Starting with Monot Street, there were no signs of The Music Festival at all on its streets. Around 10.30 pm its allies and pubs were deserted and no stages on set, unlike the previous years, it was known to be hectic with joyous crowds and live performances from local bands.
On the other Hand, Downtown is reborn again and restored its lively atmosphere.
The European football games were being played live on wide screens in every restaurant and people were watching attentively to cheer their team.
Some people were watching silently, while others were jumping up and down screaming for their team to play better or score more.
Coming closer to the Place de l’Etoile, a group of young entertainers were playing Lebanese songs on their guitars with a remarkable energy that made the crowd around them clap, laugh, and applaud happily.
On the Thermes Romains, a mass crowd was cheering the rap bands before Mashrou3 Leila took stage. Mashrou3 Leila are young musicians, very inspirational and talented, however hard to define the music they played as Jazz since they stamped their clever vibes on it. Quite inspirational the simple Lebanese lyrics they sang which at first shocked the audience especially the song “Arous” (bride to be) but later drew a smile on everyone’s face. Girls were dancing and swaying to their tunes. “Good vocals this guy really knows how to sing” said one guy watching. Others were watching the violinist clever element in the Mashrou3 Leila and stamping their feet along the tune.
Later on the Samir Kassir’s square, a bashful crowd was gathering when Vibrations were playing. Vibration as Peter their lead vocalist defines it “is alternative rock music”, we define it as fresh alternative vibes in the Lebanese local scene.
When we asked Peter if he was disappointed in the shy crowds on this year’s Music Festival he replied “We didn’t expect more, everything was planned fast but we’re very satisfied”. Following the Vibrations, The Crave played. They covered known modern melodic alternative tracks such as For You, With Arms Wide Open and more. Around midnight, people started leaving and gathering their things since all shows were over.
