Well folks, when all that stuff started in the Emirates it was two battle-of-the-bands type shows at some American schools. Then they brought over Deep Purple and Roger Waters, both to sold out crowds, then you had Desert Rock with Iron Maiden headlining in 2007, and the rest as they say is history. A band called Nervecell from Dubai whom I had the pleasure of seeing several times at the most unlikely of venues (spare rooms at an Abu Dhabi cinema, American University of Dubai cafeteria, and other unlikely locales) now go around European summer festivals like Rock-Am-Ring, Metal Camp etc. It's not impossible, but someone has to put their backs behind it and make it happen. There are of course cultural problems that will inevitably arise, a moshpit is something that takes a while to get used to, but for the sake of illustration, in 02 you'd go to one of them older, run down malls in Abu Dhabi and the shopkeeper would wink at you and sneak you in the backroom to sell you some Marilyn Manson, sometimes he'd have Death or Black Metal. Today you can go to Virgin at Villagio and pick up a Deicide CD. Times change and it's up to those with an "enterpreneurial spirit" to do something about things they feel a passion for ;)
Well folks, when all that stuff started in the Emirates it was two battle-of-the-bands type shows at some American schools. Then they brought over Deep Purple and Roger Waters, both to sold out crowds, then you had Desert Rock with Iron Maiden headlining in 2007, and the rest as they say is history. A band called Nervecell from Dubai whom I had the pleasure of seeing several times at the most unlikely of venues (spare rooms at an Abu Dhabi cinema, American University of Dubai cafeteria, and other unlikely locales) now go around European summer festivals like Rock-Am-Ring, Metal Camp etc. It's not impossible, but someone has to put their backs behind it and make it happen. There are of course cultural problems that will inevitably arise, a moshpit is something that takes a while to get used to, but for the sake of illustration, in 02 you'd go to one of them older, run down malls in Abu Dhabi and the shopkeeper would wink at you and sneak you in the backroom to sell you some Marilyn Manson, sometimes he'd have Death or Black Metal. Today you can go to Virgin at Villagio and pick up a Deicide CD. Times change and it's up to those with an "enterpreneurial spirit" to do something about things they feel a passion for ;)