In the wake of an awesome show by David Gray on Friday night, revellers at the Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival were left doubting that it could be repeated on the final day of the festival. Certainly, the crowd had thinned out comparing to the almost 6,000 people, who attended the jazz festival the day before.
Nostalgia
But the closing night on Saturday was far from disappointing. Indeed, it was nothing short of a night of nostalgia and emotions as the final acts, including Iraqi-born composer Furat Qaddouri, Dubai-based Assaad Lakkis, the Puppini Sisters, jazz great Courtney Pine and the legendary Robin Gibb, took the stage at Dubai Media City's amphitheatre
The air was unusually chilly as people curled up on the red beanbags that had been placed around the arena for fans to lounge on. The venue was cosy and inviting, the enticing smells from the food stands floated through the air and the atmosphere was very relaxed, if not slightly subdued in the early part of the evening.
But everything changed when the Puppini Sisters took to the Skywards main stage and rocked the audience with their fun antics and incredible voices. The three beautiful singers, who are in fact not related, are inspired by the '40s and all things similar, such as the Andrews Sisters and the movie Belleville Rendezvous.
Hollywood Movie
The trio were dressed up in figure-hugging black skirts and tops that were complemented with different coloured belts of yellow, blue and red. With bright red lips, red nails and long eyelashes, the ladies looked like they had stepped right out of a Hollywood black and white movie. Their hair was done up to match the Forties era with big flowers to go with their respective belt colour.
The ladies entertained the crowds with their own songs and some popular covers such as Walk Like An Egyptian and I Will Survive, adding their own personal flavour with some hilarious dancing and girlie yelps.
Adventurous
Coming on after the Puppini Sisters was jazz legend Courtney Pine on the Cadillac Stage. Known for being particularly adventurous with his music, Pine didn't hold back as he blasted out some of his famous tunes with his unusual fusion of African, reggae, jazz, soul and Indian sounds.
The amphitheatre started filling up as the anticipation to see Robin Gibb spread like wildfire. Beanbags were hauled from all corners and fluffed in just the right way so everyone could be comfortable and ready for the Bee Gees legend.
‘Thank you'
And then he appeared, breaking the silence with the famous song, Emotions. The singer was all smiles and, as the song ended, he yelled out to the crowd, “Thank you, Dubai!" The crowd screamed back and Gibb said: “I need that." He promptly went on to sing another famous Bee Gees song, How Deep Is Your Love, which he recently told tabloid! is also his favourite Bee Gees song.
Wearing a red shirt under a pinstriped black suit and his trademark blue-tinted glasses, Gibb was looking happy, but slightly weathered. Standing on stage without his brothers Barry and Maurice, the singer seemed lost by himself and his voice started off a bit shaky.
On Fire
But it didn't take long for him to warm up, and with the help of his three lively backup singers and four-piece band, he was on fire as he belted out one hit song after another, including Massachusetts, Joke Was On Me, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, Night Fever, More Than A Woman, You Should Be Dancing and Words. People of all ages, cultures and religions leaped from their comfy beanbags and started dancing as they heard all the old favourites.
Gibb was wonderfully talkative and interacted with his fans, obviously taken by the warm reception and energetic response from the audience. “Is everybody OK? Not too chilly?" he asked. Later he told the screaming crowd: “Next time I'll bring Barry with me."
Immense Passion
As the concert came to an end, there was still one song that the audience was begging to hear and Gibb didn't disappoint. Clutching the microphone with immense passion, he performed the disco hit song Staying Alive and people danced as though their lives depended on it. The singer returned to the stage for an encore with the song Tragedy.
After he left the stage the audience kept screaming for more and to everyone's surprise, Gibb and his band appeared back on stage for a second encore. “We tricked you," Gibb said with a huge grin. “We were just hiding. We're going to play Staying Alive one more time… something to go home on," he said as he once again grabbed the microphone and cemented the reason why he and his brothers became true legends and still are to this day.
Jamming Session
After the Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival came to a close, the party was only just getting started.
The musicians shifted to the Icon Bar in the Radisson SAS hotel in Dubai Media City to get their jamming on!
The atmosphere was buzzing in the Icon Bar and got particularly heated when Flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook jumped on stage with his band.
Cook played a set of about 30 minutes delighting everyone there with an up close and personal performance showing why he is considered one of the best guitarists in the world.
The Toronto-based musician wanted to stay and keep playing. But as he crammed his guitar and other instruments into the elevator, Cook apologised for having to leave and told tabloid!: “We have an 8am flight and we’re getting picked up at 5.30am to go to the airport. But we had such a great time.”
Puppini Sisters
The Puppini Sisters are made up of Italian Marcella Puppini and English Stephanie O'Brien and Kate Mullins. The trio got together to form a group after Marcella was inspired by the movie Belleville Rendezvous and are famous for their tight harmonies and beautiful vocals.
Catching up with them after their show, the Puppini Sisters talked about their style of music and future plans.
“Our music is kind of in the mainstream in some countries, like in Britain where we started. It will never be completely mainstream, but it’s known enough to make an impact,” said Marcella.
“You can see it from our fan base. The people who buy our albums, come to our shows, they are all types, old and young. Our music is a whole package,” said Stephanie.
And if you’re wondering how old they are, keep wondering, because they ain’t telling!
“We don’t talk about specifics,” said Kate jokingly. “It’s unimportant to us, because what we do is kind of timeless.”
Third Album
The trio are currently writing songs for their third album and are preparing for a big show in London and a tour of Europe and the US. And they’re certainly open to collaborations with other artists as well.
“We’ve just been told that Nick Cave is working with Scarlett Johannson. But we should be working with him, so if you know him, maybe you can let him know?” Marcella said.
“But we would like to do something completely different. I mean, can you see Timbaland producing our third album?” Kate said laughing.
“I think we should work with Metallica personally,” said Marcella, as all three of them burst out laughing.
