Dubai Desert Rock Festival
Encyclopedia : D : DU : DUB : Dubai Desert Rock Festival
The Dubai Desert Rock Festival is a one day event celebrating the different styles of rock music in the world on one stage in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the only festival of it’s kind in the Middle East. As well as live music, you will come across extreme sports, vendors with unique selling points, and lots more activities with a difference! DDRF is so far only a 1 day festival, but it aims to branch out to a 2 and eventually a 3 day event, embracing the festival spirit in all senses like; The Glastonbury Festival and Rock In Rio.
History
In 2004, Center Stage Management (CSM) embarked on a mission to develop and bring a full fledge rock festival to the Middle East. Of course, we had to start somewhere, so the first annual Desert Rock Concert featured two rock bands, The Rasmus and Juliana Down. The headliner, Limp Bizkit, 48 hours in advance of the concert cancelled, allegedly because he felt “unsafe” coming to this region. Despite the cancellation (10,000 tickets had been sold) some 3500 fans rocked to nearly three hours of their favorite music genre.
In 2005, Dubai Desert Rock developed into a full day festival and featured well-known rock bands from around the world, including The Darkness, Machine Head, Sepultura and Within Temptation., which, together with two local rock bands – Juliana Down & Nervecell – played for an audience of 6,000 plus. (A quick web search for “Dubai Desert Rock Festival” will give you a good idea of how quickly this desert phenomenon has grown.) DDRF has now become known – locally, regionally, and internationally – as THE Middle East Annual Rock Festival.
In 2006, DDRF showcased it's most impressive line-up yet, consisting of: local Dubai band Mannikind, Testament, Reel Big Fish, Saxon, 3 Doors Down, and Megadeth. Unfortunately, due to a conflict between the UAE's moral codes and the lyrics of Saxon's "Crusader" the band were not allowed to partake in the festival. The gates opened at 3:00 PM, and the last performance ended at approximately 12:30 AM. The additional attractions to keep fans busy and entertained throughout the day included, among other things, a skatepark show, crazy rock hair designers, temporary airbrush tattoo artists, graffiti boards for budding artists to make their mark, cars customized and on display inspired by MTV's hit TV show "Pimp My Ride" and vendors of various rock paraphernalia.
The DDRF is all about bringing artists, audiences and supporters together in a dynamic, unique and highly interactive environment, and which centers on and helps cultivate an appreciation for live rock music and having fun.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.