Dubai Desert Rock Festival

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The Dubai Desert Rock Festival is an event celebrating the different styles of rock music in the world on one stage in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the only festival of its kind in the Middle East. As well as live music, extreme sports is also featured as a crowd attraction. DDRF was once a one day festival, but it has become a two day festival.

1 History
2 References
3 See Also
4 External links

[edit] History

In 2004, Center Stage Management (CSM) embarked on a mission to develop and bring a full fledge rock festival to the Middle East. The first annual Desert Rock Concert featured two rock bands, The Rasmus and Juliana Down. The headliner, Limp Bizkit cancelled their appearance 48 hours before the show, allegedly because frontman Fred Durst felt “unsafe” coming to the region. Despite the cancellation (10,000 tickets had been sold) some 3,500 fans attended.

In 2005, Dubai Desert Rock developed into a full day festival and featured well-known rock bands from around the world, including The Darkness, Machine Head, Sepultura and Within Temptation, which, together with two local rock bands – Juliana Down & Nervecell – played for an audience of more than 6,000 people. DDRF has now become internationally known as The Middle East Annual Rock Festival.

In 2006, DDRF showcased its most renowned line-up yet, consisting of Testament, Reel Big Fish, Saxon, 3 Doors Down, Megadeth, and local Dubai band Mannikind, . Due to a conflict between the UAE's moral codes and the lyrics of Saxon's "Crusader" the band were not allowed to partake in the festival. The gates opened at 3:00 PM, and the last performance ended at approximately 12:30 AM. The additional attractions to keep fans busy and entertained throughout the day included, among other things, a skatepark show, crazy rock hair designers, temporary airbrush tattoo artists, graffiti boards for budding artists to make their mark, cars customized and on display inspired by MTV's hit TV show "Pimp My Ride" and vendors of various rock paraphernalia.

For the 2007 installment of Dubai Desert Rock Festival the following bands performed:(source)

On March 9th: