It is now official: Red Hot Chilli Peppers are coming to Abu Dhabi.
The world-famous funk band will make their UAE debut on Wednesday, September 4, with a performance in the capital’s newest indoor entertainment venue, The Arena on Yas Island.
Their concert will be part of Abu Dhabi Showdown Week, a series of entertainment and lifestyle events held across the city in the lead up to the sporting spectacle, UFC 242, which star fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov will be headlining on September 7. You can preregister for tickets, which range from Dh250 to D995, on www.ADShowdownWeek.ae
A second high-profile concert is also expected to be announced soon as part of Abu Dhabi Showdown Week.
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers' arrival caps days of rumours surrounding their Abu Dhabi concert.
Sources told The National earlier this week that the group will play in Abu Dhabi as part of the wider sporting event. UFC President Dana White told sports vlogger and podcaster Robbie Fox that a RHCP gig in the UAE was also on the cards.
The band returns to the Arab world
The Abu Dhabi show also marks the band's second foray into the Middle East. On March 15, the Chillis performed a brilliant and expansive set at Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza. The two-hour show featured 19 songs and all the band's biggest hits including Californication, Under The Bridge and Give it Away.
The shows are part of a world tour to promote their eleventh album The Getaway. Released in 2016, the collection found them taking a stylistic turn and eschewing their trademark all-out funk attack for something more melodic and measured.
To whet fans' appetite, here is the full set list of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' show in Egypt:
Can't Stop
Fortune Faded
The Zephyr Song
Dani California
Dark Necessities
Hey
I Wanna Be Your Dog (a cover of The Stooges' song)
Right on Time
Snow
Pea
Californication
Go Robot
Don't Forget Me
Higher Ground (a cover of Stevie Wonder’s song)
Under the Bridge
By the Way Play
Pyramid Song (a cover of the Radiohead song)
Goodbye Angels
Give It Away
