It must take a headache-inducing amount of logistics to organise, but there really should be more concerts at Burj Park, especially if they are laid out like the Dubai Caribbean Canival on Thursday night.
On the wide, lush strip of grass alongside the lake with the fountains, in the shadow of the world’s tallest building, we stretched out and watched Sean Kingston and Jason Derulo do their thing with class.
The wholesome concert was mostly attended by teenagers and chaperoning parents, since it and the following day’s carnival were family-oriented and dry.
Although the event was deserving of a bigger crowd, the kids that were there danced like there was no tomorrow, and were overzealous enough for Kingston to tell them to calm down after he took an extended walk through the audience.
Looking slimmer than the rotund teen that hit the charts with Beautiful Girls in 2007 – he was in a serious accident in 2011 and looks to have taken a new lease on life – he was charming and engaging as he put in a full set of his hits.
Also on the setlist were new tracks from his forthcoming album “Back 2 Life”, opening with the title track, which samples Soul II Soul’s ‘90s hit “Back To Life.
Following Kingston on stage was Derulo – US rapper Bow Wow, also on the line-up, was unable to fly out of New York due to Hurricane Sandy flight disruption. Organisers 321 Events told tabloid! the cancellation was the second time the rapper had been booked for a Dubai performance and had been forced to pull out; let’s hope he lives up to his suggestion to travel here with his mentor Snoop Dogg on New Year’s Eve.
Derulo’s show took a different tack, with his focus more on smooth R&B vocals and slick dance moves (both singers thankfully sang live).
He gave the crowd what they wanted – It Girl, Watcha Say and then took an interlude, requesting “a little dubstep” so he could show off some of his breakdance-inspired moves, drawing impersonations from those in the crowd, some probably only 7 or 8 years old.
Also the victim of a serious injury (he broke a vertebra doing a dance move in January 2012), Derulo appeared to have made a full recovery.
With The Dubai Mall open 24 hours over the weekend, once the concert finished just before midnight, people were able to join the existing crowds for a quieter musical show around the Dubai fountains, just steps away.
