How do you make football more entertaining than it already is? Jazz it up with social media power and then make the twain meet in a jam-packed stadium, bursting with audience energy and a long line of artistes’ performances. That’s what the much-awaited Street Madness event will be all about at the ongoing Qatar Summer Festival (QSF).
Today, at the Al Gharrafa Sports Club, an action-packed face-off between football teams helmed by the top social media influencers of the Middle East such as Bugatti, Sewar Shoaib, Muhannad al-Harbi, and Mohammad al-Hamdan, will feature highlights such as Captain vs Captain, Team vs Team, and a tough but friendly battle that crowns the new winner as ‘Street Madness King’. Doors open at 4pm, outdoor event starts at 5pm, and indoor event starts at 8pm. The event will be in Arabic.
Street Madness also includes great performances such as sand art by Hajer, skate boarding show by Hasan & Husain, dance and music show by Barbes, performances by rapper Quasi, singer Ayed, and a show by Sheyab, who is famous from Arabs Got Talent.
Talal Abul-Shamat of Saudi Arabian event organising firm Luxury KSA, told Community, “This is the third time that we will be putting out this amazing show. Earlier, we have held two editions of Street Madness in Saudi Arabia. The concept is to combine football and social media influencers by getting four teams to battle with each other on social media and also on field. The influencers are supposed to gather their fans via social networking and get them to cheer their players at the games.”
Each of the four influencers will be the captains of their football teams and will continue to spur the audience on through the day. Abul-Shamat explains, “All four influencers are big names in the social media world of the Gulf. Mohammad Fahad Kamal is a stand-up comedy star and a top social media name from Qatar, Shayeb is a Kuwaiti whose well-known talk show on YouTube is a hit, Ibrahim Abdul Rahman is one of the top Instagrammers and Snapchatters, Bugatti is famous as a comedian who has made a cross-country tour across America and is also very popular on Instagram and Snapchat, and Muhannad al-Harbi is also a good influencer in Instagram and Snapchat.”
The deal is that the four teams play two matches against one another before the final match in the evening. “Through social media, and mostly through Snapchat, the influencers have been busy drumming up support for their teams. In between matches there will be performances. All of this makes the whole experience more entertaining than a normal football match. The atmosphere is electric and a lot more fun,” says Amro Ahmed, also from Luxury KSA.
From housing a talent management agency and a production studio to technology wing and of course, event organising section, Luxury KSA keeps itself busy. “We are always trying to do something different as there are thousands of event management firms in the Mena region, and you won’t stand out in the crowd if you don’t create a unique concept, such as Street Madness for instance,” says Ahmed, pointing out that their firm recently brought down top stand-up comedian Russell Peters for the first time to Saudi Arabia, “We are one of the top entertainment companies in the Middle East because of our concepts. In the coming years, we plan to fan out across the region. We have a list of concepts that we plan to execute in Dubai, and later in Qatar as well.”
Since the local social media already knew about Street Madness thanks to the favourable word of mouth for previous editions, the excitement among Qatar’s crowd is huge, feels Abul-Shamat. “In Saudi, we had a crowd of 5,000 and 3,000 for our two Street Madness events. In Qatar, we are expecting around 2000 to 2500, because it now being summer, there might be a lesser crowd than what’s possible,” he says.
While trying to understand the Qatar audience dynamic seemed difficult at first for Luxury KSA, they worked their way around. “The plus point, or our strength, in organising this event is the tremendous support of Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA). It’s they who are helping us to reach the audience,” Abul-Shamat says.
In conjuring Street Madness, what is the biggest high for Abul-Shamat and Ahmed? “To see all these excited people, gathered in huge groups, shouting and cheering, waiting for the gates to open, wanting to come in,” they say.
Tickets are available at Virgin Megastore – VVIP Couch: QR500; Platinum: QR175; Gold: QR125; Silver: QR75; and Bronze: QR25.