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Despite the absence of horses, the dust was definitely kicked up again at Sant Rafael’s Hippodrome on Tuesday September 9th, during Ibiza Rocks‘ last gig of the season with Pendulum.

As the “soon to be huge” Iglu & Hartley took to the stage, a feeling of dismay fell upon us as we realized that this would probably be the last chance to enjoy a decent outdoor concert event in Ibiza until next summer.

However, my dismay was soon to be replaced by laughter as the “best friend of the band” confidently informed me that Iglu and Hartley would be the first band to play on the moon. It later became apparent that they weren’t planning to take him with them, because I ended up with the honour of driving my new found mate home.

The second band’s hometown was none other than Manchester, so it wasn’t surprising that the crowd, dominated by Brits, made quite a fuss over them. It has to be said that The Whip’s mixture of electronica and rock was quite unique, if not complete genius. Definitely my personal favourite of the night.

However, the four stars didn’t manage to generate quite as much commotion as the main act of the night, although I did observe a dozen or so grooving grannies raving at their own pace throughout their show.

At this point it was about dinner time (in Spain, of course) and I was disappointed to find that my choice was between a burger, and well, another burger. It was quite a chore to get the six euro chunk of meat down my throat and I was aware of what felt like a rock in my belly for the rest of the night. Thank goodness the “free hierbas chupito girl” spotted me and helped to ease my digestion.

I was quickly distracted from my ailment when the long awaited Pendulum entered the spotlight. As the three original band members (Rob, Paul and Gareth) all aussies, hit the stage, it seemed that just about the entire Hippodrome flooded into the mosh pit.

Like flies to a lightbulb, everyone seemed to have the same goal in life, namely, to be as close to the stage as possible. “Verse”, the bands MC, proved to be quite a crowd motivator.

The longer he dominated the mic, the more unidentifiable objects seemed to be tossed through the air.

This is not entirely surprising because their first album, “Hold Your Colour”, is one of the best selling drum and bass albums of all time.

Another interesting fact is that their second single, “Slam”, is the theme song of the playstation 3 game “Motostorm”, which perhaps explained all the pre-pubescent boys running around in the audience. The band are now based in london so we should be hearing a lot more from them.

As the night came to an end and the still raving stampede headed for the coaches which would take them to the legendery “Bar M”, where resident DJ Aoki and Dj Doorly were set to play, I tried to snoop out any fixed dates for next year’s opening party. But as per usual with Ibiza Rocks… no chance!

So, ladies and gentlemen, patience is a virtue - we will keep our ears open no doubt, but until then you can visit www.ibizarocks.com to find out more about this Friday’s Xbox Weekender and the forthcoming Beachbombing event. See you next year!

By Pia Walter

We spent yesterday afternoon down at the Hippodrome before the Ibiza Rocks closing party watching the soundchecks and the setting up of the final Ibiza Rocks gig.

As ever, click on images for larger versions.

The gig that some of us have been waiting for all year didn’t disappoint - When the original band names came out of the hat it was Pendulum one of the team wanted to see. We had Dizzee Rascall, The Streets, The Zutons, The Enemy, The Wombats etc but if truth be told we wanted to see Pendulum.

We loved it.. click on images as usual for lightbox larger versions

We’re back to the more traditional rock concert setting of the San Rafael horse trotting track(?) so there’ll be no tomfoolery in the hotel pool tonight, however there are some ponds lurking in the centre of the track - Anyway we’ll see what happens tonight…

I’ve listened to this highly respected band on the stereo in the car on the way to the gig, but couldn’t sing along to any of the tracks. Then I’ve had to park miles from the entrance and fallen over a cactus in the dark trying to take a short cut in case I’m late.

“This band had better be good” I’m thinking, as I pluck cactus spikes from my palm and negotiate the guest list queue. There are no other queues, it’s just those who don’t pay that turn up late and make it difficult to get in just as the band are about to hit the stage.

I hit the bar and immediately cheer up. Almost immediately it becomes obvious that his band are different again. This isn’t a night of anthems or rap, instead the sound rings many bells inviting comparisons with a spectrum of influences from Status Quo to Led Zep and any number of others in between for good measure.

Formed in Liverpool in 2001, they’ve been around a while, but stand alone amongst the acts we’ve seen this year by delving back into a different period of music pre-dating most of this year’s acts and pulling it off in style.

They also have the advantage of Abi Harding front of stage with her saxophone. This enhances the band’s sound, as do her vocals, and she’s a lot nicer to look at than the blokes with their axes…

Dave McCabe, lead songwriter, introduced one song early on by getting the audience to vote on whether the rock chicks with the inflatable guitars on the podium were getting paid. All voted an enthusiastic yes. He counter-pointed this at the end of the set by informing us all that the band had to stop now because all of the rest of their material was shit. The crowd roared and the band played on.

Having seen them, listening to the tunes in the car on the way home it all started to make sense. I just had to leap backwards and forwards a couple of decades for each new track.
I’m still playing them in the car now and becoming more and more fond…

More and larger photos on the previous zutons at ibiza rocks blog

I think whoever was dj’ing got it spot on: “say thanks to the co-headliners The Black Kids”. They could’ve headlined Ibiza Rocks in their own right. Great band.

Once again Ibiza Rocks delivers contrast. Hot on the heels of the Mike Skinner (The Streets) approach to crowd management, and much to the relief of the local Health & Safety executive, the band charged with bettering that experience were Soulwax - masters of the remix rather than the microphone.

At times the show went so retro that older hacks in the audience could recall the days when dance culture made the decision to worship the DJ hunched over the decks rather than the front man and his axe wielding accomplices. How times change?

Soulwax, in all their guises, are fundamentally two Belgian DJs trying various different formulas wrapped around an apparently weak set of material. For no obvious reason they demoted themselves to second in the line up for the night, making 2 Many DJs (also themselves) the headline act for the night.

So first up were a four piece band with a drummer and electric guitarist doing electronic classics. Interesting we all thought as we admired their flashing light show whilst it slowly dawned on us that there weren’t going to be any vocals, just the odd sample thrown in here and there.

Then there was the problem of the white tuxedos and dickie bows, no doubt in deference to the white island but not really practical for the stage on a hot August night.

Nonetheless, there we were listening to a combination of M25 rave breakdowns with drum solos and guitar interchanges at the end of each song to the point where the crowd didn’t know when to start clapping. Or maybe there was some other reason?

Unfortunately the E’s aren’t as strong as they used to be and this audience aren’t bothered anyway, so the repetitive beats and the flashing lights were never going to work the way they did twenty years ago. On the other hand, I have to confess to not having been to Belgium for a long time.

The equipment was cleared from the stage and it looked as if that was that, but eventually 2 Many DJs appeared and it soon became apparent that the name was appropriate. Their set consisted of teasers from other people’s anthemic intros whilst two blokes reached across each other to twiddle distant knobs on the mixer as if the audience wasn’t there. The lights flashed and the audience did their bit, but this wasn’t ‘live’ music?

After 20 excruciating minutes two cuties appeared front of stage, where the band’s equipment had earlier filled the void, and the back lighting took our attention away from the two guys arguing behind the decks.

A few more Eurythmics intros swiftly followed by twiddle and squeak and the show was over. Next week should be better…

A bit of a contrast from last weeks The Streets gig. Soulwax did the usual 10pm headline gig and then their alter-ego 2ManyDJS played the stage from about 11ish - we’d love to say it was great…

Anyway, some photos and review to follow:

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It’s hot and sweaty at the Ibiza Rocks hotel, particularly on the counter where I’m sitting with my back to the grill to get a view, whilst people aren’t ordering hot dogs. Others would rather stand under the stream of unidentifiable liquid from the VIP balcony upstairs in order to get a decent view of their heroes, The Streets, live on stage.

The kids are loving it - almost all are pogoing their way through the early numbers despite their sweating. A sultry evening indeed…
As the pace slows down so does the pogoing, but rap is all about the lyrics and can be hard to dance to, so in between the new stuff the band throw in a few of their anthemic successes.

This has the desired effect and the assembled throng get back to waving at the stage, rather than the TV cameras, for the benefit of their mates at home.

Mike Skinner, the vocalist, is an accomplished showman and knows to work an audience.

At one point he insisted that everyone in the crowd sat down on the floor, until the rhythm section kicked in and the whole crowd erupted into the air in true breakdown style. Those in prime positions on the balconies and in the VIP missed out on that experience…

He introduced the next song by asking everyone to gaze into the eyes of someone in the crowd who they’ve never met before. Satisfied that all are participating he instructed “Now tell them that you love them”. The audience, with no need for ecstacy, were completely won over.

The air guitars being volleyed around the audience finally burst and, as if by magic, a pink lilo appeared to take its place in the air above the heads of the audience. Eventually this was confiscated by one of the security team without an explanation, but no one cared.

Perhaps, after all, these beautiful young people do respect a father figure? Could this hotel actually be a finishing school of sorts, exerting an example on kids who might otherwise fall foul of dance music and its legacy of drug abuse…

The set ends, but the band come back for an encore. I’ve seen encores before, but never anything like this!

First Mike clears a gangway through the crowd, then runs to the back of the audience and bodysurfs back to the stage over the heads of his ecstatic fans.

Then he instructs them all to jump into the hotel pool. Fifty immediately follow orders and another security guard appears waving his arms. Someone tries to push him in as the pool approaches capacity and glowsticks rain down from the balconies above.

Lilos, beach balls and toilet rolls follow them as ingredients into this extraordinary soup.

The security man called in assistance, presumably in the interests of public safety, but they were overwhelmed. I didn’t notice any of them give up and jump in with the crowd, but it would have been fitting if they had.

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Sorry we’re late with these but we stayed at Ibiza Rocks Hotel due to a family sibling 40th birthday and we’ve only just got back home…

After supporting the Arctic Monkeys last year, Reverend And The Makers headlined Ibiza Rocks this year. Matt Helders from the Arctic Monkeys did a DJ set and as is their want, (like last year), their management didn’t want any photos being taken of their precious commodity - so there are no photos of some bloke from the Arctic Monkeys…

However Jon McClure et al were more than accommodating. At one point he wanted one of the photographers camera to take a photo from the stage - sorry Isabel you sholuld’ve said yes - I was at the other end of the pit at the time otherwise we’d have a piccy from stage view…

Anyway - it was another good gig - plenty of beer and bog rolls flying around and I think i got a request played at the after party but I can’t quite remember…

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Tonights Ibiza Rocks gig with The Automatic and The Courteneers - as usual a top night…
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