Here in Dubai we head out of the horror of 52C summertime into the transition month of 38C and 100% humidity, but also into the build up to āThe Event Seasonā.
We have the big gigs coming - Dubai went āBIGā with streams of big name gigs and a battle with Anu Dhabi to get āthe biggestā.
Meanwhile, going back 20 years or so we never had any of that, our āvenueā was Dubai Tennis Stadium and occassionally the āLegendaryā Irish Village (a bar under the main stand with a decent sized garden and āpondā. Those were the venues for our gigs, Blondie, Bryan Adams, UB 40 at the Stadium, Deacon Blue, Human League, The Wombats, Super Furry Animals, The Farm at the IV.
In the mayhem of āBIG GIGSā Dave C, the manager at IV struggled to get sponsorship for his gigs so they dropped off the radar, sure we have had some decent Tennis Stadium nights - Happy Mondays and Simple Minds were classics, but they are now back in full swing with a fairly solid line up in October.
We have Soul Jam - Alexander OāNeil, Jackie Graham, Mica Paris and Omar (whoever the hell that is) on 5th October, Remix on the Lake - 5 Live, Boyzlife (left overs of Boyzone & Westlife, Snap and Dr Alban, Ocean Colour Scene as Eric noted and Texas.
For me (after Glasto) the one I want to go to will be Live on the Lake - The Pretenders, Heather Small and Aswad.
Elsewhere so far we have Quo, Scouting for Girls, Gorlliaz/Stormzy, Sheeran, JLo, Elton John and Liam Gallagher & the Chemical Brothers (What an odd mash up that is for a day long bash)
Oh and a bunch of other Brunchy gig things only one of note being Toni Braxton.
The great thing about this town and concerts is that apart from Sheeran who sold out in 4 minutes, we can usually decide to go to a gig a week before. Itās very unusual for them to sell out too early, even the Irish Village which only has a capacity of 1500.
But for me - after seeing Chrissie Hynde KILL IT in front of about 20,000 at Glasto, I canāt wait to get āinto the Mosh Pitā at the IV next month.
And no, I donāt have the budget to go to many more on that list, and yes, it would be REALLY neat IF we could get to see up and coming bands playing.
Hopfest last thursday was the nearest weāve had to a night down the pub with The Zucchiniās (or I guess a night at the old Joiners) - we do miss those still.