Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Young men and women swayed to the music that rocked Saudi Arabia’s first-ever family concert held on Friday in the closed hall of King Abdullah Sports City "Jawhara" here.

The two Saudi artists, Mohammed Abdu and Rabeh Saqer, were warmly welcomed by their fans with over 4,000 youth attending his concert, about 60 percent of them being women.

The long-awaited concert was received enthusiastically by a large crowd of young men and women who were seen dancing and singing along with the artists, who rendered a number of their popular songs.

Popularly known as “Fanan Al Arab” or “Artist of the Arabs”, Abdu took the stage to arousing welcome from the excited audience. He began speaking to the packed mixed audience by welcoming the families for the first time in the Kingdome. He said: "It's a beautiful experience and we should express our appreciation to the leaders of our country for such entertaining initiatives."

Then he enthralled his audience with his favorite and classical collection, including Thursday night, Almazim, God is back, not my lord, give me your eyes, the glow of the suns, the daughter of the light, excuse, amazing, important clouds. Abdu concluded his session with his famous national song “Fouq Ham Al Suhab” which brought the fans to their feet.

Rabeh Saqer was definitely one of the main highlights of Friday at the indoor arena. Even though people had to choose between Abdu and Saqer, the big crowd consisted of young fans and Saqer was one of the most anticipated performances of the night. Young enthusiasts waited for an hour after Abdu performed on the same stage, so the size of the crowd was huge before he even started playing.

When Saqer finally took the stage, he started off with a bang and a pumped up the vibe that lasted the whole performance.

All of Saqer’s songs are catchy, and he performed the collection of his most beautiful songs, including: "You are the king, Hala Bek, I want you, I love you" and others and his songs also found great interaction from the audience.

He added faster beats to these songs to keep the crowd moving, and his technique worked. The crowd had an incredible amount of energy. Everyone jumped in unison and sang along to the songs.

The first family concert was supervised by the General Entertainment Authority and organized by Rotana.