Postponement of hurricane relief concert in Abu Dhabi ‘providential’

What does a concert headlined by pop icon Shakira in Abu Dhabi have to do with Jamaica?

“Well ... a little bit,” respected tour manager and author Copeland Forbes told The Gleaner.

Shakira is the headline act for the Saturday, April 4 OFFLIMITS Music Festival 2026 in Abu Dhabi, at Etihad Park on Yas Island. “The festival – known as the UAE’s premier open-format music celebration combining music, art and immersive experiences – promises a full-day sound and visual spectacle for fans of all genres,” the organisers said in their release last year.

Forbes, while not a part of the promotion of that concert, was heavily involved in a follow-up event which was set for the same venue in Abu Dhabi, at the end of April. It was a Hurricane Melissa relief concert featuring Jamaican reggae and dancehall acts, and they would have used the same set-up as the concert featuring Shakira. With the conflict in that region following the strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel, and Iran retaliating by hitting targets in the Middle East, Forbes is sure that the Jamaica concert would have to be postponed.

He says that it was “providential” that there was a change of date to later in the summer, long before the first bomb was dropped on Iran. Giving a background to the proposed concert, Forbes explained that he had made some solid connections when he visited the UAE in 2025 and spent time touring in Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Yas Island, promoting his book, Reggae My Life Is.

“In November 2025, I was approached by some folks in the UAE region [and] they commissioned me to spearhead a proposed fundraising concert at the 40,000-capacity Etihad Amphitheatre in Abu Dhabi to raise funds for victims who were devastated by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica,” Forbes explained.

He continued, “Plans were afoot, and the date was set for the last week of April 2026, after the OFFLIMITS Music festival headed by Shakira and the Jonas Brothers, whose technical production and production team ... headed by brother Rob Hallett ... would stay up for the Jamaica fundraising concert.”

Hallet has previously worked with Jamaica, having been the producer of the 2012 Respect Jamaica 50 concert series to celebrate Jamaica’s 50th anniversary at the London 02 Arena.

“However, the hurricane relief concert was postponed until later this year due to circumstances beyond our control,” said Forbes, who had already confirmed performers for the original date.

He told The Gleaner that having dates changed owing to “unforeseen circumstances” has been an almost mystical part of his journey, and he shared two other such happenings. Forbes said that in November 2025, the Gregory Isaacs Cool Ruler musical US/Jamaica tour, which was booked to start the last week of November and play in the US and Jamaica, had to be postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

“And, after we did that, Hurricane Melissa came the last week of October and literally destroyed parts of Jamaica and sent the entire country into recovery and rebuilding mode. That would have led to cancellation of the tour, and that would have been costly,” he said.

He also recalled an eerie event which took place in December 1988 while on tour with several Jamaican acts.

“We changed flight from Pan Am 103 to Pan Am 101 ... an earlier flight ... which saved the lives of members of the Sly & Robbie and The Taxi Gang. A bomb exploded on Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and crew, plus 11 people on the ground. These three major events, which were changed and postponed due to unforeseen circumstances, to me, is an omen and indication that Jamaica and reggae music and musicians are protected by the Most High,” Forbes declared.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com