Peas and queues….

September 2005 brought another concert to Dubai, this time it was the Black Eyed Peas. I was really keen to go as I loved their Elephunk album. His nibs quite fancied this one as did Pam, so the three of us went along to the Airport Expo centre on the 6th. The usual shenanigans went on outside, you can’t imagine how hard they make things in Dubai. You buy your ticket, you hand over your ticket, you enter the venue, sounds very simple no? Well not in Dubai! You buy your ticket, if you’re really clever you purchase somewhere where you can get the tickets on the spot, saves the always enormous queues at the venue to pick them up. As concerts in Dubai always seem to be last minute, the chances of calling or ordering your ticket online to be delivered are slim, and you risk loosing all with the local postal service! So with the tickets in our possession, we got there early to avoid the regular traffic queues, and decided to go in, er….sorry, firstly we needed to exchange our tickets for wristbands. So we headed for the queue at the wristband station, only there’s no real queue, why? Because it’s a square of barriers with 4 or 5 (if you’re lucky) staff taking tickets and putting on wristbands. Think of a four sided bar in a very busy pub, have you ever seen an orderly queue? No, well not here either. This is where things can get nasty, it’s he who shouts the loudest and pushes hardest that gets his band!

Pam hadn’t arrived yet and we had her ticket, so I thought great I’ll get her wristband also, save some time. Oh no, the wristband-putter-on-ers are not allowed to give you the band they have to put it on your wrist. “I’m perfectly capable of placing the band on my wrist thank you” I said “just give me my three bands in place of the three tickets I’ve purchased.” “Sorry ma’am can’t do that” they say. What I want to know is why not? What difference does it make? I’ll never figure it out! Well my insistence that the wristband-putter-on-ers touching me to put the band on was an infringement of my personal space convinced the poor girl to part with three bands in exchange for my tickets. Then onto the queue to get in…..

By the time you get into a venue you’re so stressed at the seemingly simple act of getting in, you need a drink! Oh joy… more queues at the bar, here again you have a convoluted system, you order from man #1 at the bar who turns around and orders from man #2 at the inner bar, man #2 delivers drinks to man #1 who gives them to you and then tells man #3 what you’ve had and you pay man #3. Did you get that? No neither did I!!

Anyway, eventually the Peas arrive on stage and in typical Peas fashion belt out their hits whilst dancing and strutting their stuff. Fergie has one powerful voice and manages to hold her notes even when bouncing like Tigger! The band were awesome, but let very badly down by the sound quality. The Expo centre is a cavernous hanger like space with concrete walls and floor, I’m no sound engineer but I’d guess that the sound checks done when the place was empty echoed, when full though the sound was absorbed by the people and it was crap! Shame really as the Peas really put on a show.