Mega dance festival Untold Dubai to return in 2025

More than 100,000 people attended the inaugural event at Expo City Dubai in February

The main stage of Untold Dubai, the four-day music festival at Expo City Dubai. All photos: Untold Dubai

An aerial view of the festival

Nigerian star Asake performs on the main stage

The four-day event featured more than 100 international and regional artists

Performances took place across four stages

UK singer and DJ John Newman performs on the main stage

A diverse crowd of music lovers and families in attendance

Al Wasl Plaza is home to one of the festival stages

The Galaxy stage of Untold Dubai

Other artists who performed at the festival included South Korean singer Psy, DJ Tiesto and US rapper G-Eazy

Singer Ellie Goulding was in fine form

Untold Dubai is now planned as an annual festival

Untold Dubai will return next year.

After successfully staging its inaugural event at Expo City Dubai in February, the dance festival will return with dates and line-up to be revealed soon. Registration is now available from the official website with users getting first access to tickets once on sale.

While the location is also not revealed, chances are it will it remain at Expo City Dubai with festival co-founder Edy Chereji telling The National in a previous interview that the event is meant to showcase the sprawling site.

More than 100,000 people attended the first event, spread over four days with a dance-centric music line-up including Tiesto, Hardwell, Armin Van Buuren, Psy and Ellie Goulding.

Held across several stages, the sprawling site was themed with the brand’s colourful aesthetics, murals and carnival atmosphere.

With Jubilee Park, home to picnic areas and food trucks, considered as the central point of the festival, revellers were able to access all stages within minutes.

The drawcard was the Main Stage, hulking over one of Expo City Dubai’s car parks, it was seemingly built out of an endless amount of LED screens.

Chereji already confirmed to The National in February that the festival will return to Dubai, marking the first global expansion of the Romanian dance event.

“This was really one of the goals when we first discussed bringing Untold almost two years ago,” Chereji said. “As well as creating the kind of event that can attract music lovers and families to travel to the UAE, we wanted this event to really act as a showcase for the Expo City Dubai itself.

“We showed event organisers and various entertainment industries, from film to fashion, what this site can really offer. We also look forward to coming back with even more great music acts next year.”

The original Untold festival taking place in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca will run from August 8 to 11 with headliners Burna Boy, Swedish House Mafia, Martin Garrix and Sam Smith.

More information is available on www.untold.ae