The show goes on...and on [review Dubai]

Quoted from: http://archive.gulfnews.com/

' Robbie Williams in concert at Dubai's Nad Al Sheba racetrack last month. Dubai is on the up on the concert circuit, but needs to become part of an established tour. Gulf News archive

By Rhys Jones, Special to Gulf News
After the success of last month's Robbie Williams concert at Dubai's Nad Al Sheba racetrack, the emirate is fast becoming the venue of choice for 'one-off' shows by the music business' bright young things.
The region and mainstream popular music have not exactly gone hand in hand over the last two decades, with ageing bands and washed-up old rockers being the best the Gulf could offer. This has all changed over the last three years, with Dubai, in particular leading the way. Over the last 18 months the emirate's promoters have attracted some of the biggest names in pop, including Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child, Craig David and Alicia Keys.
In order for the city's concert industry to continue its growth spurt, many observers believe it is imperative that Dubai becomes a part of either the European or Asian tour, which super groups such as Coldplay, REM and U2 travel on. If this happens, Dubai would undoubtedly attract more and more big names to its shores, but if the emirate does not find itself listed alongside the likes of London, Paris and New York on the global touring schedule it could limit the amount of growth possible in the industry.
"The concert business is not growing in the UAE as some people think, but it is bigger than it was few years ago," says Anthony Younes, managing director of Chillout Productions and president of the Dubai International Jazz Festival. "In my opinion it will mature when Dubai is considered part of a tour ? it is only a stopover for some artistes on their way to India, Australia or any other city in Asia. On the other hand, we don't have enough cities similar to Dubai in the region to create a tour, so it is hard."
Mirage Promotions one of the region's best known and most established concert promoters hopes to see the industry's growth continue with the creation of a mini-tour in the Middle East. The company has organised and staged region-wide shows in the past, and Thomas Ovesen, Mirage's general manager in Dubai, points at his own company's success in promoting big events and creating a mini-tour schedule for certain acts while they are in the region.
"We put on a Middle East tour with Westlife during which we put on a Bahrain show, so things are changing across the region," says Ovesen. "We also had a sell out Phil Collins show in Beirut and Craig David headlining the Peace Concert in Sharm Al Shaikh, which attracted some 200,000 people."
Nevertheless, the concert business has moved on significantly without being part of a tour, and much of this growth is down to Dubai's growing reputation abroad. Yassin Matbouly, managing director of Vibe Middle East the company responsible for bringing Grammy winning reggae performer Sean Paul and superstar DJ Pete Tong to Dubai has a lot to thank the emirate for, and puts much of the industry's success down to Dubai's increasingly high profile on the world stage.
"Today, Dubai is a regional hub for many things, and has become the most dynamic city in the Middle East," says Matbouly. "These days artistes are much happier to come to Dubai because the city has built itself a great reputation around the world and they have heard so many great things about it from the other acts."
Despite not yet being associated with the European or Asian tours, Dubai's emergence as a venue of choice for the music business' key players has transferred into increasing revenues for the majority of the city's promoters, with the top firms seeing year-on-year growth double during 2005. This impressive expansion is expected to continue this year as more big names, including Prince and Jennifer Lopez, look set to perform here in the coming months.
"Last year was our biggest year so far we tripled in revenue and in staff size to cope with the number of events we put on," explains Vibe's Matbouly. "We expect to at least double that this year. It is great to be in such a dynamic market where you can grow so quickly."
While Dubai's promoters are busy filling their boots, their American counterparts are having a hard time of it. The 'big gig' concert business in the United States is in the middle of one of its worst ever slumps, and figures by Billboard magazine claim that North American concert earnings fell 6.2 per cent in 2005 compared with the previous year. This was down to a 3.8 per cent fall in concert attendance country-wide. However, Mirage's Ovesen believes this kind of decline is unlikely to hit the Middle East just yet.
"Each market is different, and keeping in mind that the UAE market is relatively small I think we have proved that with the right lead time, campaign, media activities and ticket pricing, events can sell in large numbers," adds Ovesen. "Obviously, there are less experienced operators in the market, and each year brings the occasional surprise when good international artistes don't sell any tickets for a Dubai show, but this is more down to the promotion than a reflection of a slump market."
One problem facing the emirate's concert industry is the perception that promoters can afford to pay huge appearance fees because of Dubai's glamorous reputation abroad. Robbie Williams reportedly earned upwards of Dh6 million, while there have been reports of many other artistes holding promoters to ransom.
"The fact that many artistes consider Dubai to be a very rich city and they want to double their fees makes the industry here very tough," claims Chillout's Younes.
However, with more popular, chart-topping acts rumoured to be hitting the Gulf's shores over the coming months and the continued growth of the city's concert industry, Dubai's new breed of promoters should be able to afford it.

- The writer is a Paris-based journalist who writes exclusively for Gulf News.