Comedy, Clubbing and Competition

“Cheers to the fricken’ weekend, I drink to that, yeah-e-yeah.” Rihanna

Well as weekends go the one just gone was pretty damn hectic, full of a wide range of activities and different forms of entertainment. It seems that my post about last weekend’s weather being just about perfect jinxed this week as awful fog grounded planes all day Thursday causing unbelievable mayhem and backlog and then someone most definitely turned the temperature gauge up a notch to hot over the weekend! Over 30 degrees at the beginning of March does not bode well for the upcoming months, uh oh!

Irish comedians (L to R) Kent, Stanley and McDonnell

Punchline Comedy Club brought a trio of Irish comedians to the Clubhouse bar located at Zayed Sports City on Thursday night. Part of their current tour of this region, this was the second night here in the capital timed to celebrate the approaching St Patrick’s Day on 17th March. Compare Andrew Stanley was a jolly fella, funny and entertaining who connected well with the audience, the other two Chris Kent and Colum McDonell were not such a ‘craic’ in my opinion (I particularly found Kent’s set very awkward and unamusing). Maybe the upside down hung Irish flags were a comedy omen! Pub priced beer and cider saved the day as did the surprisingly good (expectations were low) Irish inspired pub grub of stew, mashed potato (po-tay-toe as said in my best Irish accent) and veg followed by apple pie and custard, great comfort food and alcohol absorbing! Sláinte to any Irish readers celebrating at Paddy’s Day event this week!

The Motley Crew as seen in Time Out Abu Dhabi at the comedy! Amused? Not Really! (source:www.timeoutabudhabi.com)

From one extreme to the other, the next venue was the O1NE club located on Yas Island to experience Australian DJ Tommy Trash (aka Thomas Olsen) on the decks in a one-off gig, which makes up part of his inspired tour! Tommy who? Yeah that’s what I said too! With his distinctive long locks he had the place pumping with his mix of progressive and electro house.DJ Tommy Trash (source:www.facebook.O1neyasisland.com)

This was our first visit to this relatively new venue (once you got past the bouncers and their selective door policy) and I was astounded by the sheer size of the enormous cavernous cylindrical space which late on Thursday night, was packed to the rafters with sweaty clubbers! Luckily Belvedere vodka enhanced the experience! Queues to get in, cat fights in the ladies toilets and bouncing clubbers took me back in time, back to a time long ago! The teenager asked me the next morning “Were you the oldest in there?!?” How Rude! And no, incase you’re wondering we were not!

Graffiti covered cylindrical club The O1NE

The O1NE club is covered in a continuous series of colourful murals that in true UAE style make up the worlds largest privately owned graffiti wall. It was painted by nineteen global graffiti artists, who used 6,000 cans of spray paint to complete the project. Aesthetically pleasing or an eyesore on the landscape, I can’t decide, to be honest during the day it looks like a skatepark. The club has the latest state of the art equipment including 3D mapping design technology that projects images on to the vast walls. Only open once a week on a Thursday night, hence the name, the owners see the limited accessibility as a magnet for potential clientele who want to be part of the exclusivity.

Boat, Beach, BBQ, bit of frisbee, friends and lots of sun.

Friday came with the now it seems mandatory weekend hangover which combined with an early start for a day of boating, beach and BBQ fun was tricky. Fab day out though, once the misty post-alcohol fog had lifted, but a little toasty on the beach until a nice sea breeze kicked in.

Quick turn around to wash off all the sand and it was out again to Yas Island for pub grub and happy hour in the Y Bar and then onto the Hard Knox debut Fight night at Du Forum, organised and promoted by Mat Dryden, Muay Thai coach and owner of Cobra Fitness Gym. Now I had absolutely no expectations of the night and was surprised by the professional set-up that included a ring announcer (not quite Vegas’s Michael ‘Lets get ready to rumble‘ Buffer, but good nonetheless) and even a bikini clad ring girl carrying the numbers between rounds.

I was amazed at the carnage and sheer brutality that took place in the ring. Along with a very enthusiastic crowd, we witnessed displays of Muay Thai, Boxing, MMA and a K-1 bout, a combination of karate, kung-fu and kick boxing. In a first for the UAE, the Muay Thai fights were sanctioned by the WMC (World Muay Thai Council) and Cobra celebrated a win when Milena Martinou won her bout. We finished off the night off with a cheeky cocktail under the roof of the Skylite bar at the top of the Yas Viceroy hotel, purely for the benefit of out house guest of course, selfless to the last.

Photos from the Hard Knox Fight Night at Du Arena, Yas Island.

Yesterday we had to literally drag ourselves out of bed and out the door to tee off at the Yas Links nine-hole par three Academy course. The other half, house guest (two good golfers) and myself (there for comedy value) paced wearily around the course, roasting in the hot morning sun. Not even going to talk about my score, it’s the taking part that counts right ?!? Lunch in the clubhouse was a welcome relief but not as much as putting on my PJ’s and chilling out on the sofa when I got home! Getting old? Me, Yes it appears I am!

Yas Links Andalusian style clubhouse sits in the centre of the course located by the sea.

Time to chill for a couple of days before a midweek wedding at the stunning Monte Carlo Beach Club (looking forward to that event) and there’s a brunch looming on Friday’s horizon, better get some more paracetamol in preparation for next weekends inevitable bad head.

Have a good week everyone;-)