Dubai can mix it with the world’s best destinations in terms of one-off live events and celebrations, but historically, when it comes to ‘proper’ multi-day festivals, the emirate has never really managed to stick the landing. However, all this changed in February when the world-famous UNTOLD Festival brought its inimitable brand of musical magic to the city, holding the first ever UNTOLD Dubai at Expo City. Hosting a plethora of artists representing a range of genres across multiple stages over four action-packed days, this was a ‘proper’ festival in every sense of the word.
“UNTOLD Dubai exceeded our expectations, and the response from attendees has been phenomenal,” stated Edy Chereji, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of UNTOLD Universe. “We are grateful for the support and enthusiasm from fans worldwide and are delighted that everyone shared the joy of this exceptional musical experience.”
With the original UNTOLD Festival in Romania known for its huge EDM line-ups, imaginative stage design, high-end production values and joyous atmosphere, the pressure was well and truly on when it came to translating this for the Dubai market. “Our usual method of creating a festival is to envision it how we would like it to be; to create it and plan according to this vision and then to find technical solutions to produce it on site. This approach allows us to dream big, to put all ideas on the table and then to organise the creative chaos,” explained Production Manager, Alexandra Mihali, revealing that an altogether different approach was required for the Dubai iteration of the festival.
“For UNTOLD Dubai, we started from the local market, exploring what it has to offer. We took several months to visit providers and try to understand what equipment was available locally, what the local vendors can produce and how. This gave us a clear grasp of the industry and allowed us to plan accordingly,” she revealed. “We took this approach because we were in a country that was new to us, with unfamiliar rules, and a beautiful but complicated location, so we wanted to minimise our risk.”
Photos: UNTOLD
