JEDDAH: Concertgoers were treated to a performance by esteemed Saudi singer Mohammed Abdo and his backup band led by Emad Ashour before the concert prematurely ended Sunday night at Jeddah’s Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium.
The concert, part of the Jeddah Ghair summer festival, started an hour late. The performance was then further delayed due to unspecified “technical difficulties.” After a long break Abdo continued to sing with the band before the concert ended for good.
Backstage, the band looked upset. Well-known Egyptian bandleader Emad Ashour told the audience in attendance that the problem was not technical, but rather financial.
“We apologize to you for not completing the concert and we are always happy to participate in concerts and the Kingdom’s festivals, especially Jeddah and Abha festivals,” Ashour told the thousands of audience members. “Unfortunately, the event promoter Saud Salim failed us and did not pay us our money.”
The well-known Saudi impresario Khalid Nagro, who helped to bring the band on Abdo’s request, also accused the promoter of stiffing the band.
“The concert did not start on time because of the payment issues until Abdo intervened to save the situation after he personally asked the band to start and assured them that they would receive their full payments during the break,” he said. “But Salim didn’t give the complete amount of money to Abdo and he refused to give the full amount of money to the band.”
Abdo then asked Salim to give what money he had to the band and the concert was ended. Before heading back to Cairo on Monday morning, the band filed a complaint against the promoter with local police.
