I could hear the music pumping through and over the walls as I walked through the carpeted upside-down V archway masking the real entrance to Ushuaïa. This marked the second date of Ingrosso and Axwell's Departures residency, this week joined by DJ's Zedd and Paul Reynolds.
After a great set from Paul Reynolds, warming the crowd up as the evening air got cooler, Zedd took over. The huge stage sat lit up like a sun at the edge of the horizon and Zedd's black silhouette stood out strikingly against the white background. Playing his huge hit ‘Clarity' early on in his set had everyone singing along and even those who'd had a few too many mojitos couldn't mistake who was playing as he displayed his hard house style, playing tracks like ‘A Higher State of Dada Land', and then also a nod to more commercial chart hits such as ‘Titanium' and ‘Sweet Nothing'. Daft Punk's ‘One More Time' went down really well with the crowd, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a minute or so of Erasure's ‘Enjoy the Silence'. It's great to hear DJ's mixing up their sets with a nod to other genres, something we also saw a lot of later on when Ingrosso and Axwell played together.
As always with Ushuaïa the crowd was a delightfully mixed bag. Gorgeous girls in bikinis and bright metallics mingled with a sea of Ralph Lauren-clad men while the more casual danced and splashed about in the pool, armed with snapbacks and bum bags. The sound system was doing a great job throughout, blowing the Havaianas off many a raving tourist. Butterfly confetti was constantly being fired out of the trusty cannons and swirled around the excitable crowd.
After Zedd's set, someone started a chant of White Stripes' ‘Seven Nation Army' while we all waited for Axwell and Ingrosso to grace the stage. The two of them entered to a build up of drum rolls, bongo drums and revving motorbikes and had the crowd jumping and screaming with their hands in the air. There's no doubt about it, they played a fantastic set, keeping it fresh and ever-changing for the whole two hours. At one point they played funk and disco track ‘Wrap Your Arms Around Me' by KC and the Sunshine Band, which the crowd went wild for. It reminded me of Avicii playing country music mid-set at Miami's Ultra Music Festival and I think it's hugely refreshing seeing these huge DJ's mixing it up, taking risks and playing what they want to play. I raved along to Swedish House Mafia hits ‘Greyhound' and ‘Save the World', which felt almost like a tribute to DJ and friend Alesso, and also their successful musical past as a trio. As they came towards the end of their set, Axwell and Ingrosso shouted to the crowd, ‘Ibiza! Party people! Welcome to the fucking summer!'
Ushuaïa is the perfect venue for these DJ's and their residency and it's great, although not surprising to see it having yet another successful year so far on the island.
Photography by James Chapman
