For years people have walked along the sunset strip of Ibiza and reached the waste land down past the likes of Mambo's and thought someone has to do something with it. It has a prime location to catch all the famous sunsets, right along the promenade...
Thankfully, a project has been launched that would bring together the ideas of a group of people with the power to start something truely unique and wonderful on the island. Those people are Danny Whittle (Pacha's International Brand Director), Pete Tong (DJ, radio host and co-founder of the International Music Summit), Pino Sagliocco (Live Nation Chairman, Spain), Ben Turner (Pacha Magazine Editor), Mark Netto (Pacha Programming Director), and Simeon Friend (The Shop Ibiza) and their idea was Ibiza 123 Rocktronic Festival. The aim of this three day festival is to merge the genres of pop and rock with the dominant music on the island today; electronic dance music, or the 'Real Stars' with the 'New Stars'... and they have managed to secure some genuinely interesting collaborations.
The most noted collaboration is undoubtedly Elton John vs Pnau. The Australian dance act got permission from Elton John to rework some of his music from the 1970-76 period after Elton stumbled across some of their work whilst browsing through a record shop in Australia, and I have to say the result of it is quite spectacular, almost bordering on Trance, which hopefully won't put too many people off. You can hear more about this through Elton's interview with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe below, and be sure to check out the youtube video of one of their tracks. What do you think?
The next big collobaration then is an even more suprising one as we see Cadenza top hat Luciano join forces with none other than Lenny Kravitz. We have no idea what to make of that one nor any idea what it might sound like, but then that of course adds to the whole unique aspect of this merging of genre's. Interesting stuff. Collaborations aside, the spread of music available for those attending is impressive, with pretty much all bases covered... from the likes of Guetta, Azari & III (both performing at this years IMS parties) to Sting (!!!) and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. More names are yet to added and confirmed, but we are talking about the likes of Wally Lopez and Seth Troxler...
The capacity for the 3 day event is to be around 25,000 (with 20,000 to 30,00 being reported), and taking a look at the plans for the layout it seems to be a very compact festival site. Those who know of the wasteland area next to Mambo's will apppreciate it's not an overly huge space, and yet there will be a funfair, plenty of VIP areas (of course), a market stall area much akin to those you see in San An on a regular basis, and even a large screen to the rear of the stage for all the boats moored up in the bay.
We suggest you get involved to ensure you can be a part of a project people are going to be talking about for years to come.
Sunday 1st July - Tuesday 3rd July
San Antonio, Ibiza
