After months of hype and discussion, a sea of festival goers arrived at Victoria Stadium for the annual Gibraltar Music Festival aka GMF. When we weren’t powering through the swamped festival grounds or being busy in the press pit, we headed out to see a plethora of musicians.

For video footage click here! and for photos click here!

‘’Reckless and satisfying. Through the thick, bombastic blasts and soaring screams, this year’s artists of the GMF took us to a whole new level of musical thrill, an experience that defines music in its rawest form.’’

Take a walk with us…

Saturday the 3^rd of September

Saturday afternoons sunny main stage was greeted with the incredible tunes of Frontiers, Concept, Nathan Sykes, Foxes, The Vamps, All Saints, Travis and finally NE-YO who all received a rather warm welcome from the dedicated fans at the barrier. Closing on the timelessly contagious tunes of NE-YO who are still spinning around in our heads, the #GMF crowd responds with glee and appropriate dance moves. ‘Let me Love You’ makes for an incredible singalong throughout the drenched #GMF goers and it’s not long before NE-YO is bringing up fans from the audience onto the stage and his demand is met with eagerness.

With short lived grey clouds dominating ahead, this didn’t darken the vibe as we move onto the next stage. The Gibtelecom stage where Dead City Radio, Jetstream, Enkalomaos, Toploader, Paul Young, Kt Tuntstall and Rosario are taking advantage of the space as they pull in an impressive crowd. With an interesting blend of melodies keeping us on our toes. A lot of our local bands appear time and time again at the #GMF and have definitely deserved a spot on that stage. Never failing to work the crowds in their ever charismatic ways.

Whilst the heat has led us all to melting point, the artists and the crowds aren’t holding back. Reckless and satisfying. Through the thick, bombastic blasts and soaring screams, this year’s artists of the GMF took us to a whole new level of musical thrill, an experience that defines music in its rawest form.

We are rather spoiled for choice this year as the Seaside Stage also represents Nadia Alvarez, Soulmates, The Modern Strangers, Passport to Stockholm, Adrian Pisarello and Tiggs Da Author, Aivan Cabrera & Francis Tirana, Dubulah, Tim Wheelan and D. Watssriot.

The last of our musical stages takes us to the Acoustic Stage where we are privileged to hear music from Layla Bugeja, Kristian Celecia, George Thursting, Gabriel Moreno, Cais and Leo Napier.

To add to the laughs and jokes at the festival this year, we were introduced to the Comedy Stage. It appears there was a little controversy when this was announced, as our GMF goers felt it took the festival away from music. This didn’t last on the day of the festival, however, once people saw just how privileged we are. We enjoyed stand up from Geoff Whitting, Dana Alexandar, Sully O’sullivan and Simon Evans.

For the benefit of the children we had a Circus Stage. It’s safe to say all our acts delivered with conviction with laughs and tears in equal measure from the festival grounds.

Sunday 4th of September

Sunday’s Main Stage is bought to life masterfully by a now typically phenomenal performance from Orfila and continued with Second Sons, Age of L.U.N.A, The Fratellis, Heather Small, Zara Larsson, Jess Glynne and finally the one and only Stereophonics never failing to command the increasing crowd with their stage persona which would happily suggest to the present numbers that these classic icons are going nowhere.

The Gibtelecom stage had the honor to present Omnibus, Holly April, Dan Owen, Macka B, Los Secretos, Europe and Bryan Ferry. Europe being an appropriate act after this years Brexit situation, taking us back to the votes as they owned ‘The Final Countdown’ they prove jam-packed with gorgeous energetic riffs to hold back the inevitable festival heat.

The Seaside Stage was welcomed with heightened expectation presenting Metro Motel, Olcay Bayir, Juan Zelada, Lawrence Taylor, Jake Isaac, Jeremy Loops, Cliché, Toby Mills, Jamie Renton and Afroquoi. A career-stretching set of acts wrapped in a satisfying wall of sound.

Last but most definitely not least, we enjoyed music from Ethan Rocca, Ale Victoria, Lucinda Sieger, Anna McLuckie and Sam Brookes on the Acoustic Stage.

Our comedy stage added the finishing touch to what was a phenomenal festival whose festival goers will remember in years to come! We are pleasured to enjoy stand up from Geoff Whitting, Matt Green, Nathan Caton and Paul Foot.
Overall, GMF 2016 offered a lot, with occasional questionable lighting quality issues through a small power cut in Jess Glynns performance, and, of course, the difficulty of getting around the swamp-like site. Despite this, incredible acts, incredible alternative entertainment with the Zip Lines, Tattoos, Food Parlours, Market Stalls and beyond. For now, as we relive the incredible tempo of this year’s phenomenal GMF, we shall wait in anticipation to see what next year has in store for us.

(We do not own the picture used on the heading of this article)