In its final destination of the summer, the Corona SunSets Festival looked well and truly at home on Ibiza's waterside. All stripped back wood, white canopies and beachy blues and yellows, it captured the laid back Ibicenco spirit perfectly. White flags with colourful markings flanked the arena, drawing the revellers' attention towards the huge wooden stage, where petals of colour fanned out to create a sun, and two wooden griffins looked on as Bondax gave us the perfect soundtrack to the sun drenched festival, up-beat summery melodies like Boogie Down's Rollergirl! floating out of the speakers.
There were limes aplenty as quenching the eager crowds' thirst was of course the job of Corona, serving up a delicious selection of light-beer based cocktails. Like with the rest of the festival, their attention to detail was faultless, the usual clear beer bottles replaced with yellow and blue.
Bondax were just squeezing the last drops out of their set as the sun began to descend. The festival looked incredible bathed in the soft light of its namesake, and as Maya Jane Coles prepared to take us into the night it gave the crowds a chance to sit back and enjoy the view. She eased us in with the whispers of London Grammar's slow burning Hey Now, before picking up the pace with Tensnake's funk-infused remix. She continued to ramp up the musical gears, with the energetic techno sounds of Gary Beck's Pure Cane Sugar and the thudding bass in Traumer's Wasp. The colourful stage danced between colours, the yellow and orange sun evolving into peacock feathers and other such colourful things.
Last up, and rounding off Corona's summer travels, was Disclosure with a live set. The crowd buzzed with excitement as they waited for the London duo to take to the smoke-filled stage. The band's familiar face outlines flashed up on the screens, surveying the crowd, before a frenzy of strobes kicked into life and the sounds of the band's instruments crashed through the speakers with the beginning chords of F For You. Although the festival wasn't as busy as its high standard deserved, the space around the stage was now teaming with life as every man and his dog clamoured to get the best view... and let's face it, this is the festivals debut. Disclosure's set was full of hits, although when you have a formula for music making like these two appear to then you can hardly expect anything less. Now I'm a sucker for surprises, so when a certain Miss Doolittle swanned on stage to perform their collaboration You & Me I was fan-girling with the best of them. Her syrupy vocals held their own against the heavy bass from the boys, and it was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the night.
A climatic rendition of Latch rounded things off, Sam Smith's vocals filling the arena as flames shot out from behind the stage. And so with bellies full of beer, shoes well worn from dancing on a floor of specially imported sand, and yet still a whole night in Ibiza to while away, we left Botafoch Ferry Terminal all in agreement that Corona's first year of SunSets has been a resounding success. Word on the street is... we might see it return. Cheers to that!
Full Photo album HERE.
WORDS | Joanna Wright PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
