Review: dXb Festival gets Dubai dancing

Strolling into Dubai Festival Park on Friday night, it was evident that the young revellers with their glow in the dark painted had gathered with one aim: to dance into the wee hours of the morning at the Dubai Music Festival. Launched last year, the event, billed as the first multi-stage festival in Dubai, was headlined by electropop duo LMFAO. This year’s lineup featured Dutch DJ Afrojack, American hip hop quartet Far East Movement, DJ Kaskade, singer Dev who lent her vocals to the chart topping ‘Like a G6.’ dynamic duo Shermanology, Swedish DJ pair Rebecca and Fiona, English rapper Wiley, Tommie Sunshine, Vello Virkhaus, a leading figure in the contemporary electronic music and BBC Radio 1 DJ MistaJam. Local big names B.I.G Rossi, Mister Outlaw and Simon Reid did not disappoint the crowd.

DJ pair Rebecca and Fiona set the mood for the arrival of crowd favourite Dev. The American rapper and singer, who has worked with Far East Movement, Usher, Demi Lovato, David Guetta and Snoop Dogg, took to the stage in a leather skirt and with a closely cropped pixie cut. She enthralled the crowd with ‘Bass Down Low’ getting everyone to sing along — and when the tunes for ‘Like a G6’ the screams became louder, a perfect setting for the Far East Movement to come on.

Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif and DJ Virman, dressed in their quirky, old school hip hop style, opened their performance with their current hit ‘Dirty Bass.’ They also paid tribute to one of their inspirations, the Beastie Boys, and channeled their inner Gwen Stefani with B-A-N-A-N-A-S (from Hollaback Girl fame). Striding around the stage with swagger, Far East Movement shined the most with their chart topper ‘Turn Up the Love’. When it was time for the chart topper ‘Like a G6,’ with Dev having already left the arena, the audience was quick to fill in for her vocals. The breakthrough band told tabloid! they would definitely be back again.

American DJ Ryan Raddon popularly known as ‘Kaskade’ continued the party with his top tracks including ‘Only You’ and ‘Lick It.’ With most DJs looking to make it big with someone else’s music, it was a refreshing change of pace with Kaskade writing his own and taking the chilled side of house music to new levels.

By the time Dutch powerhouse Afrojack took to the stage it was in the early hours of the morning but the crowd didn’t seem to have had enough. Larger than life Afrojack with his infectious energy bought a human element which the other DJs lacked connecting with the crowd encouraging them to move with the beats. It was a fitting end to the celebration of electronic music.

While performances by Dev, Far East Movement and Afrojack were definitely the highlights of the evening, it would have been incredible to see Dev and Far East Movement take the stage together for the hit ‘Like a G6.’ Their camaraderie backstage was hard to miss and would definitely have been electrifying on stage.

Despite not quite filling up the massive Festival Park, it was clearly evident that when the festival finally wound down, those who attended have had a night they will not be forgetting any time soon.

*Yusra Farzan is an intern at Gulf News