Wild days!
So, for those people not in the region: business came to a standstill as Coldplay announced a single concert in the MENA region for their "Music of the Spheres World Tour" in Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City Stadium.
Why did business come to a standstill? Because people went crazy trying to get tickets, staying on digital queues for hours at time using several devices at once to maximize chances of getting their hands at the coveted prize, regardless if they are in school, public service or in a private enterprise. Large WhatsApp groups with friends, neighbors and colleagues closely monitored the progress in the queues and sent off wild conspiracy theories when the attempts were unsuccessful. Ticketmaster Live Nation Entertainment
The demand was so high (~275,000 pre-sales registration for a stadium capacity of ~45,000) that Coldplay added a second, and then a third concert.
This is - of course - not an entirely new phenomenon, but it's an increasing trend to not only go for concerts in your city, but to actually travel for concerts (explaining - at least to some extent - the extraordinary demand for this particular event).
This falls under the tourism trend of "experience and event traveling" and it has become big, especially amongst GenZ, but increasingly also other generations who don't want to lose out on the fun. Abu Dhabi has done a great job to present a line-up of experiences and events for the upcoming months that has not been seen before in the region!
Good luck with your last chance for Coldplay tickets today, and then ... let's all go back to work! ;-)
Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi)
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