Forum de Beirut was at full capacity for the record breaking event in the Middle East. Over 16,000 showed up to party with their beloved Tiësto in what has been coined the largest event ever in the Middle East. Back in July 8,000 people showed up to see Paul Van Dyk spin sweet music, so the organizers of this latest superstar event had to a high target to beat.
It is common for local DJ's to play hour long blocks of Tiësto produced music to satisfy the crowd's desire. Tiësto's music has been played practically non-stop on the radio for the past month in Beirut. Crowds flew in from Dubai, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, and other parts of the world to witness Tiësto's first visit to Lebanon.
Lebanon's own DJ Amadeus opened for Tiësto with a two hour Trance set that pumped up the masses. The venue has never been used to host such a capacity, making organization and planning critical in pulling it off. The organizers cleared the entire space into a massive warehouse with a stage at the front of the room, general admission in the center surrounded by the raised VIP and VVIP sections.
That was not a misprint; only in Lebanon are VVIP tickets sold to such events. So what's the difference between VIP and VVIP? A small bottle of cheap champagne, a spot closer to the stage, and Lebanon's best selling gimmick - an opportunity to pose. The ticket prices were $35 for general admission, $70 for VIP and $125 for VVIP.
To their credit, the organizers, MixFM, did an outstanding job at managing the unprecedented crowd both at entrance and inside the venue. The Forum de Beirut had entrances set up on opposite ends of the building to ease the traffic, special parking lots were organized nearby, and easy access was provided to essentials like water and red bull inside.
Along with Tiësto there were dancers from Ibiza's infamous Manumission theme night who are no strangers to huge crowds, where they frequently pack 13,000 people into the Spanish island's largest club.
It is no easy task to design the acoustics for a large open space, especially when you factor in the crowd, which became blaringly evident with the inconsistent sound levels. Proper ventilation is another gargantuan task at such indoor events and was also less than satisfactory.
Despite the issues the event was better than expected. Lebanon has endured 14 bombings in less than 8 months, so naturally security was a major concern. The Lebanese Army was deployed to protect the venue, with tanks and armed troops. Security was outstanding, we felt safe without feeling imprisoned.
Life has been good lately for the Dutchman DJ. In 2004 he received his third straight title for 'Best DJ' by the established 'Top 100 DJ Poll' by the UK based DJMag. No one had previously won the award three times, Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox had both won the award twice.
While many will argue that ranking musicians is quite subjective, there is no disputing the huge success of Tiësto. Lebanon's 16,000 gig may have set records in the Middle East, but Tiësto is no stranger to massive audiences. He performs in stadiums across the globe, many which pack over 25,000 people. His most famous performance was when he played at the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics in 2004, where over 4.5 billion people watched worldwide. No other DJ has ever achieved reached so many people.
Source: Ya Libnan
Feedback? We want to hear your thoughts!
