Parts Unknown: Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates

Rose Lane and Chuck in Abi Dhabi

One never knows where life will lead you. The Rolling Stones have taken us on many, many wonderful adventures. They do it as much as anything in their quest to conquer the world with music. The fans always show up no matter where we go. As we all know, the United Arab Emirates is a very wealthy area of the world.
The Persian Gulf borders it on the South and also Pakistan, Iran and Qatar. It is a new country chartered in l971 and Abu Dhabi is the capital city. Oil is their # one commodity, and Islam is their official religion with Arabic being their language.The topography: Desert Sand!!!  The City of Abi Dhabi has about a million inhabitants. Our flight was about 7 hours long so it was night when we arrived. Not much to see except lights. There is always the social protocol of The Rolling Stones, family and their associates deplaning and immigrating prior to all the Core Band and entourage. Once we were off the plane Frankie Enfield and Luis Sotto (our tour road managers) showed us into a very beautiful reception room with juices and sweets to welcome us to Abi Dhabi.

We had to pass through immigration which went reasonably quickly, considering there were nearly 75 of us. The backline crew has been traveling with us, too. We boarded our bus to take us to the hotel The Park Hyatt which was on Saadiyat Island about 20 miles from the downtown area. We had to pass around the Persian Gulf noting along the way that there was a water park, Formula One Racetrack, multiple golf courses, rows and rows of new houses most of which were not inhabited that I could tell, and of course the shipping docks. One of the bays held what appeared to be at least 1000 small compact cars....98% of which were white. The roadways were all spanking new with rows and rows of planted palm trees and beautiful hedges, etc. I never saw anyone pampering the area but there was no litter. Our driver told us that all of the buildings, etc. had been built in the past 10 years and the old town was torn down to do so.
Finally, we arrive at the hotel which is just about half a mile past the St. Regis..

The hotel was laid out just as you would expect for any resort. A very large main building with 3 restaurants and a large pool area with multiple swimming  and sunning areas. There was a restaurant/bar up on the Gulf beach. Chuck and I had a lovely suite which was part of a compound of 4 units. You entered a door way with a central courtyard and all the rooms viewed the Persian Gulf.

The Persian Gulf

I think that every room in the Hotel faced the Gulf. There was a very small dipping pool outside with a patio area. We enjoyed that! It was fenced in so that you couldn't access the beach without going to the main concourse. Chuck went for a walk on the beach the first day after we woke up, but he was told not to walk near the water on hard ground or to swim. That made it difficult as the sand drift is very deep. On the second day, Tim Ries went for a walk and wasn't told about the danger so he came back to the hotel and realized that the bottom of his feet were black with tar. It seems that the petroleum sometimes flows up through the sand. On the days after that we saw people swimming in the water, etc., so obviously it wasn't a problem all the time. We enjoyed our few days off admiring the beautiful water, sun, and camaraderie of our bandmates.

Tim Ries with Chuck at the Mosque

On Thursday evening Tim, Chuck, Caroline Clements and I went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which is a sight to behold as it rises so beautifully into the Arabian night. It is a fabulous piece of architecture with room for 42,000 people for prayer. I highly suggest that you visit the place on line as there is not enough time or room for me to mention all of the beauty that exists in this place.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

 www.szgmc.ae/en/ Wow! You must remove your shoes to enter and there is a social protocol regarding dress for men along with women whose hair must be covered and no sexually explicit dress.
We all made our way back to the hotel, but Caroline, Chuck and I decided to dine at The St. Regis as we had heard that there was a great steak restaurant there. It was just that....and very pricey, too. To be honest, everything is in this land...Finally, it is Friday, and we have our first show. The stage is set up on what is part of the Formula One racetrack...an area where they sometimes hold events connected to the races.

At the show...

Sounds weird, and it was was. The audience was all on the field...except for one set of bleachers which was at the opposite end of the stage...about a football field or so away. There was about 32,000 people there.

Stones 14 On Fire Stage

When we immigrated into the country we were told that there was minimal alcohol and no prescription drugs (unless with the prescriptions) allowed in the country. Why then did they have a Full Bar set up just to the stage right??? I guess they figured might as well make the $$$$ Muh..nee! We all had to get our tour chops together! The first of anything is always a challenge. We pulled it off, though. The band was terrific!  Clothes looked great. All went well. So, back to the hotel and some after show drinks with our friends to celebrate. Saturday we would travel to Tokyo so our bags needed to be packed. There was a long flight ahead of us. Our departure was very late the following night which would allow us to land in Japan at a reasonable hour the following day. We made one last bus ride across the town and through the reception area. Good bye, Abi Dhabi. It was a fabulous opportunity to see a new part of the world. It's a long way from Bullard, Georgia.