RIYADH: The Saudi capital was on Wednesday gearing up for an extraordinary evening of musical entertainment at the opening ceremony of this year鈥檚 Riyadh Season.
Taking place under the title Imagine More, the event will be staged near to the extended Boulevard zone and broadcast live with more than 2,760 drones capturing every moment.
Tickets for the ceremony, starting at 7 p.m., were sold out within one hour of going on sale and the lucky holders will be treated to a global parade including more than 1,500 costumed participants performing the traditional folkloric Samri dance.
Shows will include a Harley-Davidson custom bike display, fireworks, and a concert performed by the Cuban-American rapper Pitbull.
An estimated 7 million people visited the first Riyadh Season in 2019 and this year鈥檚 festival of activities will offer more than 7,500 events held on an area covering 5.4 million square meters.
Viewers in New York, London, Newcastle, Dubai, Kuwait, and Doha are expected to be among those watching the opening ceremony.
Flying drones shaped听the phrase 鈥淲elcome to Riyadh Season鈥澨齣n different languages in the sky and Turki Alalshikh, CEO of the General Entertainment Authority and chairman of the Season welcomed the audience on stage.
鈥淥ur slogan in the first Riyadh Season was 鈥業magine鈥櫶齛nd in this second season our slogan is听鈥業magine More,鈥櫶齞o you believe it now? Of course, you do,鈥澨齢e said.
鈥淎s long as we have inspiring leaders that support each Saudi to raise their ambition limits and achieve their dreams鈥 in the end, welcome to Riyadh Season.鈥
Just before the big event, Reem Abdullah, who works in business development, came with her friends to attend the opening ceremony and expressed her excitement and joy for this year鈥檚 season.
鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to the parade, mostly the fireworks. I also heard that there鈥檚 going to be Pitbull, really听looking forward to that because I know most of his music鈥 she told Arab News.
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鈥淢y favourite zone in the season is Winter Wonderland. I love winter festivals, I love the weather, the design, and the d茅cor, it鈥檚 really magical,鈥 she added.
Ema Muradavic from Montenegro and her husband Yasin Ghali from Syria came together for the evening and were surprised how organized the event was.听
鈥淚t looks like the event is going to be spectacular tonight, and everything is going to be just fine and I hope that the event will measure up with our expectations,鈥 Muradavic told Arab News.
She mentioned that this is her first time to visit Riyadh season 鈥淚t looks like it鈥檚 going to be very fun鈥t looks awesome.鈥
As for Ghali, he is most excited about the car shows that will take place in Riyadh this year as he considers himself a lover of speed cars.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited to see the McLarens, the Audis and Ferraris in one place,鈥 he said.
