The whole ethos of this new Friday night venture from the Ibiza Rocks brand is centred on this fact that the DJ is the rockstar of today. The groupies are following around these guys now, and the times where big ‘rock' (as a rough category) bands are swimming around in masses of drugs and sex crazed ladies are coming to an end. You have the We Are Rockstars gigs and the Ibiza 123 Festival in Ibiza alone that have suddenly cottoned on to this idea, and we now see huge links between bands and DJ led electronic music.
This We Are Rockstars party may have been a long time coming on an island that, at this point in time, is all about DJs (remember, it wasn't always so exclusively that way!), but you have to respect what the Ibiza Rocks team have done in those 8 years since it's inception at Bar M. I don't think anybody could have predicted the amount of success they have had since then, so it's clear to see that they know what they're doing. The artists have now been split up to provide a more obvious divide between the Wednesday and Friday lineups, making more space for quality live band based acts on the Wednesday, and moving the more electronically focused DJ acts to the Friday.
If I'm honest, the music isn't my number 1 choice - which in no way reflects upon the quality of the DJs, the music or the event – but having said that, I actually had such a good laugh! Some of the more ridiculous hours of my life were spent skanking and bouncing about the place between the hours of around 10pm and midnight on Friday… There was the same crowd, more or less, that you would get on a Wednesday, there just seemed to be more of an atmosphere of ridiculousness floating about. Everywhere I looked there were mad crazy D'n'B style dance moves being knocked out in comedy fashion, and I spent a fair few minutes just staring at the undeniable skill of an older gentleman body-popping his way through the night. If I could post the video, I would. Amazing!
Musically, it was like a ‘best of rave' CD had been thrown on, providing a plethora of nasty-dirty-bass-beats in the form of electro, D‘n'B, Dubstep, Hip-Hop and so on. Taking a look through the notes I was frantically writing to try and remember all the tracks that were played it seems clear it went off one track after the other… between Doorly and the headliners Zane Lowe and Mark Ronson we had tracks by Prodigy, the Beastie Boys, Avicii, Soul Central, Sandy B, Gotye, Dizzee Rascal, Fatman Scoop, Diana Ross, Missy Elliot, Dr Dre, Darude, and loads more. All remixes of course, and all of which the crowd loved.
You know when you finish up the last 10 minutes with mixes between Darude ‘Sandstorm', ‘Gangsters Paradise', Dr Dre's ‘Next Episode', and the big D'n'B track Rudimental ‘Feel The Love' that it's an anything goes type of event, and based on how much of a laugh I had, I'll be back for another slice of that fun pie. Why not!?
