DJ sets are now as much concerned with spectacle as performance. There are often countdowns, tightly synchronised visual backdrops and endless bursts from fire cannon in sync with each shuddering beat drop.
Veteran British spinner and producer Carl Cox has spent the best part of 45 years proving he doesn't need any of these extras.
That alone is a feat to see when the 63-year-old kicks off the Pacha Icons series of concerts on Friday.
Don't expect anything planned other than a fierce mindset to figuratively destroy the stage.
"I honestly have no clue when I go to any event what I'm gonna play," he tells The National. "I don't have a list and I don't think about the first record I will play until I am standing there and feeling the room. The only thing I do know is that I am going to play the best music you have ever heard.
"And that's not ego, by the way. That's experience. I have been doing this long enough now to trust that if the sound is right and the energy is there, I can take people somewhere they didn't expect to go."
That said, Cox knows good music also needs a proper room. Hence, he is pleased at how the UAE's club scene has developed since his debut show in the country, a "pool party" at Jumeirah Beach Hotel in 2004.
"I remember back then it was just hotel lounges and pop nights," he recalls. "You would have a DJ in the corner playing commercial tunes and people were more curious than anything. You could tell it was a scene that was trying to find its feet. Now you have real clubs, proper sound systems, and energy and crowds that understand the music. You can just tell that the scene here is built by people who love it, not just following what is big somewhere else."
Cox views his performances as a means to preserve the remaining vestiges of what a true club experience should feel like – that element of surprise and discovery. In addition to that signature megawatt smile on stage, he is keenly scanning the audience, tracking who is moving and those nonplussed.
"There are the people who come with their arms folded and like 'OK, I've heard of this Carl Cox, but what does he actually do?'" he says. "I welcome that because it just gives me the licence to go 'bang, bang' and hit them with something they don't expect."
That duelling instinct, he notes, came from his time making his name in Britain's underground rave circuit in the late 1980s. Only at the time, for the burgeoning artist, the competition was as much with fellow DJs as the audience. That determination to stand out resulted in him adopting his trademark approach of performing with three turntables instead of two.
More than showmanship, the extra gear added new dimensions to his sets. "Everyone was playing two turntables and mixing records, and that was the art," he says. "You had one tune going, the next one cued, and you'd make that blend. That was the whole craft. I was obsessed with making it flow longer, keeping the groove alive, so I thought, why not add another deck?
"When I played with three, it really changed everything. I would run an a cappella, a bassline and a drum track all at once, as well as build the track, or strip it down live. Once I was doing it, I realised I'd already jumped ahead of the people I was trying to catch up with, because I viewed my performance as similar to playing an instrument while everyone else seemed to be just pressing play."
That drive pushed him from raves to global stages. His 1991 single I Want You (Forever) reached the UK Top 40, and in the mid-1990s, he was playing marathon eight and nine-hour sets across Europe, as well as on major stages from Glastonbury to Miami’s Ultra Music Festival.
Cox says he more or less still works that way. His Dubai set up will feature layers of vinyl, digital decks and drum machines. "There are no laptops, but hardware," he beams. "I want people to hear and see how the heartbeat of the music is made live."
That sense of purpose is also informed by gratitude. Cox notes how the pandemic upended a career built on the back of touring. "I worked all time to get to get to this point," he says. "Then there's nothing. After 40 years, my career fell off a cliff. I was like, 'wow, everything I've built, everything I've done. Gone.' You sit there and you're not flying, not packing bags, not hearing the crowd, and you think, what do I do now? For the first time in my life I had to stop and just be still."
Considering Cox's own difficulty handling the sudden quiet, he has empathy for the new young breed of superstar DJs, many in their teens or early 20s, whose sudden fame is not underpinned by real-world experience.
"I see these kids blow up at 17 with millions of followers overnight," he says. "They get fame before grounding. That's dangerous. You can have the followers, the lights, the likes, but if you don't have the experience behind it, it won't last. When it all goes quiet, that's when they struggle, because they've never had to build from nothing like we did."
He recalls sharing that reflection with then-21-year-old Martin Garrix while filming the 2017 documentary What We Started.
"At that particular time, I was 40 years into my career and he was five years into his," he says. "When we were talking to the audience, I had to mention the fact that you've got 35 years to get anywhere close to where I am now. And he just went like this. 'Oh.' He couldn't think beyond where he was and couldn't imagine another 35 years."
More than reverence, what Cox has earned is the right to keep doing things his own way. "When you go to a Carl Cox event, you don't get the fashion or the big show," he says. "You get to see me smiling, playing my music on a great sound system. That's it."
Carl Cox performs as part of the Pacha Icons series at Five Luxe JBR, Dubai Show starts at 7pm; tickets from Dh150 ($40)
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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SPECS
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
25-MAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi
Defenders: Olaoluwa Aina, Abdullahi Shehu, Chidozie Awaziem, William Ekong, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo, Jamilu Collins, Semi Ajayi
Midfielders: John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, John Ogu
Forwards: Ahmed Musa, Victor Osimhen, Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru, Odion Ighalo, Alexander Iwobi, Samuel Kalu, Paul Onuachu, Kelechi Iheanacho, Samuel Chukwueze
On Standby: Theophilus Afelokhai, Bryan Idowu, Ikouwem Utin, Mikel Agu, Junior Ajayi, Valentine Ozornwafor
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
The biog
Favourite hobby: I love to sing but I don’t get to sing as much nowadays sadly.
Favourite book: Anything by Sidney Sheldon.
Favourite movie: The Exorcist 2. It is a big thing in our family to sit around together and watch horror movies, I love watching them.
Favourite holiday destination: The favourite place I have been to is Florence, it is a beautiful city. My dream though has always been to visit Cyprus, I really want to go there.
THE 12 BREAKAWAY CLUBS
England
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus
Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid
How Apple's credit card works
The Apple Card looks different from a traditional credit card — there's no number on the front and the users' name is etched in metal. The card expands the company's digital Apple Pay services, marrying the physical card to a virtual one and integrating both with the iPhone. Its attributes include quick sign-up, elimination of most fees, strong security protections and cash back.
What does it cost?
Apple says there are no fees associated with the card. That means no late fee, no annual fee, no international fee and no over-the-limit fees. It also said it aims to have among the lowest interest rates in the industry. Users must have an iPhone to use the card, which comes at a cost. But they will earn cash back on their purchases — 3 per cent on Apple purchases, 2 per cent on those with the virtual card and 1 per cent with the physical card. Apple says it is the only card to provide those rewards in real time, so that cash earned can be used immediately.
What will the interest rate be?
The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts
What about security?
The physical card has no numbers so purchases are made with the embedded chip and the digital version lives in your Apple Wallet on your phone, where it's protected by fingerprints or facial recognition. That means that even if someone steals your phone, they won't be able to use the card to buy things.
Is it easy to use?
Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision.
* Associated Press
The specs
Price: From Dh529,000
Engine: 5-litre V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 520hp
Torque: 625Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.8L/100km
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
The bio
Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
Favourite food: Seafood
Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange
Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania
Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes
As it stands in Pool A
1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14
2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11
3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5
Remaining fixtures
Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am
Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm
Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
ON%20TRACK
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
