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Saturday, January 17, 2009
Worlds biggest party @ Atlantis hotel and water park in Dubai
Oprah Winfrey, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington and Lindsay Lohan are just a few of the celebrities attending what has been hailed as the ‘world’s biggest party’ in the buzzing Arabian city of Dubai.
The $20 million party on the world’s only man-made island is to launch Atlantis-a giant hotel and water park owned by South African hotelier and casino boss Sol Kerzner-and will host an array of A-listers from across the world.
“Nobody has ever done anything like this - except me, when I opened the Cove in the Bahamas last year…I’m going to upstage myself,” the UK’s Times Online quoted Kerzner as saying.
Kerzner reportedly calls the project his billion-dollar baby and has spared no expense on “the world’s biggest party,” the paper added.
Some 2,500 people-mainly celebrities, royal guests and UAE VIPs-will be welcomed with a fireworks show said to be three times bigger than the one put on at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a special performance by Australian singer Kylie Minogue, who was paid $3 million, the UAE’s Gulf News reported.
The star-studded guest list includes Charlize Theron and her husband Stuart Townsend, British singer Lily Allen, U.S. actresses Mary Kate Olson and Misha Barton. Tom Cruise and David and Victoria Beckham are rumored to be attending.
Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra and Arab singer Nawal Al Zoughbi along with Janet Jackson and her beau Jermaine Dupri, basketball superstar Michael Jordon and model Petra Nemcova are also among those expected to attend the exclusive lavish party.
The world's biggest party: Millions take to the streets to celebrate Obama's historic victory
The world's biggest party: Millions take to the streets to
celebrate Obama's historic victory
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:15 PM on 05th November 2008
It was the extraordinary night which saw Barack Obama make history.
And after the most hotly-fought campaign in living memory, days of votes and hours of queues, Americans black and white took to the street to celebrate his landslide victory.
Towns and cities across the country were filled with the honking of horns, screams of joy, arms lifted skywards - and memories of civil rights struggles past.
Victory: 100,000 people crammed into Grant Park, Chicago to greet U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama
Chicago became the biggest open-air party in the world today as people flooded the streets to celebrate.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans streamed into the avenues, parks, hotels and bars, filling the air with cheers.
They held hands, hugged each other and danced with joy while television sets and giant screens showed the votes piling up.
The world bigger Hotel party
Dubai hotel party costing £20m flies in face of recession
Shekhar Bhatia in Dubai
21.11.08
PARTYING like there's no tomorrow, the wealthy and glamorous gathered in Dubai for a credit crunch-defying, £20 million celebration of the opening of the world's most expensive hotel.
More than 2,000 guests attended, among them Robert de Niro, Michael Jordan and Charlize Theron, to hear Kylie Minogue perform a medley of her hits for which
she received £1.5 million, or £33,333 a minute.
Kylie sang 10 songs as guests ate lobster, salmon, sushi, lamb, chicken and salads.
Her performance was followed by a £7 million fireworks display, said to be so spectacular it was visible from space.
Even Sol Kerzner, the South African businessman behind the £1 billion Atlantis Hotel and resort on the man-made Palm Island appeared faintly embarrassed at the sheer excess - and cost - of last night's party.
"If I had to do it all over again, I might do it recognising the fact that we're living through a bit of a tough economic environment," said Mr Kerzner.
He added: "We don't know how long it's going to take for the economy around the world to take off again. The economy is such that it is going to be challenging right here.
"You just cannot raise any finance. But I am trying to avoid being badly affected.
"One is going to have to be more and more effective in marketing and at the time being it is very, very difficult to predict ahead. There is a visibility of just four to five weeks."
There are fears Dubai may not be able to sustain such naked opulence. The emirate is said to be "groaning" under heavy debt of almost $50billion and banks have restricted lending to building projects. Like other stock markets around the world, shareprices in the Gulf have plunged in recent months.
On Palm Island, it is reported today that property prices have fallen as much as 40 per cent since September with four-bedroom villas now selling for 10 million UAE dirhams (£1.8 million).
None of which seemed to bother the guests at last night's hotel opening.
Other film stars who attended the grand opening included Lindsay Lohan, Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes.
High-street magnate Sir Philip Green, Sir Richard Branson and Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja were also there. British celebrities were well represented too, among them Dame Shirley Bassey, Lily Allen, Agyness Deyn and Jade Jagger. Actor Rhys Ifans spent most of the evening with singer Natalie Imbruglia.
Meanwhile Trinny Woodall, who has recently separated from her husband, revealed she had enjoyed dinner with Gerard Butler, the Scottish film actor and star of the film 300.
Asked if she was dating again following her split last month from Johnny Elichaoff, the 44-year-old TV presenter said of Butler: "He is a very sweet man, but really... oh, it's too soon."
Click below to see a clip of the firework display at the opening of The Atlantis Hotel:
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