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…
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