Iona Napier
IT certainly wasn’t an ‘Ordinary world’ on the first day of the biggest ever Gibraltar Music Festival when Paloma Faith believed she was in Spain.
The British singer greeted the crowds with a rip-roaring ‘Hola Espana’ and also claimed that it was ‘great to be somewhere half-British and half-Spanish’.
The 34-year-old from Hackney, famous for her haunting ballads such as ‘Only love can hurt like this’ may have been expected to know better, especially given that her father is Spanish.
But the crowd seemed to be on too much of a high to mind, with a huge turn-out, singing along and cheering loudly when she gave a lesson in ‘peace’.
1980s legends Duran Duran brought the curtain down on yesterday’s event with panache, and an emotional Tom Odell smashed his piano to the floor to complete a soulful performance.
The lineup was star-studded with performances from The Feeling, Reggae group Third World and a Gibraltar-flag draped Lawson, who stressed how excited they were to be invited back for a second time.
“It’s incredible to be here again, we love Gibraltar and we’ll be out there in the crowd partying with you guys later,” said lead vocalist Andy Brown.
This year’s Festival showcases around 50 acts performing between three stages.
Saturday saw Spanish rock stars Estopa and last-minute-confirmed Little Mix bring the crowds on their feet, dancing and singing along in the balmy September heat.
Today’s festival lineup is equally impressive with performances from Kings of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs, Ella Henderson, James Bay, Gabrielle and Madness.
Paloma Faith just managed to anger everyone calling them Spanish. Which is ignorant at best.
but gibrltar is spanish land the british have just stolen it from them.