Glowing like embers in a coal pit, the tail lights of the snaking traffic slithered slowly towards the venue — Atlantis, The Palm.
Scheduled to get on stage at 11, David Guetta’s fans — such as me — had obviously decided to get there just in time for the real magic. The whole city was seemingly getting into the mood as radio presenters indulged with Guetta’s infectiously cheerful music on the radio — and the traffic turned into a “before party”. As we inched closer to the venue, strains of music started to leak through the heavy honking and the enthusiasm was tangible.
I got in an hour an a half later battling the thick armour of cars, just as I heard the French connoisseur of techno beats say, “Hello Dubai”.
At least I had arrived in time. Now, it was just a question of getting in. Entry lines had already started to bump along in rhythm to the maestro’s beats as Play Hard featuring Akon was on.
I stumbled through, only to see the crowd — left, right and centre — jumping along with Guetta. While I was too far way — the lucky Guetta fanatics probably got to The Atlantis, Palm when the doors opened at 7 and were in the pit — I saw the screens behind the musician light up in the geometric and animated prints that he is so famous for along with fire, smoke and light.
Next, he played crowd favourites such as Dangerous — a song with a neo pop vibe — and Spaghetti Western-inspired Lovers in the Sun. The music was peppered with audible gasps, as people stopped dancing to catch their breath. Me? I jumped and swished through the crowd hoping for a closer glimpse. The rave was on.
The multi-award winner underscored pop love anthems such as All of me by John Legend and rap jam Fancy by Iggy Azalea and melded these faultlessly into his prolific portfolio of well-doers such as She Wolf. Guetta can really get the crowd moving, with tracks from his albums — Listen and Nothing But the Beat — plus a few remixes.
The DJ brought the house down. Leaving was difficult and even as I did, the crowd just kept coming. Exhausting, invigorating, and musical madness — this concert definitely made light work of my feet and gave me a good workout.
