I was at the (not so) secret Prince show at Pacha Ibiza Dubai last night

Loved the silver suit.

Let me just start by saying that I am not someone who goes to "secret" shows. But I was lucky enough to snag a ticket to this deal, Dh400 happily spent for the entertainment, if not the good cause (it was a fundraiser for Autism Rocks).

What a night! Prince played for about two hours, the club was jammed to the point that I would have been worried about safety had I not been so completely jazzed at what was happening. I went to get us a round of drinks right before the show at the upstairs bar, only to be caught on the stairs with about 50 other people while Prince passed by the bottom to get to the stage. At that point it was so packed I couldn't even see my friends, so I just squeezed myself into a sweaty spot and proceed to watch the show clutching our three drinks. I ended up watching all by myself in the middle of a throng between the side of the stage and the elevator, a crowd that swelled and pushed every time the elevator opened and closed. I'm not going to lie: I drank those drinks myself over the almost two hours of the show. I stood on my tippy toes, I danced, I smiled and laughed and shouted and just generally had one of the best nights of my life.

For The National's Rob Garratt's review, go here. I wrote about seven fun things from last night at The National's Scene & Heard blog. (The second best part was his bodyguard on stage).

It was a truly great night, bittersweet and sad too. My good friend Rob Evans died suddenly at the end of the secret Prince show in Abu Dhabi, before his main concert at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2010. Friends who were there say Rob - a huge music lover and afficionado, not to mention one of the most fun and thoughtful people I've ever met - thought that Prince concert was one of the best he'd ever seen. And if I got a bit choked up last night thinking about him, and all the promise and loveliness that left this world with him, and I did, I felt comforted too, knowing that he witnessed something so joyful and magical in his last moments.

Snap caption: The best thing about Yas Mall is this camel made out of Lego at the Lego store

I'm not sure if it's the fez or the cheeky half-grin on his face or those eyelashes, but I'm smitten.

If you are looking for more reasons to go to Yas Mall, I wrote this list just before it opened. The Virgin Megastore is pretty righteous too.

Nicole Richie and her pink bob and her pop-up shop took over The Beach at JBR this weekend

Nicole Richie, pint-sized reality star, founder of House of Harlow 1960, had a big turnout for her pop-up shop at The Beach JBR as part of Dubai Shopping Festival over the weekend. The National interviewed her here.

Nicole Richie walks Dubai through a basic black shift.

Luckiest guy in the world wins Dh200,000 + two awesome cars through the Dubai Shopping Festival's Mega Infinity Raffle

 I feel like Ali Mohammed could look just a little more chuffed, considering he just won twice in one week in the Dubai Shopping Festival's Mega Infinity Raffle: that's Dh200,000 in cash and two Infinitis - a QX60 and Q50 - worth Dh500,000.

The 36-year-old Emirati government worker has been very dedicated to this contest, having entered in each of the last 18 years and never winning. He bought both tickets from the Enoc/Eppco petrol station near Al Wasl Club in Oud Metha and could hardly believe it when he got the second call.

"I couldn’t sleep the whole night – I could barely believe what was happening to me,” said Ali.

Kevin Spacey skipped the SAG awards to mentor theatre students in Sharjah, which just makes me love him more

There he is, looking decidedly non-terrifying on the stage at the Sharjah Institute of Theatrical Arts Sunday night, instead of in Los Angeles picking up his Screen Actors Guild Award for his chilling work portraying Frank Underwood on Netflix's House of Cards.

Overheard in the newsroom: Monday madness edition

British dates are not nice.

Do you deliver - yes or no?

We love our gun ranges in the States.

What is a grilled cheese sandwich?

You don't love your country!

Ace Hardware in Abu Dhabi: Book & Bean is no longer

What it used to look like.

What it looks like now.

One of the capital's only used bookstores, Book N Bean at Ace Hardware on Yas Mall, has closed. Admittedly, I had not been to Ace Hardware in eons, so who knows when this happened?

Still, it makes me very sad. I loved looking at all the used books, and buying some of them, I loved the coffee, and I loved popping by to watch these passionate players on Friday mornings.