Despite heavy rain and powerful winds, attendance figures were strong at last weekend’s back-to-back concerts by Coldplay and Andrea Bocelli at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, reports Digital Production Middle East.
Italian classical soloist Andrea Bocelli drew a crowd of 11,000 on Friday, March 27, while British four-piece Coldplay and American rockers Mercury Rev attracted 15,000 punters the following night. Production crews were forced to endure wet-weather and high winds in the lead-up and during both events. However, despite these challenges, both shows went ahead on-schedule.
“The inclement weather slowed us down, we were working right up until the moment we opened the doors on both shows,” revealed Lee Charteris, event manager for Flash. “We were battered by some very heavy gusts of wind the night before the Bocelli show. The fact that we had both concerts ready to go on time was testament to the massive amount of work invested by the production team.”
Extra labourers were required during the production process to account for difficulties presented by the weather. Protec, whch provided staging and lighting for both concerts, and Al Laith Scaffolding, were forced to acquire extra labour at late notice.
“The only major problem we experienced with the Coldplay gig was the rain, but we did well to keep the production on-track” said Rick Wade, operations director, Protec. “Other than a few inevitable problems with water getting into some of the equipment, it really was a faultless show,” he said. “Everyone was happy with the way things came together.”
Both concerts were promoted by Flash in conjunction with Live Nation.
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