Dubai Sound City, erm, shock: Bez can't get into the county...

De La Soul won't be showing either, but it's still hot!

United Kingdom | by Daniel Fahey | 06 November 2009

De La Soul won't be showing either, but it's still hot!

I always thought that Dubai was a city built on oil, but since getting here it has become quite obvious that taxis are their life blood. You can’t seem to get anywhere without travelling in a taxi. Sadly it doesn’t look like De La Soul will be getting here at all, but it isn’t fully clear why. Either they’ve missed their plane or they’re still on their plane or snakes on a plane – or whatever. Unfortunately, it looks like they’re not going to show.

After yesterday’s shenanigans, it is quite clear that you can take the festival out of Britain, but you can’t take the Britain out of the festival. The crowd is made up almost entirely of ex-pats: Liverpulians, Mancs, Cockneys – you name them, they’re all here, sweating profusely like an aerobics class in a sauna. And then there’s the beer – contrary to belief it is widely available around the festival site and boy are hangovers hard work in the sunshine.

The main stage is of the Coachella variety – completely see through – using the city of Dubai as a backdrop and marked by palm trees. It’s just a shame that it’s right next to a building site, but much of Dubai seems to be a cacophony of cranes and bricks and half finished jobs.

Last night The Farm admitted they were playing sober for the first time in their career but I wonder if the ban made Peter Hooton realise that he can’t really sing. Not that it mattered, they showed they’ve still got a great ear for a groove and ‘All Together Now’ was remarkably triumphant. Foreign Beggars also received a great reaction with mosh pits and crowd surfing in a small club called Alpha. If it wasn’t hot enough in there, they went and made it a lot hotter, even with a beefy security guard standing on stage with them, pointing at those causing any trouble. It seemed to do the trick though.

Just heard the news that the Happy Mondays will be Bez-less, the rumour is he’s not allowed in. It looks like the Mr Ryder is going to have to go it alone!