SCORPIONS To Kick Off Middle Eastern Tour Next Week

Gulf-Times.com is reporting that the organizers of the SCORPIONS' "Peace For All 2005" five-city Middle Eastern tour, which kicks off in Doha's InterContinental Hotel on November 10, are going all out to ensure a huge turnout at the sea-side venue of the live concert.

A lucky draw for a newly-launched car as the jackpot and an opening performance by Lebanese singer and actress Nicole Saba are two of the added attractions of the show. "It's not confirmed yet, but she might even sing a line or two along with the SCORPIONS," said Karnig Sarkissian of Media Tech, the event organizers, at a press conference on Sunday night.

This will be the first time the 37-year-old five-man band SCORPIONS would be performing in Qatar, though they have staged a show in Dubai last October. The band will be performing live only for the second time ever the acoustic version of 30 of their best-ever numbers that would include smash hits like "Winds of Change", "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Big City Nights" and "No One Like You".

The organizers said they were expecting "over 10,000 people" to attend the concert, which has tickets priced at QR100, QR250, QR500 and QR800.

However, with just 10 days to go for the show "only 1,000" tickets have been sold. A spokesman said all QR100 tickets have been sold out.

"People in Qatar have a habit of buying tickets at the last minute," said Sarkissian, adding that the QR100 tickets had already been "sold out."

Event director Suzanne Grant of The Art of Business seconded that the figure of 10,000 was "estimated" after studying the market thoroughly.

"There have been other concerts in Doha, which have hardly been publicized or promoted and have been attended by 5,000-6,000 people. Whereas, we've really gone all out with promoting the Peace For All tour. We're assuming we'll get a record-breaking crowd," she said.

The SCORPIONS, who are bringing along about "20 tonnes of sound and light equipment, and five tonnes of musical instruments," will be accompanied by three female backup vocalists, a keyboard player, a cello player, an extra percussionist, and "a few" background dancers.

The doors will open at 6pm with a DJ playing music for three hours till the concert begins at 9pm. "Refreshments will be available at the InterContinental Hotel beach 6pm onwards," Sarkissian said.

And sometime in the middle of the concert, Nissan, the platinum sponsor of the event, would unveil its brand new 2006 Tiida, which one person from the crowd would drive away with.

Sarkissian said concert-goers could simply complete a pre-printed form or drop their business cards in the designated box, which would be visible at the door itself. "The winning entry would be drawn from the box."

"We were looking to launch the Tiida after Ramadan. And what better venue to launch a car for the youth than a live SCORPIONS event," said Nissan distributor Saleh al-Hamad al-Mana official G V K Prasad.