My all time favourite, SS, invited me to go to the Gibraltar Music Festival on the 7th September. It was all very last minute, so I was lucky to get a ticket! It was only their 2nd year and I was super excited to go to a festival so close to home.
Gibraltar is only an hour drive away from Marbella and has been in the British press lately regarding the border disputes with the Spanish. This is an old on-going conflict and I'm not about to bore you with a political discussion here, but it is always hard seeing your two nations fighting against one another like little school kids.
I was worried about how the Spanish might sabotage the festival but we parked in Spain and then walked across the border without any issues. I love the fact you literally have to walk or drive across the Gibraltar airport runway to get in to the centre. It's quite surreal sharing your pavement with a bunch of airplanes!
The festival was held at the Victoria Stadium and could probably be heard across the whole of Gibraltar due to this geographically small British territory! We had the impressive Gibraltar rock as our backdrop and got a pretty good spot with a direct view of the stage. We set up camp with our very own picnic blankets and got ready to enjoy the 12 hour festival.
S's family and friends came with us so it was a full family affair. The little ones were so cute and super excited about seeing Olly Murs (so were S and I!).
The line up for the festival was great: Lawson, Texas, Olly Murs and Emeli Sande, plus a whole bunch of up and coming local bands: Guy Valarino, Orange Peel and Metro Motel. Even La Oreja de Van Gogh, one of Spain's top selling bands, was going to be playing the main stage. It just goes to show music knows no politics.
There were a load of local food and drink stalls which made it feel like the whole of Gibraltar was welcoming us into their homes and their culture. The sound of English and Spanish being spoken everywhere was like music to mine and S's ears. We felt we could finally speak Spanglish here without everyone looking at us funny. The only bad part is that we could no longer sneakily talk in a foreign language about something as everyone could understand us here!
The only thing they might need to work on for next year is getting their barcode scanner to work at all the doors. As I had purchased my ticket the night before I didn't have time to print it off and just downloaded their ticket code. We tried going through the side entry which had no queues and was nearest the border. However, the internet was only working at the main entrance which meant I had to walk all the way round the venue and queue in the massive line to get in through the barcode scanner.
We drank Tinto de Verano's all day, one of my favourite Spanish drinks. Just equal parts of Vino Tinto (red wine) and Limon (Fanta Lemon) to make the most refreshing drink, and danced the day and night away.
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| Gabrielle Aplin |
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| Gabrielle Aplin |
Equipped with the right footwear. I've had my Converse for 3 years now and are hands down still my comfiest shoes.
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| Lawson |
S and I both fell in love with Lawson's drummer. Adam Pitts you are dreamy!
This is S's very stylish Mummy.
Texas were brilliant!
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| Texas |
Just a little bit too loud for the young ones...
Then we took some shameless selfies.
When we wanted a break from the main stage we wandered over to the 2nd stage and watched the very talented Guy Valarino play an acoustic set. He was awesome!
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| Guy Valarino |
S and I got tired. So we decided to check out the Chill Out area.
Comfortable sofas, cocktails and this really cool acoustic set. We almost had a little siesta!
We didn't chill for too long as Olly Murs was coming up next!
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| Olly Murs |
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Olly Murs
Meet this cute brother and sister. He was too short to see over the crowds, so his sister kept giving him a piggy back so he could watch Olly Murs. It was precious.
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| Olly Murs |
After Olly gave an amazing performance, full of energetic numbers, crazy dance moves and awesome audience interaction, we all got a bit tired so decided to watch Emeli Sande from the comfort of our own blanket at the back of the stadium.
Although she is not my favourite artist, her voice really is amazing.
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| Emeli Sande |
Next year's festival has already been announced for the 6th September 2014 and you will definitely be seeing me there next year. It can only be bigger and better!
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