Saudi Gazette Barney, the bright purple and green dinosaur is a popular friend of young children. He was born in US; his job is to pass on educational messages through songs and games. He extensively travels around the world to meet children and for the first time ever, he came with his friends to Saudi Arabia for three days to befriend little Arabs. His first stop was Jeddah where he enthralled the crowed with a live concert and exciting fun-filled games. Young children squealed with delight as Barney skipped on to the stage, sang, and invited the young audience to sing along, clap, hop, and dance. Amid the beating music, cheering, and amusement, children also received some subtle positive and educational messages, such as: never play with fireworks and do your homework before you play, and so on. Attending a live concert here is very rare, hence the electrifying and pulsating music kept everyone on their feet. Its memory is sure to last a life time. It wasn't only the children who rejoiced, adults too had a found a perfect opportunity to relax and bond with their young ones. The event was well organized and it promptly started on time. The seating arrangements were amazing. They were neatly arranged and separated into different zones with alphabetic letters, so that ticket holders of each letter could easily find their seats. The kids had a blast but many attendees complained that the sound was not clear and not loud enough for such a huge auditorium. Dania Dennaoui Homsi, a mother of a toddler, said, “It's great that we have such shows for our kids here in Jeddah. Going in and out was well organized and ushers were really welcoming and friendly. However, the show was not very interactive. We had booked seats in the English show, but the entertainers spoke a lot of Arabic, and the talking and singing was not clearly heard. Anyway, we hope to see more of such shows in Jeddah.” Badia Al Harbi who enjoyed the show with her children said, “The show was not bad at all, in fact it was great. I loved the show so much, possibly even more than my kids! With that said, I think that the sound system needs to be improved because it was too low and unclear.” After so much jumping and singing with Barney and his friends, children were famished, and out side the theater there were a whole bunch of stalls loaded with mouth-watering goodies, such as Munch, House of Donuts, and Pizza Inn. Plenty of entertaining activities were also offered to little visitors free of charge to make their experience extra special, and one they will never forget. In every corner there were smiling and laughing children, whether they were on the jumping castle or trampoline or watching a magic show or coloring or competing in an educational contest or getting their faces painted with vibrant colors and glitter. Another attraction was an electronic piano sprawled out on the floor for children to play music by stepping and hopping on. The event was sponsored by MBC 3, Gain Plus, House of Donuts, Pfizer Nutrition, Pampers, and others. __
