Top DJs headline Saudi Arabia’s biggest music festival

Tens of thousands of Saudis have flocked to an electronic music festival billed by organisers as the biggest in the kingdom since it began easing decades-old restrictions on entertainment.

Dutch DJ Tiesto, South Africa’s Black Coffee and France’s David Guetta are among the top acts at the three-day MDL Beast festival, which began near Riyadh on Thursday. “This is the biggest music festival in the region,” said DJ Cosmicat, one of a few female Saudi artists performing at the event.

“The whole country is going through a huge change,” she said in a statement released by the organisers. Young Saudi revellers held their mobile phones aloft in front of one of the stages as lasers and spotlights lit the evening sky on Thursday.

The multi-stage festival attracted 130,000 fans on its first day, said organisers, calling it the “largest music, arts and culture festival Saudi Arabia has ever seen”. Saudis currently splurge billions of dollars annually to see films and visit amusement parks in neighbouring tourist hubs like Dubai and Bahrain.