The second Dubai Music Week began with a whimper, not a growl. The scheduled 1,000-capacity “official opening” ceremony, a live Q&A with headliner Jason Derulo on Wednesday, September 23, simply didn’t take place.
(“To be honest, I don’t know what happened,” the singer told us. “Scheduling conflict” was the official explanation.)
But by the evening, things were firing on all cylinders. Derulo may be a serial visitor to the UAE – he was spotted at Abu Dhabi’s Beats on the Beach in November and Dubai’s Movida a month later – but there was a heady whiff of anticipation in the air, as the crowds waited for the 26-year-old heartthrob to take to the stage at Dubai World Trade Centre.
Indeed, many of the hyperventilating teenagers behaved like this was their first concert – it might well have been.
Fronting a tight live band and agile troupe of dancers, Derulo served up just over an hour of tightly choreographed, hip-hop and house-influenced pop. Sporting a seductive falsetto, nifty feet and a smooth white suit – the jacket was taken off soon after – Derulo’s stagecraft channels an equal mix of MJ and JT.
Dropped early in the set, last year's Snoop Dogg collaboration Wiggle got the mixed-age crowd jiving adequately. The windswept soft rock of Marry Me offered a moment of fist-waving fun. Derulo's stage shtick is equal parts arrogance and competence: The guy can definitely dance. He can seriously sing. And he's more than a little proud of his bulging biceps. It's the whole package. In fact, he's so slick, watching Derulo onstage feels a bit like watching one big, long music video. Originality? Come on, this is pop music – you can't expect it all. Rounding the set out with dance-enthused radio hits Breathing, Talk Dirty and Want to Want Me, Derulo ticked all the boxes, a consummate showman to the last.
Earlier in the evening, UAE-based rapper Two Tone delivered an assured support slot.
Fresh from a European tour, where he supported reggaton star Daddy Yankee and played to 50,000 people, Two Tone’s command of the stage has multiplied since his RedFest DXB show in February.
Buddy and sparring partner Kris Fade was never far from the action, leading an eight-minute DJ intro, and sticking around onstage to offer vocal support throughout Two Tone's five-song set. Best received was radio hit Señorita, which has clocked 1.6 million YouTube views and counting.
Having already warmed up for Drake in March, Two Tone now seems firmly established as the UAE urban/pop support act of choice for visiting international stars – it will be interesting to see whether he can overcome that to become the main event.
rgarratt@thenational.ae
