Dubai Sound City - news round up live from the festival, and fab Mark McNulty photographs

"Unfortunately Ian was not fit to fly," explained festival organiser Dave Pichilingi. "There were a few disappointed fans, and running times changed slightly, but we brought in Liverpool band Sound of Guns to do a set further up the bill and Super Furry Animals stepped up to headline the Saturday night. I was disappointed, I'd loved to have seen the Bunnymen play at the festival, but it was unavoidable."

The Happy Mondays' famous dancer and percussionist Bez was unable to join the band because of problems with his flight, and De La Soul also had to cancel.
"It has gone amazingly well, there were always going to be a few teething troubles, but I'd say 90 per cent has gone fantastically well," said Dave. "The feedback we've had from the conferences has been phenomenal sponsors and speakers have said they're all coming to Liverpool Sound City next year.
"I feel really proud that in a year of recession we have been able to do something that has never been done in this part of the world before and get there relatively unscathed.

"One of the biggest highlights that I'll take with me is getting Shaun Ryder into Dubai. That was a feat in itself. When we said we were bringing The Happy Mondays into Dubai people looked at us like we were mad. They thought they'll never pull it off but he was here, doing 24 Hour Party People and showing off that razor edged wit. That was great.
"The Liverpool bands too - Wave Machines did two terrific sets - it was great to see them. Sound of Guns and Bicycle Thieves showed themselves as the new rising talent. It was fantastic to see that. The Liverpool bands were the ones that really smashed it."
It was the first time Dubai had seen a music event on this scale, and the first time many of the bands had visited the emirate.
"It's a fascinating place," said Peter Hooton, lead singer of The Farm. "It's like Disneyland in the desert. Everything is big and new and shiny. It's a great place to play, but I keep finding myself wondering what was here before all this. You've got shopping malls with ski slopes inside. It's like a whole city inside the Trafford Centre.
"But then you look round and you realise that you know everybody," added Farm bass player Carl Hunter. "It's like walking down Bold Street - there's all the bands you bump into in town, and they're all here for the festival. It's like somebody's picked up Liverpool and put it in the desert."

The headliners performed at the Irish Village, while other key events were spread across the area's music venues including Chi@The Lodge and 360º - set on its own pier in the middle of the Gulf Sea.
And as well as performing, the bands have certainly been making the most of their surroundings, as Liverpool band The Wombats explained.

"We've had a wicked time - Murph (the band's singer) has been playing golf on this amazing course," said drummer Dan Haggis. "And we're going to go out on a desert safari. We're going to go out sand-surfing. Then maybe we'll come back into the city and do some ski-ing in that big shopping mall. You can't come to Dubai and not go ski-ing, after all."

See more of Mark's festival pictures at http://markmcnulty.typepad.com/