Hip-hop, dance and anthemic pop music were on offer on the first night of the RedFestDXB festival.
The annual pop music festival at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre welcomed nearly 10,000 people for a string of performances lead by the super-star DJ Martin Garrix.
The 23-year-old Dutchman, in what might be his biggest performance in the UAE so far, delivered a suitably frenetic set full of club thumpers. Backed by kaleidoscopic visuals, Garrix was a content and silhouetted figure as he dropped a set deftly merging festival anthems such as Animals and Used to Love with gnarly tech-house offerings such as Latency.
It marked a high energy end to what was a night of an eclectic array of performances. With the event organised by Virgin Radio meaning the music wouldn’t stray far from the familiar, last night remained one of the most diverse line up of acts in the festival’s seven-year history.
After UK singer Raye warmed up the crowd with a brief, yet welcome set of soul tinged pop, Bastille took the stage to deliver the only full band performance of the evening.
The English group live a charmed life. On one hand, they have enough angst and grit to play in a full-fledged rock festival; while also capable of producing serene and catchy dance inflected pop music for a predominantly youthful crowd such as RedfestDXB.
Understandably, they focused on the latter part of their oeuvre in Dubai with a rousing and dynamic show featuring the propulsive Pompeii and Good Grief, in addition to a nifty cover of Snap's Rhythm of the Night.
Young Thug made a relatively decent impression in his debut UAE appearance. While a lot of the energy of the performance came from tracks showing his colourful take on modern hip-hop, such as the unlikely anthems On the Run and Best Friend, the Atlanta rapper cut a rather stiff figure on stage. Fortunately, it took the guest appearance of fellow rapper Machine Gun Kelly, who closes the festival on February 7, to shake things up by delivering a manic and winning verse in the groover Ecstasy.
Who performs on day 2 of RedFest DXB?
5.30pm: Becky Hill
With her voice dominating pop radio airwaves over the years, it is now time to see whether Becky Hill can replicate those cool and catchy sounds on stage. The US singer will make her UAE debut on the back of her album Get to Know, which features her hit collaborations with artists including Wilkinson, Sigala and Jonas Blue.
6.30pm Cheat Codes
The US pop group and production crew will take on the sunset set with their breezy array of hits including No Promises with Demi Lovato, Only You with Little Mix and the recent Liam Payne collaboration Live Forever.
7.40pm: Noah Cyrus
The younger sister of Miley Cyrus has a voice of her own. Over the past two years, she built a strong body of work that resulted in her debut EP Good Cry, which is a fine showcase of her brand of confessional pop.
8.45pm: Machine Gun Kelly
The US rapper has been making waves on and off the charts. In addition to his successful 2015 album General Admission, Kelly has made equal fans and detractors as part of his feud with superstar rapper Eminem. It will be interesting to see if Kelly performs his popular Eminem diss track Rap Devil in Dubai.
10.15pm: Stormzy
The festival’s biggest draw. British grime star Stormzy will not only perform his biggest show in the Emirates to date, but his RedFestDXB set will launch his global tour, which will take him to 53 cities around the world. We can expect the rapper to be psyched and raring to go.
RedFestDXB will be held at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre on Friday. Doors open at 4pm on. More information, including the full line-up and links to sites selling tickets, is available at www.redfestdxb.com
