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ALL RISE, BLUE ARE IN DUBAI!

Tonight all roads will lead to Dubai Media City amphitheatre as Dubai witnesses one of the biggest pop acts in the world, Blue — Live in Concert. Blue is here to perform the first event of its autumn concert line-up. The concert, say the organisers, Mirage Promotions, ...

is the result of an online poll where concert goers were asked who they would love to see perform in Dubai.

Blue, a band that needs no introduction, is expected to perform to a 10,000-strong audience. The concert will also feature British R&B divas Mis-Teeq of the Scandalous fame. The sensational boy band Blue comprises four lads from London: Duncan James, Anthony Costa, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe. The band took the music world by storm with their debut single All Rise in 2001. This was followed up with two other singles, Too Close and If You Come Back, both went on to be even bigger hits storming to number 1 on the charts and selling more than 200,000 copies each.

The runaway success was followed by the band's debut album All Rise, which sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK alone. The album too hit the number one spot on the album charts. Soon a fusillade of awards followed. Best Newcomer at the Brit Awards 2002, Best Newcomer at the Smash Hits Awards and Best Single, Best Newcomer and Best Pop Act at the Capital FM Awards are but a few of the colourful feats that comprise Blue's long list of musical achievements.

And just when the dust began to settle the boys hit the top 10 with the reworked and remixed Fly By II from the All Rise album.

They spent the summer touring the globe and unleashed their second album One Love in November 2002. With the second album, the bands popularity just skyrocketed. Over 1.3 million copies in the UK and a whopping 2.7 million copies worldwide is a good pointer towards their global appeal.

The title track from the second album One Love provided Blue with their second consecutive number 1 airplay hit. Such is its cross-cultural appeal that the track has been featured in a Bollywood flick, Rakht, where singer Shaan has sung Hindi lines which were overdubbed on Blue's rendition of One Love. The guys quickly followed it by another single Sorry Seems to be The Hardest Word, a duet with Elton John, a remarkable cover of his 1976 hit. The track proved to be the band's third UK chart topper.

More awards followed: Best Pop Act, Top of the Pops Awards 2002, and Best UK Band and Best Live Act at the Smash Hits Awards 2002. The fourth estate too wasn't stingy with their accolades: the lads were bestowed upon awards such as Best Band by Heat Magazine, Hot Stars Magazine and Daily Star's End of Year polls.

Next year more awards followed both at home and abroad as Blue picked up Capital radio's favourite group, MTV Japan's Best Pop Video for One Love and MTV Asia's Bets International Group.

Another star attraction tonight would be Mis-Teeq who started with the UK garage scene and scorched the charts in 2001 with the debut hit Why. Alesha, Sabrina and Su-Elise, the trio that makes Mis-Teeq, have been making waves on the UK garage and r&b scene with their smash hits like All I Want, One Night Stand, Be with You, This is how We Do It and more recently with hits like Scandalous and Can't Get it Back. With two albums, various hit singles and multiple awards under their belt, Mis-Teeq would be a befitting act to go with Blue's high-profile, much-awaited gig that takes place tonight.