Wakestock Abu Dhabi To Storm The Corniche With Three Days Of Music And Wakeboarding Action Starting Tomorrow

Free three day wakeboard and music festival set to energise the Abu Dhabi Corniche with the World’s Wakeboard Champions and Superstars Maximo Park, De La Soul, Carole Samaha, Fady Andrawos and, other regional artists from 4th - 6th March, 2010

Flash Entertainment, the Abu Dhabi-based live events producers, in partnership with the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City and Abu Dhabi Beaches, today announced the final programme for Wakestock Abu Dhabi - the action-packed free three-day beachfront event starting on Thursday 4th March.

Wakestock Abu Dhabi, which is the first stop of the World Wakeboarding Association’s ‘World Wake Series’, kicks off with the Wakeboarding open competition at 1pm on Thursday. The UAE’s finest wakeboard talent will battle it out for the chance to qualify for the main event. This will be followed by a three hour free-riding session in the 200,000 gallon ‘Pool Gap’ – two pools linked together by a series of rails and ramps.

With over 90 people involved with the build of the sports most respected event, you can be sure there will be plenty to entertain the Wakestock crowds. A seven hundred metre shoreline course for the main pro event, the imposing pool gap structure, the system 2.0 beginner park and of course the huge open air stage right on the beach for 3 nights of outstanding music entertainment.

As night falls on the Corniche, home grown talent The Brownies will warm up the crowd with its blend of jazz, acoustic rock, and funky groove, followed by international DJ extraordinaire Goldierocks. Lebanese superstar Carole Samaha will headline the evening at 10pm, followed by local DJ Danny Neville who will keep the party going into the early hours.

The second day of the festival will open with the main qualifiers of the pro-Wake competition starting at 1pm and will conclude at 5pm, where the world’s top athletes will be split into four heats of five riders, with two riders from each heat qualifying for Saturday’s semi-finals. The opening round of the Pool Gap contest will then begin with the sixteen best men from Thursday’s free riding sessions competing in eight heats of two riders per heat, battling it out against each other to win over the judges based on the variety, technicality and originality of their rail tricks.

The musical entertainment of the penultimate of the festival will offer plenty, with local favourites Nikotin starting the night off with their melodic guitar music at 7pm, followed by Arabic rock star Fadi Andraos at 8pm. Preppy punk rockers Sandwash will get the crowd moving as they turn up the tempo at 9pm, before internationally renowned Maximo Park take the limelight from 10.30pm. Local DJ Da Funkt Live will then keep the rhythm going into the final morning of Wakestock Abu Dhabi.

Saturday starts with adrenaline fuelled action as the sport’s best riders vie for honours in the Pro men’s and Pro women’s finals of the Wakeboarding competition from 1pm. The top two riders from the semi –finals will progress to the final, which will be split into two head to head heats resulting in a two man ‘super final’ chosen by the judges based on five categories of D.R.I.V.E (difficulty, risk in run, intensity, variety and execution) for the $50,000 prize money.

The concluding competition will be followed by the Pool Gap quarter finals at 5pm and the semis and finals at 7.30pm, where the overall Pool Gap winner to be picked.

Then it will be over to local hip hop heroes The Recipe to unleash their fresh beats from 8pm ahead of the festival’s grand finale with legendary quirky rappers De La Soul bringing the weekend - and the festival - to an unforgettable end.

John Lickrish, Managing Director of Flash Entertainment, said:

‘There is tremendous excitement and anticipation ahead of Wakestock Abu Dhabi 2010 and we can’t wait to see some of the world’s best Wakeboarding athletes in action along with a host of fantastic international and regional artists performing at night.”

“This will be a superb day out and the best part is it’s free to the whole community to come down, relax and enjoy some world-class entertainment.’’

Mark Durston, Wakestock Founder and CEO, added:
‘’With a fine selection of awesome artists and the perfect setting on Abu Dhabi‘s Corniche, Wakestock Abu Dhabi 2010 will be an unforgettable way to launch the event and start the 2010 Wakeboard World Series. It has everything you could ever wish for to host the festival and the people of Abu Dhabi are in for a real treat. I’m looking forward to a fantastic weekend of world class entertainment both on and off the warm waters of the Corniche.‘’

Wakeboarding documentaries shown on big screens on the beach will bridge the daytime sporting action with the evening entertainment. Visitors to the event can also expect rider signings, DJs and live broadcasts from Radio 1 throughout the festival.

Together with its partner Etihad Airways, Flash is also offering the public the chance to win the opportunity to visit Wakestock UK. VIP tickets and flights are included in the grand prize and to win all you need to do is enter your details on the Wakestock Abu Dhabi website: www.wakestock.ae.

Wakestock Abu Dhabi 2010 is a free community event bought to the capital by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City and Abu Dhabi Beaches, running from 1pm until late each day 4th– 6th March, 2010.
 

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