Written by Mark Playle
Every day I love you less and less ….
Ibiza Rocks was an understatement when the Kaiser Chiefs came to town. I had a feeling in my bones that it was going to be a good day. I headed up to Pikes Hotel to chill out by the magic pool in preparation for the Kaiser Chiefs gig at Ibiza Rocks Hotel later that night. When I arrived Ricky and the rest of the Chiefs were sitting around the pool relaxing.
For those of you that don’t know Pikes Hotel (Ibiza Rocks House) is very much the place of rock n roll legend. It first became famous and indeed infamous as the backdrop to Wham’s 1983 hit Club Tropicana and also Freddie Mercury’s party hangout (and that’s just scratching the surface). It was no coincidence then that the band were staying there before the gig. When I arrived I had a pure chance encounter with a couple I’d met last year staying at Pikes and they were going off to see the band and they invited me to join them.
When we arrived at Ibiza Rocks Hotel it was a typically warm Ibizan night, the kind that you get mid season when it feels like summer is never going to end. Many had turned up for the evening’s entertainment and as we got close to kick off with the Kaisers we found ourselves a great position down at the front of the stage.
The Kaisers meandered onto the stage taking up various positions with Ricky moving to the helm and the song “We Stay Together’ gently hummed around Ibiza Rocks as people’s attention was slowly drawn in and by the end of the song there was a gentle applause and it was clear the band had fully captured the audience’s attention.
It’s wasn’t long before the charismatic front man and the incredible musical talents of the band had the audience singing along as the roar and chant of ‘Every Day I love You Less And Less’ rattled the sound system with a pure amplified sound. Several tracks into to the set the band played their new song ‘Parachute’, which went down well and soon after Ricky stood aloft the amp like a priest giving a sermon and rallied the crowd into the Kaiser Chiefs chant which grew and crescendo’ed into ‘Never Miss A Beat’.
Every day I love you less and less! Kaiser Chiefs live from Ibiza Rocks right now! @KaiserChiefs @ibizarocks pic.twitter.com/x0xhgYv48F
— Uneek Ibiza (@uneekibiza) August 3, 2016
The audience sucked up tune after tune and as the mood lifted and rested the melodic twang of ‘Modern Way’ was yet another great moment within this amazing set. I took a second to breathe and looked around me and found that so many of my Ibizan friends were within a couple of feet of me and when ‘Ruby’ quite naturally took its place the moment I had secretly been waiting for came and I certainly wasn’t disappointed with what became the most charming sing alongs of sing alongs!
https://twitter.com/uneekibiza/status/764130976830222336
A change of pace ensued and they dropped right into ‘Angry Mob’, a term occasionally endeared to the band according to Ricky. By the time the Chiefs launched into ‘I Predict A Riot’ they actually were not wrong as Ibiza Rocks Hotel just exploded into a sea of waving, bouncing and jumping. Kaiser Chiefs die hards and convert – indeed people who didn’t follow the band were now rocking like die hard cohorts – it was one of the most energetic and fantastic performances we have seen in many awhile culminating in Ricky riding through the audience like a knight on his charger or the pied piper as he completed a 360 degree trip round the Rocks.
Could it get any more rock and roll I asked myself as the opening cord to an amazing cover of ‘Pin Ball Wizard’ twanged into life! Clearly it could.
This day and night was full of great expectations and I have to say just not disappoint at any level. I take my hat off to the Kaiser Chiefs and the whole pomp and circumstance they rocked and rolled through Ibiza Rocks Hotel and just carried on into the night with a Rolls Royce in pool style after party at Pikes hotel were the ghosts of rock n roll past met the rock n roll legends of the present day, which on this occasion was undoubtedly and unequivocally the band known as the Kaiser Chiefs.
Some photos from a brilliant night at @ibizarocks with @KaiserChiefs tonight pic.twitter.com/Zu6HYngou0
— Uneek Ibiza (@uneekibiza) August 4, 2016