Prince will be the headline act at Yas Island's Formula One weekend of musical performances in November, alongside Kanye West and Linkin Park.
The organisers of the racing event announced this morning that Prince will perform after the F1 race on Sunday November 14. Kanye West will perform on the previous Friday, November 12, while the hard-core rock act Linkin Park will be on stage on the Saturday.
John Lickrish, managing director of Flash Entertainment, which is organising the shows, said: "Kanye is one of the best performers in the world, and Prince doesn’t do many shows. It’s going to be a very unique show for him."
Prince "is not really doing tours these days and of course with Linkin Park, we have that really kind of tight rock band which goes very well with Formula 1 -we’re really excited about that."
"Beyoncé last year was immensely popular, so we wanted to continue in that theme with that younger kind of audience and vibe. And with Linkin Park, they were so excited to play the Formula 1 when they heard about it in 2009 that we had confirmed them even before these concerts were in the bag last year.
"With Prince, I had heard rumours that he was going to do a couple one-off shows again, so we reached out to Live Nation and asked if that was true. They said yes, he knows about the Middle East, it's somewhere he hasn't been before, he really want to come here, I think you can't really deny artists when they're so anxious to perform in your city. It gives you such a better result."
Flash also announced the rest of the month-long Yasalam 2010 programme, which will include a series of free events on the Corniche in Abu Dhabi, in the city and on Yas Island.
Events on the Corniche include a celebration of the conclusion of the Formula 1 race in Brazil on November 5, with a Brazilian parade to featuring hundreds of costumed children, performers and entertainers from across the UAE. The Brazilian Grand Prix will be shown from November 5 to November in the F1 Fan Zone on the Corniche, which opens on October 28.
Cinema by the Sea returns with Al Sahil Beach transformed to an outdoor cinema showing "all-time favourite" car films, complete with beanbags, popcorn and candy floss, from October 28 to November2.
From November 10 to November 13 onwards and throughout the race weekend, Beats on the Beach will take over the Corniche with four nights of live music. The free concerts will include a mix of local, regional and international artists such as Nancy Ajram, Kelis and the Cuban Brothers.
Other events include The Art of Racing, an art exhibition on Yas Island by "globally renowned" motorsport artists including painters, photographers and sculptors; a competition for local university students on the Corniche beach to create the best modified and creatively designed pedal-powered rides.
For more information go to www.yasalam.ae.
