And the story...
Rock show organisers hope for a huge turn out
Seems like the organisers of the German legendary rock band Scorpions’ ‘Peace For All 2005’ five-city Middle Eastern tour, which kicks off in Doha’s Inter Continental Hotel on November 10, are going to pull every string they can to try and lure the crowd to the sea-side venue of the live concert.
First it was a lucky draw with a newly launched car as the jackpot, and now it’s the stunning blonde Lebanese singer and actress Nicole Saba, who’s been convinced to do a 45-minute performance before the Scorpions take the stage at 9pm.
“It’s not confirmed yet, but she might even sing a line or two along with the Scorpions,” said Karnig Sarkissian of Media Tech, the event organizers, at a press conference late on Sunday night.
This will be the first time the 37-year-old five-man band Scorpions, who are accustomed to hundreds of thousands of fans that sleep on sidewalks outside the venue in order to obtain tickets, would be performing in Qatar, though they have performed once in Dubai October last year.
The band, which has over 200 million fans worldwide, will be performing live only for the second time ever the acoustic version of 30 of their best ever numbers that would include smash hits like Winds of Change, Rock You Like a hurricane, Big City Nights and No One Like You, to name a few.
The organisers said they were expecting “over 10,000 people” to attend the concert, which has tickets priced at QR100, QR250, QR500 and QR800. But with just 10 days to go for the show “only 1000” tickets have been sold.
“People in Qatar have a habit of buying tickets at the last minute,” said Sarkissian, adding that the QR100 tickets had already been “sold out.”
Event director Suzanne Grant of The Art of Business seconded that the figure of 10,000 was “estimated” after studying the market thoroughly. “There have been other concerts in Doha, which have hardly been publicized or promoted and have been attended by 5000-6000 people.
“Whereas, we’ve really gone all out with promoting the Peace For All Tour. We’re assuming, we’ll get a record-breaking crowd,” she said.
The Scorpions, who are bringing along about “20 tonnes of sound and light equipment, and five tonnes of musical instruments”, will be accompanied by three female backup vocalists, a keyboard player, a cello player, an extra percussionist, and “a few” background dancers.
The doors will open at 6pm with a DJ playing music for three hours till the concert begins at 9pm. “All refreshments will be available at the Inter Continental Hotel beach 6pm onwards,” Sarkissian said.
And sometime in the middle of the concert Nissan, the platinum sponsor of the event, would unveil its brand new 2006 Tiida, which one person from the crowd would drive away with.
Sarkissian said concert goers could simple complete a pre-printed form or drop their business cards in the designated box, which would be visible at the door itself. “The winning entry would be drawn from the box.”
“We were looking to launch the Tiida after Ramadan. And what better venue to launch a car for the youth than a live Scorpions event,” said Nissan’s GVK Prasad.
The Tiida 2006, which Nissan said was targeted at the “middle income earning youth”, was priced at QR45,000 up to QR63,000.
Tickets for concert available at: La Maison du café/Café Najjar, Crepaway, Royal Plaza front desk, Riders Lane (harley Davidson showroom), all Falcon music shops, or online – www.boxofficeme.com and www.itp.net/tickets.
First it was a lucky draw with a newly launched car as the jackpot, and now it’s the stunning blonde Lebanese singer and actress Nicole Saba, who’s been convinced to do a 45-minute performance before the Scorpions take the stage at 9pm.
“It’s not confirmed yet, but she might even sing a line or two along with the Scorpions,” said Karnig Sarkissian of Media Tech, the event organizers, at a press conference late on Sunday night.
This will be the first time the 37-year-old five-man band Scorpions, who are accustomed to hundreds of thousands of fans that sleep on sidewalks outside the venue in order to obtain tickets, would be performing in Qatar, though they have performed once in Dubai October last year.
The band, which has over 200 million fans worldwide, will be performing live only for the second time ever the acoustic version of 30 of their best ever numbers that would include smash hits like Winds of Change, Rock You Like a hurricane, Big City Nights and No One Like You, to name a few.
The organisers said they were expecting “over 10,000 people” to attend the concert, which has tickets priced at QR100, QR250, QR500 and QR800. But with just 10 days to go for the show “only 1000” tickets have been sold.
“People in Qatar have a habit of buying tickets at the last minute,” said Sarkissian, adding that the QR100 tickets had already been “sold out.”
Event director Suzanne Grant of The Art of Business seconded that the figure of 10,000 was “estimated” after studying the market thoroughly. “There have been other concerts in Doha, which have hardly been publicized or promoted and have been attended by 5000-6000 people.
“Whereas, we’ve really gone all out with promoting the Peace For All Tour. We’re assuming, we’ll get a record-breaking crowd,” she said.
The Scorpions, who are bringing along about “20 tonnes of sound and light equipment, and five tonnes of musical instruments”, will be accompanied by three female backup vocalists, a keyboard player, a cello player, an extra percussionist, and “a few” background dancers.
The doors will open at 6pm with a DJ playing music for three hours till the concert begins at 9pm. “All refreshments will be available at the Inter Continental Hotel beach 6pm onwards,” Sarkissian said.
And sometime in the middle of the concert Nissan, the platinum sponsor of the event, would unveil its brand new 2006 Tiida, which one person from the crowd would drive away with.
Sarkissian said concert goers could simple complete a pre-printed form or drop their business cards in the designated box, which would be visible at the door itself. “The winning entry would be drawn from the box.”
“We were looking to launch the Tiida after Ramadan. And what better venue to launch a car for the youth than a live Scorpions event,” said Nissan’s GVK Prasad.
The Tiida 2006, which Nissan said was targeted at the “middle income earning youth”, was priced at QR45,000 up to QR63,000.
Tickets for concert available at: La Maison du café/Café Najjar, Crepaway, Royal Plaza front desk, Riders Lane (harley Davidson showroom), all Falcon music shops, or online – www.boxofficeme.com and www.itp.net/tickets.
Blog Exclusive: This is going to be absolutely terrific. Apparently, there will be bar counters all over the venue, for people to buy their booze and listen to the Scorpions play at the beach.
One helluva night it's gonna be!
posted by Once the Conman at 12:28 PM
2 Comments:
Anu: It's both actually. Usually for concerts in India, its all so crazy... there's never booze, so you either have to tank up and go... or smoke some shit before the concert... and by the time the concert starts (always late) and the disgusting crowd, your high's fucked...you're thirsty and its just oh so terrible.
So yeah, the beach, the blue sea, the booze... and JUST a few thousand people and the scorpions... they're all gonna add up to the fun.
Gadarene: I researched this Nicole Saba chick. She seems pretty hot man... quite a celeb in this part of the world...
Serach for her on google... but yeah, I'm sure she's pretty screwed at both.
Oh she looks great! Lets hope she can sing and move, too! I wish it works out for Scorpions, they've been around and seen a lot, but Qatar crowd is pretty much unpredictable.
=^..^=
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