Dubai International Cricket Stadium at Dubai Sports City (DSC) hosted thousands of people on the field for Oktoberfest, the German festival of hops. To do so, DSC’s head curator, Tony Hemming and his team, were given the task of covering the outfield with thousands of plastic tiles.
“We cover[ed] the field, which is 17,000 square metres, with tiles that are 25 millimetres high and each one has round discs underneath to help it sit on the ground,” said Hemming. “It [took] us about eight hours to lay between 5000 to 6000 tiles and they almost create a hot-house effect over the grass.” He added, “It was a four-day set-up, we closed the roof on Tuesday, the concert took place on the Friday night and then everything was bumped out in 11 hours and the rugby pitch was ready to played on the next night.”
This was the second time Oktoberfest has been held at the Stadium which, in the past year, has confirmed its place as one of Dubai’s top sporting and entertainment venues. In addition to cricket, the venue has staged, in the past 12 months, three Test matches, five One-Day Internationals and 13 Twenty20 Internationals. It has also played host to Indian music icon AR Rahman and Dance Arena, which featured artists including Leona Lewis, Ne-Yo and Taio Cruz.
Jobs like getting the Stadium ready both before and after an event like Oktoberfest do present their challenges though, according to Hemming. “You have to be on site and sometimes you may not get sleep for 24 hours and I’m sure everyone that works with me on an event like Oktoberfest would be sick to death of me nagging them to make sure things are done right.”
