Unusual Rigging & Engineering supports Ed Sheeran’s Dubai gigs

26th February 2024

Unusual Rigging and Engineering was proud to be a part of the best-selling concert ever staged in the UAE, when Ed Sheeran descended on the region last month. Performing on the 19th and 20th January at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, these shows brought to the region by promoters All Things Live Middle East (ALTME), were the first in-the-round production shows on the Asia tour and the only with such production in the entire Middle East region.

When Sheeran last played in the UAE, he performed one gig and sold close to 30k tickets. This time, with 2 shows and more than 60k tickets sold, he broke all prior ticket sales and is by far the most successful outdoor concert ever in the region.

URE was brought on board by Malcolm Giles, event project manager on behalf of ATLME to handle all the local and tour top rigging. Malcolm said: “I’ve worked with URE for many years in my role as director of technical and production for ASM Global Middle East at the Coca Cola Arena, where URE are house riggers.  For this gig, I tasked them with assisting PRG with local production, as well as rigging the PA for Clair Global, and supplying all hoists for the main structure to Al Laith Group.”

Unusual’s production riggers worked with PRG to install the delay tower, lights, and general rigging as well as rigging for video and lighting. Meanwhile for Clair Audio, 24 x 2 tonne hoists were supplied for the main PA as well as 8 x 1 tonne hoists for the subs.
Load in took place over four days – two days for local production and two for the tour. Sheeran’s team brought the ‘B-Rig’ on tour with them. This included the LED circle and the stage itself. Meanwhile all the LED screens around the outside, all audio etc was locally sourced and installed two days before they arrived.

Malcolm added: “The URE team showed efficiency and speed with their work as always and stayed on top of safety. The tour was happy with the team and how quick the guys were to assist, and I was happy to see the same level of service I have with URE at the Coca Cola Arena in play with this show and with All Things Live Middle East.”