Ok, so I like electronic dance music, more specifically Trance. When I started in the 1990's, the US was a bit behind in that department.
Still, with San Francisco and San Jose nearby, I've had some opportunities to see some great EDM/Trance DJs. Back in the early 2000's, they sadly played club music in the US that was nowhere close to the hits they had composed and were known for, but over the years, as Trance started becoming more popular, those DJs finally started playing their good tunes in the US too, and maybe from 2004 on, it's only been getting better. Popsicle Halloween 2004 was really the beginning of great music parties in the San Francisco Area, and thankfully things have gotten even better since then
As a matter of fact, after another 10 years (2015 and beyond) the good news is that Trance has grown quite a following in the US, and places like the SF Bay Area, and while Trance has been declared dead a few times in the last 10 years, it's still going strong here.
Trance Family SF is definitely strong in the area, we've been getting more big trance parties every year, including many top DJs that come visit us what feels like every other week now (as of 2018-2019), and through those events, I made many friends in Trance Family SF. Thanks to you all.
Over those years, I got the chance to meet a few of my favourite DJs, including Armin more than once, and my last hobby has been to work on lights for my shirt and pants (version 3) and (version 4)
Rong Events is not new at festivals, but it was their first time organizing one in Malta, and it went really well. I think the best way you can summarize the festival is that it's a Malta version of Unkonscious in Thailand:
mostly by the beach/nice weather
some regular clubs and some beach clubs
multiple locations (4 total)
optional boat party
more intimate, easier to meet DJs smaller, scale festival, more cozy (like lumi used to be, but less today as it has grown)
2 stages at most. No major fomo of missing lots of sets every hour :)
plenty of partying at night with cool lights, lasers, fireworks (unlike lumi which is over 90% during the day in blazing sun and often with insufficient shade)
this is not a competitor to lumi, this is what lumi likely used to be when it was still small an more intimate, and before it became the maybe over big event it is today. Some will prefer the craziness of 4 stages 11H straight at lumi (puting aside the sound bleed and other issues with 2 stages) at lumi, while others will prefer 1 or 2 stages and less running around. To each their own.
Unkonscious was 6 days and more spread out (longer distances, up to 2H between places), Rong Malta was only 4 days and places were 30mn away at most (from Cafe del mar to Uno or the boat party pier).
Was 4 days not as good as 6? Oh boy no, 4 days was plenty. I had so much fun and was so dead at the end. Honestly 6 days of Unkonscious was almost gruesome, no I was good with 4. The 2 festivals of course do not compete that much because of how far away they are. Even for me in California, Thailand is still farther away by plane than Malta, and for Europeans Malta is of course a much easier hop.
The one slight downside of both festivals is it's a bit harder to figure out where to stay or whether to change hotels. In the case of Unkonscious, you had to move at least once (from Pattaya to Bangkok). In the case of Rong Open Air Festival Malta, things were close enough that you could stay anywhere and use bolt to get around within 20 to 30mn at most, not bad. The festival did come with a hotel package (Bora Bora hotel), but in hindsight it was probably not the best choice as most things happened at Uno, and I found the $150 "booking" fee in the package (added to the hotel price) a bit steeper than necessary.
Malta Day 1, Thursday: Bora Bora Hotel Pool Party: 15:00 to 22:00
Day 1 was easy if you stayed at the hotel, it was right there. If you were lucky enough with your room (I was not), you could see the stage and just enjoy the show from your patio, but either way you could just open the sliding door and enjoy from your room for a while if you wanted. The stage was simple but worked, and we narrowly avoided rain (just a tiny bit), so it was a good time up to the 22:00 curfew (not everyone in the hotel was part of the festival)
reorder closed that evening at 22:00
Video Summary of Day 1:
Malta Day 2, Friday: Uno Malta: 16:00 to 04:00
Day 2 was a combination of day party and night party at Uno, about 20mn away from Bora Bora:
the bars were well equipped
Our new swiss festival lover friends
Daxson threw a great set
finally got to see Alex Morph play again
and finally got to take this picture with him with an outfit I had gotten ready years ago
Always nice to see Lange, I've listened to him since the ASOT 100 days
Paul Van Dyk went next
and he graciously met the crowd after his set
Rob and Anna both from Dublin, got re-united after some 20 years :)
last time I saw Dave Pearse was 20 years ago in Ibiza
Scott Project ended the night
Video Summary of Day 2:
Malta Day 3, Saturday: Cafe Del Mar
Malta being the new Ibiza, they have all the famous Ibiza clubs, including of course Cafe Del Mar. And their Cafe del Mar is also absolutely gorgerous
surviving in the sun :)
our lovely new swiss friends
Woohoo, we got 2 more sets from Ruben
don't laugh, so many pictures, so many festivals, I have to keep up real time, or there is no way I can keep doing these reports before it's 3 months later and no one cares ;) I actually finished writing this festival report in the shuttles to/from EDC Vegas 4 days later ;)
And finally came the magical time of sunset
magical!
and to finsh the day party, a few bonus fireworks!
Uno had 2 stages, and easy to stage hop. Metta & Glyde were on stage 2:
And then, got so lucky to get another performance of gouryella, I was in heaven:
I wasn't prepared for it, so the first 10mn were hand recorded, and then I managed to do this for the last 50mn
the visuals are always the fun part for me
So, I really really love Gouryella and recorded the whole set (shaking goes away after 10mn):
Next, was key4050, John O Callaghan and Bryan Kearney:
Maria Healy on stage 2:
and the night went on until 04:00, but for me it was time for a bit of sleep :)
Video Summary of Day 3:
Malta Day 4, Sunday: Boat Party
The boat party was hard to get to, each time I looked for it online, it wasn't for sale, and then it got sold out quickly. The boat was not super big, so space was limited. It was nice and cozy and enjoyable to boat around the island and see its forts:
Anselli opened
Markus Schulz played most of the trip, nice set
nice views along the way
Liam Wilson took us home after Markus
Video Summary of Day 4 Boat Party:
Malta Day 4, Sunday Part 2: Uno Day Party
After the boat, the party was supposed to be at our hotel, Bora Bora, but when we got back there, we found out it had been moved to Uno. To be fair, Uno was a better club, but it would have been nice to have the party at our hotel and watch it from our room and hear it while we were packing our luggage to promptly get out sunday night/monday morning for an early flight out. Packed all the luggage and took a cab to Uno to catch the end of the day party (unfortunately missed some sets both due to the boat party and then the party being moved away from our hotel):
hi Craig!
Sander Van Doorn
To be honest, it got nicer as things got cooler, and at 22:00 the rest of Uno opened for the followup night party.
Malta Day 4, Sunday Part 3: Uno Night Party
So technically it was supposed to be part 3 (from Bora Bora to Uno), but ultimately it was a Uno for both. Liam Wilson whom we had just seen on the boat, opened the evening party:
Christina Novelli took over after that for a banging set:
she took time to meet many fans afterwards
FactorB, OMG, what a set. I wasn't ready for it, didn't get to record it outside of a few clips, not sure it was recorded, but pure joy it was:
he also went to meet the crowd afterwards
Then Aly and Fila did a lovely melody and dreamy set:
he also nicely met his fans afterwards
Giuseppe Ottaviani took over:
And I had just missed Maddix in SF because I had alrady gone to Europe but got to see his set in Malta:
And Will Atkinson closed the night. I was only able to stay for half his set due to having to run to the airport and catch the flight back home. As always, he was full of energy:
And boy, just like that, it was over. It went by so fast, but at the same time I was *sooo* exhausted at the end, of course with a huge smile on my face. Barely made it to the 2 planes home, and caught up on sleep there.
Video Summary of Day 4:
Pricing
The festival itself was reasonably priced, a few other things, less so. Random pictures that will answer your pricing questions:
merch was not cheap
alcohol was 'festival priced' :), water half the price of lumi
food was mostly ok, only downside is you couldn't buy any food anywhere without wristband money
How about the festival price? $188 for 4 days and all the parties (not including boat party) was honestly a very good price. The bora bora hotel package was overpriced in my opinion though. $250/night for a room here that ultimately wasn't well located for most parties except the first day, was not the best in hindsight, and I was not impressed by the additional $103 booking fee for the hotel only, which was totally non refundable or changeable (I booked the package early trusting that the hotel was the place to be, and when I realized later that not so much, I was told I was stuck with that package and no hotel refunds were possible, not even after losing the booking fee). That is honestly the only thing I regret getting, but the festival itself was super well priced, definitely fantastic value.
General Admission Festival Tickets 2024 - GA | Second Release: $188.28 ×2
BORA BORA HOTEL - Superior Triple Balcony Urban View May 8 - 13 2024: $1,035.52
Subtotal $1,412.08
General Admission | Second Release - Booking Fee $18.82
Superior Triple Balcony Urban View - Booking Fee $103.55
General Admission | Second Release - Booking Fee $18.82
Total: $1,553.27
Other Thoughts
Even though it was the first year, the festival sold out VIP and things like the boat party. Even regular tickets, it felt that they couldn't have sold a lot more without getting into capacity issues, so all it all, that was great: they sold plenty of tickets, hopefully made money, but not enough to have it packed and uncomfortable for us. I also give them credit for not selling more tickets than they had room for for things like VIP and boat party, that shows they care about the experience first, not making more money at all cost.
I do realize that after telling you I had a great time, if you all go and the organizers don't cap tickets, the event will get over crowded and less fun. I however do have reasonable hope they will do the right thing if this happens, and the good news is how many trance festivals we can choose from this year, so hopefully it will spread the attendee load and allow them to stay reasonably small and intimate.
Parting thoughts:
I went to this festival because after my terrible experience at lumi last year (I totally understand most people did have a good time there last year), I asked you all for suggestions and you gave this event, thank you. I had so much more fun than at lumi, loved the better variety, a lot less sun and more night, better food options, better organizers and much more. Sure, it didn't have 4 tracks every hour of plenty of music I would miss since I can only be at one stage at once anyway. Also, lumi had at least one stage that was terrible due to small size and sound bleed (sunset) and another one that was so so depending on the direction of the wind and the smell of the bathrooms right next to it. Honestly, I didn't miss any of that, one of 2 stages was a lot easier, and not dealing with the lumi "the customer is the enemy" bar bouncers security team, was very refreshing.
tap water in malta is supposed to be drinkable, but locals seem not to trust it somehow. There were no water fountains or refill stations at the festivals, just bottled water for sale. I know we are spoiled by Insomniac and all its US events for this, making sure everyone hydrates and limiting pointless plastic bottle waste is honestly a win win. You could refill water from bathrooms if you wanted, but given the uncertainty of the water safety, official water fountains would be better. That said, bottled water was half the price of lumi, and you could get other water if you really wanted, or get in and out anyway.
yes, in and outs were allowed at each venue every day, which was much appreciated and not true of many other festivals. Ok, maybe for the boat party, in and out required swimming in the ocean :)
The required wristband money was unfortunately the only big minus for me. While some festivals call it cashless and for our convenience, the ones that truly mean it take contactless credit cards and phone tap to pay (all US festivals I've been to, including eclipse festival that had optional wristband money, but also accepted contactless credit cards. Other festivals like lumi also do it. Even lumi, for all the issues I have with it, does do the right thing and take contactless credit cards and pay by phone. Unfortunately this one did not and required loading money on a wristband and trusting them to be a bank, which I don't really want to trust any festival to be. Being a bank is hard, and pretty much every festival gets it wrong in various ways. Getting money back was apparently possible but requited special work and only if it was more than $5. This is just extra work and worries that are not needed for a festival.
Security was top notch, more below...
Let's talk about security. The security staff was not a bunch of untrained bar bouncers. They looked like commando style military and I'm not saying this in a bad way. They looked highly trained and did a great job looking over the event, making sure people were safe and exercising restraint if they had to get involved. They looked friendly and were always helpful. That was about as good as I've ever seen anywhere. As a bonus, they didn't have pointless over the top searches focussed on stealing your sunscreen or beauty products, or tampons (yes, you probably know what other festival I'm referring to)
If you think this is a small deal, it's not. Security is a huge part of whether festivals are both safe and enjoyable. Achieving both at the same time is no small feat and the Malta team used by Rong was stellar. Thank you!
A comparison against every other festival wouldn't be warranted or useful, but I hope this helps you decide how to use your time and money since neither are infinite:
vs Unkonscious Thailand: they are not identical but they are similar in many ways, go to the one that is closest to you and matches your vacation schedule. Thailand is cheaper once you are there, but flying there from outside of Asia will obviously cost you more.
vs Unkonscious Croatia: hard to compare against a festival that hasn't happened yet, but my guess is that Unkonscious Croatia will also be an enjoyable smaller scale festival like the Thailand version, and going to either would not be a mistake :) I can't go to that one, it conflicts with another festival I'm already going to.
vs Euphoria weekender: it's happening 2 days from now as I'm writing this. I wish I could go but after 8 days of festivals in less than 2 weeks, my body really really needs rest :) From what I've seen Euphoria is lower key and a bit cheaper even, and should also be a great time. I think people look at it as "less commercial" but honestly rong malta didn't feel commercial unlike let's say Tomorrowland that was all about the money and where they apparently mostly stopped carrying about the festival goers and turned into a big money machine
vs Captured Malta: that one hasn't happened yet either. My guess is that Captured will be some place between Euphoria weekender and Rong Malta. I'm going there in September.
vs Lumi: you can't really compare them that much, you can read the lumi bits I wrote above already. Lumi has a lot more trance, many more people (too many at times for my taste) and unfortunately made some very questionable choices in the last years, I'll leave it at that outside of saying that I absolutely do not feel welcome there anymore if you don't know the details.
vs dreamstate socal: they are just way too different for me to even compare them, I love both for difference reasons. Dreamstate wins for the way more lights and costumes if you like that, but you cannot call dreamstate intimate
Should you go? Would I go Back?
First, I need to state that Malta is a very cool country to visit. If you can, spend at least an extra 3 days to learn about the country's history over the many years, and its central location in the mediteranean, which is the cause for its rich history. It's a very unique mix of a population that speaks an old arab dialect that is written with roman characters, and is mostly Christian. If that's not unique, I don't know what is :)
Malta is not the same level of cheap than Thailand, but overall it was reasonably priced. Cheaper than Ibiza which it is aiming to be a competitor for.
it was a day and night festival, and had plenty of night hours with pretty lights and lasers. Night owl me was happy.
It's a smaller festival, not meant to be compared with the big ones, and that was totally ok with me. It's a nice change of pace to have something smaller where you don't walk so far every day between many stages and miss many sets every hour. Don't take me wrong, I'm writing these last sentences from the plane back from EDC Vegas 5 days later, and nothing compares to EDC Vegas and the insanity of that experience, but you can only take that once a year at most ;) I really do welcome more chill festivals, EDC is as awesome as it is really gruesome and takes a long time to recover from :)
Just like Unkonscious, the organizers care and it shows. As I write this, they already sent a survey link. It may seem like a little thing, but festivals that do not also say in that process "we don't really are if we did well or could have done better" and a few I won't name even give the feel of "you should feel thankful that you even were able to attend our festival". Obviously Rong did the opposite across the board, it doesn't mean everything was perfect, it never is, but they sure tried hard and want to continue to do better. Good on them!
I hope they will read my report and consider my suggestion to drop the wristband money requirement. If they allow contactless credit cards and pay by phone, it will honestly be perfect.
And if Alessandra Roncone came, you know it's a good party :)
Alessandra!
Left around 03:35 (25mn before the end), went back to Bora Bora to pick up luggage (hotel totally in the wrong direction for airport, as stated it was a mistake to stay there), drove back down to airport and arrived around 04:30 for a 05:55 flight out. Lufthansa as always managed to be terrible and after refusing to assign us seats on the phone for 2 days, also had a 48H computer outage (yes really) that prevented online checking, so we had no seats and got the last 2 random middle seats on the plane while being told we should be lucky to have seats at all because the plane was oversold again (same deal as flyoug out of Cluj after Untold last year). F you Lufthansa, this repeated incompetence and total lack of respect for the customer is unacceptable (they couldn't care less if we missed our connecting flight to SFO after that or that we could at least get a window seat to lay our head and attempt to sleep a bit until the longer flight FRA-SFO leaving at noon, that one with Condor). Ironically while Condor is kind of a new long haul Ryanair, they were much better than Lufthansa on this trip...
Thank you all of you I met there, came to say hi, all the DJs, and the organizers. You made this time fantastic, thank you!
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