A wide-reaching change: ‘Conservative’ Saudi Arabia conducts four-day rave party

• Image Credit: Internet

• Dec 20, 2021 | moderator

Riyadh: It was a weekend like never before after the high-voltage music stopped for the Islamic call to prayer. The music and vibrant colours of excitement, as the leaving attendees in ripped skinny jeans bid adieu to the evening, hoping for a much fun-packed party the next year. The much conservative Muslim nation of Saudi Arabia conducted an electronic music festival that stretched for over four days. Men and women danced with abandon in a country where that would have been unthinkable five years ago.

Also read: Girls are now safe only in their mother’s womb and cemetery

The four-day food and music festival called MDL Beast Soundstorm, was endorsed by the government and included performances by global DJs like Tiesto and Armin van Buuren. Organizers say more than 180,000 people attended the opening night, pushing boundaries as the kingdom transforms.
“Allow us progress, allow us to represent ourselves in the way that we feel fit,” said Prince Fahad Al Saud, a royal family member and entrepreneur who attended in a psychedelic-patterned jacket and sparkling eyeliner. “We are very eager to be part of the international community, but we can’t be stifled every time we try to make progress because it doesn’t look like what you want to see.”
In an attempt to portray their ‘liberal’ and a ‘socially-uplifting’ outlook, the dessert nation’s prince has conjectured multiple projects and infrastructural developments, so in order to diversify the oil-dependent economy in other fields of magnanimous interest such as entertainment and tourism.
After closing the kingdom’s borders during much of the coronavirus pandemic, officials seem eager to make up for lost time –even as the Omicron variant of the virus drives case surges in other countries.
"Now everything is here and the world has come to us," marveled Abdullah Alghamdi, 29, who attended the weekend rave. "There are honestly so many events that you don't know where to go."
The attendees flaunted their most extreme style they could. Women flaunting the latest styles, to wearing everything skin-tight pants to full-length robes and face veils, the party saw one of its most colourful crowd Saudi Arabia has ever witnessed on the course of a party circuit.
The carnival like event though has ended, but people are still talking of how these changes are going to help change the world perceive a Muslim nation.