Delegates and dancers flocked to the return of this once-a-season party.
The past week has felt like a rebirth on the island of Ibiza. The towns of the island are full of revellers having fun in the sun once again. Down in the south of the island, a collection of visitors, however, have been locked into business affairs for a three-day run. We speak of the delegates of the IMS summit, hundreds of which attended the influential conference at Dalt Vila. We even dropped in for the first day, which was filled with informative and compelling keynotes and workshops.
But now it was time for them to have fun as well and IMS could provide an outlet for them to let loose. The grand finale of the summit, saw delegates and dance music lovers of the island, head to the walls of Dalt Vila for an open-air event spectacular. What they witnessed was by far the most diverse edition of the festival-like format to date. We went along to take in the experience for ourselves.
Having made the climb up the ramparts, we found ourselves amongst the early afternoon arrivals. Artche was getting the growing crowd warmed up with some echoing melodic tech. These kinds of sets you have to play carefully as one false track can put a crowd in the wrong direction for the rest of the evening. However, the young DJ from the Pryda Presents roster made handled the task with ease and the crowd seem up for it. Clearly, they’d missed serious moving on top of an ancient citadel.
Soon after Artche closed with the beautiful melodies of Rina, the first b2b combination of the evening, BBC Radio One host Jaguar and Electronica duo Prospa took the stage. This UK based act pairing, much like the rest of the artists, represented the best of the new wave coming through this decade. Both lady and duo slipped in the odd crowding winning remix and received praise from the dance floor for doing so. Adding Jersey Club to make the crowd’s feet work, this ‘Lovelee Dae’ rework went down a treat.
The set was filled with a playful mixture of house hits and old school jams, which kept the crowd entertained throughout. You need only listen from one tune to the next, and your ears would prick up to hear a familiar vocal from a dance classic. Bring the pace up a little now that the larger crowd was settling in, Prospa pulled out Prayer from their back catalogue – a huge hands in the air tune.
For us, this song has a special connection. We first heard it back in 2019 when Solomun played it at Pacha for his +1 residency closing. The electrically charged euphoric synths had us hooked and the 90s inspired rave vocals made us fall in love with this instant classic. To listen to it three years on with clubs now finally reopening was a heartwarming moment – Thank You Prospa.
Representing London, Joy Orbison and Overmono were next to take control of the decks for the hour. Unlike previous events, the two acts’ styles took the vibe in a completely different direction to the normal run at IMS. A blend of Breakbeat and Jungle formed most of the set, each switch of the b2b lead us through more genre change-ups, but everything felt cohesive under a bass-lead direction.
As the type of artists rarely seen in Ibiza, both Joy O and Overmono took this performing opportunity to showcase their South London routes. The first of many surprise drops that went down a treat was a hard house edit sampling grime icon Flowdan. We never thought that this music would suit an Ibiza set, but the reception was probably chalked down to the international mixed crowd.
As dusk turned to dark night, the stage became an illumination that could be seen from around the city. With the crowd at full capacity, young starlet TSHA took the reins. She reversed the switch to a more familiar Ibiza sound; vocal soaked house bangers. As each song was given its five minutes of stage fame you could spot crowd members around you, lip-syncing to the words as each lush lyric vibrated through the speakers.
Then, the evening took a turn for the bizarre. The second of the surprise drops was in the form of the exploration of an even rarer sound on the White Isle – Bassline. Usually reserved for the dark basement clubs, witnessing the Niche genre being played on an Ibizan main stage was an experience that split opinions. Whilst some of the amped-up crowd enjoyed this, it was clear that it turned off other attendees. These selections were either a stroke of genius or a bit of a troll, but it was certainly a unique moment of the evening nonetheless.
In some ways, it was delightful to return to fun and funkier fare with Patrick Topping bringing all the joy from his set, he began his set by saying; “How good is it to be back” – we wholeheartedly agreed! This time representing the north of England and his acclaimed Trick label, he opened his set with a few mystery IDs, later confirmed to his own tracks soon to be released through the aforementioned label.
The reason why we like Patrick Topping as a DJ is that he plays well to his crowd. If he knows that the crowd needs a fun loving Ibiza classic, he will pull this out of his arsenal to keep them locked into a groove. Equally, he knows when the BPM needs to go higher to keep bodies moving. Pushing the speed into 138bpm hard house territory can be a risky move if the crowd doesn’t connect, but the cheeky blends between songs kept things spicy through his entire set.
The climax of this grand finale came with the final b2b combination of the evening; two dance music heavyweights from completely opposite sides of the Atlantic. On the one hand, you had the unlimited energy of the Paradise head honcho, Jamies Jones and on the other, the sass and sizzle of US underground matriarch, The Blessed Madonna. A pairing like this doesn’t come round often so understandably the cobbled dance floor was stone wall to stone wall packed.
Their reputations behind the decks proceeded them, and as expected each artist performed exceptionally. The mixture of tunes was a medley of new releases each one primed and ready for replay throughout the Ibiza season. IMS Dalt Vila is an extraordinary event, so it stands to reason that future favourites are played that evening. Jamie Jones ended the unparalleled edition of the party with My Paradise; a song with so much summer warmth and optimism that it set the scene for another perfect season on the White Isle.
