England’s World Cup squad are staying close to the “largest music festival in the Middle East”

England’s World Cup squad will stay in a hotel close to a large-scale electronic music festival featuring Fatboy Slim, Calvin Harris, Tinie Tempah and Jorja Smith just 2 miles from Souq Al Wakra in Al Wakrah. 

Aravia Music Festival runs from November 21 – December 18 and is run by the controversial Saudi-backed festival organisers MDLBeast. The festival has been coined by The New Arab as the “largest music festival in the Middle East”, expecting 5,500 festival-goers.

As reported by The Telegraph, Gareth Southgate’s England team will be too far from the festival to be impacted by noise, with added factors of high walls and lots of privacy in place.

Last year, DJs came under fire for performing at MDLBeast’s Riyadh ‘Soundstorm’ festival after allegations of “culture-washing” from the Saudi government to cover up perceived human rights abuses.

Human Rights Watch said: “Since launching in 2019, MDL Beast has used influencers and music-industry celebrities to rehabilitate the country’s image.

“While the Saudi Public Investment Fund, headed by the abusive Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, doubles down on these efforts to bring bigger and better events to the country, the government has intensified a crackdown on peaceful dissent.

“Dozens of Saudi activists and human rights defenders remain unjustly imprisoned, some horrifically tortured. Recent social reforms, while important, fall far short of bringing Saudi Arabia in compliance with international human rights standards or else offer only surface-level freedoms.”

It seems that it’s not just the World Cup that has caused controversy in the region, with deeper societal issues at play whilst local governments and tourism boards continue to focus on improving their reputation from a globally commercial standpoint.