The Streets at Ibiza Rocks - review
Posted by: admin in The Streets, ibiza, ibiza rocks 2008, mike skinner
It’s hot and sweaty at the Ibiza Rocks hotel, particularly on the counter where I’m sitting with my back to the grill to get a view, whilst people aren’t ordering hot dogs. Others would rather stand under the stream of unidentifiable liquid from the VIP balcony upstairs in order to get a decent view of their heroes, The Streets, live on stage.
The kids are loving it - almost all are pogoing their way through the early numbers despite their sweating. A sultry evening indeed…
As the pace slows down so does the pogoing, but rap is all about the lyrics and can be hard to dance to, so in between the new stuff the band throw in a few of their anthemic successes.
This has the desired effect and the assembled throng get back to waving at the stage, rather than the TV cameras, for the benefit of their mates at home.
Mike Skinner, the vocalist, is an accomplished showman and knows to work an audience.
At one point he insisted that everyone in the crowd sat down on the floor, until the rhythm section kicked in and the whole crowd erupted into the air in true breakdown style. Those in prime positions on the balconies and in the VIP missed out on that experience…
He introduced the next song by asking everyone to gaze into the eyes of someone in the crowd who they’ve never met before. Satisfied that all are participating he instructed “Now tell them that you love them”. The audience, with no need for ecstacy, were completely won over.
The air guitars being volleyed around the audience finally burst and, as if by magic, a pink lilo appeared to take its place in the air above the heads of the audience. Eventually this was confiscated by one of the security team without an explanation, but no one cared.
Perhaps, after all, these beautiful young people do respect a father figure? Could this hotel actually be a finishing school of sorts, exerting an example on kids who might otherwise fall foul of dance music and its legacy of drug abuse…
The set ends, but the band come back for an encore. I’ve seen encores before, but never anything like this!
First Mike clears a gangway through the crowd, then runs to the back of the audience and bodysurfs back to the stage over the heads of his ecstatic fans.
Then he instructs them all to jump into the hotel pool. Fifty immediately follow orders and another security guard appears waving his arms. Someone tries to push him in as the pool approaches capacity and glowsticks rain down from the balconies above.
Lilos, beach balls and toilet rolls follow them as ingredients into this extraordinary soup.
The security man called in assistance, presumably in the interests of public safety, but they were overwhelmed. I didn’t notice any of them give up and jump in with the crowd, but it would have been fitting if they had.
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