’The event that wrapped up all the hard work put together by the organisations took place last night, The KSU Pepsi Campus Fest ’14. This year the event adopted an eastern Moroccan theme, with the slogan, “Marrakech taught me colour”. With an entire tent dedicated to embracing Moroccan culture, KSU definitely lived up to this idea! The chill out area featured a variety of local delicacies, traditional clothes, (both on display and modelled by fellow students) whilst also giving people the opportunity to try some AMAZING Moroccan tea and get traditional henna tattoos.
Of course, there were other stalls accompanying the Moroccan chill out area which included some stands present since the beginning of Freshers’ Week such as The Hot Sausage Company, Badass Burgers, Kombi Bar and RivaReno Icecream. However, the most important of all were the six stands run by volunteers, which throughout the whole event, along with others (about 90 volunteers) in different areas were helping out throughout the whole night. We asked a fellow volunteer, Monique Dimech Genuis, what led her to become a volunteer this year. She said that last year, she wanted to be more involved and since taking part in Students’ fest, she kept being involved in KSU events.
As well as colour, the night celebrated local talent more than ever before! An 89.7 Bay stage was introduced which led to an even longer line-up! This included The New Victorians, Relikc, The Crowns, Airport Impressions, Forty Days of Rain and Lucy’s Last. The introduction of the new stage also ensured that transitions between bands were short and smooth sailing, so there was never a dull moment. With some well-known bands and others which are still fresh on the scene, all the bands gave brilliant performances and contributed to making the event a great success! We also had the pleasure to get some quick comments from the bands.
The New Victorians
The New Victorians opened up the event and kicked it off with a cover for "It’s Time’ by Imagine Dragons along with other covers and their original work. The one that stood out the most was definitely "Dustpile’ whose lyrics were written a long time ago and now they have just released its music video. They had a jam packed year which included the previously mentioned music video, finishing their album, performing at The Farsons Great Beer Festival, and recently, Rockestra. To them was a great learning experience and the fact that they were performing on Rockestra’s stage was overwhelming!
Relikc
Relikc started their act with "Royals’ by Lorde. As Keith Zammit put it, the band had been "hibernating’, since they changed the drummer and were all thinking as a band what the future holds for them and if they should continue making music. They kicked it off again this year. At the moment, they are working on some original work so as to release an album. One of their songs, "Prime time’ whose lyric video was released this year, was written by the bassist and was quickly released since they had everything planned out for it. Their experience at The Farsons Great Beer Festival was their fourth time and to be back on that stage was amazing and similar to yesterday night!
The Crowns
The Crowns were jamming to their originals and cover versions of various songs from "Night Visions’ by Imagine Dragons to their song, "Someone else’, which is featured in the Bay Top 10. The lead singer, Victorio Gauci, said that it is simply amazing to have local support from the fans and the local radio station, but to be in the chart is even better! The Crowns have had quite a busy year, everywhere they went had a different atmosphere and audience. Always giving their 100%. However, their favourite event was The Music & Steel Festival which had the best vibe and atmosphere. This was their 3rd time performing at the campus fest, their first time in 2010 was their first performance and they were still excited to perform again yesterday.
Airport Impressions
Airport Impressions closed off the night by featuring various singles from their new album "Mariette’ which was released earlier this year. Their style includes a blend of pop and rock. Being one of Malta’s leading bands and having various hits on the Bay Top 10 chart, Airport Impressions did not fail to include some classics which are always a crowd pleaser resulting into the crowd singing along to their all-time favourites.
Forty Days of Rain
We spoke with Brendan Jackson from Forty Days of Rain who was part of Scream Daisy. He has been making music for the masses for a long time. "Strings left to Fray’ is their newly debuted single and is their new experience to reach out to younger crowds. The band has a commitment to its members. They are older than others, however, they have a new found excitement to reach new levels thanks to their new bassist who is quite young and brought back the energy or as Jackson put it, "a new mojo’.
Lucy’s Last
Lucy’s Last are a new aspiring band. The lead singer, Mia Scerri appropriately answered, “Ugh, men” when we asked how would she describe the band. She also added that their style is a variety of classic rock, alternative, blues and sometime heavy. However, new projects are in motion for Lucy’s Last which are mainly alternative rock blues. Their new video, "Jenna’, caused quite the stir, however, her story is all in the lyrics. The other band members had some plans for the night which primarily included that the sound works, good drinking, having fun and being able to reach out to new audiences.