I now know why God put us on this Earth…To experience events such as Desert Rock, Dubai’s annual rock fest, where famous metal/rock bands from all over the world gather in, literally, the middle of the desert, to deliver a whole day and night of body-pounding, heart-wrenching, adrenaline-pumping, and ear-splitting music.Picture, if you can, the appearance of a vacant stage in the dead of night. All is silent save the murmuring of the crowd. Suddenly, you hear the amplified plucking of an electric guitar string. The single note resonates throughout the arena. You hear it too, and the entire audience roars in unison as you find yourself in a field of hands outstretched towards the night sky.

Last night, the reply to this roar was for the members of Megadeth to walk onto the stage, one by one. Again, the crowd shot into applause to acknowledge their entrance.

A few friends and I were in the middle of the crowd when all this happened. When Megadeth began their first song, the already over-excited members of the audience started to shove in all directions. What I felt, though, was as if the entire crowd were against me, and intent on squeezing the life out of me. I was slowly forced in one direction after another, being crushed and then released in a repeating fashion. I was slowly suffocating and had to pace my breathing, all the while trying to hold on to my friends’ hands to be sure not to lose them to the grunting beast of a crowd.

Soon enough, the squeezing eased off, as everyone had something else to hold their attention: mosh pits - you’ve got to love them. I can tell you there is nothing more satisfying then diving into a circle of drunken morons and sending one flying, only to watch him be shoved back in by the grinning members of the outer edge of the circle for some more fun. The only time it gets nasty is when you find that YOU are the poor bastard being flung about, and rammed into oblivion, eventually ending up on the floor awaiting the stampede of the second wave of moshers.

A note of caution, though - I would recommend at least half a dozen shots of vodka before you engage in any such actions that could lead to possible injury (at least that way, you have the alcohol to blame for your idiocy).

Other bands to grace the stage included Testament, Reel Big Fish, and a local band named Mannikind. Saxon, an English heavy metal band, were meant to come but were cancelled, unfortunately, due to their song, Crusader, which conflicted with… well… the Arab world. A bloody shame, though, since I couldn’t care less what the lyrics to these songs are. I don’t even listen to this type of music, but I will admit that when it comes to performances like this, you can’t beat ‘em.

Long live Desert Rock!