It's been a zealous week of caking on the birthday celebrations in Ibiza and clubbers arriving on either well executed planning or the sheer luck of it, are getting a heavy slice of musically induced carnage. On Friday the laser lighted focus was shone over Ushuaïa for the Radio 1 Weekend which crashes in for its 20th anniversary on the mighty white isle. Creepster clowns and shoddy magicians are the guys that held our birthday parties together as children, thankfully most of us have grown out of that and, in adulthood, we get to choose the entertainment.
BBC Radio 1 has passed adolescence and is bringing in the adult entertainment this year with Annie Mac on the hosting mic and Calvin Harris, Disclosure, Dusky, Jamie Jones b2b Patrick Topping, topped off with Pete Tong. Hostess with the mostess, Mac opened on a track which perfectly underlined the sensibility of the evening and weekend to come – Queen's I Want To Break Free. From that rock stepper, she broke out the bass in an eclectically flavoured set from drum and bass to house to appease the 7000 heavy crowd.
Disclosure, the British duo behind the white lines, filled in a set which didn't surrender to the well-tested formula of lashing out a discography-esque trail through their own hits. New productions were loaded on for a plated sample from strong vocal track featuring Sam Smith, Omen and one due for release on their record label Method White, Eats Everythings' reworking of Tiga and Audion's Dancing. Dancing – a verb synonymous with Ibiza – was given its full unrivalled attention as Scotsman, Calvin Harris, took his slot in what is his only show this summer to a mega reaction from Ushuaïa's swarm. Peak time with drop thirsty bangers kept the energy surged, and he tested the mettle of new track featuring Disciples, How Deep Is Your Love, which is for sure going to be another chart stormer.
Dusky took things through to an eargatronic B2B sesher with Jamie Jones and Patrick Topping before they offloaded their duties to Annie Mac and Pete Tong. Tong, figure of BBC Radio 1, is a man who is monumental in recounting the 1990s catapulting of Ibiza into the clubbers manual. Their set spanned the decades with Disclosure's Bang That before a slice of the celebrated past was brought in from Layo & Bushwacka's Love Story. Without grating on a big pile of Cathedral cheddar cheese, a love story is what was indeed being shared and celebrated here.
They closed the evening on the opening of a very special birthday weekend session and if you haven't already packaged yourself up on the plane for the onset of holiday blues, make sure you gatecrash another of their birthday celebrations over the next few days.
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence PHOTOGRAPHY | Ushuaïa
