After a very nice brunch at Ushuaia and a look around the impressive hotel, the blog decided to return for the evenings entertainment which featured Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim. He was headlining the second day of the official Ushuaia Opening Party Weekend and a moderate crowd turned out to witness his performance. Cook who turns 50 next year, came on after an average set from Groove Armada, who were happy to drop the same track three times during their "two man" performance. For the first six minutes of Cooks set, all that could be heard was the overhead jets taking off from nearby Ibiza airport and the crowd chanting "Fatboy" as Norman struggled to deliver output from his mixer to the speakers.
When the "show" finally started, the audio visual sync was off from the big screen behind the decks and piercing feedback, which lasted for more than a minute, before a technician appeared to fix the probable cause of the problem, an open microphone channel on Fatboys mixer. A pre recorded mix soon followed with hits including Praise You and Funk Soul Brother along with Wheres Your Head At by Basement Jaxx and Put Your Hands Up in the Air. If not for the feedback and delay, it would have been a good opening sequence and the crowd seemed to be enjoying it. That was it though, as the level of energy emanating from the decks never got any better than the opening sequence and Fatboy was happy to go through the motions and let Ushuaias excellent light and effects show thrill the crowd for the remainder of the evening.
Fatboy Slim is undoubtedly a talented producer and musician but I feel his relevance in today's Electronic Dance Music scene is best utilised for nostalgic purposes. When a DJ allows a Technical crew to do all the prep work and just "appears" empty handed or with a USB Key full of pre mixed track settings, then the line between "Celebrity DJ" and "Real DJ" becomes much more defined. Unfortunately in Ibiza at present the Island seems to prefer the former and many clubs are happy to pay for the privilege rather than giving fresh new talent an opportunity. There is more DJ talent playing in free West End bars like Hush in San Antonio, than there is in some of the superclubs of Ibiza at present and its about time that young Real DJ's playing and mixing new sounds were provided a platform rather than the 40 plus brigade trading on past glories.