UAE fans are thrilled that the boy band One Direction are coming to Dubai in April 2015 – and it’s not just teenagers who are screaming their heads off with excitement, writes Afshan Ahmed
Philippa Kevan is faced with a dilemma, one that is probably keeping her up at night. The 27-year-old digital marketing professional in Dubai has to pick a friend up from the airport on Thursday morning – at the same time the tickets for One Direction’s 2015 gig at Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium go on sale at Virgin Megastore at Mall of the Emirates.
“I’ve got a decision to make,” says the excited British national, who found out about the April 4 Dubai stop on the band’s On The Road Again world tour through Facebook. “I have to pick up a friend from the airport that morning, which means I won’t be able to queue up for the tickets at Virgin Megastore. I’ll probably ask a friend to get them for me.”
If you thought the obsession with Britain’s richest boy band, which boasts 19 million followers on Twitter, is a passing phase, the hysteria around the announcement of their UAE concert is proof enough that age is no bar for 1 D mania.
“I get this all the time, that I’m 27 and I still like them. I just laugh it off and say: ‘That’s right. I do.’ I love the sound of their music,” says Kevan. “I’m such a big fan that I would go skydiving if it meant doing it with the boys, even though I’m terrified of heights.”
The concert was announced by organisers Done Events this week. A One Direction Dubai Facebook page and Twitter account have been created to keep fans updated about the concert. The band also released a video greeting Middle East fans to coincide with the announcement.
Thomas Ovesen, the chief executive of Done Events, says he expects a frenzy on the first day of ticket sales.
“Judging by the Twitter trends and the response we had on Facebook already, we know that it’s going to be huge,” he says.
“This is why we have two ticketing partners with us this time.”
Ovesen says they have taken measures to prevent the ticketing websites from crashing, but “if there is a such a big demand that the site crashes, there is not much we can do. We have taken extra precautions in order for this to not happen”.
Like many 1 D fans, collectively known as Directioners, Kevan began rooting for them after watching the teenagers on Britain’s The X Factor. Despite losing out to the competition in 2010, the boys stuck together and Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan together went on to claim the title of the biggest boy band in the world. Their concerts, on the back of three chart-topping albums – Up All Night, Take Me Home and last year’s Midnight Memories – grossed US$114 million (Dh418.7m) last year. They became the first band in US Billboard 200 history to have all their albums debut at No 1.
The personal trainer Andrew Powell, 24, is a huge fan and doesn’t shy away from admitting it. When he heard about their concert in the Emirates, the fitness trainer called his friends and celebrated by listening to Up All Night, his favourite 1 D track. He, too, will be queuing up at 6am for the first set of tickets that go on sale at Mall of the Emirates as well.
“I know a lot of people of the same age and older who like the band but won’t say it out loud,” he says. “I like them because they are five normal blokes, travelling the world and living the dream. This may sound strange, but I have their posters, calendars and two of their books. Their concert seems a long time from now but, you know, time flies. I’m looking forward to it.”
Charizze Anne Nuñez, 21, from the Philippines, immediately tweeted: “So excited”, after the news of their Dubai concert broke online. The 21 year old, who works at Abu Dhabi International Airport, says she “checked for 1 D updates first thing in the morning and their concert details were all over the internet.” Nunez follows the band’s whereabouts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. “I’ve been listening to them since 2012 and sometimes tweet to them directly hoping they’ll notice me and respond.”
Salma Moataz, from Egypt, heard about it through the grapevine at school. “I freaked out and was shaking all over,” says the 15-year-old schoolgirl who lives in Dubai. “I had to keep telling myself that this is actually happening.”
She believes she is the their most loyal follower and is a member of every 1 D fan club on Facebook.
“I am their biggest fan. I have two Twitter accounts, one to just receive their updates. I have posters, their books and I’m sketching pictures of them all the time. In fact, I’m wearing 1 D slippers right now.”
Moataz says she will be at Mall of The Emirates from 4am on Thursday. “There will be a lot of people and I don’t want to miss out. I’ll just camp out there.”
Tickets will be available at www.doneevents.com and tickets.virginmegastore.me from tomorrow, and from 6am at Virgin Megastore at Mall of the Emirates, Dubai; and at 8am at the Virgin Megastore branch in Abu Dhabi Mall. Ticket prices will begin at Dh250. Diamond tickets, which will have a front-stage view, will cost Dh1,000; only 7,500 of these will be available. Gold tickets are Dh500, Silver tickets are Dh300 and Bronze Dh250.
