RIYADH: Week six of Gamers8 kicked off with a sold-out show featuring Russ, Alan Walker, and Saudi artists Jeed and Ntitled, along with Disco Misr, in Riyadh Boulevard City.
“I was here for Formula E, that was the first time. After that I was here for the PUBG event, and this time I am here for Gamers8,” Walker told Arab News.
“I love traveling and seeing the world, and last time we had a lot more time to go out and explore Riyadh. We had a lot of fun and felt so warmly welcomed that we did not hesitate to come back,” the Norwegian DJ said.
The performance on Thursday was Walker’s third in the Kingdom, and he played some of his biggest hits, including “Lily” and “Darkside,” as the audience cheered along.
“Since the first time that I have come here I have always been surprised and didn’t know what to expect,” he said.
“When we were here for the first and second time, it was just high energy and great. I just felt the love and passion from the Saudi audience, and I am super happy to be back.”
Walker said that he created a special show for Riyadh. “For today, I have tried to plan more of a different show because I am also preparing for a show I am doing in Norway. I wanted to try out some new stuff and a new way of mixing, keep it high energy.
“I have tried to sneak in some gaming songs and, of course, a lot of my songs are huge within the gaming community, so there are a lot of gaming references.”
Walker highlighted his openness to collaborating with artists from the region to create new music.
“It could be amazing to do a crossover or just, in general, do a collaboration with a Middle Eastern artist because my arms are open to working with anyone and I think it could be incredible,” he said.
Walker ended his interview with some advice for young artists pursuing a career in music.
“What I know and will always say is, find yourself, find what represents you as an artist and not necessarily try to peruse what everybody else is doing. Find your sound, your image and something that will make the fans connect to you,” he said.
Another international artist, Russ, took to the stage in the penultimate performance of the night, singing hits such as “Pull the Trigger,” “What They Want,” and “Entertained.”
Before leaving the stage he thanked the Kingdom for supporting his music.
“Saudi, I just want to say, thank you to all the fans and thank you for all of the love you have shown me.
“You all were really like my first fans seven years ago, you all really changed my life, Saudi Arabia really changed my life, I appreciate all of the love and support.”
He added: “I love you all forever and I am always going to come back to Saudi. Thank you, Riyadh.”
Two 17-year-old friends, Rola Kanafani and Jowelle Al-Salti, attended the concert to see Russ perform.
“We know that he came here before; we want to know why he comes to this country more than other artists,” Al-Salti said.
“I feel like it’s a place of respect,” she added.
This was the first concert the two friends have attended as a part of Gamers8.
“We are here to have fun and, hopefully, it is going to be a great time,” Kanafani told Arab News.
Saudi Arabian rapper Jeed blew away the packed NXT LVL crowd at Gamers8 with favorites including “Everything Different” and “Sweet.” A potential new release, “Private,” ended the powerful set.
The Gamers8 festival is bringing international music artists to Riyadh for the eight-week event. Artists will perform each weekend for fans and participants. The seventh week of Gamers8 will kick off on Aug. 25 with performances from the Engineers, Lebanese singer Myriam Fares, Black Eyed Peas, and DJ Snake.
