We
are already at the end of fourth and the last day of the festival, here, at the UNTOLD DUBAI FESTIVAL, hosted by the Dubai Expo 2020 City, and we only can say that we are truly amazed, by what we see
and what we experience, at every level. The clash of cultures, the continuous mixture of people of different colors, having fun, dancing, singing and partying under the same umbrella, the music from
Untold Dubai.
As
we said before, we are in the fourth night of the festival, and we just came out from Timmi Trumpets set, after the sets of Asake, PSY and Sebastian Ingrosso and the shivers of pleasure from all the
music and the general vibe of the festival keep on pouring in constantly. We feel a deep feeling of belonging, of home, surrounded by 60 thousand people from all the corners of the world. It is such
a beauty to see people of all colors and cultures dancing together to the same music.
These four days at the festival have been like a continuous walk in the clouds, this is the general feeling that we are leaving this place with. We are fairly accustomed with the
general feeling of UNTOLD FESTIVAL, and already this brings with it a feeling of excitement, but what we have experienced here, at UNTOLD DUBAI, is purely overwhelming. The feeling of belonging, of
cohesiveness, of different people coming together, of celebration and unity is more that we have ever imagined.
After its debut, in its first night, with names such as Ellie Golding, John Newman, Paul Kalkbrenner on the Mainstage, or ANDY C and Chase and Status DJ Set on Alchemy Stage,
UNTOLD DUBAI gave us the feeling that everything would be more than we have ever expected. Of course you come to a country, to a part of the world with such a different culture, and you expect the
people to have a rather different approach or reaction towards the music that you are accustomed to. For example, during the sets of ANDY C and Chase and Status, the atmosphere emerged into complete
and disastrous mayhem, and to tell you frankly, I had my doubts that genres such as dubstep and drum and bass would be welcomed here. But no, it was a pure explosion of energy, of people banging
their heads on the same wild and crazy rhythm. I have shot most of the sets from the middle of the crowd, and I am telling you that it was so hard not to give into all the craziness and the good
vibes that were purely exploding around me. Yes, all the people there, regardless of the color of their skin, indians, coreans, russians, germans or australians, they were vibing like crazy on the
same rhythm.
On
the Mainstage, Ellie Golding and John Newman were already gathering most of the crowd, and you could see the feeling of excitement on the faces of every person around. Of course, it was not the big
arena from Cluj, but the feeling was fairly similar to what we have experienced at UNTOLD Romania, and it was somehow even better, from the happiness of all those people, joining the first mega
festival in Dubai.
As a
celebration of the local culture and background, the second evening of the festival poured with a plethora of artists representing musical genres from Africa and India, and I must tell you, it was
not bad at all. With names cuh as Mr Shef Codes, HVMZA, MANAL, or BADSHAH on the Mainstage, or Patchoule, Vzline or FRDAY ( DJ FiiFii vs Kidy feat DJ TJ, or Freddie Gibbs at Alchemy, the
festival turned into a musical paradise vibing with afro-asian rhythms. There is something so specific to African music and beats, that puts you straight into a lascive mood, and I could experience
some couples dancing lustily in the crowd. And you want to dance, you want to sing and to be happy. The Mainstage was packed all day, since the vast majority of attendees were of african and indian
origins. Then was also the moment when Edy Chereji, one of the organizers of UNTOLD FESTIVAL, posted on his instagram account, that the UNTOLD DUBAI FESTIVAL exceeded 45 thousand attendees in a
single night. It was so nice to see all those people enjoying themselves with their favorite artists. The surprise of the night came when the Mainstage remained packed, and it even gained more
crowds, during the sets of Tiesto and Hardwell so the party continued late in the night.
The
third day was a perfect combination between the asian influences, and the western ones. It was a celebration of everyone. With names such as DJ Slim, DJ TH,G-EAZY, CANCELLED ( Kris Fade & Dean
Curtis, MAJOR LAZER SOUNDSYSTEM, Don DIABLO and DJ Brooklin on the Mainstage, and Green Room, Afroto, Enny, Knucks, Loyle Carner and Hot Since 82 and Sara Bluma on the Galaxy Stage, and this is to
name just a few, the entire night took everything to a absolute new level. While the Mainstage took it to the mainstream, to a more EDM style, Alchemy remained the home of the afro beats, for the
entire night. Again, the festival has reached new heights of audience, the organizers declaring that more than 55 thousand people have entered the festival grounds that day. And you could really
feel, almost everywhere it was packed with people dancing and sharing the same good vibes. For me, it was absolute bliss, to be in the middle of such a crowd, to share the happiness of all these
people. And yes, I am perfectly aware that UNTOLD Romania, has reached such a international presence, that you can find all the nations in the audience, but still, you don't get to see so many
koreans, indians, people from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maroc, Iran, Irak, as you can see at UNTOLD DUBAI. Also, I must admit, I was a bit proud, that some Romanians have succeeded in
organizing such a marvelous thing outside the borders of our country, and also, that we were so lucky to experience the birth of such a marvelous thing first hand. And yes, from now on, we could say
that yes, we were there, when this festival became a hit.
The
fourth day of the festival, continued the celebration of both cultures, euro-american and afro-asian with names such as Mademoiselle Sabah, INNA, ASAKE, PSY, Sebastian Ingrosso, Timmy Trumpet and
Scott Forshaw on the Mainstage, with Abri & The Everlasting, Parvane, Children of Zeus, Amalou or Masego on the Alchemy Stage, and Mahmut Orhan and Nicole Moudaber on the Galaxy Stage. I
will start with the incredible set of INNA, that brought with her all her good vibes and emotions and also, to our absolute surprise, a lot of romanian people in the crowd, causing a lot of hands to
rise in the audience when she asked whether there are any romanians in the audience. For around an hour, we felt right at home, and not just in a faraway corner of the world. To our surprise, we
waited for about an hour for the next act, Asake. Asake seems to be very loved among the african public, so the crowd kept cheering and dancing throughout his entire performance. I have rarely seen
so much energy at an artist, so much love from the public. Throughout the entire show, Asake kept on jumping, running, and paid a series of visits in the pit around the stage, ending with a swim in a
sea of people.
The
STAR of the day was none other than PSY, the incontestable King of The Mainstage. With an explosive and colorful but heartfelt performance, PSY and his dancers have mastered the crowd to a new level
of fun. Even if his performance, and more exactly his dancing, seems somewhat cheesy, he had a few moments of true opening towards the public, and he expressed more than once, his kind request that
people should forget about their mobile phones, and perceive the reality of his number with their eyes and their souls. Even more than that, he asked the technical team to cut the smoke and also to
keep the audience lights on for the rest of his show. You rarely see such a drive to connect with your audience, to feel that you actually sing to someone that you perceive, that you can see, and so
everything was just pure magic.
The
other extraordinary moment of the day, was the set of Timmi Trumpet, that drove the audience absolutely mad, with his performance, either jumping on and off the mixing deck, either running on the
podium, throwing water over the public, or spraying with champagne. It was like UNTOLD Romania moved to DUBAI, like a portal had opened and we were home again. UNTOLD DUBAI, thank you very much for
having us, and we would like to come back, forever.
All
in all, we are happy to say, YES WE WERE THERE!!!, when this wonderful thing was born, on its first edition. We all had our moments of anxiety, regarding the very late announcement of the line-up,
but in the end, we got more than we have bargained for, and thank you UNTOLD DUBAI, for the absolute experience, from the kindness of the staff, being it security, media team, the wanderful ladies
from the PR Team, starting with Ioana Chereji and Rodula Sofan and Ana-Maria Hancu, the Dubai Media Team, and also the vendors and the other people involved with the organization of such an
event.
Written by Vlad Piriu for AgenturppF