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Who went to see the bands over the weekend?

What did you think....

High points for me were:

Doves
Super Furry Animals
Wombats
Futureheads

More of and out and out dance fiend so went to Chi on Thursday night, they had a indie/dance band from Manchester called The Whip on. They were proficient, got the crowd going but just not my cup of tea.

Layo and Bushwacka were on next (who I went to see) and were excellent, thunderous set of tech-house. Only complaints was the over running, meaning Layo and B didn't get that much time and the appaulling quality of the sound in Chi. It's truly awful, my ears were ringing, and it was uneveningly muffled throughout the venue. The garden in Chi is visually an excellent space but, like a few other clubs in Dubai, it seems that hiring even an adequate sound engineer is an after thought.

I went to the IV on Friday evening. Saw a two young guitar bands, one that did that "is it a monster song". They were both ok if that was your thing but not mine. Ocean Colour Scene were tight and professional enough but again their music does little for me. If you were a fan though I assume they'd be ace.

The Mondays were on last (the reason I went) and were a bit dissapointing to be honest. Sean Ryder and a load of young session musicians. They did 4 or 5 songs of new material too, bit weird that one.

Also being late in the day there were quite a few annoying drunk folk. Sean was looking uncharacteristically healthy though, seemed a bit bored at times while at others seemed happy enough to find a easy way to pay off that huge tax bill.

Planned to go to Alpha afterwards but never made it due to all the sets over running by about an hour again.

Wanted to go see SFA and the Bunnymen but after effectively shelling out 300 AED for the Mondays didn't want to do the same again for just two bands the next day.

In conclusion thought it was an excellent event for Dubai, the stage at the IV and floor over the duck pond was done well. You could get a drink and get to the loos no problems, which is often a pain at UK festivals.

I hope it was well enough supported to continue, though it would be better in the future if they could provide a 2nd stage/tent if they expect people to be there all day and night.

FTD wrote:More of and out and out dance fiend so went to Chi on Thursday night, they had a indie/dance band from Manchester called The Whip on. They were proficient, got the crowd going but just not my cup of tea.

Layo and Bushwacka were on next (who I went to see) and were excellent, thunderous set of tech-house. Only complaints was the over running, meaning Layo and B didn't get that much time and the appaulling quality of the sound in Chi. It's truly awful, my ears were ringing, and it was uneveningly muffled throughout the venue. The garden in Chi is visually an excellent space but, like a few other clubs in Dubai, it seems that hiring even an adequate sound engineer is an after thought.

I went to the IV on Friday evening. Saw a two young guitar bands, one that did that "is it a monster song". They were both ok if that was your thing but not mine. Ocean Colour Scene were tight and professional enough but again their music does little for me. If you were a fan though I assume they'd be ace.

The Mondays were on last (the reason I went) and were a bit dissapointing to be honest. Sean Ryder and a load of young session musicians. They did 4 or 5 songs of new material too, bit weird that one.

Also being late in the day there were quite a few annoying drunk folk. Sean was looking uncharacteristically healthy though, seemed a bit bored at times while at others seemed happy enough to find a easy way to pay off that huge tax bill.

Planned to go to Alpha afterwards but never made it due to all the sets over running by about an hour again.

Wanted to go see SFA and the Bunnymen but after effectively shelling out 300 AED for the Mondays didn't want to do the same again for just two bands the next day.

In conclusion thought it was an excellent event for Dubai, the stage at the IV and floor over the duck pond was done well. You could get a drink and get to the loos no problems, which is often a pain at UK festivals.

I hope it was well enough supported to continue, though it would be better in the future if they could provide a 2nd stage/tent if they expect people to be there all day and night.

Yes. Room for improvement I think.
Bands coming on hours late on Friday was a pain for everybody except for the Irish Village's profits ;-/. Didn't anybody realise you couldn't have live music at prayer times.

Echo and the Bunnymen didn't appear... Nobody knew til last minute (I would have been seriously peeved if I had payed to see them and wasn't told)

Other Visa issues for Parlourtones and Happy Mondays (BEZ)

The headline was 78 bands, 20 DJ's etc....Well they should have got 1 DJ at the IV. Entertainment between the bands was poor.

Food could have been better and the drink a bit cheaper.

Having said all of that, I hope it's on again next year!

All in all I thought it was great for Dubai

Love to visit