Marc's Blog: festivals - Back at Open Air Festival Malta, 2026 Edition

Just 2 years ago, Rong had a pretty stellar lineup for Malta. It is only 3 days away from EDC Vegas, so it's kind of difficult to do both, and last year it just wasn't possible, but I gave it a shot again this year :)

Madwave!

5th time in Malta for Trance, is it time that I move there to save on airfare? :)

This year again, it was a packed lineup:

Thursday, Uno, Malta With Bonus Rain

Day #1 when I had just gotten off the plane, was slightly confusing as it didn't say where to go, but thankfully people on the FB group confirmed the room names were at Uno, where most of the festival took place. While Uno features a multi-stage layout similar to Gianpula Village, it felt a bit smaller this year, probably due to Rong's success and the number of tickets sold (it was either sold out, or very close to it). That's of course great news for the festival, I just hope Uno will spread the load a bit better with their available space, as it often felt somewhat cramped, or a bigger venue like Gianpula will be chosen.
My memory of the Uno security folks was that they were very chill and welcoming, but this year was a bit less so. Obviously I bring in more unusual things than the average person, but they were not super ok with it this year and woudln't let me in, until a lovely Rong person came to the rescue and told them things were ok (thank you!). After that, they let me in and were cool the remaining days.

Once in, the party started in the treehaus room, until later when roots/classics got opened:

Treehaus had lots of back to back sets. By then, I didn't have the schedule with timeslots (only A-Z with no idea who was playing when), so half the time I didn't know who was playing, and the rest it was DJs I could recognize.

so lovely to see Edele Andaya again

as well as Maria Healy

Then, against all odds, it actually rained halfway through the night (not in the forecast), not an extreme amount, but enough to get wet and enough rain for me to go hide since my LED stuff of course doesn't love water. It did get weird when Uno staff somehow decided to literally trap people who were in the non covered half (classics) and didn't allow people out except a few at a time when they felt it was somehow ok :-(

Friday, Boat Party + Back at Uno

The day started with a boat party, which I didn't join this time around as I've already done it 3 different times, and didn't feel like doing it again (the view is good, but I've seen it, and the actual space on the boat and music/dancing quality isn't that great). This was nothing wrong with Rong, simply that I've done enough Malta boat parties by now, they are pretty much all the same.

So, here are the pictures from Uno after the boat party was over:

Saturday, Crowded Café del Mar

Back at cafe del mar, of energy 52 fame :) It's a great place to lounge and watch the sunset, but honestly it's pretty poor for the amount of crowd and being able to see the stage and DJ playing. Somehow they didn't want to open any of the shade umbrellas this year again, but they had a nice pool if you partake in that, and I'll also admit their restaurant is very good and reasonably priced.

the view does not suck ;)

but it got crowded, quickly

unfortunately, not a real sunset that day due to clouds

Great to see Genix, again:

And Seb Fontaine, whom I had never seen in person:

Honestly I had a good time at Café del Mar last time, but this time there ere too many people (Rong is victim of its success), and personal thing for me: there was pretty much 0 shade the whole day, which is a big deal for people who medically need to avoid extended sun exposure. You could go hide in the restaurant, but only so much as the sun would even get inside the restaurant depending on the hours. I realize not everyone cares but "more shade please".

Once the sun set, it was a lot more fun for me, but there was very heavy wind the whole day, which may have cancelled and rescheduled fireworks to the next day, but the lineup was fire. The only downside was how crowded it was, Cdm is simply not that big, and the layout is very wide, so most of the people on the side could not see which DJ was playing. On the plus side, the repeater speakers worked well enough

Sunday, Turtuga Malta/Little Armier Beach

Sunday started at a far away beach, Armier Beach, abot 45 to 60mn away for many at the end of a dicey barely two late road. I was a bit worried to end up in some remote empty beach, but sure enough Rong installed a nice stage on the beach, but again, hot sun with no shade at all, which was unfortunate downside for me. That said, I also believe it was the first year for that stage, so things already worked quite well considering, and hopefully some shade will be on the menu in future years :)

this was way way better than Cafe de mar, big stage that everyone could see

But as the prior picture, as I said, it was far and few people made it early, I think people started arriving by 15:00 or so.

I arrived in time for my friend Bogdan Vix, of Romania Untold fame:

romania, Represent!

Amy wiles

John 00 Fleming

Ciaran Mcauley & Markus Schulz

Ciaran played Beachball!

and Markus Schulz played beautiful trance

many people liked the beach more than me :)

Mauro Picotto

I left soon after Mauro started as I couldn't get into that music, had had enough hiding from the sun, and getting back to my room and Uno was around 1H on the road, not counting my having to pack my luggage to be ready to run out right after Uno for a 05:55 flight home monday morning (i.e. that same night). Sadly I didn't know that fireworks would be shot after the sun set, so I missed those.

Sunday, Uno

Last night, last party, two rooms at Uno, lots of big names, packed lineup for sure. I definitely wanted to be in both rooms for multiple slots:

Craig!

Stage hopping all night as both had great music

And then Fadi came to deliver another wonderful set, which I should have recorded. There is so much love in his music, and many of the tracks he played were epic, including closing with "we control the sunlight vs Napoleon" which it turns out he had already played at his EDC Las Vegas Sunrise Set in 2016. Such a wonderful mashup!

as always, he graciously took a few pictures before leaving

And Giusseppe!

But the party goes on:

Ruben de Ronde

and Maddix ended mainstage

Unfortunately, some not so good thing happened at Uno that I won't go into here, so I had to leave early and missed most of Maddix, but thankfully I see him several times a year, including at home in San Francisco where he came recently

Conclusions/Thoughts

First, like any trance festival that actually has trance and in the case of Rong, top DJs that must cost money, Rong did a great job and that matters. For the rest, I'll give random thoughts below:

Lineup, lineup, lineup: if you care about big name DJs, Rong wins for sure. The lineup was stacked and clearly had to cost a pretty penny (hence Rong also costing more, which is understandable and fair)

Lineup order: I am not a professional at this (and by that I mean I'm sure some artists refuse to play early slots or sometimes refuse to play before or after another artist, not counting flight times and other such restrictions making scheduling complicated), but I think some ordering tweaks could have been done, like putting Cosmic Gate before Craig Connelly and have Aly and Fila right after Craig. Both Craig and Fadi were high energy trance, while Cosmic Gate was not, so it broke the flow for me a bit. Similarly, Mauro Picotto that was pretty heavy techno, I would have put after Billy Giles who is more of a mix of trance and techno. Unfortunately I had a hard time enjoy Mauro (too hard for me) and left to change and get ready for Uno (which was far away), and missed Billy as well as unannounced fireworks.

Speaking of announcements, last minute communication felt lacking, few people had the magic schedule with set times which wasn't posted on the FB group and I saw multiple people carrying a schedule with incorrect set times and wondering what happened. It would be helpful to have an announce group with last minute updates, schedule changes, info on fireworks if they are to happen, or got moved due to high winds, something like: last minute update posts on the facebook group, or a whatsapp group, or twitter, or Emails with last minute pushes/updates

this is better than

than this

Crowding: I felt like Rong was a bit victim of its success. I think it either sold out or got close to selling out (VIP was sold out very early as VIP space, like the rest, was limited). I felt that all nights were packed to capacity, and it was often hard to get around.

VIP at Uno had a nice platform on the side, but it wasn't that big and the view was very much sideways. There was a much better elevated central space int the back, but it looked like some skydeck area with virtually no one in there, shame. VIP at Café del Mar was very much on the side, you simply couldn't see the stage from there. And no VIP at Tortuga. For VIP ticket holders reading this, please tell me if I'm missing anything on other VIP perks

I read and heard multiple complaints about drinks/alcohol at Uno. I don't drink alcohol so I can't say, but I heard things about weird taste, people wondering what actually was in their drink, and a few saying they were overcharged/double charged (can't say if it was an honest mistake for just 2 people or more widespread).

But, but, but, Rong got rid of the mandated wristband money, which was a huge win. Now you could pay with normal credit cards/tap by phone and not worry about an alternate fake money system and all the issues that come with it. I think Lumi and Rong are actually the only festivals I know who came back to regular money (not counting the ones that never used it like all Insomniac Festivals in the US and many many more who know that tap to pay works for virtually everyone). So, seriously, thank you Rong!

I realize that each festival promoting company has deals with certain clubs, but I had something else fairly unfortunate happen at Uno from their sheer negligence, which they handled very poorly. Without giving details, and given the crowding of the existing rooms, I'm not a huge fan anymore. There are many clubs in Malta (and I do mean many), maybe Rong will consider other ones? (and yes, I'm sure things were fine as is for others, as always I only share my personal experience and opinion, not a universal truth ;) ).

Tortuga Malta/Little Armier Beach was actually a great stage, putting the lack of shade aside, but it was pretty far. The first few hours were mostly empty as people took a while to get there. Opening DJs for the first 3 hours only played for a few dozen people.

Sun and shade: for those who wonder, I've unfortunately had around 10 skin cancers surgically removed in the last many years. Yes, sunscreen, but it can stop working before you know, or you can miss a spot. Don't laugh I had one cancer on an eyelid where I must have not put sunscreen so it didn't get in my eyes (that stings for a long time), and one behind the ear. But enough about me, it would be wonderful to have shade at each venue for day festivals.

Security was more tough/rough than the first year I went. They were not lumi or creamfields terrible, which is another level of bad, but it didn't feel that friendly anymore. On the plus side, it was mostly the same folks, and after they knew me, they were a bit more chill. I do remember that in the past security was local Maltese who are known for their friendliness and being welcoming while still doing their job, but this year it looked like security was contracted out to an external company that just didn't feel the same. As it happens, I wrote this from Euphoria Malta, 2.5 weeks later, and Security at all other clubs, including Gianpula, was much nicer and more chill than Uno.

Uber and Bolt were plentiful in Malta, but I still left a little bit early every night per fear of not getting any if I stayed until the end. I'm not sure there were busses for people who bought the full package. Please let me know if you know and I'll update this page.

Out of the 3 Malta Trance festivals (along with Euphoria Weekender and Captured), Rong still win with the best lineup as far as big name artists are concerned. I can't name them all as there were many, but Fadi (Aly and Fila) played another set that made me completely melt, Craig Connelly played another banger set, that should have been followed by Fadi, Ferry Corsten of course, and John 00 Fleming (mis-spelled in the official schedule). There were many more and I can't list them all. Ooooh, and let's not forget Daxson's first return to the decks after his surgery, that was also fantastic.

All in all, comments I saw at times that it was the "wrong" festival, putting aside the funny play on words, it delivers on a packed lineup, and that cannot be denied. I do feel like it outgrew some of the venues somewhat (too small for the crowd), and set times can be communicated a bit better, but otherwise I'd still say it's a solid festival for what it delivers and I have to give thanks and gratitude for the hospitality this year again and being able to see great DJs and friends again, as well as make new ones: