F*#!%ing Brilliant!

It was absolutely fucking brilliant!

The two-day Dubai Desert Rock Fest was filled with awesome rocking moments and I had a kick-ass time watching bands like Iron Maiden, Incubus, the Prodigy and Robert Plant perform as their lives depended on it!


On the first day I caught Mastdon, who were pretty alright, and In Flames who really rocked the place hard. By the time Stone Sour came on I was already starting to get weary – I had only had 3 hours sleep the night before. But they did play my fave song "Looking Through the Glass" and ended their set with the brutal "Get Inside"

I retired into the press room for a while, almost slipping into sleep (out of tiredness not boredom!), when the Prodigy came on. And man, if you've not seen the Prodigy live, you've no idea what you're missing. The whole place went wild as they played their big hits starting with the rocking "Breathe" and the intensely mad "Firestarter". I have never felt or been through what I did in my entire life during the set of the Prodigy. The music – and the ferocious way they perform it – takes you to places you never thought existed!


Iron Maiden. Well, Iron Maiden was every bit of the Iron Maiden that I grew up with 10 years ago. Bruce Dickenson is a great showman and to see him darting around the whole stage, jumping, diving, dancing and sliding, you cant help but admire the guy. They played the very songs I and my mates used to sing along while we cruised around the streets of Bahrain "Run to the Hills", "2 Minutes to Midnight", and the fantastic "Fear of the Dark" among others.

Featuring giant-sized Eddie dressed in World War gear with a machine gun and the "biggest tank" Iron Maiden could find popping out of the ground onto the stage, that was what you would call a proper rock show!

I'll write about the second day of the rock fest tomorrow. (will try to post more pix I promise)

For now I have to figure out what the hell happened to my laptop which refuses to start and makes disturbing sounds as it tries to do so!

We Built This City on Rock and....!

I'm leaving tomorrow early morning for the Dubai Desert Rock Festival over the weekend.

I'm getting giddy about it. Bands like Incubus, Stone Sour, Iron Maiden and Robert Plant are gonna play. I used to listen to a lot of Iron Maiden in my cousin's crappy Huyndai hatchback ten years ago.

It’s a two day line-up, so it should be a lot of fun, considering that I've got a press pass and all that and I'm gonna meet up with Samar who's gonna use her artistry with a camera to cover the thing.

Run to the hills people, run to the hills…!!!

Melty Cheese Is Sticky

It seems I've become more of a secretary than a writer lately. I'm my own personal assistant! Phone calls to make, planning to do, scheduling to arrange, meetings to set, dates to pur right, deadlines to be reminded of… Ok, maybe I should stop whining about it. I mean, seriously, it's not like I'm running for office is it? No, now that would be hard work. Yeah. Right.

The British Council event is all set to go down on November 18th. There will be two separate sessions at 10.30am and at 12noon. And I'll be talking to a bunch of 12 to 17 year olds about writing, creativity and whatever comes to my mind on the day really! I might end up talking about how to make a proper *egg & cheese on toast for breakfast! Details here.

Meanwhile, I'm loosing more hair than I am allowed to over planning this Dubai trip. I'm getting a bit muddled. Too many numbers you see. I hate numbers. But in case you were curious, the event will be hosted by the XVA Gallery in Dubai on November 15th from 7pm.

Yesterday we went out to scout locations for the shoot of the TV show thing I talked about before. In fact, a casting call shall be put out very soon. So keep an eye out, if you're interested in giving it a shot. A date for the audition will be revealed soon and I will post the call on this blog in the next day or so.

*the slice of cheese melts in between the egg and the toast from the heat. Sometimes that's how my brains feel.