Nights out: #EdSheeranMuscat

I remember clearly driving to work listening to Hi FM when they announced that Ed Sheeran would be doing a concert in Muscat. I think I sent an email to my husband along the lines of "we're going to this". So the next day I trotted down to City Centre and picked up my tickets and safely hid them in my drawer. That was 3 months ago.

Considering the timing, now was a perfect time to see Ed, he has just picked up a string of awards and is on a high.

The venue was the Shangri-La resorts amphitheatre, which has the most beautiful location surrounded by the mountains and greenery. We arrived on the "party bus" as we called it, having booked it after the warning from Muscat Mutterings that parking might be an issue (I heard that it wasn't?) Even though it took a little longer than normal to get the Shangri-La it gave us enough time to suitably hype ourselves up.

Just as we got into the venue and started to decide where we would park ourselves for the evening, the wind started howling and the skies opened. I almost cried. I was sure the event would be cancelled. So we did our best to find shelter (we didn't) and hoped it would stop (it did).

Drenched and very cold we decided to get in amongst the crowd and feed off of each others body heat. To help warm us up Ryan Keen a new British artist started off the show, and then Ed came on stage. The show was just him and his guitars (he seemed to get through a lot!)

What struck me most about Ed was how humble he was, he knew his job was to entertain us and even though he had a few mishaps and started losing his voice he did give us a great show. I think the highlight for me was I See Fire, the song he wrote the The Hobbit movie, which is my husbands favourite and I could barely hear Ed over him singing along. He also did a great remix of one of his own songs with Iggy Azalea’s I’m So Fancy and 50 Cent’s In Da Club. Seeing things like this is the reason I love live shows.

I didn't move to Oman thinking I would be attending concerts, so I am so happy to have added this to my list of experiences here. Hopefully the success of the night, and the clear desire for more, will bring more big names to Oman

p.s My apologies for the photo qualities in the post, we used our phone and point-and-shoots on the night, although I'm glad I didn't drag my DSLR along, it would have been ruined! Credit to Ed Sheeran for the last pic! 

A night at the Royal Opera House (Broadway on Ice)

This year was the first that I was to miss some sort of Christmas celebration, not wanting to leave the date unmarked completely we booked to watch Broadway on Ice at the Royal Opera House.

I love theatre so I am really glad that Muscat has a little culture from the The Royal Opera House Muscat, from what I understand it was the first (and maybe still the only) venue for musical arts and culture.

The opera house is located in Shati Al-Qurm district, which I also really like, it is much more bustling than other areas of the city. The Opera House complex contains not only the concert theatre, but also luxury restaurants and shops and is surrounded by landscaped gardens. The cream coloured tiles give it an air of luxury and it looks particularly impressive in the daytime (I'll head out early one day and take some pictures to share).

The season runs from September to May each year and there is a variety of concerts, operas, ballets, and other dance shows from groups and individuals worldwide. Prices for shows vary (there are usually three performances per show) but if you are lucky you can nab the odd cheap seat in the stalls, which is what we did with Broadway on Ice.

As the name suggests the show combined figure skating with well known musicals, such as Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, and Singing in the Rain. The interior of the theatre is very classic so having an ice rink contained was quite a contrast.

Another fun aspect to a night at the Opera House is that it has a formal dress code, which gives me a good excuse to dress up (although you still need to remain modest by covering shoulders and wearing a long dress).

We managed to nab some cheap tickets for the opera in January and a ballet later in the year, not in the stalls unfortunately, but having never experienced either the Opera House is the ideal place to introduce us.

If you are in Muscat and are interested in seeing a show you can book, here.