This is What’s Going Down at BRED Abu Dhabi Festival
Welcoming in day three of the event.
BRED Abu Dhabi, presented by Hypebeast, opened its doors this week for a five-day celebration of neo-culture. With a wide range of activations and programs tapping into all corners of culture, the festival continues to bring a touch of everything to Yas Island.
To kick off the event, Hypebeast hosted a panel talk exploring community, culture, and creativity with the founders of Daily Paper, Filling Pieces, PLEASURES and AOTA. Located in the immersive HBX space where the brands’ stalls are showcasing their campaigns as well as offering collections and regional exclusives, the space is also home to the Hypebeans pop-up café — its debut in the region.
Amidst the array of local, regional, and global brands setting up shop at the festival, Amongst Few has collaborated with Paperboy Paris for a pop-up that includes an exclusive sandwich, T-shirts, caps and more available all week. Queues were formed around the block as the shop also offered a raffle for the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Low OG WMNS “Olive” sneakers for attendees.
From murals being painted live to Sneaker District’s on-site sneaker customizations and gallery pop-ups — art has played a significant part in the festival. Whilst at the GXR Records x Galaxy Racer gaming space, VR experiences, podcasts, and NBA 2K competitions were in full effect. Elsewhere, the basketball and futsal courts have hosted head-to-head tournaments every day for both local high school teams and adult players.
To wrap up the launch day, crowds gathered for a cross-cultural warm-up session presented by London’s DJ Saliah that set the tone for Omar Souleyman‘s highly-anticipated performance, bringing regional sounds to a local audience. The night ended with a set by iconic DJ Jazzy Jeff who took the audience on a musical journey from ’90s mainstays to present-day chart toppers.
As well as events and pop-ups held throughout, the second day was a celebration of 50 years of hip-hop with Def Jam. 2 Chainz, Dave East and Armani White were the panelists for an intimate conversation about their music achievements at the Amp Stage before the trio performed to the early hours with classics like “I’m Different,” “Handsome” and “BILLIE EILISH.”
Check out the images from the festival in the gallery above. For the rest of the week, expect to see more live events, iconic performances, and cultural activations. Be sure to get your tickets from the BRED Abu Dhabi website for the weekend now.
