TPi Middle East & Africa

26/08/2025

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are hardly rare in the world of live events, but when The Walt Disney Company is involved, the need for confidentiality invariably reaches ‘a whole new world’ of importance. This was precisely the situation that HQ Worldwide Shows (HQWS) was faced with ahead of the launch of Disney Abu Dhabi. While still onsite at another high-profile event – the teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi Inauguration Ceremony [TPiMEA #54] – HQWS senior leadership was called into a high-level briefing with Miral officials to discuss what would become one of the most significant cultural developments in the history of the UAE.

HQWS Founding Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Katie Veira, took up the story: “Under strict NDA, our executive team was presented with an overview of the project, which was due to take place in just under three weeks,” she revealed. HQWS was tasked with conceiving, producing, and executing three key moments: a unique, high-impact photo opportunity at the future location of the new Disney Abu Dhabi, for Abu Dhabi and Disney leadership; a large-scale global media junket hosting 500 top-tier regional and international journalists; and a bespoke nighttime spectacular marking the official announcement 🏰

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPiMEA 🗞️

🔗: https://www.tpimeamagazine.com/disney-abu-dhabi-launch/

📸: HQWS, Flash Art

22/08/2025

Running from 30 April to 14 June 2025, Jeddah Season’s City Walk brought vibrant open-air entertainment to the city. With seven themed zones spanning 281,000 sq m and featuring over 140 food and retails spots, as well as more than 60 games, rides, immersive experiences and live shows, the attraction provided entertainment for visitors of all ages while promoting the development of local talent in event organisation and management.

SLS Production provided extensive technical support across the site, supplying an array of audio, video, lighting and rigging equipment to enhance the guest experience. “The City Walk project is one of our most significant milestones,” stated Technical Director, Kevin Shyam, discussing the assignment. “This project demonstrates our ability to deliver a super-quality final output to the client in a professional way.”

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPiMEA 🗞️

🔗: https://www.tpimeamagazine.com/jeddah-season-2025-city-walk/

📸: SLS Production

19/08/2025

Significant success in a particular field is often a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s valuable to be considered a leader and a go-to provider for certain categories of events, but on the other, it’s easy to get pigeonholed as a company that can only deliver projects within its niche. Having built a strong reputation for its delivery on a range of high-profile motorsport events, creative production agency 555 Live Experience was on the lookout for a statement project outside of motorsport, and in the King’s Cup Final 2025, the company found the perfect platform to demonstrate its extensive capabilities.

Engaged by Blink Experience to oversee the entire creative and technical delivery of the event, from the formal protocol ceremony and pregame build-up to the spectacular halftime show and crowning trophy lift, the full gamut of 555’s creative and production aptitudes were on display 🏟️

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPiMEA Magazine 🗞️

🔗 in comments

📸: 555 Live Experience

06/08/2025

🎇 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER // #55 🎆

One Thousand and One brings its incredible production design to the cover of TPiMEA 🗞️

Disney Abu Dhabi launch・King's Cup Final 2025・Jeddah Season: City Walk・Amman Film Festival・First Look: 3DB co-founder, Eddie Mulrainey・The making of elrow XXL・Colour Sound Experiment・Sets Drapes Screens + many more exclusive stories from the Middle East and Africa 🌍

🔗: https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/tpimea55_digitallr

📸: MDLBEAST

30/07/2025

Shenzhen INFiLED Electronics works with logistics company, DP World to create a high-performance, energy efficient outdoor LED display for the company’s head office in Jebel Ali Port 📹

INFiLED has worked with logistics company, DP World to create a high-performance, energy efficient outdoor LED display for the company’s head office in Jebel Ali Port. DP World wanted to create an immersive welcome experience for VIP visitors and global partners. One that would reflect its brand p...

30/07/2025

The latest production from the creative masterminds at Dragone reimagines the traditional Diriyah marketplace with an innovative theatrical twist.

The concept of SOUK WONDERS revolved around a traditional Diriyah marketplace, which was the backdrop for a hybrid dining, retail and theatrical experience that transported audience members back in time to the days when life was centred around the city’s historic bazaars. “This is not a traditional linear show; it’s more of an experiential walkthrough, with various performances happening all over the space over the course of a two-hour period,” Technical Producer and ALM cofounder, Karl Jenkins stated, explaining the concept. “We worked with Dragone for two months of ideation, during which we honed the concept of an immersive experiential dining hall that doubled as a theatrical space with various stages, performance elements and acrobatic apparatus.”

The performance area was a huge, multilevel space, with the audience given almost complete freedom to roam around the set, exploring the buildings up the three storeys high. There were even tokens given out as part of the ticket price, which could be used as currency within the space to purchase food from the various caterers 🌄

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPiMEA Magazine 🗞️

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📸: Dragone

25/07/2025

With huge headline artists, iconic stages and spectacular technical productions, the world’s best festivals all share certain characteristics that make them successful. However, when it comes to the festivals at the very top of the tree – the Glastonburys and Coachellas of this world – there’s something intangible and almost impossible to describe that makes them so much more than the sum of their parts and all but guaranteed to sell out year after year. It is this elusive X factor that Offlimits Music Festival aimed to capture with its inaugural edition, taking place on 26 April in Abu Dhabi and boasting an eclectic lineup headlined by Ed Sheeran.

Catching up with TPiMEA after the dust had settled at Etihad Park, Sia Farr, CEO of event organiser, UAE-based Theory Eleven Entertainment, reflected on the success of the festival’s maiden iteration. “We weren’t sure exactly how Offlimits would be received, but the response couldn’t have been better – it’s been overwhelmingly positive,” he said 🎇

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPiMEA Magazine 🗞️

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📸: Theory Eleven

18/07/2025

Take a look back at the TPiMEA Awards 2025 hosted at Soho Garden, Dubai 🏆

Here the live events industry came together to celebrate the behind-the-scenes professionals who made the year’s most spectacular events possible. Beyond the awards, the evening stood as a celebration of the incredible standards our industry continues to set.

We hope to see you all again at the next one, announcements for 2026 are just around the corner!

16/07/2025

The Middle East has gained a reputation in recent years as a global leader when it comes to spectacular aerial events, and with Qatar’s recent Lusail Sky Festival, that status was given a further boost. Organised by Visit Qatar, in collaboration with Qatari Diar and held for three days at the start of April to coincide with the Eid al-Fitr weekend, the festival combined an array of aerial performances, including aerobatics, skydiving, skywriting demonstrations, high-speed jet displays, laser shows, and aerial pyrotechnics 🌌

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPiMEA Magazine 🗞️

🔗: https://www.tpimeamagazine.com/lusail-sky-festival-2025/

📸: Lumasky

07/07/2025

For this year’s production of Fearless Zain in Kuwait, Lighting Designer Luke Gregory Bonner of Curiome was tasked with creating a design that would complement the ethereal staging and scenic elements, helping to portray the vision of Director, Samir Abdel Massih, and Producer, Michele Corbani.

The LD had around 600 fixtures at his disposal, including moving spots, washes, beams, static colour-changing LED PARs and effects from the likes of Claypaky, Martin, Chauvet, Light Sky and GTD, run off an MA Lighting grandMA2 Full Size with a grandMA2 light as back-up, all supplied by Zero One Production & Media Services, led by Fahed Ghanem 💡

Read the full story in the comments 👇

📸: Fahed Abou Ghanem, Azizalkhudhair

25/06/2025

With an all-star lineup packed with some of the most popular Afrikaans artists backed by an expert creative and technical team with a genuine passion for the project, it’s no surprise that Afrikaans is Groot (AIG) is one of South Africa’s most popular annual events. A celebration of Afrikaans music and culture, the event has become so popular that last year’s iteration saw nine shows take place over two consecutive weekends, with more than 70,000 people flocking to Pretoria’s SunBet Arena to take in the spectacular cultural experience.

Produced by Coleske Artist Management under the leadership of Technical Director Ian Vos and Creative Producer Barry Pretorius, the show’s set and stage layout were designed by Günther Müller of MGG, which also supplied a turnkey technical solution for the event. “I think I can speak for everyone on the show when I say that AIG is not just another job on the calendar – it’s the one we look forward to every year,” Müller told TPiMEA. “It’s a passion project. We put everything into it, and we reap the rewards with the fulfilling experience it provides for the audience, artists, and crew.”

Read the full story in the latest issue of TPiMEA Magazine 🗞️

Full story in the comments 👇

📸: Anriette van Wyk, Kief Kreative, Quintessential