Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder to play Yas Island

ABU DHABI // The guitar superstar Eric Clapton and the soul legend Stevie Wonder head a line-up of international artists heading for Yas Island in the new year.

The 2011 entertainment series begins in February, with live concerts, festivals and community events coming to Abu Dhabi throughout the year.

Yas Island Show Weekends will open with Clapton at Yas Arena on Friday, February 11. "Slowhand" will set up an action-packed weekend that includes two days of V8 Supercars racing at Yas Marina Circuit. The following weekend, on February 17, the island will host the Dutch techno DJ Tiesto at the Flash Forum.

The performance is the much-anticipated rescheduled stop on Tiesto's Kaleidoscope World Tour. A show in October was cancelled at the last minute.

On March 11, the American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, headed by the actor Jared Leto, will take over the Flash Forum for their first show in the Middle East.

The Yas Island performance is the last scheduled stop on the three-man band's This is War album tour.

The final show of the spring series will bring Stevie Wonder to the island on March 18.

"Yas Island is an incredible entertainment destination packed with attractions," said Mike Fairburn, the director of marketing and planning at Flash, the events' organisers. "The purpose of the Yas Island Show Weekends was always to showcase these attractions to a wide audience of all ages and backgrounds through the highest quality live events … there'll be more of the same in 2011. We can't wait."

The Yas Island Show Weekends attracted more than 100,000 people to events in 2010, organisers said. More 2011 shows, scheduled for April and all the way through the summer, will be announced in the coming months.

Tickets for the spring season will go on sale from today at 9am from www.timeouttickets.com and www.boxofficeme.com.
Concert ticket prices start at Dh150, with hotel packages at Yas Island locations starting from Dh1,300 plus tax for two nights and two tickets.

A transport service for Dubai residents will also be available, with a collection/drop off point in Dubai and an organised collection point at Yas Island.

jthomas@thenational.ae