Fatboy Slim, Tinie Tempah, Calvin Harris and Jorja Smith will all be playing the Aravia by MDLBEAST festival
The England world cup squad’s hotel is situated close to the site of a “nightly rave” festival, the Telegraph reports.
The team will be staying at Souq Al Wakra in Al Wakrah, south of Doha, two miles away from the site of electronic music festival Aravia by MDLBEAST. Fatboy Slim, Tinie Tempah, Calvin Harris and Jorja Smith are all set to play the 5,500 capacity festival, which kicks off on the same day as the tournament (November 21).
As per The Telegraph, the England team will be too far away from the festival to be potentially disturbed by the noise. Souq Al Wakra is also enclosed by high walls to offer privacy.
MDLBEAST has courted controversy in recent years, with the DJs playing the brand’s Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, receiving heavy criticism for their involvement with a company accused of “culture-washing” from the Saudi government to cover up perceived human rights abuses.
Human Rights Watch said at the time: “Since launching in 2019, MDL Beast has used influencers and music-industry celebrities to rehabilitate the country’s image.
“While the Saudi Public Investment Fund, headed by the abusive Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, doubles down on these efforts to bring bigger and better events to the country, the government has intensified a crackdown on peaceful dissent.
“Dozens of Saudi activists and human rights defenders remain unjustly imprisoned, some horrifically tortured. Recent social reforms, while important, fall far short of bringing Saudi Arabia in compliance with international human rights standards or else offer only surface-level freedoms.”
Human rights organisations have been critical of the decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, including Amnesty International, who described the tournament as “the World Cup of Shame” following allegations of mistreatment and forced labour of migrants. 6,500 workers reportedly died during the construction of the World Cup’s Khalifa Stadium.
There have also been concerns for the safety of fans attending the tournament from overseas over Qatar’s record on the treatment of women and LGBTQ+ people.
In other World Cup news, Frank Skinner and The Lightning Seeds‘ Ian Broudie have confirmed that a new version of their anthem ‘Three Lions‘ will be released for the 2022 World Cup.
The song – officially titled ‘Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)’ – was originally released in 1996 ahead of England hosting the Euro ’96 tournament. A subsequent revamped version then hit airwaves ahead of the 1998 World Cup in France.
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