shakira! shakira!

well, at least we got to see whether or not her hips lie (they do not), eat at the irish village, and be awed and amazed by the faux wyclef. jeff, jeremy, matt and i were disappointed but i guess that's what we get for thinking dubai could run a concert in any way better than kuwait could. as the kuwaiti dude waiting for our flight home with us said into his cell phone, "next time i want to go to a concert i'm going to the uk or the states!"

Dubai - Traffic chaos riles fans

Permanent link 45 responses Published on: Sunday, 25th March, 2007

Dubai - Despite being slammed by outraged fans angry at the traffic mayhem that led many to miss the performance, organisers of Shakira’s concert at Dubai Autodrome yesterday defended themselves, saying that the problems where out of their hands. After several hours on Emirates Road some concert-goers gave up waiting in the bumper-to-bumper queues and abandoned their taxis, in a bid to get home and escape the nightmare traffic.Others, determined to see the Colombian-Lebanese superstarplay her first gig in the Middle East, persevered, with some getting stuck in sand on the sides of the road, to arrive just as the last song was played. British expat Jane spent two hours in traffic before abandoning her taxi and heading back into Dubai, missing the concert.

“We were about ten to 15km from the entrance and the traffic was scarcely moving”, she said. “My friend sent me a text to say she was stuck in traffic further along in the queue than us. About ten minutes later we gave up, abandoned our taxi, and got another one back to Jumeirah. “My friend eventually arrived at the Autodrome but the gig had finished. Then she had the nightmare of getting back.” Another father-of-two, KS, who has lived in Dubai for 17 years, said: “I have been to many great concerts in Dubai but the organisers of this fiasco should be told. I don’t grumble but I watched my wife and two teenage daughters sob.

“We left Umm Suqeim at 5.45pm and arrived at the concert at 10.45pm. We saw two or three songs and then it was all over - though by the time we arrived we were too tired to enjoy it anyway. Thank God the police were on hand to help us, especially when we got stuck in the sand.”

But last night Thomas Ovesen, the general manager of Mirage Promotions, the oganisers of the gig, told 7DAYS they had met with officials from both the venue and Dubai police to plan traffic flow weeks before the concert. He said: “We said parking would be limited, early arrival was a must and we would put in place a huge food and beverage area, opening many hours prior to show time.”When it became obvious traffic was slowing many fans, Mirage say they ran an unscheduled satellite wrist-banding station on the Arabian roundabout side of the Autodrome - despite having announced wristbanding would only take place at the main entrance. And as the concert start time approached and congestion continued to stop people arriving, Thomas said the company asked Shakira to push back her start time.

He added: “Even people who left home late and got stuck in traffic got to see her - tell me what we can do to avoid traffic. Tell me where we can set up a fully-licensed concert arena, with no bad sight lines, that can safely accommodate the biggest technical production of modern artists with a 25,000 audience, without being affected by traffic or struggling road systems? If we had an annual car-free day in Dubai we would try and schedule a large concert then!” he added.