“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.

“The Liverpool bands really smashed it too.”

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. 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 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.