2 words: top banana

it was a great night – it was at the hippodromo in san rafael which is normally used for horse trotting – think of dog racing tracks etc. i wasnt sure how it would be laid out but once inside it all made sense. i had a long chat with vaughan from the funky room about he, andy taylor (ex duran duran) and chris from las dalias are putting on a mini festival on the same weekend as glasto – they basically sat around one day and thought it would be a good idea – since they all live close to las dalias and that is arguably the home of live music on ibiza (its been going 54 years at last count) it made sense to hold it there – 7 bands, dj’s, kids area etc – i cant wait

also i hadnt really talked to andy taylor before but i ended up have a long conversation with him as well about the festi – a really nice bloke

and then paco medina from the island consell (govn) turned up and i had a great conversation with him about ibiza rocks and what andy and dawn are doing and he was well up for it – its amazing sometimes when you actually talk to these people that some of them actually do like what some promoters are doing here – i told him that the government should really be encouraging what ibiza rocks are doing and also what andy, vaughan & chris are doing with their mini festi and he completely agreed – maybe we’re getting somewhere

anyway, as usual i took shitloads of photos and put them up on the net after the gig last night and my mate duly did the same and wrote a review in the early hours – so here it is:

The Magical Mystery Tour continues….

In June Ibiza Rocks kicked off their 2008 brand of fresh new indie rock concerts, staged at intimate and unusual island venues, with their trademark measure of time honoured suspense – the Magical Mystery Tour, accompanied by a full moon…

It may not be a yellow submarine that leaves their hotel each Tuesday night, but the professional sound and lighting systems that they miraculously erect like mushrooms at these occasional venues, and the starry night they arrange overhead, more than make up for this oversight.

To keep us all grounded, the lights in the unisex toilets at the venue weren’t working, so we all stumbled around in what might have been water to the light of our mobile phones – big toilets though, you could get lost in there! But friendships were made…

But, the venue?
The coach pulled in at the San Rafael horse trotting stadium in the centre of the island, which is not a place that even island residents visit on a regular basis. The last time we were here a wheel fell off one of the carts, much to the distress of the driver as it continued to drag the remains of the cart around the hippodrome for fully twenty minutes before it was exhausted. The audience got bored after ten and either went to the bar or to place a bet on the next, delayed, race having seen it all before.

Tonight was different – a stage fit to grace any festival with an expectant crowd looking for the buzz they felt last year – and that was just the locals. This year’s crop of newbies following the band, or at their first Ibiza Rocks experience, were clearly buzzing and determined to emulate the fun they’d seen other audiences having on Channel 4 last year. There was no way they were going to be let down…

The Pigeon Detectives from Leeds were the headline act for this first night and it wasn’t long before they hit the groove we all remember from last year. The hardened hacks in the VIP & Press paddock ,the liggers that get in free, stopped networking and started tapping their feet, including us.

The main floor was heaving to the rhythm and singing along to the hook lines in the occasional glass of beery rain that fell from the starry sky. Meantime Matt Bowman, the lead singer, inspired by the goings-on and the perfect setting, set about climbing all over the furniture. Clearly an aspiring mountaineer, he broke his heel jumping off the speakers at Manchester Academy last year!

But these are hardened rock n’ rollers with roots that can be traced as far back as 2002. They didn’t record their first album till 2006 and that leaked into the hands of internet bandits – meaning people could download it for free! It subsequently entered the charts at number 3, going gold almost instantly. On this occasion the internet would appear not to be killing the music industry?

They performed superbly as did Ibiza Rocks which is back to its fundamental ethic – loud rock music under a starry Mediterranean sky on the beach – OK, on this occasion you’ll have to substitute “Hippodrome” for beach, but full marks for novelty. And after all, “the beach is only a ten minute bus ride back from here to Bar M”….