• Search
• Subscribe

Close to the front of the Promoting a Party in Ibiza Rule Book should be ‘don't hype the rear end out of your party so much that, no matter what happens, it will be an anti-climax'. Well, Cream's promotion campaigns don't exactly take the subtle approach and the arrival of one Joel Zimmerman had taken on prodigal son like proportions, especially after the one week delay due to his exhaustion-related collapse on stage recently.

The club was busy of course, like very busy but the Terrace atmosphere seemed a bit subdued - Chris Lake was warming up - until the mau5man began his set about 2:30am. Switching the focus of attention from the DJ booth to the other end of the room where Deadmau5 had his own custom built stage, after the mau5 head came into sight and the cheers went up, there seemed an everlasting ambient interlude before things really kicked off in earnest.

Over the course of the best part of 3 hours, Deadmau5 actually really surprised me, but ultimately I also think that is why the gig didn't work anywhere near as well as it could or should have done. I'll take a guess and presume a majority of people were anticipating 2 hours of Deadmau5 anthems, like cue up Random Album Title and For Lack of a Better Name and press ‘play'. Instead the first hour was a mish-mash of semi-recognisable beats interspersed with ambient, almost ethereal stuff with breaks and dubstep thrown in for good measure.

So I guess the surprise was two-fold, on one side that it wasn't the Deadmau5 concert that it seemed many wanted or expected, a relentless assault if you like; on the other side it was that he played tracks like Safari by Andre Kraml (James Holden's remix), a Crosstown Rebels release no less, or that he opted for the long version of Strobe, complete with extra long ambient interlude, thus losing the crowd's energy as they waited for the next bass drop. By the end of the set when the melody of I Remember drifted in and his own remix of Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name Of exploded, naturally it went crazy, accompanied by what can only be described as a stunning visual set up, which apparently has cost a small fortune to develop and implement.

One gig down, the school report would say "good, but could do better" and there is definitely room for improvement from all sides, including what the people going to see Deadmau5 can expect and how the main man himself can fine-tune his performance to the unique nature of a Cream Ibiza crowd at Amnesia. Nevertheless, the common view is that Cream are actually having one of their best summers for years, evidence that the likes of Paul Van Dyk and Eric Prydz remain top draws and that even Deadmau5 has to earn his stripes in Ibiza.

Photo by Amnesia Ibiza © 2010. All rights reserved.

All in one Ibiza Guides...