The X Factor runners-up Reggie N Bollie will be joining the New Year’s Eve celebrations in St George’s Square, Valletta.

The Ghanaian R&B duo, finalists in last year’s edition of the British music competition The X Factor, will perform alongside popular Maltese acts The Big Band Brothers and Ozzy Lino for the sixth edition of the national celebration.

DJ Mykill, accompanied by a live percussion band, will round off the evening.

Some 70,000 attended last year’s festivities, and organisers are promising an even bigger show this year, with buskers and live screens spilling out from St George’s Square and bars and restaurants pulling out the stops for those unable to get to the heart of the action.

The Valletta 2018 Foundation, which is organising the event, announced today that build-up to the night will start earlier than ever, with a projected light show– introduced last year – on the Grandmaster’s Palace façade,  running non-stop from December 23, and a Christmas parade on December 29.

V18 chairman Jason Micallef said the annual event had established itself as a key part of the broader regeneration of the city, and would this year also serve to usher in Malta’s presidency of the European Council, which begins on January 1.

Culture minister Owen Bonnici hailed the event's success, which he compared to similar, longstanding, events in European capitals like London and Vienna, and dedicated this year’s celebrations to the residents of the capital city.

“Residents feel more deeply about this city than anyone else, and they are a vital part of the success of the V-18 project,” the minister said.

“We want them to feel they are an intimate part of what is being achieved.”