Dubai, are you ready to go crazy, crazy, crazy and live while you’re young? British-Irish boy band One Direction is coming to town.
Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Niall Horan will play their debut UAE concert on April 4, 2015, at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens Stadium, organiser Done Events announced at a press conference on Monday. Tickets go on sale at 10am on May 22 through ticketmaster.ae.
“Hi, we’re One Direction and we can’t wait to meet all our Middle East fans when we perform in Dubai,” said Malik in a video message released by Done Events.
The Dubai concert will be part of a new tour called On the Road Again Tour 2015 and comes after the band’s third headlining tour, Where We Are Tour. Dates have also been announced for Manila, Philippines (March 21) and Jakarta, Indonesia (March 25).
Just last year, pop sensation Justin Bieber played at the same venue in Dubai, causing a ruckus by arriving late on stage and by speeding in a Lamborghini.
With One Direction, those worries seem absent.
“I don’t expect to have to book five Lamborghinis for this particular show,” joked Thomas Oveson, the COO of Done Events. “And they will not be two hours late on stage, that’s for sure.”
Tickets begin at Dh250 to ensure as many fans as possible can afford to attend. A supplemental special fan package is priced at Dh1,000, in addition to the price of a separate ticket — in any section — to the show. Oveson said it will include a unique One Direction watch, an iPhone pouch, a laminated lanyard and access to a fan enclosure at the event with unlimited soft drinks and a “chill-out” area.
Diamond standing tickets will be priced Dh1,000, providing the closest view to the T-shaped stage.
So far, there are no plans for meet-and-greets.
“I think they have had previous experience where the meet-and-greet have been so rushed that the fans are very unhappy with it and very sad,” said Oveson.
“This is just a band that thinks: ‘Whatever we do, we want to do it right, and if we cannot do it right, then we’d rather cut it away.’ That’s why there’s no early admission, there’s no sound check access, no meet-and-greets, because it’s all about the show. And when you see the show, you’ll see that it’s different than any other touring pop or contemporary artist — it’s just phenomenal.”
According to Oveson, they have been in talks with 1D for nearly two years, with this show in particular taking up six months of discussion.
“We kept going back and forth about the capacity — how big can we make it while still ensuring that everything is safe. That’s why we ended up with 33,000, that also conveniently makes it the biggest show that has ever been put on here,” he said.
“I believe the venue in Abu Dhabi for [the Rolling Stones] show was less than 25,000, so I’m quite comfortable with saying that this is going to be the biggest one-night show ever in the Middle East,” he added. “Even the Bieber nights that we had where we, over two nights, had more people, the first night was only 25,000.”
An opening act has yet to be decided for the show. During the current Where We Are Tour, 1D have been supported by Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer. The tour has already taken the boys across stadiums in Latin America, while the second leg of it will hit Europe on May 23, followed by North America in August, beginning with Toronto.
The fivesome, who first found fame on UK reality show The X Factor in 2010, have gone on to become one of the biggest bands in the world. They have released three albums: Up All night (2011), Take Me Home (2012) and Midnight Memories (2013). Each album has been followed up by a tour, with the Where We Are Tour announced in May last year to promote Midnight Memories. The band have said they are working on new music, but details of a fourth album have not yet be revealed.
Tickets for the kick-off Where We Are concert in Bogota, Colombia, last April, sold out in minutes following the announcement.
Band member Louis Tomlinson told tabloid! in an exclusive 2012 interview that a gig in the UAE was a possibility.
“We’ve had quite a few meetings about that recently. We haven’t got any thing confirmed yet but it’s definitely is in the talks,” he said. “If the demand’s there then we’re always willing to come. It’s just something we’re waiting to work out with the different locations.”
And now it looks like it’s all happening.
Don’t miss it
Tickets to the Dubai concert will range between Dh250 and Dh1,000. Fans can buy tickets from Virgin Megastore at Mall of the Emirates on May 22 from 6am. They will be available at 8am in Virgin Megastore in Abu Dhabi and Doha, Qatar. For more information, go to doneevents.com.
A Facebook page has also been created for the concert: www.facebook.com/1DDubai
