The world’s biggest fireworks display wasn’t the only thing to marvel at in Dubai on New Year’s Eve.
Lucky revellers at Barasti’s sold-out Sugar Beach party, in Le Meridian Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina, got a big surprise when the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince were reunited on stage.
The DJ, whose real name is Jeff Townes, posted a picture of himself with his old partner and long-time friend Will Smith on Instagram.
“Guess who came to rock with me in Dubai for New Years!!!!” he wrote. “Happy 2014.”
In a short video Townes later posted of the pair performing together, Smith wears a white tuxedo jacket and trainers and bellows into the microphone: "DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince in the building!" Then he adds, "one more time Jazzy" before launching into the familiar grunts that accompany the funky opening to his 1998 hit Gettin' Jiggy wit It.
The 45-year-old Men in Black star and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, left their children behind and flew from Los Angeles to Dubai over the weekend for a holiday — and to celebrate 16 years of marriage. Townes used his video post to give a shout-out to the pair, who married on New Year's Eve in 1997 and are often dogged by split rumours, writing "Happy Anniversary to the Smiths!".
Townes and Smith met and formed their duo in 1985 in West Philadelphia, putting out their last record in 1993, three years after Smith became a television star on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Last May Smith brought Townes on stage to perform the theme song to his television show, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, during an appearance on the BBC's The Graham Norton Show to promote the film After Earth. The pair were joined by Smith's son Jaden and his former Fresh Prince co-star, Alfonso Ribeiro.
In an interview just ahead of the Barasti New Year's Eve gig, the 48-year-old Townes told Time Out Dubai: "As much as he loves movies and Hollywood, Will is a musician at heart. He's just trying to find a balance between being the biggest movie star on the planet and making a record. And that's why, every chance we get, if I'm spinning at an event he's back on the mic."
Read more on Jada's thoughts for New Year and what she thought of the visit
amcqueen@thenational.ae