The Riyadh Season festival will celebrate the Saudi Arabian capital with a dazzling line-up of events. Photo: Twitter / @Turki_alalshikh
The Riyadh Season festival will celebrate the Saudi Arabian capital with a dazzling line-up of events. Photo: Twitter / @Turki_alalshikh
The Riyadh Season festival will celebrate the Saudi Arabian capital with a dazzling line-up of events. Photo: Twitter / @Turki_alalshikh
The Riyadh Season festival will celebrate the Saudi Arabian capital with a dazzling line-up of events. Photo: Twitter / @Turki_alalshikh

Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season to host more than 7,000 events to ‘dazzle the world’


Saeed Saeed
  • English
  • Arabic

Saud Arabia's Riyadh Season promises to be its biggest yet with thousands of events planned across the capital.

Details of the five-month entertainment and cultural festival, to begin on October 20 and running until March 2022, was announced on Monday by the General Entertainment Authority.

Chairman Turki Al-Sheikh said the event “will dazzle the world” with an expansive programme of 7,500 events covering everything from music, arts and theatre to food and sporting events.

Music lovers are in for a feast of concerts with 70 featuring regional artists and six performed by international acts.

When it comes to the stage, expect 18 Arabic plays to take place in addition to six by international companies.

Al-Sheikh also announced a wrestling event will be part of Riyadh Season.

While he didn't name the show, it has already been announced that the WWE wrestling spectacular Crown Jewel will be held in Riyadh's King Fahd International Stadium on Thursday, October 21.

A gaming tournament is also planned as well as two international football matches.

For the culinary programme, 200 restaurants and 70 cafes are set to take part in the festival.

The latest announcement comes after it was revealed in August that Riyadh Season will take place in an area measuring 5.4 million square meters and spread across 14 thematic zones.

Also announced in September was the Riyadh Season Cup, a football tournament featuring the star-studded Paris Saint-Germain side alongside local clubs Al Hilal and Al Nassr.

A number of celebrity players from Paris Saint-Germain feature in Riyadh Season’s promotional campaign including Argentina superstar Lionel Messi, Brazil’s Neymar and France wunderkind Kylian Mbappe.

Riyadh Season returns after its inaugural iteration in 2019 which featured concerts by K-pop stars BTS, the dance festival MDL Beast and regional acts including Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi, Lebanese pop stars Nancy Ajram and Nawal Zoghbi and Syria's Assala.

Winter at Tantora is coming

In December, the Kingdom's Al Ula region will be celebrated with Winter at Tantora, a four-month programme of events, running from Tuesday, December 21 to Sunday, March 27.

Events will span music, arts, fashion, food and wellness and include concerts, installations, ballooning, hiking and a citrus festival.

Food lovers will also have the option of enjoying hearty local and gastronomic dishes with various restaurants including Maraya Social, a rooftop restaurant by Michelin-lauded British chef Jason Atherton.

Both Riyadh Seasons and Winter at Tantora will take place with health and safety measures provided by authorities.

Key findings of Jenkins report
  • Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
  • Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
  • Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
  • Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Race 3

Produced: Salman Khan Films and Tips Films
Director: Remo D’Souza
Cast: Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah, Saqib Salem
Rating: 2.5 stars

The specs

Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed

Power: 271 and 409 horsepower

Torque: 385 and 650Nm

Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000

Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs

Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor

Power: 843hp at N/A rpm

Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km

On sale: October to December

Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)

Winners

Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)

Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)

Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)

Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)

Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)

Best Women’s Goalkeeper
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Men’s Coach of the Year
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Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Name: Peter Dicce

Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics

Favourite sport: soccer

Favourite team: Bayern Munich

Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer

Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates 

 

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