The Week of Concerts in Gozo

We attended a series of concerts in Gozo. It was actually a non-stop week of music! The Cultural ministry of Gozo puts on a ton of free concerts in different town squares all summer.

I want to remember them all so am limiting myself to one or 2 photos per night.

Steve often does a short clip video where he pans the area so you can see a 360 degree view of where we are. I'm going to include those too.

Monday - Cash and Band by the Bridge in Marsalforn

Memorable bits and pieces

• I love how you can order drinks (soft or hard) and just sit at a table all night enjoying the sea breeze and the live music. (We even brought in take out pizza from down the street 😀)
• We also met some of Suzy and Michael's Maltese friends. She is a teaching assistant at the elementary school in Gozo. We had some interesting conversations about the similarities and differences between school in Malta and in Canada.
• And of course there was Cash and Band who we've missed hearing over the last two summers.

Tuesday - Joseph Calleja and Placido Domingo Concert in Malta - There was just too much to include for two pictures...I did a whole separate blog post for this one...you can read about that here: 

Joseph Calleja and Placido Domingo

Thursday - Roundhouse Kick in Xaghra

• Today we had a nice couples massage and pedicures at the day spa.
• Then dinner and drinks in Xaghra Square. We met more of Suzy and Michael's friends who told us they are going to Kenya for the cold months this winter. Everyone just keeps telling us how cold it gets (15 degrees celsius... can you believe it!?!?) Anyway, maybe when we retire here and climatize I'll need to remember that Kenya is a nice winter choice from Malta 😀
• The local historical society put on a drama/dance to tell us about the history of Xaghra. I thought it was so sweet how invested all ages are in preserving the history of their village.
• And of course we loved hearing Roundhouse Kick, and what I like to call the "Danny Show". Steve was thrilled to listen to Danny's numerous guitar solos... especially Purple Rain at the end of the show.

Friday - Mgarr - Cash and Band

• Tonight we had more lovely drinks and snacks down in Mgarr
• Cash and Band were playing again. It's almost like we are becoming groupies...
• Even though the ministry set up the stage in the parking lot, the backdrop was still stunning!

Saturday - DCapitals Big Band with special guest Cristina Ramos - in the Citadella Ditch

• This is a free concert put on every year in the Citadella ditch (basically like the moat). I feel like I'm a broken record about the ambience of this place, but honestly it never gets old! This year the special guest was Cristina Ramos... yes... the Cristina Ramos that Steve loves watching on youtube!
• They had very few seats available and it was first come first serve... so Steve went in a couple hours early and saved our seats with various items from our bag

• We enjoyed all the music, especially Cristina Ramos. She is the opera/rock singer. She starts out like she is singing opera and then switches into hard rock. 

• At the end of the show Steve wanted to get a photo with her. In true Steve Marta fashion he walked backstage like he owned the place and she happily posed for a photo with him!

Sunday - Nadur Square - Cash and Band

• Okay, it is official we are groupies for this band. We thoroughly enjoy their music and the ambience of sitting in a village square enjoying a drink while listening to free live music. It also helps that everywhere we go the drinks are incredibly cheap!

Side note: If you are wondering if we are safe... Here is a photo of the police station on what I expect is one of the busiest nights in the year in Nadur. It's completely dark... if the police aren't worried, I'm not worried either!

Monday - Opera vs. Pop in the Ministry Building

• This is one of the few concerts that we did have to buy tickets for. At 25 Euros a ticket it was still a bargain!
• We had amazing seats in the third row! Thank you Suzy Triple Q for organizing us yet again, and securing amazing seats. I don't know that I've ever been that close to a performing opera singer!
• There were a variety of singers singing with the very excellent Gozo Youth Orchestra. (We aren't sure why they are called the youth orchestra, the ages ranged from about 14 to definitely older than us!) They are an extremely professional sounding orchestra... the word youth in their name leads you to believe otherwise... but trust me they are terrific! They did a selection of opera and pop songs for about 2 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert!

Here's a quick video of the venue:

We have more concerts to come... but not one every night like this week! The opportunities for culture and music are one of my favourite things about Gozo