Rock Festival

The Rock Festival that takes place in Dubai is nothing less than a spectacle. The enthusiasm of an entire musically starved generation comes to life as a display of sheer energy which is contagious and gripping. Music knows no bounds just like hospitality in Dubai, so what better place to combine these boundless factors than the Dubai Desert Rock.

The festival and the insanity:

The weekend of the Dubai Desert Rock festival is commonly referred to by its followers as The Layer. The stage is set and the silence of the desert will soon be broken. The amplifiers resonate under the clear dark skies as if in anticipation of the guitars roar and the throbbing beat of drums during the routine sound check before the concert begins. The crowd gathers as anticipation and excitement leaves a streak in the clear desert sand. The announcement for the first band is made and there’s a momentary silence acknowledging and knowing that the wait is over. This silence can be compared to the final calm before a storm. It all begins…the wizards appear to cast a spell and all set to make an emotional mark on every last soul present in the arena. The desert comes to life at the stroke of the first note played and the crowd goes wild. This is the adrenaline rush and mass hysteria of the Dubai Desert Rock festival.

The year is 2004, there is a new Festival born in the motionless desert

The year was 2004, and an event management company called the Centre Stage Management shocked the world by hosting the first of its kind Rock Concert in Dubai. There were three bands which had been engaged to play at the Dubai Rock Festival in its inaugural year. Crisis struck when the headliner band Limp Bizkit backed out as the front man Fred Durst felt insecure in the Arab Country. Things came to halt but this was only a temporary setback as organizers had promised rock and rock is what the crowd would get. At first it seemed the festival with all its hype would be a disaster. A small crowd started trickling in not knowing what to expect and wondering how the night would begin. But it soon became apparent rock had been promised and rock is what the fans were to experience. Just as the organizers predicted the concert came out a glorious winner. As reports showed, Centre Stage Management had sold over 10,000 tickets, and only 4,000 attended the concert, but the other 6,000 missed out on one of the most spectacular live music concerts one gets to see in their lifetime. Centre Stage Management had fulfilled its promise to bring a high energy full fledged rock concert to the city in the desert. The saga continues and in true Dubai fashion each year the line up keeps growing with the biggest stars keep appearing on stage.

2005, the child grows into a monster

2005, the DDRF became a whole day festival, with a rejuvenated line up. No one felt insecure this time. The crowd knew what to expect and the organizers were prepared meet and even exceed these expections. The line up consisted of Nerve Cell and Julianna Down which were local bands. Representing the international rock scene were none other than, Sepultura, The Machine Head and The Darkness. The year 2006, saw a continuation in the growth trend as the DDRF had now grown from a one day small festival to a two day celebration of rock music! The line up was the biggest so far, with the likes of 3 Doors Down, the Testament and headlining the day were none other than the legendary gods of rock Megadeth. So if you are a rock enthusiast, then the DDRF has the perfect cure for your music passion.