MDLBEAST SOUNDSTORM Shares First Names on 2024 Lineup

Richie Hawtin and Marco Carola are among the electronic acts on the MDLBEAST SOUNDSTORM 2024 lineup.

No matter where you stand on the MDLBEAST-run festival SOUNDSTORM, it’s hard to deny its growth in the short few years it has taken place. Organizers successfully expanded its programming outside dance music since the pandemic. Now, they have shared the first handful of names appearing on the lineup for its 2024 edition, which will take place from December 12 – 14 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Thus far, SOUNDSTORM has announced only five artists. These are hip-hop provocateur Eminem, rock bands Muse and Thirty Seconds to Mars, and techno titans Richie Hawtin and Marco Carola. According to a press release, around 200 other artists have yet to be announced, and the full lineup will strongly emphasize artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Prior to the debut 2019 edition of MDLBEAST SOUNDSTORM, it was almost unfathomable that a such an event could take place legally in a strict Muslim country like Saudi Arabia. That it not only did but managed to continually grow might seem at first glance like progress, but many in dance music have leveled criticism at the festival and those who play it. What gives?

SOUNDSTORM is funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, which has also funded influencer marketing campaigns to shift the focus away from the country’s human rights violations and reframe it as a tourist destination. Its detractors argue that the artists billed for the event have accepted blood money by participating in a state-funded “influencer-washing” campaign.

Others say that the positive impacts of a festival like SOUNDSTORM outweigh the perceived baggage of the funds in question. It previously would have been unheard of for women artists to perform publicly for large crowds. For that matter, dancing is forbidden under Saudi law — and the fact that it’s allowed during the festival could theoretically lead the adoption of more progressive policies.

Tickets to MDLBEAST SOUNDSTORM 2024 are on sale now and can be purchased on the event website.

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