixth Isle of MTV Malta, which will be held at the Fosos in Floriana on June 26, is expected to be the biggest yet.

As the largest free open air concert in Europe, it will attract an audience of about 50,000.

The date was chosen so as not to clash with the Euro 2012 football championships.

Antonio Canto, Senior Vice President of MTV, said the concerts have been hugely successful in helping artistes break into the European marketplace.

Lady Gaga first performed at Isle of MTV 2008 as a little-known opening act.

The next year she returned as a headline act, with a large thank you to the Maltese public.

“When she came back that second year she was a megastar and said her success in Europe was largely due to that concert in Malta,” a spokesman for the concert said.

Isle of MTV has also largely contributed to attracting a different demographic of tourists to Malta.

Culture Minister Mario de Marco said: “The perception used to be that Malta was for older tourists but we also needed to bring in the younger generation. We have now proved that Malta is a happening destination.”

The number of tourists under the age of 24 has increased by about 88 per cent since 2006, the year before Isle of MTV started in Malta.

Equally important was that Malta has since become increasingly associated with different brands of music trends. Besides the Isle of MTV concerts, Malta now also holds an annual jazz festival, a baroque festival (the next of which is to be held in January 2013) and various other classical and contemporary music concerts, added Dr de Marco.

Mr Canto was pleased to recognise that the success of Isle of MTV in Malta had been completely unique. This was largely down to each concert being broadcast on every MTV channel across the world on the Friday two weeks later.

With such an internationally renowned star to headline this year, its success is likely to keep on growing. The seven-time Grammy Award winner is scheduled to release a new first single this year, featuring Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger.