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.

stunning gig… proper photos to follow

photo posted from my iPhone

just left the soundchecks and we’ll be back there shortly. a few celebs are expected tonight.

photo posted from my iPhone

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

We were really impressed with the Zutons. There was some discussion afterwards about who they were like - the great thing was that we couldn’t agree - which means you can’t pigeon-hole them. Bluesy, guitar driven indie rock ish… Lot’s of fun and arguably the best gig, music wise, of the year… We hope they come back next year.

As ever, click on images for larger versions (we’ve done bigger versions this time).

I’d heard them on nme radio but hadn´t made the connection - they were so refreshing

at the moment i’m going through the 5/600 photos but i liked this one so ive stopped and put it into photoshop and uploaded it and bothered to blog about it

more to come…

i’m not on the zutons photos yet - (they were great - probably the best yet)

Tonights Ibiza Rocks gig with The Streets - We have to say, nothing prepared us for the night - it was far better than we thought it would be - it was arguably the best gig so far this year. Once again we took far too many photos but in the past we’d been able to whittle it down - tonight I’ve had problems getting them down to 32 photos - there’s loads more i’d love to put up.

Mike Skinner got the audience to sit down and jump up twice, he got them to split in half so he could run to the end of the crowd and then crowd surf back to the stage, then at the end he told them to jump in the pool - which they duly did. Everyone we spoke to afterwards loved it - even the hardened VIP’s upstairs…

It was a brilliant gig.
Click on images for larger versions

Above and below: Mike asks the crowd to split into 2 so he can go walkabout

Below: Mike tells everyone to get in the pool….

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…

Click on images as usual for larger lightbox versions

We’ve had it confirmed that the rest of Augusts Ibiza Rocks gigs will take place at the hotel with the final 2 gigs (The Zutons -2nd Sep and Pendulum 9th Sep) taking place back at the Hippodrome in San Rafael.

Tonights Ibiza Rocks gig with The Automatic and The Courteneers - as usual a top night…
Click on images for larger versions