Abu Dhabi will host the debut edition of UNIFYD, the music festival curated by Shah Rukh Khan, and the bill has now taken shape. More than a dozen artists have been added to the line-up announced previously, bringing the one-day event at Etihad Live on Yas Island to over 15 acts across multiple stages on Saturday 20 March 2027.
A capital-backed production
The festival is produced by D’YAVOL Live and District, working in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and Miral, and in association with Emirates NBD.
That combination is worth noting. DCT Abu Dhabi’s involvement places the festival within the emirate’s cultural and tourism strategy rather than treating it as a standalone commercial booking, while Miral’s participation ties it to the Yas Island destination it has spent years building out.
For the capital, landing the debut of a festival carrying Khan’s name — rather than a later touring edition — is the significant part. Organisers have indicated plans to take UNIFYD to other cities afterwards, which makes Abu Dhabi the originating venue rather than a stop on an established circuit.
A bigger bill
Joining previously announced headliners Arijit Singh and Karan Aujla are Jonita, Shalmali Kholgade, Patiala Mehfil, Simran Choudhary, Nooriyah, Curtain Blue, Tech Panda x Kenzani, Rusha & Blizza, Stick No Bills, BOH!B, Priyanka and Unnayanaa.
The curation reaches well beyond film playback into independent, hip-hop and electronic territory — a line-up designed to fill several stages with distinct audiences rather than funnel everyone toward a single headline slot.
Sonu Nigam’s first festival appearance
Veteran playback singer Sonu Nigam will perform a special set, which organisers say marks his first appearance at a music festival.
Across a career built on film soundtracks and touring concerts, Nigam has not previously played the festival format. Staging that first in Abu Dhabi gives the emirate a genuine exclusive — the kind of booking that travels further in coverage than a straightforward headline announcement.
Shah Rukh Khan as curator
Khan’s role here is curator, not performer — a shift after three decades on screen.
“I’ve spent a lifetime telling stories on screen and watching them bring people together. Music has that same extraordinary power,” he said. “UNIFYD, produced by D’YAVOL Live along with District, will unite India’s most incredible artists on a shared stage for the first time.”
D’YAVOL Live forms part of the D’YAVOL Luxury Collective, which Khan co-founded with his son Aryan Khan, Leti Blagoeva and Bunty Singh.
“Indian music is already global. UNIFYD gives that cultural force a festival platform that matches its scale, ambition and influence,” Singh said.
Yas Island’s live credentials
Etihad Live gives the festival an arena-adjacent setting inside a district already geared toward large-scale events, with hotels, parking and transport links clustered around it.
That matters for a festival rather than a single concert. A multi-stage, full-day event places demands on a venue that a one-headliner show does not — crowd flow between stages, extended operating hours, and capacity for audiences who arrive early and stay late. Yas Island is among the few sites in the region set up to absorb that comfortably.
It also makes the overnight proposition straightforward for visitors travelling in from Dubai, the Northern Emirates or abroad, which widens the catchment well beyond the capital’s own residents.
Tickets
Tickets are available exclusively through the District app. An Emirates NBD cardholder presale ran from 9.30am UAE time on 19 October until 9.30am on 20 October, with general sale opening at 10.30am UAE time on 20 October.
Prices had not been announced at the time of writing.
What it signals
Abu Dhabi has steadily built a reputation for securing debut and exclusive bookings rather than competing for touring dates already circulating the region. UNIFYD follows that pattern: a new festival property, launched in the capital, with a first-ever festival performance from one of Indian music’s most established voices attached to it.
With Indian music’s international audience continuing to grow — and the UAE serving as one of its principal overseas markets — hosting the launch of a festival built explicitly around that audience places Abu Dhabi at the front of a category still taking shape.
March is well into the comfortable half of the UAE calendar, and a Saturday date on Yas Island gives the event the full weekend to work with.
Key details
Event: UNIFYD 2027
Date: Saturday 20 March 2027
Venue: Etihad Live, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
Line-up: Arijit Singh, Karan Aujla, Sonu Nigam (special set), Jonita, Shalmali Kholgade, Patiala Mehfil, Simran Choudhary, Nooriyah, Curtain Blue, Tech Panda x Kenzani, Rusha & Blizza, Stick No Bills, BOH!B, Priyanka, Unnayanaa
Emirates NBD presale: 19 October, 9.30am – 20 October, 9.30am UAE time
General sale: 20 October, 10.30am UAE time
Tickets: Exclusively on the District app
Prices: Not yet announced
