So when the chance came around to put on a Tuesday night, then Thursday and finally a Friday night at Alpha a few years ago, I jumped at the chance. We had some painfully slow nights (which could be partly blamed on the Garhoud location), and we sometimes literally had to drag people in off the street to make it look respectable. But we also had some incredible ones - over a couple of years, we booked most of the local bands to play, and also brought over people like The Futureheads, The Automatic, The Subways, The Dub Pistols, Sneaky Sound System and a few others. This isn't me walking down memory lane though, before you start losing interest - someone got in touch recently and said they wanted to put on live music. They thought there was a market for it here and would I be interested in DJing at the night. Yes to all of them, obviously, but it also got me thinking about the pitfalls, of which there are many... Hope you're sitting comfortably.
Permissions - every artist, DJ, band member needs a license to perform, and they cost roughly Dhs1500 each per person, per venue, per night. Most venues will pick this up, but if you're trying to book 3 bands, that's 15 people and about Dhs45,000 which is a lorra money before you even consider buying the...
Flights - most bands come with 2-3 backline staff, on top of the 3-5 in the band. Most will want to fly premium economy, some will even have it in their contract that they fly business while the rest of the tech crew are in the back of the plane. Flight prices fluctuate, but on average you're looking at Dhs3500 return per flight. You'll try to give them cheap Qatar flights, but they'll want direct. You'll give them late night flights, but they'll want to come back for a gig/birthday/blowjob the next day, so will need to leave right after the gig. It's a pain in the arse, essentially.
Hotels - With nearly all venues part of a hotel, some will offer up free or discounted hotel packages to your acts. But most will stipulate 5* (especially when the agent sees it's Dubai) and most will want their own rooms. So that's 6-8 rooms x 3 nights, with an average of Dhs400 per night if you are paying. And you've got to feed the bands - and take them out on the lash - so you'll need a food allowance of Dhs200 per day per person, not to mention the lasting power of an Olympic athlete. And while the rockstar throwing a TV out of the window cliche might not be as true as it once was, the rockstar being sick over the side of the bed and the promoter having to pick up the costs isn't.
Promotion - advertising can expensive out here, so you'll need to spend a lot of your budget on that. Radio might work better, but with no listener figures, it's hard to determine which station to spend your money with. You could have the best band in the world, but if you can't tell people about it, you're f*cked. Social media will get you so far, and can build up the initial hype but you need to hit the mass market to have any hope.
Crowd - Unlike the UK or in Europe, there's no student population who thrive on live, new music as it's a strict 21+ drinking age. So that means you're pitching to the 21-40 age group, which then alters what sort of bands you're going for. And with a limited music press and virtually no radio worth mentioning (in terms of breaking new indie/rock music), you can't rely on the press to push break new bands. Unless of course you consider Bryan Adams a new band, in which case you're snorted.
Venue - is key. Alpha had a very open minded management in terms of booking, so they were fully behind what we were doing. But most venues don't: they see the bottom line and bringing a DJ which is one flight and one hotel is a lot cheaper than a band, and will bring in just as much revenue. The venue has to have a soundsystem that can cope with live music (rare) and it has to be in the right part of town after the shift to New Dubai. There are some exceptions (the Music Room being an excellent one) but location, location, location is key. Most importantly, you also have to consider the door/bar split. Most venues will give you the ticket sales (minus 20% tax) and a bar cut above a certain point, but unless you've got a big venue or can charge a lot on the door, it can be a big struggle to make your money back.
Backline - guitars, drums and microphones, right? Wrong. Monitors x8, specific amps, keyboards, miles of cables, guitars and bass guitars (as the band might not bring their own to save on shipping costs for you), a specific sound desk, the right lighting, blue M&Ms etc. And the bigger the band, the bigger the technical rider, and the more headaches and hoops you'll have to jump in. Oh, and you'll need to hire a sound technician, or two. And then there are the extra requests, like a big bag of weed or some Russian hookers. Seriously.
The Devil - Or the band's agent, who'll give you UK/US prices. So if there's a buzz about them in their home country, they'll put their prices up, and when they see Dubai, they raise them again. It doesn't matter to them that they've not broken through to radio in Dubai, or their album isn't stocked in Virgin. Plus, bands don't come to Dubai to further their career, it's not part of an accepted tour (apart from if they stop off on the way to/from Australia) and if they're doing it right, they'll have plenty of offers that don't involve a 7 hour flight and a 2 hour wait at customs. They'll come for a big pay packet, or if you pitch it right a decently paid holiday - but neither of them come cheap.
And finally, you've got an immense amount of competition. Yes, there might not be much live music compared to where you've come from or what you're used to, but in October alone Janet Jackson, Metallica, Example, Richard Ashcroft, Jose Gonzales to name a few are playing live. Then you've got the regular club nights, with Masters at Work, Mark Ronson and possibly Groove Armada thrown into the equation next month. Come up against one of those nights, and you're quite simply screwed - all the good will, last minute promotion and begging and pleading isn't going to help you.
Plus, the guys at Flash are working around the clock to bring top quality international acts, so in the punter's mind you could either spend Dhs600 on a big night out to watch Metallica where you know it will be well organised and just plain ace, or you could spend half that and be stuck in a half empty room with a dodgy sound rig with a band you've barely heard of...
And that's not to mention the general antipathy and malaise that Dubai finds itself when it comes to live music. While it might be a passion for a lot of people, to some, it's just another distraction, like another night out at Barasti.
That said, book the right band and you'll create the right buzz and, hopefully, you'll break even on the night. And you'll be left with a view like this (The Subways crowd-suring in Alpha), which makes all the soundchecks, agent hassles and hard work worth it...
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