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George Michael to play Abu Dhabi in December

Monday, 27 October 2008

Pop legend George Michael will be playing his first concert in the Middle East when he appears in Abu Dhabi in December.

The former Wham frontman and internationally-acclaimed solo artist will play the Zayed Sports City Stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000 spectators, in Abu Dhabi on December 1.

It will be the first event to be held at the new stadium and is being billed as the biggest concert ever held in the UAE.

The event will also help launch National Day celebrations and an outdoor extravaganza of fireworks, lasers is planned to give fans a spectacular and unforgettable experience.

At 43 years of age, and with 25 years in the music industry under his belt, Michael has notched up six US number 1 singles and eleven British number 1 singles. He has also played at some of the biggest and most important concerts in history, including Live Aid, the Nelson Mandela Freedom Concert, the Freddie Mercury Tribute, NetAid and Live 8.

George Michael to play Abu Dhabi in Dec

Pulling Abu Dhabi into the limelight

It is not clear when the tipping point was passed, but it was some time between the closing chord of Justin Timberlake's concert at the Emirates Palace hotel last year and the decision by George Michael to postpone his retirement to play a concert in the capital this December.

A year ago, Abu Dhabi was asking the stars to come to town; today, it is the stars who are beating a path to Abu Dhabi's door. The Timberlake concert last December was the first time a performer of his stature had come to the capital and was the vanguard event of a carefully planned and determined campaign to raise Abu Dhabi's world profile through the medium of popular music.

The man charged with managing that campaign was John Lickrish, a Toronto-born events organiser who was asked by Mubadala to put the finishing touches to the Justin Timberlake concert. He was then briefed to "put Abu Dhabi on the map" and formed the management company Flash. In less than a year, success has followed success, as star has followed star, with Flash responsible for a parade of talent passing through Abu Dhabi that has seen the emirate's profile writ large around the world, through the traditional media of newspapers and television to modern internet youth channels such as YouTube. And, says Mr Lickrish, "there are artists coming to us as well now. We've been approached by 20 to 25 names so far". In Mr Timberlake's wake have followed Elton John, Jon Bon Jovi and Christina Aguilera — A-list artists who had never before performed in the region – and this week Flash confirmed rumours that George Michael, the British singer, would be performing in the capital on Dec 1, despite only a few weeks ago having announced his retirement after 25 years in show business. Mr Michael will play to an audience of 30,000 at the Zayed Sports City, in what will be the biggest event to have taken place in the UAE. Tickets, starting at Dh190, will be the cheapest so far, with the aim of attracting people from all over the world. The singer's fans from England and across Europe have already started making inquiries about what is being billed as his last performance.

The precise details of the negotiations that have persuaded such top performers to come to Abu Dhabi remain confidential – and no-one is confirming rumours that Mr Michael was offered as much as $4.5 million – but such is the stature of the stars flying in that money seems unlikely to be the deciding factor in their decisions to perform here. Mr Michael, who has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, is certainly not in it for the money, says Mr Lickrish. It is, he says, the "unique experience" of playing here which is drawing the big names.

Mr Michael was first approached a year ago to come here, and it has taken months of negotiation to secure the right package. Ultimately, says Mr Lickrish, for artists of Mr Michael's stature it is the appeal of playing in such uncharted territory, to a new audience, which will seal the deal.

Whatever the motivation of the performers, the strategy is paying dividends for Abu Dhabi. "I was asked to help pull Abu Dhabi into the limelight," says Mr Lickrish. "It goes with the whole idea of the development of the tourism industry and to make people realise that Abu Dhabi is accessible to all different people from all over the world."

In parallel with Abu Dhabi's ambitions to bring the best of high-end culture to the capital — such as the Louvre and the Guggenheim, due to open on Saadiyat Island by 2012 – it is premium quality that Mr Lickrish and his team are aiming for. "I want people to come here and know what to expect," he says. "Better quality, better organisation and better experience. We're very fortunate that we can learn from the mistakes of other places as we're so new, making what we do much better." Part of his brief, he says, "was to try to help break down stereotypes that exist, particularly in Canada and North America, as well as to change the face of Abu Dhabi and improve it for its residents."

"We want to provide entertainment for the people who actually live here in Abu Dhabi," he says. "My goal is to make it a fun place to be. People don't just work all day every day. They need things to do."

Flash will not be concentrating on western artists exclusively – in time, there will be announcements about Arabic artists coming to town – but for now the team's aim is to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. "Abu Dhabi has already got quite a market for the Arabic language stars," says Mr Lickrish. "Amr Diab was here recently and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage bring people here a lot, so my focus was really those stars who would grab people's attention around the world, the ones who haven't been to this part of the world before."

But it will not be long before big-name Arab stars will be part of Flash's plan to transform Abu Dhabi into one of the region's leading cultural hubs, to rival more established countries such as Egypt and Lebanon. Flash keeps a close eye on cultural sensitivities; while it has not been necessary to set rules or conditions for the visiting artists, Mr Lickrish is sure to remind them of local customs – and the number of families who come to the capital's concerts. "Abu Dhabi has the same moral standards as any other city," he says, "but we tell the artists that they need to be respectful... So far, we've found them very co-operative."

Of the performers who have come so far, it is the first, Mr Timberlake, who has brought the emirate the most attention. The sell-out concert was such an instant success that organisers even contemplated adding another date. In the end, they decided against it to ensure it was fully attended and attended by his most loyal fans, but the demand was part of the learning curve. When Jon Bon Jovi played in March, Emirates Palace had already hosted Mr Timberlake and Sir Elton John so capacity was raised by 4,000. "Bringing these acts here makes the world think about Abu Dhabi," says Mr Lickrish. "It helps to open it up. It makes people think about what's really going on here. People have a very narrow view of the Middle East."

It will be a view that seems certain to broaden along with Flash's plans for the future. Its team of 10 people will expand to about 16 over the coming months and the company will shortly be announcing plans for a New Year event which will gather together Arab and international stars on a scale never before seen in Abu Dhabi. Flash will also be branching out to work with companies such as Fifa, the international football association, and Formula One, organising events including gala dinners and ceremonies. Based for now at Mubadala's offices in the city, Flash will eventually relocate to the recently announced media zone, TwoFour54, next to Marina Mall. When the zone opens, it will host some of the leading names in world media, including CNN, the BBC and the publishing house Harper Collins.

The zone will, believes Mr Lickrish, give more of a local voice to media coverage of the city, which is now lacking: "A regional voice has a different voice to a local voice. The local voice has to be heard and you're missing a perspective if you don't have people based here."

Pulling Abu Dhabi into the limelight

George Michael to bow out in Abu Dhabi

George Michael is to stage what he says is the final concert of his career at Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City on Dec 1.

The British singer will perform in front of 30,000 fans in what will be his first show in the Middle East. The concert is a last–minute addition to his 25-date retirement tour, 25 Live, which concluded in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of August before an audience of 40,000. It will bring to an end a performing career that has spanned 25 years.

"There will be a few surprises on the night," said a spokeswoman for the organisers. "We can't say what but it will make the night one to remember for everyone."

The 45-year-old singer is coming to Abu Dhabi despite having already announced his retirement. Reports in the British press claim an offer of £1 million to come to the emirates persuaded him to perform for one last time. The spokeswoman said Michael was being brought to the emirates by Live Nation and Flash. Live Nation made headlines last year when the company signed a US$120m deal to secure all of Madonna's recording and touring rights. The arrangement was billed as the future of the recording industry and made Madonna, who turned 50 in August, the founding artist of the company's Artist Nation division.

George Michael to bow out in Abu Dhabi

His final bow?

Tonight, George Michael is playing a headline show at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, supported by Alicia Keys. Fans of the British pop-soul superstar would be well advised to attend, as Michael has let it be known that this giant open-air show will be the last concert he will ever play. Yet this claim should possibly be taken with a large pinch of salt. Michael has previous experience at announcing his live retirement. In August, he played two gigs at Earls Court in London that he had announced with equal certainty would be his swansong. Packed with sobbing, hyperventilating fans, the shows were billed as 'The Final Two'.

Watching the first of the London performances, it was clear that it would be a shame if Michael were to retire prematurely, as here was an artist at the top of his game. He has not always enjoyed playing live – indeed, he did not tour at all between 1992 and 2006 – but at Earls Court he appeared relaxed, invigorated and at ease with the adulation he has not always welcomed. Looking trim and lithe, Michael coaxed the maximum from his material, whether whooping through Freedom or crooning covers of The Police's Roxanne and the folk icon Ewan MacColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. He was also happy to revisit the bubblegum pop of his 1980s band, Wham!, leading mass singalongs of former hits including I'm Your Man and Everything She Wants.

Michael's enthusiasm for live performance may have vacillated, but his commercial star has never waned. His 25-year career has seen him sell in excess of 100 million records worldwide, with seven No 1 albums in his native Britain and two in America. His 1987 album, Faith, remains one of the best-selling records of all time, with more than 20 million sales globally.

Michael is not, of course, the first superstar to tell his public it is all over only to change his mind and hit the trail again. Frank Sinatra was noted for his alarms, while in 1980 The Eagles broke up, tartly noting that they would reform only "when hell freezes over". Fourteen years later, the Californians were back on the road and flogging the Hell Freezes Over tour. Yet Michael's indecisions have always appeared rooted in self-doubt and personal crises of confidence rather than commercial expediency. The clues were there when he ended Wham! at their peak in 1986, keen to make more sophisticated music and attract an older audience than the screaming teenage girls that were the group's natural fan base.

The colossal success of 1987's Faith saw Michael embark on a world tour that lasted the best part of two years. The album spawned four US No 1 singles, but the singer was not enamoured of his arena-filling status. When the tour was finally over, he told his record label, Sony Music, that he would never again undertake such an arduous promotional schedule.

Michael had wealth and commercial success, but he still craved credibility. His next album, 1991's Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1, saw him retreat from pop into a more muted, melancholy strain of introspective soul music. Even the album's sole upbeat track, Freedom 90, found the singer bemoaning what had by then become an unhappy relationship with his record label. Michael's dispute with Sony became an all-out war by 1992, when he refused to record Listen Without Prejudice Vol 2 and began legal action to extricate himself from his contract with them. He also declared that he would not tour again – a vow that he honoured for the next 14 years.

Having vanished from the public eye, Michael reappeared in 1994 when he performed at the MTV European Music Awards. The legendary music business entrepreneur David Geffen then released him from his impasse with Sony, signing him to his new DreamWorks imprint and releasing Older, an album of po-faced, overly serious ballads.

Michael had achieved a degree of the critical respect he hankered for but he had stopped being much fun. A greatest hits set, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, was a contractual obligation to Sony, and 1999's Songs From the Last Century saw him whispering his way through low-key jazzy reworkings of lounge standards and, incongruously, U2's Miss Sarajevo.

Yet even as Michael retreated further into himself and continued to veto live performances, his audience stayed loyal. His 2004 album, Patience, debuted at No 1 in his native Britain despite the singer courting controversy with a single, Shoot the Dog, that declared that the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair had behaved like a poodle in following the US President George W Bush into war in Iraq.

With typical contrariness, Michael then promoted Patience by retiring from the record industry. In a rare interview with the BBC in March 2004, the singer said that he would never record another album, but would instead allow any new songs that he wrote to be downloaded from the internet for free. "I've been very well remunerated for my talents over the years, so I really don't need the public's money," he said, adding that he was optimistic the move would make him less famous: "I'll hopefully become a happier man."

Yet George Michael is perennially consistent only in his inconsistency. At the end of 2006, having released a second greatest-hits album, Twenty Five, to mark his quarter-century as an artist, he abruptly lifted his ban on playing live and set off on an 80-show tour that was seen by no less than 1.3 million fans. Michael upped the ante last year, taking the same set on a tour of European stadiums. Wham! had played their final gig at Wembley Stadium, London, in 1986, and in a neat act of synchronicity, their singer became the first artist to play the rebuilt stadium in June 2007. His £125,000 fine for over-running a curfew for 15 minutes was unlikely to make much of a dent in his formidable bank account.

Having once again declared that his latest string of dates would be his last ever, Michael set off on the third leg of his 25 Live tour in June of this year. After touring America and Canada for the first time in 17 years, he added his 'Last Two' dates in London as an absolutely final farewell.

Which brings us to the Zayed Sports City Stadium tonight. Will George Michael really keep his word this time and make Abu Dhabi the lucky venue for the last performance ever by one of the towering figures of British pop music? Don't bet on it. At Earls Court in August, Michael ended his supposed final show with an aerobic encore of Freedom 90. As he skipped from the stage, the grinning singer bade his audience farewell with a cheery "See you next time!" So even if you are unable to get tickets for tonight, don't despair. The chances are this is not the last we will see of George Michael.

His final bow?

George Michael in Abu Dhabi

In what may be the final concert of his career, pop legend George Michael will take to the stage at Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City on December 1.

The concert is an addition to his retirement tour, 25 Live, which concluded in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of August.

Presented by Flash, the concert will coincide with the UAE National day festivities, which is expected to be an extravaganza of fireworks, lasers and world-class performance giving fans a spectacular and unforgettable experience.

The British singer, whose career has spanned 25 years, is coming to Abu Dhabi despite having already announced his retirement.

George Michael in Abu Dhabi

Alicia Keys set for Abu Dhabi

Triple Grammy winning soul singer Alicia Keys will be supporting the legendary George Michael for his performance on December 1 at the Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, event organizers Flash said in made a surprise announcement on Tuesday.

Fans can expect an electrifying performance from Alicia Keys as she alternates between slow soothing songs to heart pumping R'n'B.

This pre-National Day celebration concert marks both artists' first performance in the UAE and will be the final chance to see George Michael perform live as part of his 25Live Tour.

Tickets will go on sale from November 1 on www.boxofficeme.com and from November 4 at Virgin Megastores, and selected outlets across the UAE (Hallmark, Spinneys, Cellucom)

Alicia Keys set for Abu Dhabi

Rush for George Michael tickets

Tickets for the George Michael and Alicia Keys concert next month look likely to sell out within 10 days, organisers said. The event, at Zayed Sports City, will be the biggest concert ever staged in the UAE, with an audience of 30,000. Flash, the concert presenters, have been pleased with sales, which range in price from Dh195 to Dh995. "The tickets all the way through the price ranges have been selling really well," said John Lickrish, the managing director of Flash.

Keys, a Grammy award winner, will open for the British star on the eve of UAE National Day, with Michael expected on stage at 11pm.

It is the first time Keys, who has recorded the theme for Quantum of Solace, the latest Bond film, will perform on the same stage as Michael. The UAE event is said to be his last performance after 25 years in music.

The show will feature fireworks to mark the national holiday as Michael sings across midnight to see in the day marking 37 years of UAE independence. The concert is Michael's first performance in the Middle East.

Tickets can be bought on www.boxofficeme.com and in person from Virgin Megastores, Hallmark, Spinneys and Cellucom.

Rush for George Michael tickets

George Michael show to be biggest yet

It is an unlikely place to wrap up a 25-year musical career that has had little to do with the Middle East. When George Michael takes the stage at Zayed Sports City Stadium tonight to mark National Day, making his Middle East debut before a crowd that will include a circle of his family and friends flown in from the UK, the concert is supposed to be his last.

Abu Dhabi was a last-minute addition to his "25 Live" farewell tour that has stretched to 105 shows. Reports in the British press have indicated it was an offer of £1 million (Dh6m) that persuaded Michael to extend his tour by one date.

The 45-year-old singer, a Grammy Award winner who has sold 100 million records and had a dozen number one hits in the UK, including Faith and Father Figure, loves the hot weather.

The concert is the first to be held at the stadium since it opened in 1974 as the capital's premier football stadium, with Michael performing for an audience that is expected to be bigger than any other that has gathered to see an artist in the UAE. "When this stadium was built, it was never going to be for an event like this," said Lee Charteris, operations manager for Flash, the organisers. "There were certainly never meant to be 12,000 people on the pitch like this."

It is "an amazing achievement" to have organised something on this scale in such a short time, said Mr Charteris, who has worked in the UK music industry for 30 years. The concert's size and scale, bringing fans from around the world including the UK and Sweden, reflects how far the capital has come since it staged the first such concert for Justin Timberlake one year ago. Mr Charteris said Timberlake was expected to be a "one-off".

"One year ago, nobody would have believed that we'd be into our fifth show and that we'd be doing this on a month by month basis," he said. "The guys here in Abu Dhabi have been great. It's going to be an amazing show and something for Abu Dhabi to be proud of."

Security is tight for the show, but no more so than in any other country that Michael has visited, including Ukraine and Russia. "Being in the Middle East has made no difference to our procedure," said Andy Frost, the singer's head of security. "We haven't done anything here which we wouldn't do in any other country, regardless of the fact it's the Middle East. Before we come we assess it to ensure that it's safe and we feel like this is no more risky than anywhere else that we've been since the tour began."

Michael will have at least two costume changes. On hand backstage he has two wardrobe assistants, two hair and make-up artists and a masseur.

At midnight a fireworks display will mark the 37th UAE National Day.

Michael will do a sound check today with his 12-member band and backing singers, shortly before the opening artist, Alicia Keys, will perform. Keys, a Grammy Award-winning artist from the US who has sold more than 30 million records, also has a worldwide following.

Preparations for the concert have been going on for 10 days, with staff brought in from Australia, the US, Canada and the UK. Personnel include 100 people for production, 60 who came with George's tour team, and 300 for security.

Five screens will display a multimillion-dollar video backdrop to the show, the content of which Michael has been part of from start to finish, editing right down to the very end.

There will be double the amount of equipment than at any previous large-scale concert in the capital, such as Christina Aguilera or Bon Jovi. In addition to a 100-metre stage, four companies have contributed the video equipment as Flash could not find one company to provide for the show's visual needs. Some of the show's lighting was shipped in from the UK; 60 tonnes of air freight for the concert has been shipped in three air carriers.

Police have been involved in helping co-ordinate traffic and security at the event, while three ambulance crews will be on site in case of emergency at the stadium, which has never seen crowds on this scale. Player tunnels are being used as access routes for fans while new stairways have been erected.

Tickets start at Dh195 and will be available at the venue.

George Michael show to be biggest yet