As soon as I played their music all I could imagine was being at a concert that had B.B King, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin and a bit of Stevie Ray all at the same time on the same stage. Their 8th track ‘The Ride’ will literally take you on a long one as well as one of my favorite tracks ‘Rubber Side Down’ which is absolutely amazing, the harmonica in the beginning and Ticher’s solo will take your breath away and free your mind.

I absolutely recommend everyone to check these boys out their swampy touch of blues are undeniable.

Edited by: NJ Bakr

The crowd was awesome that night. Everyone was excited, yet sad because this will be the last gig before Ramadan, however when Pull Box started playing everyone stood in the front and gave them a great support. Seriously,Pull Box how do you guys pull off a great performance like that? The front female is just energetic and when they play they put everything into it.

Pull box

Around 9:32 Svengali started setting up the stage and now the crowed is getting closer to the stage, let’s not deny the fact that Svengali is on everybody’s favorite bands in the UAE list, so I personally did not expect anything less than what they did that night. Performing their best hits ‘Sink’, ‘Conquer’ and ‘Embrace’, Svengali got the crowed in a mosh pit and headbanging!

Svengali

By 10:40,InnerGuilt were setting up the stage to perform for the first time in Dubai performing their best songs, such as ‘Burned of Guilt’ their single from 2010, ‘Through narrow Corridors’ single from 2014 and a Gojira cover ‘Lizard Skin’, as well as a Sepultura cover ‘Troops of Doom’. The crowed really loved their Thrashy/ death metal tunes from their album Slanderous Society that was released on April 11th, 2012. InnerGuilt’s front-man has a charismatic stage presence which is something that’s very important for a Thrash band like themselves. They pulled a great show.

Inner Guilt

The Lebanese veteran metal band formed in 1995 Blaakyum came down to Dubai to share their groovy/thrashy metal music with us. Even though the band’s set was marred by the sound system of the venue, Blaakyum got everyone in the Music Room head banging and supporting them. Right before they went on stage I had a small chat with Rabih Deaibess the guitarist and he told me how delighted they were with the hospitality they received and with the support they got from both the crowd and the other bands. With his Middle Eastern flavored voice,Bassem sang two of my favorite songs ‘Lord of the Night’ and ‘Cease fire’ along with the rest of their songs from both their albums Line of Fear and Lord of the Night. Thank you Blaakyum for coming down and playing in Dubai, I can now add you to my top favorite bands I’ve seen live.

JoScene and Metal Bell, thank you guys for giving us one of the most memorable nights. You guys rock!

Blaakyum

Check the rest of the photos here.
All photos are copyrighted to the photographer George Durzi and JoScene.
Check George Durzi’s page here.

Written by: Rim Jurdi.
Edited by: NJ Bakr.

The third and final day started with: La Bomba de Tiempo

14-piece percussion troupe made their way from Argentina to get us on our feet dancing and shaking to their hippy/ Latin vibe with their hand clapping and banging their drums and percussions all this was conducted live by senior members taking turns.

You have no choice. You will dance! There’s this energy in the crowd that’s uncontrollable and addictive; the energy starts a bit more slow paced at first. Playing the crowd is their specialty. They love to interact with the crowd. It was a dance fest over there, everyone dancing and swaying to the beats, shaking their hips and spinning their dates around. The unisons of the group was mind boggling especially with so many members, and I think they were enjoying it as much as we did, the looks on their faces and the way they danced while playing gave made that abundantly clear.

Carlos Santana

Santana took us on a trip to Lala Land with his dream, Latin, rock music. I can honestly say that I experienced being in Woodstock when I heard him as he played ‘Black Magic Woman’.

Santana then implores us with his arms wide open asking them to, “Keep politics and religion on the side and to practice living in harmony and to unit all of us loving each other and also channeling our energy positively”.

The bassist gave us a strong solo followed by drum solo before giving Santanaspace to play ‘Maria Maria’ and got the crowd dancing and grooving on every strum he played and ending his set-list with ‘Smooth’. What a hipster, I think Santana gave us an experience to remember and words of wisdom to live by.

To sum up, all three days of the event were for both the artist and the fans. With all the organization and the different stands at the back where you can stand and still see the entire show happening and the proper space for the fans. I think the crowd did a great job interacting with the artist and the vibe was amazing, I really believe these three days left a huge mark in everyone’s heart and definitely left them with great memories for both the artist who are going to cherish the crowds reaction and for the crowd who left with a smile on their faces because they saw how dedicated the artist were.Kudos for the organizers and Emirates Airlines who did a great job on bringing those artists to Dubai.

Written by: Rim ElJurdi
Photography by: Hasan Kaissi
Edited by: NJ Bakr

– Have you missed our reviews for previous days at the festival? Here is Day One and Day Two.

– For our photography coverage you can find on our Facebook page through here.

On the 24th of Feb the phenomenal band Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox wowed us on stage with their amazing performance covering great pop songs in 20’s style jazz, swing, and other popular styles from that time. With songs like ‘Bye Bye Bye’ and ‘Only one’ they introduced the crowd to Aubrey Logan, who made our jaws drop to the floor with her rendition of ‘Bad Blood’. It was Aubrey’s first time in Dubai and she definitely got the crowd dancing and laughing as she cracked jokes on stage, then performed ‘Give it away’. She also took off her shoes at the end and did a one hand cartwheel – I know crazy, right? 😀 – what a performer! Not to mention, Aubrey also played the Trombone, so we started wondering is there anything this woman CAN’T DO. Postmodern Jukebox got their awesome Tap Dancer Sarah Reich after their 7th song, where she got in a battle with the drummer which blew everyone’s mind away, then the cellist and the entire band joined in to play all the different themes to Star Wars including the main theme, ‘Imperial March’ and ‘the Cantina soundtrack’. While playing ‘All about the Bass’ the cellist performed a solo that was both inspiring and oozing with greatness, he had the crowd bowing down. At the end of their performance they all stood and took a selfie with the crowed.

While waiting for the next band to set up on stage, I had a small chat with Jad Abi Haidar who was very excited to watch Toto play. Surprisingly, Jad was also one of the contestants in The Voice who happened to reach the finale and now he travels around the region from Egypt to Morocco to Dubai and many more performing with “8eart’’ a company based in Lebanon. I asked Jad what was his favorite song for Toto and he said, ‘I will remember’.
The English rock band from Manchester James is finally ready to get on stage after facing a bit of technical problems that led to a small delay till about 9:15. Before I start talking about the performance I need to say that I had never heard of them before, and I honestly thought it was a weird name for a band, but after watching them I went home and downloaded the entire discography – which doesn’t happen very often by the way. They started with ‘Rain’ which was a very chill song the kind that makes you wanna wave your arms in the air and sway left and right, what really caught my attention is how the front man was dancing in the most random fashion, it was like the music had strings attached to him and was moving him without any control from his side whatsoever. I soon learned why he is this way when he started to tell the story behind their second song ‘Moving on’.

‘’The next song is about my mother who died in my arms 2 years ago, it was a beautiful death which is something that you don’t hear a lot of people say nowadays that death can be beautiful, it was more of a rebirth’’
With those chilling words he went on to say that there is a video clip done by BAFTA award-winning animator Ainslie Henderson and it is now used in Hospices – a home providing care for the terminally ill – for children who ask about death in order to ease their passing, safe to say I felt Goosebumps all over and my eyes started to water, this is when I realized he was one of those people who are in tune with nature and had a beautiful soul. One of the funny things that kept happening was that they were discussing on stage which song to play next, ‘’We just make this up as we go along’’ they finally chose a sappy romantic song while the entire band was singing as backup and playing Harmonica beautifully, and this was when James jumped off stage, went past the fan pit and the golden circle and went to the middle of the general admission crowd and started singing his heart out. This was breathtaking and a very nice touch if you ask me.

The moment we’ve been all waiting for was here. Toto made their way to the stage performing their first song ‘You supply the love’, I think the reason this event was held outdoors was because if it had a roof, the crowd’s cheers would’ve blown it off to ‘Kingdom Come’. After some thank you’s and some witty jokes they introduced their long time friend Lenny Castro on stage with them to help them pay tribute to all the friends they lost this year in specific Maurice White from Earth, Wind and Fire who tragically passed away earlier this month. The pianist then plays while singing which completely blew the crowds mind away but before that he asks the crowd which hat suits him better while he switched hats which was quite funny. Fun doesn’t end here because then their great guitarist plays an amazing solo that melted the entire crowd’s faces. The drummer gives the crowd a glimpse of his awesome talent by playing a solo on his drums. To end this beautiful night with a great song Toto then does an extra Encore the crowd was asking for ‘AFRICA’, they played a prolonged version of the song with each member taking time to play a special solo and they also did an awesome crowd chant ending the night on a very high note (pun intended :D)

Written By: Rim El Jurdi & Ahmed S. Khalil
Photography by: Hasan Kaissi
Edited by: NJ Bakr

– Have you missed our reviews for other days at the festival? Here is Day Two and Day Three.
– For our photography coverage you can find on our Facebook page through here.

‘Special Laws’ is a new single by Sailor Free from their upcoming album, Spiritual Revolution Part II.

Their single, ‘Special Laws’, is quite spacey, the piano in the song will make sure to touch every string attached to your heart, lifting your spirit higher. I have to say they did a great job, and I would refer to the band as psychedelic more than progressive because what they created is very artistic yet it’s just as much as strong. The song holds a message to anyone who could hear it relating to its revolutionary lyrics:

“We saw them hangin’ around
While there was blood on the ground
As they explained it would be
The curse of democracy
We drained what we could, on our way
No time to spend for parley
Now, don’t complain any more
What are you waiting for?”

It’s highly recommending everyone to give this band a shot and a shout out for being nothing less than awesome. I’m definitely going to buy their album to taste more of their music!

Edited by: Jailan ElRafie

The video that was shot for the song has a spiritual meaning that links with the lyrics as well. The video, showing sceneries from the mountains so calm and serene, was done beautifully, that matches the violin and folk elements used in the song. Eluveitie does it again by taking us on a journey to their homeland, using unique instruments not many metal bands use dealing with deep Celtic Mythology. The music videos ends gently drifting off to a wide shot of nature and a choir enchanting some Swiss lyrics.

Written by: Reem Jay and NJ Bakr
Edited by: Ahmed Khalil

The Raven that Refused to Sing revolves mainly around instrumental music more than lyrics; every song builds up with Guitar and keys except for the first song ‘Luminol’ that builds up with some great Bass riffs. Every solo in the album specially ‘Drive Home’ speaks so much about Steven Wilson.

Here are some lyrics to a song that is in the album called ‘The Raven that refused to sing’

“Sing for me
Sing for me
You can come with me
You can live with me
Heal my soul
Make me whole

(the raven sings in a dream)

Sister I lost you
When you were still a child
But I need you now
And I need our former life
I’m afraid to wake
I’m afraid to love”

After hearing this track in the album, I was left puzzled and confused wondering why did he mention his sister but after doing my researches I found out that Steven Wilson had no sister in the first place but a sister doesn’t always have to be blood related it could also be a best friend, or someone we hold dear to our heart that means so much to us and as far as I know Steven Wilson likes to have his bits here and there in his music otherwise it wont be easy for people to relate to and for it to be so real. As a self taught and still learning amateur musician who is very much fond of Steven Wilson and his projects my favorite songs would be ‘Drive Home’, ‘The Holy Drinker’ and ‘The Raven that Refused to Sing’.

Edited by: NJ Bakr

The song is inspired by Alex’s time in Sunderland as a child, mentioning both the local Marsden Rock and South Shields Metro. Additionally, they recently completed an extensive U.K. tour in March, featuring two sold out shows at London’s Roundhouse and appeared at the inaugural 6 Music Festival in Manchester.

Now let us talk a bit about the track released. One thing that got me wondering what they meant is when they sang:

“Oh, the North Sea sings
‘Won’t you come to me baby?
Oh won’t you come to me?’
Oh, the North Sea sings
‘Won’t you come to me baby?’”

They arise at cozy pub that makes you feel like you are in the 80s, all dressed similar to the movie “Back to the Future” as they hit their guitars. Falling deeper into the song, everyone gets up to dance, taking it to the beach for a walk holding hands and that itself makes me wonder why they did that. I think it is a connection with their present and future, and how chances can be perceived differently if seized while fresh. That walk on the beach would have been full of regret, so would have the urge of wanting to cross the Horizon for a golden chance. It becomes cold, windy, and your feet will not cross it anymore.

I believe that has something to do with “The point of living is to live”.

Let us enjoy this amazing track and I cannot wait to hear Frankie & the Heartstrings’ cover of this truly incredible track.

Edited by: Duha Mousa

This particular song has a great melody and sound. It’s great at its first bit with its percussive bit and it takes off with its smoothness and linear path all the way till the end.

Robert Plant is well known to hit a stronger structure and keeping his tunes very interesting but this particular song is solid and smooth at the same time, and to be able to merge these two together isn’t easy!

Robert Plant stayed true to his words, never changed and became a parody to his self, unlike many other musicians. His first album in 2010, Lullaby, was produced by the legend himself and recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studious. Plant spoke about a reunion back in May to the Rolling Stones that got everyone on their tip toes talking about it but if it wasn’t for Steve Perry injuring his hip getting ready for the tour; it would have been an epic return. The former is one of a kind of talent that happens once in a generation and for me I’d like to keep my hopes up high and see where this leads to.

Let’s look at this album and this song as a new creation that Plant is trying to discover that has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin and their texture, etc. The lyrics of this song is very unique, that goes along these lines;

“Pocket full of hearts
A world that’s filled with love
A love that carries all before
The passion and the flood
I lie beneath the rainbow”

He loves to remind us that everything can be solved with love and passion. I’m sure you can replay this song over and over again relating it to what this world is going through and how it has become. So let’s all take a moment and appreciate the fact that this great legend is always going to come back and surprise us with his great tunes, lovely words and overwhelming feelings that will take us anywhere we want.

Edited by: Nehal Ali

The first track in the EP, “You Know” has a lot of energy to it; the bassist perfects the distortion which matches the guitar riffs well. “The Different” starts with slightly softer riffs and delicate vocal tones. I like the diversity in this EP; the band delivered what they have to say and sing perfectly crystal clear; any listener will be able to engage and relate to what they try to say in their music. “She’s Right” is the ultimate end to this EP, you’d listen to the track over a couple of things with a beer in hand and waving your hair. Moreover, the band did a great job recording this EP at a high quality for us to enjoy.

I hope everyone enjoys and find a piece to relate to while listening to this amazing band, you can download their songs from their page

Rim El Jurdi and NJ Bakr.