ABU DHABI // American pop princess Britney Spears, US rockers Incubus and British rockers The Cult, and former Beatle great Paul McCartney will round off the Formula One concert series in November.

Sir Paul McCartney will round out the concert weekend with a performance on the final night, November 13. AP

Flash Entertainment’s announcement this morning revealed the much anticipated star line-up of performers for the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after-race concerts, which kick off on November 11.

The Yasalam ‘Beats on the Beach’ entertainment programme, which culminates in a series of free concerts by Arab and International musicians along the Abu Dhabi Corniche, will welcome British DJ Fatboy Slim this year, together with Wyclef Jean and Jay Sean. Dubai’s DJ Dany Neville confirmed earlier today that he will be sharing the stage with Fatboy Slim.

Britney Spears, 12 years into a career that has resulted in a sale of over 100 million records worldwide, is in the middle of her seventh concert tour, Femme Fatale, named after her latest album. She will be performing on Yas Island on November 11.

Already, the album became the first of her records to yield three top 10 singles in the US, and her singing and dancing performance in Femme Fatale has garnered positive reviews.  Rolling Stone Magazine said of the tour’s kickoff in June that is “managed to propel [Britney] forward … [she’s] offering possibly her flashiest, fastest moving and most entertaining production yet”.

The Femme Fatale tour has been touted as Spears’ resurgence on the international charts, and at 29, the pop star, whose career seemed in danger of permanently crashing and burning just a few years ago, has shown that she’s back.

On November 12, Incubus will perform in Yas Arena on their If Not Now, When? world tour, which shares the same name as their newly released seventh album – their first in five years. The Cult, veteran British rock band, will also perform on this night.

Known for incorporating a variety of genres and styles, including alternative rock, heavy metal, funk, hip hop and electro, Incubus’s early funk-metal sound was heavily influenced by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but has since broadened to thrash, rap-metal, post-grunge rock and grinding alt-metal in the style of Korn or the Deftones.

Sir Paul McCartney, known as “the good-looking” Beatle and listed in The Guinness Book of Records 2009 as the “most successful musician and composer in popular music history”, has had 91 of the songs that he has either written or co-written reach the top 10 and 33 make it to Number 1. He will round out the concert weekend with a performance on the final night, November 13.

In 2009, McCartney attended the exclusive Grand Prix Ball, where he performed with Dame Shirley Bassey.

Last year, rapper Kanye West, rockers Linkin Park and pop legend Prince headlined the post-race performances on Yas Island, while pop acts such as the reggae artist Sean Paul and the US R&B vocalist Kelis performed for free on the Corniche. Lebanese pop star Nancy Ajram and Lebanese singer Fares Karam were also part of the Yasalam line-up.

The 2009 post-race concert series featured Beyonce, Kings of Leon, Jamiroquai and Aerosmith.

The F1 concert series is available to holders of tickets to the F1 races.

More info

hkhalaf@thenational.ae

Only in Monaco would a track so narrow, so winding and ultimately so dangerous remain on the Formula One calendar for 69 years. Only in Monaco would access to that same street circuit be open to the public for 12 hours each day.

And only in Monaco would the public choose to revel in the festival atmosphere on the track until the sun begins to awake over the Mediterranean.

As Lotus Renault’s official Twitter account observed yesterday: “Just how Champagne soaking of the road affects the chemical grip of this year’s Pirellis remains to be seen.”

Only in Monaco would you see off-duty engineers from one of the smaller racing teams at 3am on the day of a grand prix.

Only in Monaco would a reporter find himself on duty and interviewing a restaurant manager at 3am on the day of a grand prix.

“Monaco is an anomaly,” said one journalist, who requested anonymity.

“It’s the one weekend of the year when everybody – teams, media, everyone – stay out until 6am and go to work … at 9am.”

Several of the restaurants, cafes and bars see their working hours disrupted by the infrastructure involved in constructing the Circuit de Monaco street track.

During the three months leading up to and directly proceeding the principality’s annual grand prix, Explorers Piano Bar, a popular restaurant located close to La Rascasse corner, sees its 150-seat terrace reduced by two-thirds and for the four days of on-track action the entire business is forced to remain closed until 7pm.

Outside of grand prix weekend, it usually opens for business at midday.

“During the GP we open at 7pm because we have the race all day long and the track runs through our boardwalk,” said Julien Quinson, the Frenchman in charge of Explorers.

“We close for lunch, but at least we open at night. Yes, we lose some money, but it’s part of the Grand Prix; it’s part of the game. Monaco is grand prix racing.

“And it’s beautiful during these four days.

“We can’t complain. People come from all over the world. If they are happy, I am happy. Voila.”

And they are happy – some of them ecstatic – to be involved in Formula One’s most spectacular race.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Explorers was buzzing, as were its neighbouring restaurants along the street.

The track was so thronged with people it looked like a protest, but instead of placards the revellers held cameras and cocktail glasses. A woman in a Carnival-esque costume walked the corner on stilts. Interlagos does not allow that.

Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s chief, told The National last year that Yas Marina was more impressive than Monaco Harbour, but there are few sights as picturesque as the city of Monte Carlo, built into the cliff side, gradually coming into focus as darkness recedes and the yachts begin to glimmer again.

“Monaco is beautiful. It’s part of the history of motorsport, both rallying and F1,” said Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, world motor sport’s governing body.

With the sun rising, the track was closed to the public and the clean-up started. The streets remained busy, but instead of women dressed in pink stilettos, men appeared – armed with brushes and hoses.

By 9.45am, a fleet of Porsches contested the Porsche Supercup Series. Eighty-five minutes later the World Series by Renault took place and by 1.30pm Prince Albert and his fiancee were completing a lap of honour before the main event, waving to the wealthy figures sunning themselves on the nearby yachts. Only in Monaco.

The BBC has won an award for its coverage of last year’s Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The BBC Sport production team was yesterday awarded a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) award for the sport’s title decider last November.

Judges picked the show for the quality of its production and coverage.

“[Abu Dhabi] just happened to be the setting for a thrilling final race of the season,” said Ben Gallop, the head of F1 at the BBC.

“Having said that, I would imagine the stunning shots of the circuit as night fell would have played a part in swaying the judges’ minds.”

The race was the first time four drivers were in with a chance of winning the championship. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took the honours from his teammate Mark Webber, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in the twilight race.

The 50,000-seat track sold out just days before the F1 circus arrived in the capital.

The five races so far this year have seen more overtaking by drivers because of changes to car design and tyre rules.

By last evening, 55 per cent of tickets were sold for the capital’s penultimate race of this season. The tickets, which start at Dh1,800 (US$490) for two days, went on sale less than four weeks ago with a 20 per cent discount. The offer ends next Tuesday.

“We’re delighted with the way ticket sales are going,” said Richard Cregan, the chief executive of the Yas Marina Circuit, which hosts the GP between November 11 and 13.

“This is turning out to be an incredibly exciting F1 season and I think we can expect a thrilling race at Yas.”

The smell of burning rubber and the sound of screeching tyres will permeate the air tonight on the Corniche.

The qualifying round of the UAE Red Bull Car Park Drift will start at 6pm on a specially built track.

Drifting, which involves cars skidding and sliding around a course, is increasing in popularity and the Emirates is hosting the event for the second year.

The finals will be held in Lebanon later this year, but for now 25 hopefuls will fire up their engines and showcase their driving skills in the capital.

The track was designed by Abdo Feghali, the Middle East Hill Climb Champion, who is also the main judge.

Drivers will try to appeal to the crowds and impress the jury with their ability to manipulate their vehicles with their handbrakes and special turning techniques.

“The first and main factor is the art of drift with 70 per cent of the overall grade given by the jury,” Mr Feghali said. A roaring engine accounts for 10 per cent of the points as does a positive reaction from the crowd.

Faisal al Sahlawi, the head of the Yas Marina Circuit Racing School, said the sport was not recognised by the FIA, the world motorsport governing body.

“It is not timed nor is it wheel-to-wheel racing. It is more of a freestyle sport,” he said.

“If you do it on the street, it’s reckless driving. Here, they make their own tracks and have fun in a controlled environment.”

The Yas Marina Circuit also hosts its own drifting events and Mr al Sahlawi said he had noted that the sport was drawing bigger crowds.

“This year we expected 3,000 to watch our own drifting competition and we got 5,000 people,” he said.

“We opened half a grandstand and extended it a bit more to cope with the crowds.”

James McGowan is the store manager of Ikea on Yas Island where he works for Al Futtaim, the furniture store’s retail partner in the UAE. He talks about packing up at Marina Mall and moving out.

How did the move go?

I would say we have had a pretty smooth transition. We had a project team and Ikea helped and pointed us through the process. They are used to these big moves.

Why bother moving premises in the first place?

It depends on the circumstances for a retailer. For us, the development of Abu Dhabi was a crucial factor. Everything is moving out towards the airport. In Marina Mall we also became more of a convenience store than a destination, which is not our goal. Marina Mall was quite restricting in what we could offer the customer.

What was the first thing you considered when you decided to look for another location?

The most important thing for us was the commercial terms. Out of the options we had, we thought this location suited us best. It was the most financially viable, so the first thing we did was look at feasibility.

How do you work out size?

Ikea stores are pretty prescriptive. So we feed in our sales volumes expectations for the next five years and, because Ikea are good at building stores, they have a formula that if you are going to hit a certain figure, then that will decide the dimensions of the store.

What is something to look out for when moving?

It depends on the terms of the agreement between your existing landlord and the new, but you need to build in double rent in your forecasts. Even if there is not an overlap in the two stores opening, there will be an overlap in closing the old store and returning it to its original condition for the landlord. Stores come as shells and retailers add all the fixtures and fittings, so these then have to be removed before the store is given back. This takes time.

How do you manage to uproot staff?

Having been based in Abu Dhabi for 10 years, we have a lot of staff that live in the centre of the city. So we put on a couple of buses a day so that people are not inconvenienced by the move.

Have you increased staff?

We’ve gone from 122 to 265 staff. We still have the same functionality in terms of our teams, we just had to make each one a little bigger.

Was it all worth it?

Our footfall has definitely exceeded expectations. We were aiming for an average 120,000 to 130,000 visitors a month and in April we slightly exceeded that level. The customers are spending more because they have the whole offering under one roof. Now the customer comes to our store and anything they can see, they can take home straight away.

Yas Marina Circuit will be modified in the summer to improve overtaking opportunities and make for a more exciting Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The chief executive of Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management, Richard Cregan, said yesterday the combination of new technical car and tyre rules along with changes to some of the turns at the track would allow for more manoeuvrability.

“We wanted to hold motorbike races in the future and we had to look at the modifications we’d have to make. We could see what we could do to improve and enhance overtaking.” This, Mr Cregan said, would make racing on the 5.5km track more exciting.

There was much debate at the end of last year’s F1 season about making changes to several of the tracks to allow for more overtaking.

“We have a team of people working on it at the moment and we are looking at the feedback from drivers in F1, GP2, Australian V8s and the UAE drivers,” Mr Cregan said.

Last year, for example, Fernando Alonso, who was in contention for the world championship title, was held behind Vitaly Petrov, who was driving an inferior Renault at Yas Marina Circuit.

Mr Cregan said fans sitting in the North Stand would see more overtaking on turns six and seven, which is the hairpin taken in first gear that turns on to one of the longest straights in the championship’s 19 circuits. Last year, Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed dramatically into Michael Schumacher between the two turns.

At the end of the straight, drivers will see more changes to turns eight and nine after braking from more than 300kph at the West Grandstand. “There will be small changes which will hopefully add to the show,” Mr Cregan said.

Mr Cregan added that significant changes in aerodynamics and a Kinetic Energy Recovery system, which was re-introduced for the 2011 season, would add 100 horsepower in the overtaking zones.

Tickets for the 2011 Grand Prix, which go on sale this morning, will cost from Dh1,440, which includes an “early bird” discount.

Race fans who purchase tickets from now until May 31 can get a discount of 20 per cent, with Dh1,800 two-day grandstand tickets going for Dh1,440 – the same price as last year. Three-day  Dh2,000 grandstand tickets will sell for  Dh1,600 and premium tickets which include balcony seating, air conditioning and food and beverage service are Dh4,250.

For a full VIP experience, Paddock Club tickets begin at Dh16,900.

Enetrtainment at the Yas Arena the past two years has included celebrated artists such as Prince, Aerosmith and Beyonce. Grand Prix tickets include entry to the concerts. The 2011 line-up has yet to be announced.

“I think the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi is becoming a social event more so than anything else,” Mr Cregan said.

Last year, the 50,000 capacity grandstands sold out just days before the race which crowned Sebastian Vettel world champion.

This Formula One car may lack the horsepower, speed and size of the real thing but the miniature model still proved to be a winner on the track.

The gas-powered balsa wood F1 car sped down a 20-metre straight course yesterday to claim first place in the national finals of the F1 in Schools competition.

The model was designed and raced by Team Red Shift, who won the national finals last year. They will head to Malaysia in September to represent the UAE in the world championship.

Dominic Palubiski, 17, and his five teammates from Dubai College beat 10 other teams to win the competition at Yas Marina Circuit. Revolution Racing, also from Dubai College, finished second.

Pupils between nine and 19 were challenged to develop their own F1 team. As well as design and build their car, they also had to make a presentation to a panel of judges.

Dominic’s teammates – Mustafa Shaikh, 16, Louisa Henson, 17, Gina Steel, 17, Rahul Dungarwal, 17, and Shounak Das, 17 – all had individual roles including branding and finance. They will need to raise Dh100,000 in sponsorship money to help them get to Malaysia.

Louisa said Team Red Shift had already raised Dh14,000 to reach the national finals. “We will have to meet with sponsors and sell our team,” she said.

During the next months, Team Red Shift will be e-mailing, phoning and meeting with banks, airlines and anyone else who might sponsor them.

Richard Cregan, the chief executive of Yas Marina Circuit, who was Toyota’s F1 team principal, said the competition was as close as children could get to the sport.

“If you see what effort these kids put into building these cars and working on their reaction times, this is very close to racing and competing. It’s as close as they will get to F1 without the real thing,” he said.

Mr Cregan said the children were at a better advantage now than most Formula One drivers.

“They can very often be more open to learning in this kind of situation than an F1 driver. They might have quicker reaction times than F1 drivers and they don’t have any mental block as to why they should be quick,” he said.

Mr Cregan noted there had been a rise in the level of competition this year, considering it was only the second time the Circuit had hosted the event. In 2009, the competition was held at Dubai Autodrome.

“After the results and the quality of the competition last year, they will certainly be watching what’s coming out of the UAE this year,” he said.

Dominic said he was pleased with the performance of the team’s car, but would spend the next few months working on strategy. “We will make it better,” he said.

Work for the 2011 finals began last September for Revolution Racing, which will be paired with a Malaysian team in the finals. The trio – Vansh Dassani, 15, Kashyap Sajnani, 16, and Saniya Mediratta, 16 – experienced a steep learning curve. “Some products didn’t deliver on time,” said Saniya. “Our wheels were three times their original weight and the day before the competition we had to go back to the manufacturer to get them made again.”

They also had to paint their own car, which is usually a specialist job. Weight is important and a car needs the right number of paint layers.

“The company that was going to paint it said it would take five days. Because the car was delivered late, we couldn’t wait to do this,” Saniya said.

Revolution Racing are looking forward to working with their Malaysian counterparts. “We had the fastest car, and they might have the best pit display,” Kashyap said.

The US rapper Snoop Dogg and the DJ Moby will play live this summer in the UAE.

Snoop Dogg, known for hits including “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?)” and “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang“, will play on May 6 at Yas Arena on Yas Island.

The Grammy Award winner Moby, whose releases include “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?”, will play for the first time in the region on July 4 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Snoop Dogg, who has served time in jail for drug offences, was discovered by the rap producer Dr Dre, who has overseen the careers of other top rap artists such as Eminen and 50 Cent.

His first album, Doggystyle, sold more than a million records in its first week and shot to number one. He has since released a number of chart-topping albums and products including a fashion line an iPhone application called iFizzle.

Snoop Dogg is no stranger to controversy and has had several legal battles including drugs and firearms offences.

Moby came to prominence with his single “Go” in 1991, which sampled the theme tune of the then-popular US television series Twin Peaks.

His 1999 album Play sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, and has the distinction that all 18 songs were licensed in films, television and adverts.

eharnan@thenational.ae

ABU DHABI // Stevie Wonder enraptured thousands of fans at Yas Arena last night with a spellbinding performance dedicated to the earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged people of Japan.

The 60-year-old showman at one point writhed on the stage floor playing an electric "keytar" to the delight of the crowd Andrew Henderson / The National

The 60-year-old musician at one stage picked up a “keytar” (an electric keyboard which is worn over the shoulder like a guitar) before lying down and writhing on the stage floor to the delight of the crowd.

It was Wonder’s first concert in the Middle East and he played for more than an hour, performing hits such as Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours.

Stevie Wonder

Music lovers of all ages came to the arena to hear him belt out some of the hit songs from a music career, which has spanned almost half a century. Kayleigh Coleman, 25, from the UK, bought a ticket for her mother, Lorraine, 47, who is visiting the Emirates.

“We never got a chance to hear him back in the UK. He’s amazing and that’s why we are here.”

Janelle Erickson, 30, an advertising executive from the US who works in Dubai, said that Wonder had profoundly influenced music over the past three decades.

“Maroon 5, for example. If you listen to their stuff it’s clear they love Stevie Wonder,” she said.

“Also, seeing him lie on the floor and play an awesome keytar solo like that … what a legend.”

vtodorova@thenational.ae

The UAE has made relentless progress as a golfing haven ever since the Majlis Course made its breakthrough in becoming the first Asian venue for a European Tour event – the Dubai Desert Classic in 1989.

Yas Island

Emirates Golf Club was out on its own in those days in more ways than one as it provided expatriates based all over the Gulf region with their only opportunity to swing a club in anger on a verdant rather than sepia surface.

Twenty-two years later the rivals are stacking up for the trendsetting Majlis. In my opinion, several are comparable to what was labelled on its birth as the “miracle in the desert” and one can claim to be even better.

Here is a personal appraisal of the top 10 courses in the country listed in order of a 17-handicapper’s preference.

No 1: Yas Links

Take a bow Kyle Phillips for your masterpiece which on the coldest of winter days could possibly be mistaken for one of the warmer British Open venues.

Within earshot of Yas Marina Formula One Circuit (its one detracting feature on race days) its penal rough to catch wayward drives from a variety of tee boxes provides a demanding test for golfers of all abilities and offers stunning coastal views from many of its holes.

Yas hosted the first of what is sure to be a series of professional events in January when the Al Naboodah Invitational moved there from its previous Dubai Creek home.

No 2: Majlis

Taking its name from the Arabic for “meeting place”, this ground-breaking oasis which sprung up close to the Sheikh Zayed trunk road between Dubai and Abu Dhabi was acclaimed by all who saw it as that “miracle in the desert”.

Featuring a prominent Majlis building on the high ground between the eighth and ninth holes of the 7,211 par 72 course, it is a genuine treat for first time visitors following in the footsteps of the six major champions – Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O’Meara and Tiger Woods – and 11 other top international names who have triumphed there.

No 3: The National

Home of the flourishing Abu Dhabi Championship since Chris DiMarco captured the Falcon Trophy for the United States in 2006, this Peter Harradine-designed treat had the distinction of hosting the holders of all four major titles — Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and the victorious Martin Kaymer for its sixth staging in January.

No 4: Earth

Greg Norman, Australia’s “White Shark”, originally prepared this appealing track on Jumeirah Golf Estates as a resort course to complement its three sisters – Fire, Water and Wind – in an ambitious Dubai development.

The announcement that it would stage the conclusion of the first running of the Race to Dubai in the autumn of 2009 brought a hasty revision to those plans and Norman instead delivered a venue suitable for a summit meeting of the European Tour’s top 60 players for the US$7.5 million (Dh 27.5m) Dubai World Championship.

No 5: Dubai Creek

As pretty a course as you could wish to play, this city centre venue was rewarded by the European Tour with two Desert Classics in 1999 and 2000 to the benefit of England’s David Howell and Argentina’s Jose Coceres, who joined an illustrious band of champions. It was also the original home of the Al Naboodah Invitational.

No 6: Saadiyat Beach

Gary Player, a legend of the game but also a master of hyperbole, described his creation just off Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Khalifa Highway as among the top five courses of the 300 that he had been associated with during his time as a golf architect.

The seaside creation is probably not in that league but still offers a wonderful experience and the challenge of trying to keep your ball dry when there is water, water everywhere.

No 7: Al Hamra

Off the beaten track for most enthusiasts on the northern shores of Ras al Khaimah, this is one of the nation’s hidden jewels and well worth the effort to get there.

No 8: Al Badia

Originally opened as Four Seasons, this beautiful 7,303-yard offering by Robert Trent Jones II in the heart of Dubai caught the eye mainly for the quality of its short holes, particularly the 11th.

No 9: Jebel Ali

Only nine holes, but as picturesque as any venue in the country with peacocks strutting on the fairways, yachts moored in the adjacent resort harbour and a saltwater lake coming into play on more than half of the holes.

No 10: Els Club

This key part of the vast Dubai Sports City complex just edged out its Fire Course and Arabian Ranches neighbours and the Emirates Hills duo of the Faldo and Montgomerie courses for the concluding spot in a top 10 which, I am sure, would have featured the Tiger Woods Dubai had work there not stalled last year.

wjohnson@thenational.ae