MDLBEAST Soundstorm made a spectacular return in December 2024, with a stacked lineup combining international A-listers including Eminem, Linkin Park, Muse and Camilla Cabello, with exciting homegrown Saudi talent. With 10 stages spread across the expansive site on the outskirts of Riyadh – including the gargantuan BIG BEAST main stage, which smashed the Guinness World Record for the largest continuous LED screen – the festival continues to push the boundaries of production not only for the Middle East but globally.
On site for the full three-day festival, TPiMEA racked up the step count, circling the sprawling grounds in an attempt to speak to as many people and take in as much of the packed programme as possible. While the festival’s focal point, the BIG BEAST stage, exerted an almost gravitational pull, standing tall and wide like a gleaming beacon in the distance, it was back of house in the Event Management Centre (EMC) where we discovered the secrets to Soundstorm’s runaway success.
Welcoming TPiMEA to the EMC was MDLBEAST’s Executive Director of Events, Michael ‘Curly’ Jobson, who gave a quick tour of the impressive control room, which is home to a wall of LED screens that shows CCTV of the entire site. “If you would have been in here four years ago, you’d have seen something very different to what we have today,” he smiled. “It’s taken time to get to this level, but we are now operating at the very highest end of event delivery. This control setup could be dropped into any of the world’s top festivals or events, and it would be world leading.”
More akin to NASA Mission Control than something you’d expect on a festival site, the EMC is the heart of the operation and essential to the safe and efficient running of the festival. “The connection between every department and the communication that is being routed to all corners of the site continuously is extraordinary,” Curly commented. “Everything from top-level health and safety, crowd management, and tracking drones and helicopters to sitewide water and power is controlled from here. We’ve formed meaningful relationships with all the Saudi partners, from Civil Defence to Police and Military, and we’re now so indelibly connected that everybody is tuned in and treats each other with nothing but total respect. It’s a joy to be involved.”
Photos: MDLBEAST, Azema (@3azemax), Alive Coverage (@alivecoverage), Luke Shadrick
