Who’s watching?

Who’s watching?

While the financial crisis seems to be reducing viewers and sponsors for events, many more shows seem to be coming to town. Why?

March 7, 2009 8:30 by Aarti Nagraj

Cirque du Soleil’s latest show, Alegria is in town. Interestingly, however, the local website for the show offers no tickets for Sundays and Mondays, and although earlier advertisements for Algeria had said that the show will run from March 5 to April 5 in Dubai, tickets on the site are only available for shows running until March 28.

“Alegria is scheduled to perform in Dubai up until April 5,” a Nakheel spokesperson clarified to Kipp, adding that “A final decision on the final week of shows going on sale to the public will be based upon market demand.”

Regarding the no-shows on Sundays and Mondays, Nakheel said that “There were never any performances planned on Mondays. The current schedule represents the most sensible timetable for this run.”

The statement did not mention the Sunday shows.

Kipp assumes that the current economic situation may be blamed for removing Sunday from the timetable. After all, it is expected that with people tightening their purses, social events are bound to take a hit. In fact, it’s starting to be a trend.

Last month, AME Info reported that the annual Dubai International Jazz Festival had a smaller number of names on the sponsors billboard, although it managed to pull in big performers like James Blunt and John Legend.

Conversely, however, the dwindling number of sponsors and views has not affected the number of upcoming shows in the UAE. For Indian music fans, there is an upcoming Rock On concert on March 12 at the Dubai Aviation Club, with tickets priced between AED150 and AED1,000; Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel will host the debut concert of Coldplay on March 28 with tickets ranging from AED295 to AED995; and The National recently quoted a source from events promoter AEG Live as saying that Britney Spears has agreed to perform a concert in Dubai later this year.

And finally, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will also be performing in the Emirates Palace hotel as part of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival on March 27, with tickets for the concert costing between AED350 and AED1500.

All these concerts and events cost a lot of money. But if they are coming to the UAE, somebody must be watching them. But who has the money?