Pura Pacha All Gone Pete Tong has shown already this season that it is not afraid of mixing things up musically and tonight, as Pete Tong moves his weekly Friday to Playa D’en Bossa for a special event in Ushuaia, they have raised the bar for unlikely combinations. Pure Pacha All Gone Ushuaia delivers a monster DJ line up, with the inclusion of R&B superstar Usher, raising more than a few eyebrows.
To say that tonight’s party has sparked taking points throughout clubland is like saying that Ronaldo likes a step over or two. Mixing genres always gets the conversation flowing; mixing house with R&B, especially when done at the top of both genres has fuelled one or two debates this week. This is a huge event and there really is something for everyone. Ibiza Rocks resident and hugely talented DJ/ producer Doorly joins NYC house legend David Morales, DJ turned actor Idris Elba and Pete Tong in Ushuaia, with Usher providing the live entertainment.
As we arrive at the stunning outdoor venue there’s a rumour spreading that a surprise guest will be announced and appear tonight, what, even more surprising than what we know already? One thing’s for certain, it has captured the imagination of the clubbing fraternity, the Playa D’en Bossa beachfront venue is already mobbed and Idris Elba, star of The Wire and more recently Luther, is behind the decks. Idris was a DJ before his acting career took off and he clearly loves getting behind the decks, who wouldn’t in this type of venue with this size of crowd in front of you. Apart from a coupe of minor technical problems, no fault of Idris’, he delivers a cool warm up set before handing over control to David Morales, something I’m quite sure he has imagined doing many times back in his early DJ days.
David Morales is a legend, pure and simple. His DJ CV reads like a who’s who of global clubbing, his production accolades are as many as they are varied and he has delivered some seminal remixes in his time, U2 and Mariah Carey only a couple of the superstars he had turned his talent to. The expectation level in the crowd jumps noticeably as Morales delivers a chunky, driving set, keeping the huge crowd happy, it’s pretty difficult to say everyone is dancing, there’s really no room to move, this isn’t so much a party, this is more like a concert, no, a festival, no, a flash rave – who knows what it is, but it’s great!
Since the rumours had started about the ‘mystery’ guest, numerous crazy suggestions are banded about the massive crowd, when the surprise guest makes his appearance the crowd reacts in suitably noisy fashion, and I guess, logically speaking it makes perfect sense, he is the go-to guy for many of the world’s top R&B performers, David Guetta takes over from Morales and proceeds to drop anthem after anthem, which has the crowd ecstatic. Taio Cruz joins Guetta behind the decks for some inspired karaoke, which only serves to kick the atmosphere up a notch! I’ve said this a couple of times about this venue recently, but it’s just as well it doesn’t have a roof! What did surprise me is how many global hits David Guetta has had and how many of them I know the tune for.
The coloured lights surrounding the pool area of the Ushuaia hotel coupled with the brilliant light coming from the stage produces an impressive sight as Usher enters to ‘Yeah’, Doorly is on the decks providing the back up, the Ushuaia dancers looks amazing and the R&B star launches into his routine. The crowd erupts. They have travelled from all over the island for this and are clearly in the mood to enjoy it. Usher is the ultimate performer, he sings, dances and interacts with the crowd, sometimes a little too much for the security team’s liking, as the athletic artist launches himself from the stage into the crowd with a stage dive that Iggy Pop would have been proud of.
Hit after hit washes over the capacity crowd who sing along and try and move to the beat in the little space that they have. Ushuaia is packed, from the front of the main stage, through the pool, (some people are dancing in their swimming gear) right to the back of the arena. The noise level threatens incoming aircraft as Ludacris joins Usher on stage before Taio Cruz and David Guetta get in on the action and deliver a rendition of a track they have all been collaborating on. This is the kind of event that Ushuaia was built for! One slightly scary moment, though, when the dancers spray champagne all over the crowd, forgetting that all the technical equipment and DJ booth is in front of them. Oops!
Pete Tong followed Usher and rightly finished the show. Pure Pacha All Gone Ushuaia is a huge success and we can only imagine the smile on Pete’s face is some indication of the sense of satisfaction that he must be feeling. Pure Pacha is bringing various musical genres together for their Friday night party in Pacha and this special is another example of their ability to deliver a show. Doorly, Pete Tong, David Morales, David Guetta, Usher, Taio Cruz and Ludacris all on the one stage, under the stars in Ibiza, not a bad nights work by anyone’s standards. Pete takes the party home, carrying the hysteria created through Usher’s performance until the lights go out on Ushuaia. The masses head for the exits satisfied that they had been a part of one of those Ibiza moments.
This was a spectacular show, of concert proportions, there were countless number of global superstars on the same stage and while we are at it, what an amazing stage it is too. For those of you that missed out, Usher will be at Pacha tonight with Pete Tong, as well as Sarah Main and Trentemoller, for Pure Pacha All Gone Pete Tong.
