Travis Scott pyramids concert officially cancelled
After weeks of speculation, Travis Scott’s scheduled concert in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt has been officially cancelled.
The Live Nation-promoted event was set to take place tomorrow (28 July) at the Sound and Light area, with an estimated 200 million people tuning into the live stream.
However, last week Egypt’s state-affiliated Musicians Syndicate said that it would revoke a permit for the Utopia show because it “contradicts the identity of the Egyptian culture”.
While the concert’s promoters and Scott himself had insisted the performance would go ahead, Live Nation Middle East published a statement last night (26 July) confirming the cancellation.
“We regret to inform you that the Utopia show, originally scheduled for 28 July at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, is cancelled,” it said. “Unfortunately, despite best efforts, complex production issues meant that the show could not be constructed in the desert. We understand that this news is disappointing and not the outcome any of us desired.”
“Unfortunately, despite best efforts, complex production issues meant that the show could not be constructed in the desert”
Meanwhile, Scott declared on social media that the shows would still take place in the future: “Egypt at the pyramids will happen but due to demand and detail logistics they just need a bit of time to set lay on lands. I will keep u posted on a date which will be soon.”
Scott also added that he was scheduling four more “of these type of experiences” in different locations.
A spokesperson for the Syndicate of Musical Professions exclusively told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the decision was made following deaths that took place in Travis Scott’s previous concerts.
“The syndicate is not against tourism, but against any party that poses a threat to the lives of Egyptians,” he stressed, noting that Jennifer Lopez earlier held a very successful concert in Egypt.
Abdullah added that the local promoter and ticketer for the concert, Ticketsmarche, paid LE300,000 to obtain permits for the concert which will be refunded following the cancellation.
The Ticketsmarche CEO earlier this week said his company has agreed on 10 concerts with renowned international artists in Egypt for the coming months but said they are unlikely to take place if Scott’s concert was cancelled.
Days ago, it was announced that Palm Tree Music Festival, founded by Norwegian producer Kygo and his manager Myles Shear, will be exported to the Pyramids. Other acts that have previously performed at the location include Maroon 5 (2022), Black Eyed Peas (2021) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (2019).
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‘The Middle East is an exciting place to be’
The live market in the Gulf, historically centred on Dubai and Abu Dhabi, toiled for years to achieve wider recognition and a spot on the schedules of passing artists. But there is a real momentum to the region now, with experienced promoters, world-class indoor arenas and, in Saudi Arabia, a neighbour with serious money to spend.
“Historically, the reliance on greenfield sites and their associated costs were a big limitation for commercially sustainable shows,” says James Craven, Live Nation president Middle East. “But as more purpose-built venues open-up across the region, the hard ticket business really becomes more viable.”
The opening up of Saudi, combined with the normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel, are also big news for the UAE’s live business, given their implications for regional touring. But credit must go to promoters such as Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Flash Entertainment, Dubai’s T.O.P. Entertainment (stands for Thomas Ovesen Presents) and the local Live Nation branch for pulling the market through the lean years.
Ovesen recently returned to promoting across the region after a spell with Saudi’s Diriyah Gate Development Authority, and in addition to a sell-out with 50 Cent at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai in September, T.O.P. staged José Carreras in November, with Chinese star Jackson Wang coming up in February 2023.
“We had the biggest crowd at the Formula 1 we have ever had, and we are seeing a surge of interest in live events”
It is a fact of life in the Middle East that state buying power, rather than ticket-buying clout, is often a key factor in drawing talent to the region. “If you look at it from afar, it looks extremely busy with all the top artists, but a lot of it is driven by governments, whether that’s in Qatar, Saudi, or our friends down in Abu Dhabi,” says Ovesen.
Flash, which operates Etihad Park and the Etihad Arena on Yas Island, brought Usher, Dave, Swedish House Mafia, Kendrick Lamar, and Def Leppard out in November for its Yasalam After-Race Concert Series, tied to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Andrea Bocelli, Post Malone and the Mubadala World Tennis Championship hot on their heels.
“2022 was a strong year for us,” says Flash CEO John Lickrish. “We had the biggest crowd at the Formula 1 we have ever had, and we are seeing a surge of interest in live events. Probably not quite ’19 levels, but ’19 was obviously insane.”
Established since 2008, Flash has now added Dubai and Saudi offices to its Abu Dhabi base. “We are really focusing on that now,” says Lickrish. “We have always operated there, out of Abu Dhabi, but we just decided it was a good opportunity to get our branch offices staffed up.”
“The last few years we have diversified our live business into the Arabic music scene, which now accounts for a large percentage of our regional business”
Live Nation, meanwhile, has staged Maroon 5, OneRepublic, and Westlife in Abu Dhabi this year, with Imagine Dragons, Blackpink, and Sting incoming, as well as a growing line in non-western events.
“The Middle East is an exciting place to be right now,” says Craven. “The last few years we have diversified our live business into the Arabic music scene, which now accounts for a large percentage of our regional business. Comedy is also a key focus as we move into 2023,” he adds, noting the arrival of Pete Green, formerly of local promoters Done Events and GME Events, as head of comedy for the region.
Other promoters operating in the UAE include Blu Blood, which has brought Atif Islam and Il Divo in recent years, and South Asian specialist PME Entertainment, which has showcased Indian singers Arijit Singh and Jubin Nautiyal in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
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Wireless debut in Abu Dhabi deemed “huge success”
Wireless Festival’s debut in Abu Dhabi has been deemed a “huge success” by Live Nation Middle East.
The sold-out festival took place last month at Etihad Park on Yas Island with 25,000 fans and 18 artists from across hip-hop, urban, rap, R&B, grime, and dance.
Travis Scott (US), Roddy Ricch (US), Central Cee (UK), Wegz (EG), Black Sherif (GH), Ali Gatie (IQ/CA), M.I.A (UK), King (IN), Divine (IN) and Young Stunners (PK) were big draws in the global offering.
“Wireless Festival was a huge success for us in Abu Dhabi,” says James Craven, president for Live Nation Middle East. “The festival was a sold-out event, and as Live Nation, our commitment is to promoting regional talent. We brought a host of the biggest rappers in South Asia and the Middle East to our festival line-up, including Egyptian artist Wegz, Indian singer and rapper King, Indian rapper Divine, and the Pakistani Hip-Hop duo Young Stunners.”
“We brought a host of the biggest rappers in South Asia and the Middle East to our festival line-up”
Travis Scott also recently performed at Live Nation Israel’s largest-ever hip-hop event at Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv, with an audience of over 27,000. The concert was supported by Atar Mayner, Eden Derso and Noroz.
“We are very happy to celebrate another regional routing, with the successful run of the Travis Scott shows in the Middle East,’ says Guy Beser, Live Nation Israel CEO. “We are very proud of the show and we received overwhelming reviews. This is definitely a performance we, and the audience, will remember for a long time.”
Wireless Festival has an eighteen-year legacy in the UK. The most recent edition of the festival was held across three sites – Crystal Palace Park and Finsbury Park in London, and the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham – in July 2022 with headliners A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, Tyler, the Creator, Dave, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, and SZA.
This year, Wireless will return to Finsbury Park between 7–9 July with headliners Playboy Carti, Travis Scott, D-Block Europe and 50 Cent.
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The unstoppable rise of the Gulf States
Exactly two years ago, at the very moment IQ was producing its last market report on the live market of the Gulf, not to mention gathering the live music community in London for ILMC, the pandemic closed in, and the world shuddered to a halt.
We all know what happened next: lockdowns, calendars in the bin, plenty of pain and an ever-extending timescale for the return of concerts. Every market suffered, and the Gulf was no exception. In the final analysis, the UAE was only fully locked down for around four months and Saudi Arabia for a little over a year, but the hit was a hard one and some restrictions linger on.
Nonetheless, due to a unique set of circumstances, this may also be one regional market that has emerged from the whole mess looking sharper and shinier than when it went in. In 2022, the Gulf boasts new live venues, new touring connections and, in Saudi Arabia, a booming new territory that has shifted the centre of the region and – albeit not without controversy – greatly boosted the appeal of the region to international acts.
The second edition of MDLBEAST’s Soundstorm festival in Riyadh, a four-day “rave in the desert” last December, where Tiësto, Martin Garrix, and David Guetta played and a reported 180,000 attended the opening night, represents the new face of live music in the Gulf.
That same month, the kingdom also hosted the Formula One Grand Prix, with music from Justin Bieber, Jason Derulo, and A$AP Rocky. Chris Brown, Black Eyed Peas, James Blunt, Wyclef Jean and Craig David are also recent visitors, courtesy of MDLBEAST’s MDLBEAST Presents arm, which has rapidly built a reputation as the market’s leading provider of musical talent.
“I would assume that the kingdom is the biggest buying market in the world right now”
“I don’t play for politicians, I play for people,” Guetta told a Soundstorm press conference, side-stepping the criticisms of the regime that remains the main stumbling block to the international performing community’s guilt-free acceptance of the Saudi riyal.
That stumbling block is seemingly getting smaller these days, partly due to the billions at the disposal of a Saudi regime that is investing in entertainment, not only to conjure tourism, but to keep its free-spending domestic audience from travelling abroad in search of fun.
“I would assume that the kingdom is the biggest buying market in the world right now,” says veteran Middle East promoter Thomas Ovesen, outgoing entertainment director at the Diriyah Gate Development Authority in Saudi. “For me, what is happening with live entertainment in Saudi Arabia is what people used to say was going to happen in China. And while it hasn’t materialised there, we are seeing it here now: Western artists coming in for premium fees and a potential touring market in the region. It’s phenomenal.”
For all its wealth, its tourism, and its appetite for growth, the Gulf as a live music region has never been in a position like this before. Efforts to develop Abu Dhabi and Dubai as destination markets have yielded wily, pragmatic local industries and plenty of impressive events – including the recent delayed Expo 2020, which brought Coldplay to Dubai’s Al Wasl Plaza in February, among many other highlights. But the emirates’ modest expat-dominated populations and geo-graphical isolation have impeded their efforts to elevate their status on the broader touring map.
The addition of Saudi Arabia to the mix – the 35m-population kingdom having opened its doors in recent years as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan to diversify the country’s economy and develop its public sector – effectively changes everything.
“In Saudi, you see the same crowd behaviour you see anywhere else in the world. They are loving it”
In addition to the artist fees, a particular appeal of the Saudi market, thinks Ovesen is the presence of a true local crowd. “People live an expat life in Dubai – they’re probably a bit privileged, sometimes it can be hard to get a reaction out of them,” he says. “But in Saudi, you see the same crowd behaviour you see anywhere else in the world. They are loving it. And they are embracing the opportunity to attend live entertainment. We used to say that the only place in the region where you could get that experience was when we took the show to Beirut or Cairo. But that’s exactly the situation in Saudi.”
The other markets in the region may not be quite as pent-up, but they are certainly ready for the shift. Nine months before the pandemic, Dubai took delivery of its first indoor arena in the Coca-Cola Arena, while Abu Dhabi put the finishing touches to its own Etihad Arena during the lull. Kuwait and Bahrain likewise have impressive new facilities, and talk has inevitably turned to the development of a genuine touring circuit, involving the Gulf States and all manner of roughly proximate markets, from South Africa and India to Turkey and Egypt.
At the time of writing, the Gulf region is preparing for a milestone in this regard: a bona fide three-date tour by an A-list international act, as Live Nation’s Maroon 5 shape up for the Pyramids in Egypt, the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, and Park HaYarkon in Tel Aviv, Israel. “This is the first time an A-list Western act has been able to do a regional tour, and it sets a great precedent for the future,” says James Craven, president Live Nation Middle East. “Ticket sales have really exceeded even our most bullish forecast, which again really underlines the enduring demand for shows.”
A necessary piece of this particular puzzle has been the recent thawing of relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Israel, which in turn has made it
possible for tours to fly directly between the two markets for the first time.
“Having regionally routed runs ensures that bands are able to play for even more fans, rather than playing a one-off show that takes them out of the market for years,” says Craven. “Previously artists would simply fly in for one show in the UAE. But we are now seeing the potential for as many as ten or more dates on a regional Middle East tour.” In a world still navigating its way out of the pandemic, these are significant and unprecedented moments, and, geopolitics permitting, they suggest the future of live music in the Gulf is likely to assume a very different shape to its past.
“We are now seeing the potential for as many as ten or more dates on a regional Middle East tour”
Promoters
The promoting landscape in the Gulf is a mixed one, combining heavyweight state-owned promoters (Abu Dhabi’s Flash Entertainment), familiar corporates (notably Live Nation, operating out of Dubai), fast-growing Saudi entities such as MDLBEAST, and a variety of Dubai-based independents, ranging from specialist operators to beach club DJ promoters to wealthy dabblers.
Out of all of them, the meteoric rise of MDLBEAST arguably makes it the promoter to watch, and its ambitions are unlimited by the boundaries of Saudi Arabia, or even those of the Gulf itself.
“We want to be present in the entire region,” says Talal Albahiti, MDLBEAST chief operating officer and head of talent booking and events. “The Middle Eastern music market is expected to grow up to 16.5% by 2027, reaching $670m [€605m]. MDLBEAST will play a significant role in supporting that growth. We also want to go beyond the region, as we are not only looking to host festivals and concerts in the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain but also in Greece, Spain, and the US.”
MDLBEAST has also been invited to take on live events for circling Western promoters, says Albahiti. “We have been approached by a few European companies to produce their festivals, which was a pleasant surprise and much-deserved recognition to all the team. It shows that our commitment and dedication are being recognised by the international market.”
Clearly, the live market in Saudi Arabia is poised at an exciting but delicate moment, and MDLBEAST is acutely aware of the need to nurture the industry in the proper way if it is to thrive sustainably in the long-term. At its inaugural XP Music Conference in December 2021, it gathered 150 delegates from the Middle Eastern music industry in Riyadh with a view to accelerating the market’s growth.
“I believe that the next Drake of this world will come from Saudi Arabia”
“For me personally, XP is our most important work because it aims to help build real infrastructure for the music industry in a region where it is currently missing,” says Albahiti. “We need that if we’re going to support local and regional talent and for our organisation to grow.
“We don’t want to be just another music touring company picking global acts and bringing them to Saudi Arabia – our vision is much grander than that. We want to empower, develop, and educate local and regional talents across different genres. I believe that the next Drake of this world will come from Saudi Arabia. If not, then definitely from the Middle Eastern region.”
In its own way, Live Nation has also spent the pandemic nurturing talent in the region – specifically promoting talent it needs on the ground to broaden the range of playable markets.
“Because of the restrictions in place for a lot of the last two years, we focused on future planning and opening up newer markets like Jordan, Egypt, India, and Kuwait,” says Zaed Maqbool, Live Nation VP talent, Middle East, who has spent years building the foundations for a viable circuit to rival those elsewhere in the world. In this context, the significance of the impending Maroon 5 tour is worth restating.
“Maroon 5 was truly a labour of love,” says Maqbool. “The first-ever regionally routed run, an A-list band, and an undying willingness to create a new regional route for Western artists. It all came together. That one really represents a paradigm shift for touring in the region. We now have offers out for more regional tours – and they’re all big names.”
While it may have taken the roaring engine of Saudi Arabia to jolt the region into a higher gear, the UAE promises to become a significant central strategic point as a Middle Eastern/ Asian/African circuit coalesces – at least according to Live Nation’s thinking.
“We have been preparing for this moment since back in 2007, 2008″
“India will become a part of the equation,” says Maqbool. “Israel and UAE are already mainstays because of their proximity and the fact that they are mature markets in their own right. South Africa is also a market we connect to, as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have direct flights. So basically, the UAE becomes the connecting transport hub for the region and beyond.”
With not only a new arena but the well-established 40,000-cap Etihad Park stadium at its disposal – which over the years has witnessed Coldplay, Rihanna, The Stones and others – Abu Dhabi’s Flash Entertainment is, like all promoters in the region, highly prepared for an influx of talent.
“We have been preparing for this moment since back in 2007, 2008,” says Flash CEO John Lickrish. “One of the strategies we thought we were going to implement, or was going to happen organically, was a regional touring circuit.
“We thought it would be Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, ourselves, maybe Bahrain. In fact, we are dealing with content pushed through Israel, Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain… hopefully India – we will see how that develops. Yeah, it’s a great thing. Obviously, having more content available takes us out of the position of feeling like everything that comes is something we have to deliver ourselves.”
Not every Gulf promoter emerged from the pandemic intact. Arab Media Group-owned Done Events, with its roster of Dubai-based festivals including RedFestDXB, Blended, and Dubai Jazz Festival, has ceased trading. Others, meanwhile, have emerged. Former Done Events live events manager Peter Green had already gone out on his own by the time of Done’s demise and now operates as GME Events. He sold 15,000 tickets in his first year of operation, promoting Russell Peters and Michael McIntyre at the Etihad Arena and The Kooks at the Coca-Cola Arena, as well as several more comedy shows at the Dubai Opera and the Dubai World Trade Centre.
“Saudi Arabia is a tricky market. It has the demand, but it is difficult to enter”
“All of those shows were obviously socially distanced,” says Green. “The venues can obviously take more, but we achieved far more than I thought we would, as a new promoter, with Covid restrictions in place. Shows are coming back now and restrictions are less, but it is still challenging with the ever-changing Covid landscape. I think the attitude now, though, is let’s get on with it, and let’s do what we can.”
Other promoters in Dubai include the jazz-focused Chillout Productions, founder of the Dubai Jazz Festival, and The Artist Network, whose events include Desert Groove – formerly Groove on the Grass – at the Dunes Resort in Ras Al Khaimah.
Meanwhile, after three years with the state-backed DGDA project, which is developing the historic town of Ad Diriyah into a national, cultural and tourist centre on the edge of Riyad, Ovesen is poised to return to his promoting roots with new venture T.O.P. Entertainment and will operate as an independent with offices in Saudi and the UAE, but also looking to organise events across Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
Ticketing
The leading ticketing company in the Gulf remains Platinumlist, which operates right across the region. “We sell 80% of UAE entertainment tickets and have been in KSA for six years,” says managing director Vassiliy Anatoli. “Our turnover in Saudi is larger than in UAE, although it’s hard to say what our market share is exactly.
“Saudi Arabia is a tricky market. It has the demand, but it is difficult to enter. It is hard to get independent event permits for organisers, and the majority of events are funded by the General Event Authority, which imposes the use of state-owned ticketing platforms.”
“We had a very successful Q1 of 2020 that helped us a lot with the rest of the troubled year”
Anatoli’s perspective on the pandemic is a widescreen one that neatly charts the ups and downs of the entire Gulf market. “We had a very successful Q1 of 2020 that helped us a lot with the rest of the troubled year. Despite the pandemic, many attractions kept operating and that is what we focused on whilst there were no events.
“2021 started well but was swiftly cut off by another spike in cases locally, which halted the industry for another four months. However, by March 2021, Saudi started making plans, and we won the tender for the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 and many other major projects, such as Rotana Concerts, the Evolution Exhibition, the Museum of Happiness, and the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale.
“Finally, the UAE resumed events in full swing by September 2021, which catapulted our revenues. Another major win was the 2021 Indian Premier League and ICC World Cup, which has sold over 350,000 tickets.”
In the coming years, Anatoli expects the biggest growth to come from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, though he also points to Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait as markets seeing comfortable growth. Other ticketing outlets in Dubai include bricks-and-mortar retailer Virgin Megastore, as well as Ticketmaster and Indian giant BookMyShow.
Venues
Dubai’s 17,000-cap arena Coca-Cola Arena, the first permanent, multi-purpose arena in an emirate that had been staging shows on laboriously converted brownfield sites on the edge of the city for years, opened in June 2019. It managed just nine months in operation before Covid closed its doors.
“On Feb 15, they announced all restrictions were removed. The only requirement now is that masks must be worn indoors”
Coca-Cola Arena general manager Mark Jan Kar describes the moment at ILMC 2020 when it became clear what the immediate impact of the encroaching pandemic would be (“I’ve never seen an insurance panel more engaged,” he says) and with precise recall of dates, fills in the story up to the present day.
“Everything came to a complete halt, but we had Iron Maiden in May, and we thought, ‘Okay, we’ll close for a month…’” he says, recalling the initial optimism of the times. “That obviously didn’t happen, but we undertook some behind-closed-doors activities for some government entities. Then we were an Ikea catalogue venue, and we were a venue for a movie set. We were very close to becoming a vaccine centre.”
Over the next year or so, the UAE flexed its restrictions, “and slowly but surely, we went from 1,500 capacity, heavily socially distanced, to 2,500, to 5,000, then 60%, 70%, 80% of capacity, and thankfully, on Feb 15, they announced all restrictions were removed. The only requirement now is that masks must be worn indoors.”
In the same period, after an inevitable delay, Abu Dhabi finally inaugurated its own arena, the 18,000-cap Etihad, part of the AED12bn (€3bn) Yas Bay development project. “We would have liked to have it earlier; but it’s a really beautiful facility. It’s easy to operate, it’s cost-effective, scalable,” says Lickrish. “We have a host of good commercial partners that have come on board, Etihad being the big one. It’s next to impossible to make the industry work here without corporate partners, and that’s been a fact for quite some time now. So that’s exciting. Our corporate boxes are sold out, and now we are just planning content.”
On the schedule at the Etihad Arena for the coming months are Arab pop stars Amr Diab, Sherine Abdel Wahab, and Kadim Al Sahir; Maroon 5; UFC; and the International Indian Film Academy Awards 2022.
“For us to have a phenomenal venue 130km down the road creates healthy competition”
The almost simultaneous arrival of two world-class arenas in a previously arena-free zone – to add to the Dubai Opera, the Media City amphitheatre and the World Trade Centre, all in Dubai – might be viewed as an embarrassment of riches. But if the competition is unwelcome, no one is saying.
“For us to have a phenomenal venue 130km down the road creates healthy competition,” says Kar. “Both serve a domestic market, and they also allow us to create tours for artists.”
Those tours, of course, don’t necessarily have to come from the Western content machine. A feature of the Middle Eastern market that is occasionally lost on Western eyes is the sheer diversity of its offering.
“For us, Western acts would probably make up 25% to 30% of the content,” says Kar. “The balance is very much Asian content, and that includes Bollywood but also Pakistani and Bangladeshi music. And then you have got Arabic, where you have the Khaliji music that is popular across the Gulf, but also Lebanese, Iraqi, Egyptian, all with completely different dialects and demographics that would attend. Comparing anyone with another is like comparing Bruno Mars with Metallica.”
It is also inevitable that more venues are to come, particularly in the region’s most newly vibrant market. Most of the Saudi events still take place on outdoor sites or in temporary structures such as the 15,000-seat Diriyah Arena near Riyadh, but further building is taking place. ASM Global will manage the 20,000-cap Jeddah Arena at Airport City, promised for late-2025, while the 25,000-cap Victory Arena in Riyadh is currently undergoing a major facelift.
With Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup at the end of this year, there has been a massive construction programme, which could ultimately benefit the local live entertainment scene. And in Bahrain, three million man hours of work has created the spectacular 10,000-seat Al Dana Amphitheatre, which has literally been carved from the rock of the Sahkir desert (more about that project in IQ’s June issue).
“The challenge, believe it or not, is starting to become the seasons”
Another territory ready to take its place in a regional circuit is Kuwait, which welcomed a 5,000-cap multi-purpose all-seater arena in March. The Live Nation-managed Arena Kuwait, in Kuwait City’s 360 Mall, targets live entertainment, sports, corporate projects, exhibitions and conferences, and in its first few weeks of operation hosted six sold-out Arabic music concerts and two regional business-to-consumer expos.
“Kuwait is a new market for international and regional promoters and event organisers, as un- til the opening of The Arena Kuwait, venues and event spaces were limited,” says general manager Ken Jamieson. “Kuwait has an event-hungry population and the response to our first plethora of events has been very satisfying for all concerned. We have a packed calendar for the rest of the year as the demand has been outstanding..”
As the infrastructure expands, of course, so do the challenges of a region with a range of extreme weather conditions and great disparities in both its seasonal habits and venue provision.
“The challenge, believe it or not, is starting to become the seasons,” says Maqbool, wrestling with a circuit that potentially spans thousands of miles across Africa and Asia. “If an artist wants to do a tour in what is called the winter here in the Middle East, we need to take into consideration the different ‘winter’ conditions at each stop of the tour and the implications that has on venue type and timings.
“In the UAE, we have not one but two arenas to play around with, so we’re good the year round. But it’s not the same in Egypt, it’s not the same in India and some of the other markets as well. When it’s our winter, it’s their summer, and vice versa, and that’s a little nuance that sometimes plays into the equation. There’s a fair amount of playing Tetris with the routing, figuring out what works for everybody.”
And, give or take some teething troubles, a bit of geopolitical discord, and some Western liberal reservations, there’s the new regional circuit for you. It may well very come to offer dazzling new horizons for live music – but don’t expect it to be an easy ride.
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LN Middle East launches sustainable touring scheme
Live Nation Middle East and Emirates Nature-WWF have launched a new initiative to enhance the sustainability of concert tours.
Based on Live Nation’s Green Touring Programme, the scheme will look at all aspects of event production, including flights, ground transportation, hotel accommodations, merchandise and venue operations to develop guidance and best practices.
The scheme will kick-off with Maroon 5’s show at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on 6 May. Once the baseline data is collected from the study, a science-based guideline will be created to inform upcoming concerts and influence sustainable touring practices moving forward.
“Climate change is at the centre of the industry’s narrative and host cities must be ready”
“We are very excited to be launching a first of its kind project locally which will help transform the live entertainment industry for the betterment of people and planet,” says Laila Mostafa Abdullatif, director general, Emirates Nature. “With the UAE being the host for the forthcoming COP 28, Emirates Nature-WWF will aim to create a standard for wider market transformation of the event industry, encouraging the adoption of more sustainable measures.
“This initiative aims to create a path to enable market transformation of the live entertainment sector and beyond, and this is a significant partnership on the journey to delivering sustainable live events in the future.
“Climate change is at the centre of the industry’s narrative and host cities must be ready. A new era of sustainability is rising. Consumers around the world are increasingly determined to be more environmentally conscious and are using their power and voice through the products they buy and the events they attend.”
A key element of the program will be providing concert-goers with more sustainable options while attending shows.
“This is an exciting opportunity to put sustainable live entertainment centre stage ahead of COP28, furthering the environmental work we are doing in the region and across the globe,” says Patricia Yagüe, head of sustainability for EMEA Live Nation. “We are excited to partner with our global team to bring the Green Nation touring programme to our region, which is focused on measuring and reducing emissions through a science-based approach and investing in scalable, sustainable solutions.”
In line with the UAE’s target to reduce carbon footprint by 23% by 2030, the collaboration between Live Nation
Middle East and Emirates Nature-WWF will focus on the next 18 months in the lead up to COP28.
“This initiative will give us the data we need in order to provide artists and fans with more sustainable options for touring going forwards”
“This initiative will give us the data we need in order to provide artists and fans with more sustainable options for touring going forwards and will build on the global commitments Live Nation has made,” Live Nation Middle East president James Craven.
“We are very excited to be making this announcement with Emirates Nature-WWF and couldn’t be happier that Maroon 5 will be the first show in our study. With concerns around climate change never more at the forefront of our minds, it is crucial that we all look at where we can make impact.”
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Full of Eastern Promise: The Middle East matures
It wouldn’t be right to paint the Middle East as a group of markets in which every show happens against a stifling backdrop of troubling politics or clashing cultures. Israel is coming off the back of several boom years; Dubai and Abu Dhabi regularly welcome megawatt international stars and are developing infrastructure at a rapid pace; and Saudi Arabia appears to be suggesting that it wants to become a place where a boy and a girl might go to a concert at the weekend.
But while these are markets of great promise for the western live business, they come with varying degrees of geopolitical complexity, too.
In the Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh in December, just a year after a resort in the southern port city of Jazan was shut down for hosting a mixed-gender concert, the kingdom staged its first-ever unsegregated music festival. The three-day series of concerts featured Jason Derulo, Enrique Iglesias, David Guetta, Egyptian star Amr Diab and others, in front of a mixed crowd as part of the Saudia Ad Diriyah ePrix motor race.
Most would agree that represented welcome progress. But equally, if Saudi Arabia is to be the next market every hungry agent or global promoter wants to get their teeth into, how do they nibble around the apparently state-sponsored assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, or the bloody war in Yemen?
In Dubai in April, after years of prefab arenas, the emirate will get a permanent one, operated by AEG Ogden with a seated capacity of 17,000, to add to the high-culture opportunities of the two-year-old, 2,000-cap. Dubai Opera. An emerging live market with a heavy flow of holidaymakers and expat professionals needs that kind of investment, if only to keep pace with the well-stocked Abu Dhabi down the coast. That said, the imprisonment of a British academic on disputed spying charges last year was a reminder of the UAE’s less liberal side.
“Saudi Arabia opened up a year, 18 months ago, and this year looks set to be big, with the vision that they have”
Or you could look away from the Gulf and over to the shores of the Mediterranean, and the short tour of Israel in January by tribute band the UK Pink Floyd Experience, who had personally been asked by strident pro-Palestine activist Roger Waters to pull the shows. They did so, then reinstated them, before finally a stand-in line-up performed only non- Waters Floyd tunes while a local tribute band played the Waters-penned ’70s favourites.
It was a routine, if colourful example of the eleven-year campaign by the Waters-supported Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Israel – and chiefly Tel Aviv – remains a busy international live music spot and is a home to western corporates including Live Nation and CTS Eventim. The shows go on, but there’s no avoiding that Israel is, for now at least, a more than averagely controversial tour stop.
Not every year is a good one for concerts – in Tel Aviv, there is talk of a likely slow-down in 2019, though Eurovision in May will raise the city’s profile – but over the longer term, activity is generally increasing in all of these markets. But it is Saudi Arabia, coming from a virtual standing start, that suddenly appears to offer the greatest commercial promise.
Saudi Arabia
Awash with wealth and with a population of more than 32 million, Saudi is working hard to show a liberal face to the world, and it represents an enticing market to exporters of western culture. Until last April, when US chain AMC moved into Riyadh at the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom didn’t even have a public cinema.
A mixed-gender concert took place that month, too – the first ever to be sanctioned in the kingdom. Then came the Formula E shows and a first Cirque du Soleil show in Riyadh, amid regular reports of a huge state-backed entertainment push, including plans for NBA basketball, bull runs and dozens of concerts.
“We have a population in Egypt of 95 million, but the class of citizens who can afford premium tickets for show is probably 3–5% of the total population”
If these plans come to fruition, Saudi proposes to be the star of the coming few years in the Middle East. Its stated ambition is to become one of the top-ten global entertainment destinations, and to win back a share of the $20 billion that fun-seeking Saudi nationals spend overseas each year.
At the same time, given the turbulence of the region, markets can come and go at startling speed. “There tend to be peaks and troughs in different countries,” says Lisa Ryan, CCO of EFM Global Logistics, which has a clear overview of the region through its work for promoters, event organisers, government ministries and high-net-worth individuals.
“Saudi Arabia opened up a year, 18 months ago, and this year looks set to be big, with this vision that they have. And meanwhile, in Qatar, where it was all happening a few years ago, there has not been anything going on because of their isolation from the rest of the Middle East.”
Egypt
One of the territories that is slowly developing in the region is Egypt, where the likes of Feld Entertainment, Broadway Entertainment Group, Harlem Globetrotters and WWE have taken their touring productions in recent years.
“We have a population in Egypt of 95 million, but the class of citizens who can afford premium tickets for show is probably between 3–5% of the total population,” states Moussa Abu Taleb, managing director of local events company Event House.
“We put a bunch of shows on sale in 2018 and every single one of them sold out, and that has got to mean something is happening here”
He tells IQ that Alchemy Projects are reportedly launching an Egyptian operation in the near future, which should help further develop the local live entertainment market. And he notes some of the spectacular venues that shows can utilise, making the most of the country’s historic landmarks – recent events include a 15,000-capacity Red Hot Chili Peppers gig, promoted by White Sands Entertainment at the Great Pyramids of Giza, while Richard Clayderman visited the Manara Theatre on 15 February for a Valentine’s classical night.
“There are very high taxes on tickets here: 25%,” continues Abu Taleb. “Egypt can’t pay the same amounts that other countries in the Middle East do for artist fees, while government support is very poor, as they rarely help with events.” Nonetheless, he is optimistic that live music in particular should be an area of growth in coming years. “All the success factors are available if we have a proper list of artists and reasonable artists fees,” he concludes.
UAE
Promoters have come and gone in Dubai over the years, some aiming higher than others, often anticipating a profitable boom that has never yet fully materialised. The current line-up chiefly involves Live Nation, veteran Done Events, and a handful of festival and party promoters. Meanwhile, long-serving local promoter Thomas Ovesen, formerly of Done Events and 117Live, in March departed his role as inaugural chief programming officer at Dubai Arena to go back into the promoting game.
Live Nation Middle East, based in Dubai, has enjoyed its best year to date in the region, according to Zaed Maqbool, VP Middle East/South Asia, with George Ezra, Dave Chappelle and French-Canadian-Moroccan comedian Gad Elmaleh all selling out shows in recent months.
“We put a bunch of shows on sale in 2018 and every single one of them sold out, and that has got to mean something is happening here,” says Maqbool. “The message to agents and managers booking in this region is that Dubai is no longer a take-the-money-and-run market but one with real potential as a P&L market. I was guilty of this as an agent when I was selling acts to Dubai, seeing it as a bonus stopover on the way to Japan or Australia. It needs nurturing, but it is a market that will pay dividends. Dubai, Abu Dhabi – it is starting to mature now.”
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Dubai offers promoters sponsorship support with new scheme
Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing has announced a sponsorship scheme for promoters in a bid to grow the emirate’s live events sector.
The new Leisure Events Sponsorship Scheme aims to “empower leisure event organisers with additional incentivisation opportunities in the form of event sponsorship”, according to a statement from Dubai Tourism. All organisers of ticketed events that are open to the public are eligible for assistance.
The programme aims to boost the already growing local live entertainment market, which recorded a year-on-year increase of more than 100,000 ticket sales and 25 additional events in first quarter of 2019.
The launch of the scheme precedes the opening this summer of AEG’s new Coca-Cola (formerly Dubai) Arena, whose 17,000 seats will make it the largest indoor entertainment venue in the region.
Local promoter 117 Live also operates a 25,000-capacity outdoor arena, 117 Live Arena (formerly Autism Rocks Arena), at Dubai Outlet Mall, which opened in 2016.
Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of Dubai Tourism, says: “The sponsorship scheme forms part of our commitment to retain the city’s status as a leading global event destination and has been designed to build on this momentum and act as a catalyst for the local events industry.
“The sponsorship scheme forms part of our commitment to retain the city’s status as a leading global event destination”
“This has been further fuelled by our cross-industry public and private sector partnerships, which serve as a crucial component in helping us identify and pursue opportunities to further empower local event organisers as we set the stage to welcome audiences from around the world.”
The sponsorship scheme will take effect for events held from 1 May 2019.
James Craven, president of Live Nation Middle East, welcomes the launch of the programme. “We are experiencing an exciting time of growth in Dubai’s events industry as Dubai continues to showcase its strength as a world-class leisure destination,” he comments. “This not only fuels our ongoing commitment to deliver the best family experiences in the region but also opens up new opportunities to continue strengthening our relationship with the wider sector.
“We have enjoyed great success with events from Dave Chappelle and George Ezra to the recent Wasla alternative Arabic music festival. The Dubai Tourism Leisure Events Sponsorship Scheme initiative marks a significant milestone in the government’s support in nurturing the city’s thriving events industry, underscoring Dubai’s place on the international live entertainment map.”
Interested concert promoters and other events organisers can apply for sponsorship on the Visit Dubai website.
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Ex-UTA Canada agent Zaed Maqbool heads to LN
Canadian booking agent Zaed Maqbool, who had been with The Agency Group/United Talent Agency (UTA) in Toronto since 2006, is to relocate to Dubai to take up a new role with Live Nation.
Maqbool – whose roster included July Talk, A Tribe Called Red and Marianas Trench – is the latest agent to announce his departure from UTA’s shuttered Toronto office, with Rob Zifarelli, André Guérette and Adam Countryman heading up a new office for Paradigm, Adam Kreeft and Rob Thornton moving to Paquin Entertainment Group and Ralph James and Jack Ross overseeing APA’s new Canadian operation.
Pakistani-born Maqbool (pictured) will serve as Live Nation VP of touring for south Asia and the Middle East.
“I’m extremely excited for the new adventure,” he tells Billboard, “and thrilled to be working with a forward-thinking company that understands the importance of emerging markets.”
Maqbool says he was offered the position by Live Nation’s president of international and emerging markets, Alan Ridgeway – and turned down an offer to join Ross and James at APA.
“I’m thrilled to be working with a forward-thinking company that understands the importance of emerging markets”
“I knew [Alan]; we’d been talking about India and south Asia, and the Middle East as a whole,” he explains. “He was intrigued by the fact that I spoke all the languages out there [Maqbool is fluent in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English and can read and write Arabic and Persian] and I was familiar with the nuances and the culture.
“Once all of it happened [the Toronto office closing], I was trying to find a home for my bands, but in the back of my mind I hadn’t written off the concept or the possible trajectory of me crossing over to the other side and doing the buying instead of the selling in a market which I was familiar with.
“So, once all of this happened, I had a couple of offers on the table, and I was legitimately ready to sign with an agency. Then the offer came [from Live Nation] and it was hard to say no. Jack and Ralph have been my mentors since the very beginning and they put an offer on the table as well, but I have their blessing.”
Maqbool tells Billboard he hopes his new position in the UAE will open doors for Canadian acts and colleagues. “They’ll have a friendly Canadian face in that region that is hopefully going to facilitate them coming out in terms of shows.”
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