DECEMBER 01 2017 Festival season is well and truly TALAL BUDEBS upon us. There is some great Publisher smaller music events to support the bigger events coming up. CHARL CHAKA Managing Partner [email protected] Sales/marketing [email protected] STU TODD Blue Planet II, simply stunning. Editor [email protected] PAULA MANGUEIRA Design [email protected] SONIA IGNACIO The Autism Rocks Arena becoming Operations [email protected] a dry venue. Great idea for all the families attending. CONTRIBUTORS: Wesley Pipes, Jai Little, Pablo Walker, Adam Long, Milko Moustache, Mike Mclaren, Megadon Betamax. INFUSION IS PUBLISHED BY GUEST LIST Milehigh Media, LLC PO Box 53443 – Dubai, UAE Tel/Fax: 04 368 8098 infusionmag BLACK LIST infusionmagazine infusionmagazine People still thinking that the Earth is flat?! REALLY? OUR PARTNERS The decision to make The Autism Rocks Arena a dry venue; some might say not being able to get quench their thirst at a music event is a bad thing. Thoughts? Say What? GET TO THE CHOPPA! For many of us growing up in the 80’s and 90’s Arnold Schwarzenegger was king of the action movie. To coincide with the classic sci-fi flick “Predator” turning 30 years old it is being re-released in to the cinema. This is definitely one of our editors’ favourite movies and the chance to catch it on the big screen is spectacular news. Amid rumours circling regarding the upcoming R rated “The Predators” movie, this is a timely reminder of just how good the franchise is. PARTY FOR ONE AI seems to be entering our lives at an alarming rate and although it does make our lives somewhat easier at times in this instance this may not be the case. Recently a German user of Amazon’s Alexa device whose unit decided to power on unprompted and throw a house party while the owner was nowhere in the vicinity. What resulted was the AI throwing an unwanted rave in the owners’ home at full volume between the ungodly hours of 1:50am and 3am. The end result was the police storming the apartment to find nobody there. At least when the robots finally take over there will be music playing. 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FRI, 15TH DECEMBER K LMN DAMIAN LAZARUS JOSEPHINE DE RETOUR HOOLZ FOR LOUNGE & CABANA RESERVATIONS: +971 54 449 6464 | [email protected] WE LOVE 40 KONG In a city that is dominated by sky scraping buildings it is a given that the city would be jam packed with rooftop bars, and you would be right. Location is everything, well almost everything, the setting and execution needs to be tip top in order to cut it in this thriving market. Nestled high up on the 40th floor of the H Hotel, 40 Kong situated conveniently at One Sheikh Zayed Road, this slick sky bar is one of the few rooftop venues to open in the last few years to really take care and attention to get the smaller details right. From the spectacular panoramic views of Downtown and the Old Town, to the finely tuned sound system that is controlled by some of Dubai’s best DJ’s, to the carefully curated menu and bespoke décor, 40 Kong simply oozes class. As with all great venues, there is many faces to its legions of followers, to some it is the perfect sundown spot for those all- important after work drinks, to some it is the ideal haven to hole up with friends for the night and to some they only come for the stunning food. facebook.com/40kong What we did PARTY MONSTERS @ THE BACKYARD, BUSINESS BAY A concept that has become popular in the UK and USA is now on our shores, Party Monsters season opener turned out to be a resounding success amongst expat families in the region. With Dance FM’s Jon Besant and Woodle bringing their individual flavours of house and UK garage, and Bassworx’s Tigger providing his breakbeat and jungle vibes, both, parents and toddlers seemed to be having a great time getting down on the dance floor. The best part of the event was that it brought families together, with tracks that made parents feel nostalgic, giving them the opportunity to share their love for good music with their little ones. There were also a wide array of activities for the bambinos including an arts and crafts zone, a Stu Williamson Photography booth, a soft play area, Hub Zero arcade stations, a street magician, face painter and balloon bender so parents could get a quick tipple at the bar whilst the kids were kept entertained. With the 9th December Party Monsters Winter WondeRave promising alternative festive fun, including a breakdancing Santa, we can’t wait to see what else they have up their sleeves! Tickets available from platinumlist.net. Words by Wesley Pipes LIAM GALLAGHER @ PARTY IN THE PARK Arriving onstage with his usual swagger and opening up with “Rock n Roll Star” followed by “Morning Glory”, he instantly engaged the crowd and had them signing their hearts out. With the crowd ready to go off, Liam dropped some of his headline songs from his new album which were not an instant hit with the crowd, but for the die-hard fans they were singing along enjoying the moment over the other punters who didn’t have a clue. The whole crowd picked back up when “Some Might Say” came thundering out of the speakers and were back singing away. Next on his repertoire was more from his new album and when he finished with the more recognisable oasis songs such as cigarettes n alcohol and wonder wall the crowd was left on a high of singing along to tunes that had shaped the younger years. Words by Pablo Walker IN ASSOCIATION WITH LIMITED EARLY BIRD SPECIAL AED 399 OPEN BAR 9am - 3am THIS NEW YEAR’S EVE WITNESS THE CITY’S SPECTACULAR FIREWORKS FROM THE 43RD FLOOR For bookings contact 055 563 4015/044 435 403 or email [email protected] OCEAN COLOUR SEA @ IRISH VILLAGE With the start of the Brit pop weekend taking off on Thursday night, Ocean Colour Scene were a great choice of band to play at the Irish Village in Dubai. With nearly 20 years since the release of “Moseley Shoals”, OCS have become synonymous with Nineties Britpop nostalgia and anyone that grew up in that area knows it. The lead man - Steve Cradock blasted straight into “The Riverboat Song”, with its famous riff heralding a full run-through of the album that rocketed them to fame. This Birmingham band might be in vogue at present but the lively crowd filling out The Irish Village and rightly couldn’t care less yelling along to every word of travelling anthem “The Day We Caught The Train” and carpe diem favourite “One For The Road” earn the biggest cheers on the night with pints being triumphantly raised aloft, while Cradock bathes in Guitar Hero worship for his storming solo on “Get Away”. Frontman Simon Fowler’s vocals remain strong and when Cradock closed the gig to ecstatic whoops with another blistering solo on “Hundred Mile High City”, it’s clear that the dedication of their fan base is an enviable blessing. Words by Pablo Walker JUSTICE LEAGUE AT NOVO CINEMAS, IBN BATTUTA Red carpets always give an exclusive feel and this event was no different as Novo Cinemas literally rolled out the red carpet for media super hero fans. Dubai is known for its 7 star experiences and I was very excited to see the latest edition to Novo Cinema at Ibn Battuta mall. We were all greeted by super friendly staff and shown to our extremely plush red leather seats. The button controls on the left-hand side let you recline fully both foot rest and head rest, which is heaven for watching movies in comfort. The attentive staff soon passed around blankets and everyone was tucked up cozy awaiting their dose of DC Comics. With the collective team of Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman assembled to battle the terrible Steppenwolf, I found the soundtrack to be great, the story line strong, and it brought together our favorite superheroes in a flawless and humorous way. There was a few edge of the seat moments, some romantic moments and of course the epic effects one would expect from a Hollywood superhero movie. Highly recommended. Words by Jai Little JEFF MILLS @ MUTEK AE Arriving just after midnight, a silhouetted Jeff Mills had already began the process of taking apart the W Hotel Great Room brick by brick and in the process blowing the minds of the crowd at Mutek AE Nocturne 2. With an artist like Jeff Mills, there is no middle ground on what you will hear during one of his sets – techno; in its purest form. From the outset, Jeff was pounding away on the Pioneer Pro Audio sound system, squeezing every last drop of frequency from the multitude of decks he had at his disposal and from the hanging array that had been installed by Avante Garde AV. The crowd were lapping up the performance and with every drop, stutter and roll of Jeff’s drum machine the crowd responded in kind with whistles and cheers. When Jeff’s unmistakable seminal “The Bells” made an appearance the cheers and whoops rang out right around the room. There has been the usual round of negative chatter from the community, but given the immense task of curating and programming such a festival the first edition of Mutek AE was a sight to behold and the team behind the festival should be very pleased with what they have accomplished.