Obscura Live in Dubai
Obscura Live in Dubai last Friday had all the makings of being an epic gig, and for the most part it was. We thought all the bands there put in 100% and they headbanged the house down.
Obscura were outstanding and somewhat stood up the other bands (not that I am saying they were bad), but I think the basic element of having bigger audiences, a bigger scene and more constructive criticism has made Obscura work harder to get where they are.
We really liked their instrumental song Orbital Elements. It really hit the spot!
Smouldering In Forgotten had a cracking set that really blew us away and Lunacyst got the crowd pumped and jumping.
AND YES there was stage diving… awesome!
We had a chat with a number of audience members and well-known members of the Dubai music scene and they were all extremely impressed by the venue and the bands.
There was a fly in the ointment though, once again Dubai metalheads did not represent and with just around 100 tickets sold (one promoter said 80 the other said 120), I think Dubai’s metal community should be ashamed, but we were pleased to see Bahrain metalheads out and representing, perhaps all metal organisers in the UAE should move there!
On the criticism side, a well-known Dubai metal musician said the Billy Bob’s Blood Drenched Brew should concentrate on cleaning up its vocals. We agree. The only lyrics we could hear were the occasional ‘Billy Bob’s’, with a little work on clearing up the vocals and a little more eye-contact with the crowd and this band could improve hugely.
All the bands said the venue was cool, but the sound was a problem on stage, apparently the monitors were not working properly and there was too much bass.
Apart from the normal sound issues that come with almost every single gig in the UAE (including those with big bands!) we thoroughly enjoyed the night. We hope that Dubai metalheads will pull their heads out of the sand and start to support Middle East talent because the only people they are hurting by not showing up, are the bands.
Check out Have You Scene That‘s Interviews with the bands:
OBSCURA:
Lunacyst:
Billy Bob’s Blood Drenched Brew:
Billy Bob’s Blood Drenched Brew:
Smouldering In Forgotten:
Radio Metality UAE
Hey Serge,
You are right that not every gig has sound issues, but it seems that the majority do, whether that is the audiences expectations or a lack of knowledge about sound, we cannot comment, we have accordingly changed our comment to ‘almost all gigs have sound issues’. We did speak to all of the bands when they had finished their sets and each one said there was a problem with the monitors, again, I am not a sound guy, I am just going on what the bands told me. The bass comment came from a number of crowd members, and was not related to the stage, sorry for my lack of clarification there!
It is great that everyone is commenting and I hope we can continue to have this kind of constructive dialogue \m/
I dont agree with they you guys about the sound for the gig…. i didnt hear one complaint (i am open to criticism), and the only comment i got from one band member the whole night was that the main vocal mic was cutting in & out of the vocal monitor. The organizers were really happy with the sound & I’m sure they would have commented if they thought otherwise.
“apparently the monitors were not working properly and there was too much bass”
just to clear that up, there was no bass guitar on any monitor mix, the bass was only coming out the bass rig, not the monitors. the only band that requested bass in their monitors was Lunacyst. apart from them, it was completely out the mix.
I’ve heard a few youtube videos for the show, and they all seem to sound good (obviously from a none professional camera).
Just to track back a year or less, during the Metal Asylum “Open Air” or the Hatta festival, the organizers were extremely content & thought he sound was spot on, so please don’t say that every gig in dubai has sound issues.
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The show was amazing…I had a great time and it was an epic event for sure. Thanks to the organizers: Barney and all for setting up this awesome gig. One of the best weekends of the year! I agree about the sound though. It was good for Obscura, but for the opening bands, it was pretty lame. Even when a CD was playing it sounded pretty bad. You would think that with all the great equipment that was on stage, the end result would sound more professional. Maybe thats one of the reasons why people don’t attend local gigs as often as they should. The sound guys are getting paid for these events and I hope organizers put more pressure on them to do a better job. I don’t mean to criticize, but like you mentioned in your review ‘sound issues come with every single gig in the UAE.’ If we can learn how to improve events in the UAE then more people will hopefully show up. And more people = more events = more fun….
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the sound in the venue was amazing, we really enjoyed it, especially Obscura, i could hear every note!
hope more international bands come to dubai soon!
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