The first headliner of the 2023 edition of Soundstorm has been announced: Pharrell Williams. Following a series of online clues, emojis, and teasers, the mystery finally came to an end. The Louis Vuitton menswear designer will be part of the Saudi sonic gathering, bringing his decades-spanning hits and undeniable talent behind microphones to the Arabian peninsula.
Williams’ attendance serves as a testament to the festival’s growing stature on the global music scene. Over the past couple of years, Saudi Arabia’s annual music event has managed to earn itself a proud reputation for being one of, if not the, loudest congregations of music there are to be found in the Arab World. Since 2019, the noise-generating festival, which is powered by Saudi entertainment company MDLBEAST, has punctuated regional and international calendars with a new can’t-miss event where industry leaders, insiders, artists, and fans come together to immerse themselves in a sonic space of a new kind, while celebrating the diversity of sounds our side of the world has to offer.
Bigger and better each year, it appears that the forthcoming edition will be no different when it comes to raising the bar higher than it already is. Expected to run from Dec. 14 to 16 in Riyadh, from what has been revealed so far, organizers are determined to surpass last year’s numbers, which includes over 600,000 attendees who descended upon the Saudi desert to immerse themselves in 260 hours of live music from 200 artists.
While it remains unknown whether the fourth edition of the three-day event will surpass the figures mentioned above, it appears that all efforts were put together in order for them to.
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According to the post, Pharrell will be expected to hit the stage accompanied by members of his close entourage, though the details are kept under wraps, further adding an element of mystery and anticipation.
With tickets already available for purchase on Soundstorm’s official website — offering second-release general admission tickets ranging from SAR169 for single-day passes to SAR379 for three-day passes— make sure to secure your spot early and be part of what promises to be an unforgettable experience in Riyadh this December.