Every week Tiesto will be sending us his blog from his latest tour nights. Here's the first update from Sheffield and Ingliston including his top 3 tracks from the weekend...

"Friday night's crowd in Sheffield was amazing. So much energy for my first show back in the UK. Sheffield was the first city I played when I came to the UK all those years ago, so it was fitting that we kicked off the tour here. I've been waiting a while to bring my new show and new album to the UK and to be honest was a little nervous as to how people would respond. It was great to feel such a warn welcome and to see everyone enjoying the show. On to the next one !

Saturday night I played Ingliston, Scotland, and as usual the Scots didn't let me down. The people here are so insane! My tour manager texted me at 6pm and said that they were already chanting outside – and the doors weren’t opening for another TWO hours!

By the time I hit the stage at 11:30, the place was going off. Within the first 10 minutes I saw at least 5 people pulled out of the crowd. I don’t remember the last time I saw a crowd this wild. During my set, a flag landed in my DJ booth as well a few articles of clothing, hopefully no one wanted the flag back because I kept it up on stage and held it up for the crowd at the end. I also found a paintball mask next to my booth (what was that doing there?)!

Before I left, I climbed off the front of the stage and high fived as many people as I could in the first couple of rows...I think someone tried to give me another flag! What an incredible night ! Can’t wait for next weekend...

My good friends Dada Life opened both shows and as usual they got the crowd good and ready. Those boys always deliver the goods. It’s so great to be on the road with good friends. Both cities really welcomed them like they were hometown favorites.

Thanks Sheffield and Ingliston!"

Top 3 Songs Of The Weekend:

Escape Me
Love Comes Again
Century

Dates still to come:
11th - O2 Academy Brixton
12th - Cardiff International Arena
13th - Liverpool Echo Arena
20th - Birmingham LG Arena

This weekend was Asia's biggest outdoor dance music festival, ZoukOut, and so I popped over to see what all the fuss was about.

Now in its ninth year, ZoukOut started as an offshoot from the Singapore superclub Zouk. Zouk's been running for 19 years and is arguably Asia's most respected club by DJs and clubbers alike.

This year's festival featured sets from Armin van Buuren, Ritchie Hawtin, Miss Kitten, Aeroplane and Tiga.

A crowd of 30,000 clubbers hit the beach on Sentosa Island in the south of Singapore. The contingent were mainly locals but I bumped into clubbers from England, Germany and Australia not to mention lots of people from India and neighbouring Malaysia.

The party started at 8pm and was due to finish at 8am, although Armin van Buuren played for an extra 25minutes, much to the annoyance of the 5 star hotel right next door to the beach (earplugs were given out to residents)

Four open-air stages meant there were all kinds of music to choose from. One of the funniest was hosted by one of Zouk's club nights - Mambo Jambo - the Singapore equivalent of Guilty Pleasures. Clubbers like to act out the lyrics in a sort of 12-year-old at the school disco kind of way. Sort of 80s skanking if you like.

Elsewhere Simon Dunmore and his Defected label took over one stage. The English house label love ZoukOut so much they've named their latest compilation after it.

Zoukout isnt just all music. At one end of the 400m long beach were two artificial wave making machines, which meant you could try out surfing or waterboarding (the snowboarding like sport, not the form of torture) without having to wade out into the sea.

The world most powerful lazer was moored just off the island and provided a green ceiling to the beach from around 1am. There was also fireworks, women on stilts, very popular micro-torches that clubbers wore as rings, oh and no drugs - the law in Singapore is very strict about drugs. Get caught with something you shouldn't and you will be hanged!

I had a fantastic time at ZoukOut and in Singapore in general. The friendly people, scorching weather (I'm very red today) and breadth of acts made this one of the world's best beach parties. In fact it makes the Full Moon Parties of Thailand's Ko Phang Ynag look like a BBQ in Skegness.

For more information on ZoukOut check www.zoukout.com. Hopefully we'll see you there next year for their tenth anniversary party.

Last night Zero 7, with their all new line-up, took to the stage for a sell out performance at Camden's Roundhouse.

It was a strange feeling for both the audience and the band as long time vocalist Sia was not here, replaced instead by Zero 7's latest signing, Eska Mtungwazi.

Eska did a great job too, knocking out foot tappers like 'Medicine Man' and 'MrMcGee' and taking on Sia's hits like 'Destiny' - with a little help from the crowd.

The band were tight, the lighting exciting and the night an enjoyable juxtaposition of acoustic guitar purity and electronic strobing madness. But although their latest album 'Yeah Ghost' doesn't seem to miss their ex-Antipodean singer - their live show really does. The band have worked hard reinterpreting her tunes in all kinds of new styles but like a football manager who's sold his star striker it has affected the team's performance.

Last night Speech Debelle started her UK tour at Scala in Kings Cross and no sooner had she taken to the stage she'd won over the skeptics.

Into her first song she suddenly asked the band to stop. "I'm singing the wrong verse and none of you lot even noticed" she smiled to the crowd, knowing that the not-quite-capacity congregation was made up of just as many bandwagon jumpers as actual fans.

While Speeches jazz-form hip hop, accompanied by a double bass, guitar and drummer is unique, like fellow Mercury winner Dizzee Rascal, her true talent lies in her lyrics. A lot of hip hop gigs get lost in a sea of loud backing DJs or hurried out-of-breath diction but Speeches flow was clear, warm and concise.

Highlights came in the form of 'Go, Then, Bye', helped along with some audience participation as well as all of Speech's mid-set banter including one anecdote on how her Nan would rub rum on her neck for 'medicinal purposes'.

You can catch Speech warming up for Basement Jaxx on their xmas arena tour. For more on that see the Mixmag home page.

Three gigs in London in one week? Nothing seems beyond Sean 'Jay-Z' Carter this week, as he gave blistering performances first at The Roundhouse on Thursday night (where guests included Ian Brown and key BBC suit and occasional presenter Alan Yentob) and again over two night supporting Coldplay at Wembley Stadium. But let's concentrate on the first show primarily, because if ever there was evidence that Jay-Z and hip hop could speak and project beyond its core audience while keeping its spirit and swagger intact, this was it. As time goes in - and particularly after that career-building Glastonbury show - it really does appear that Jay-Z is to hip hop what U2 and Coldplay are to rock - in other words, their genre's iconic ambassador.

Of course, it helps that he has the catalogue to match his new-found status. And it says a lot that all 3,000 £70 tickets sold out in minutes - although Carter thanks the crowd for saying it sold out in twenty second but hey, that's showbiz. The screens, the band, the flow, the sheer presence and charisma of the man and his music could barely be criticized. He's hip hop power and charm personified and he knows precisely how to keep The Roundhouse in the palm of his hand. Opening with 'DOA' and 'U Don't Know' with long-time sidekick Memphis Bleek, it's the raw blend of horns, drums, guitars and of course THAT voice which makes this show almost as incendiary as his previous show-stopper at the Royal Albert Hall - which was the first hip hop show at the evnue in its history, lest we forget. Later on we're treated to a quick singalong of 'Wonderwall' before he walks off - only to return seconds later for 'Excuse Me Miss' and blistering 'Black Album' show-stopper 'Lucifer.'

Speaking on BBC One's flagship political programme The Andrew Marr Show last week, Jay-Z said that taking to the stage at Glastonbury felt like collecting a Grammy. "That was like winning the first Grammy for me. It was one of those times where , you know…almost like knocking the door down," he said, before suggesting that "Noel Gallagher, I think he perpetuated the old way of thinking."

And if the reaction to his set at Wembley is anything to go by, that post-Oasis thinking certainly seems to be the case. Because Wembley Stadium is PACKED when we arrive at 7:15 and when Carter comes on at 7:20, the place goes STIR CRAZY. Not for Jigga the lukewarm support reaction normally saved for the warm-up act: he's even more ferocious than on Thursday, his band are on fire and every hit - from 'Big Pimping' and 'New York State Of Mind' and 'Give It To Me' to the closing 'Numb/Encore' - are treated like long-long friends by the crowd who we'd assumed had just come for Chris Martin. In fact, that last tune is treated like a stadium rock anthem, despite its success being due to a painful pact with Linkin Park - and that precisely because it now is.

At the end of the 1 hour show, Jay-Z picks out key members of the crowd to share his gratitude. The camera pans around and we see for the first time that there are scores of hip hop fans in the front of the stadium floor: home-made signs, even. And the man's reaction is worth the entry price alone: he can't quite believe the love. There are girls sporting Jay-Z t-shirts, there are guys who have sung along to every word and on top of this, there are 80,000 fans who have come to hear 'Yellow' and 'Fix You' and hell, they now like him too. It won't be long before he's bringing an all-star hip hop show to Wembley on his own.

How does it feel to be the winner of our DJ competition and being flown out to Ibiza to play the combined We Love and Space closing party?

Absolutely amazing, didn't believe it when I got the call. I thought it was a joke at first; it took a while to sink in. When I got in from work I checked the space closing line up and was proper made up, speechless with a massive smile. Thinking back to the first time I went to, We Love Sundays at Space in 2000 legendary, 22-hour parties dancing on the old terrace and how Space blew me away! The music and the people were so into it like I have never seen it before, such a cool international crowd. And now I get to play at Space one of the Best Clubs in the world. So so happy.

Why did you sign up to G-Shock’s Burlington Project and how do you feel the site is useful to up and coming producers and DJs?

Well basically a very good friend of mine told me about the comp (who's gonna be carrying my record bags!) And I just finished my latest mix and was quite happy with it so that was it; I didn't even have to think too much and uploaded it. I really like the track and mix charts, which is, are good promotional tools to get tracks and mixes heard. I've recently been listening to quite a few tracks on the producers chart, there's some really good unsigned music on there and even better exposure for producers when they get featured on the Burlington Sonica Podcast.

You had a lot of votes for your winning mix, do you have hundreds of friends or did you just pimp your mix online?

Of course hundreds of friends thanks to the world of Facebook and constant promoting and bugging people to vote. But it’s like having a house party, invite fifty people and only twenty come. So I got over one hundred votes so roughly 1 out 6 of my friends voted for me so big big thank you to all of them they helped massively. And to my mates who said they voted and never did it's OK, no worries.

What inspired the compilation of your mix?

Basically just tunes I was diggin in June, I wanted to start of deep but quite chunky and then get the groove going early and build up the mix from there.
Two days after I finished the mix I went to Cocoon in the Park and Steve Bug played 2 tunes off my mix then Luciano came on and played La Mezcla first time I heard it out everyone went mental. I was proper buzzing!

What can we expect from you musically on the closing party?

Uplifting Electro Bassline House …no only Joking!
Pretty much similar sounds to my mix "Prima Materia" and artists I'm diggin at the mo like Lauhaus, Alex Niggemann & Julien Chaptal. I've always loved the tribal sound so loving the Latin and percussive stuff of late with abit of soul n funk in it.

Which other DJ’s will you be checking out?

Steve Lawler, Tiefschwarz, Smokin Jo, 2manydjs, Paul Woolford, James Zabiela, Martin Buttrich, Jason Bye and Clive Henry and the list goes on its gonna be crazy! Oh and I nearly forgot Ryan O Gorman!

We are always looking for new ways to help DJs and producers promote their music online here at Burlington Project. What else would you like to see on our site that could help do this?

I think on the homepage on the left where you've got 3 charts top five mixes, tracks, networks maybe below that 2 more charts but for recently uploaded tracks and mixes to give them some exposure and a kick start.

You live in Leeds “The Ibiza of the North” in your words. There is indeed a very large contingency of Leeds ravers in Ibiza. Can we expect a big support crew in the Red Box for the closing party?

Leeds has a great scene and good clubbing community so I will b promoting like hell to get as many there as I can. So lets hope so!

What is your current top 10

1. Fiest - Fiesty 01
2. Marcin Czubala - Don't Need The Sun To Shine
3. Christian Mollini - Agua Ardiente
4. Anil Chawla - 209 (Julien Chaptal Remix)
5. Cascandy - One Flip
6. The Mingers - Emancipation Asad's Silverlining
7. Shonky - Carnage
8. Andre Lodemann - Where Are You Now?
9. Pablo Cahn - Tribute
10. Turntablerocker - Anyone (tiefschwarz remix)

INTERVIEW BY: Ryan O Gorman

Video genius and Mixmag Breaks Editor Mr No Hands has chosen a winner in the Mixmag video competition!(actually, he did this some time ago, but it's taken me a while to get the results up - apologies)

MR NO HANDS: I think this is best:

Tasteful, exciting and professional... Very good

Well done everyone who entered, the standard was excellent. I'll be in touch with prize details soon.

Autotuned R&B nightmare T-Pain has a new iTune App that can make anyone parrot the flaccid, unimaginative sound of R&B for the last few years. Surely this is the end?

Missed Creamfields this year?
Never mind, I caught some of it on high definition video with a sturdy little Kodak Zx1 micro camera

4pm and Jules kicks off the Mixmag Terrace with a secret jungle set

Mixmag DJ competition winner Adam Lewis takes over as Jules dashes off to Old Trafford to watch Arsenal get beat

Meanwhile Mixmag's own Nick Stevenson was earning us some booze over at the Jaegermeister stand

Friendly Fires closed the Mixmag Terrace, Saturday night

Dizzee went bonkers on Sunday

Before what seemed like every single person at the festival headed over to Mixmag for Deadmau5

Heddon Street, off Regent Street, has fitted out-side speakers throughout its pedestrianised back street turning the restaurant and bar district into a mini outdoor carnival every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Each week, weather permitting, DJ Rob Starbuck, who cut his teeth playing alongside Tongy and Norman Jay back in the day, plays a mix of jazz, laid back house and latiny vibes to the pre-club drinkers and diners.

When I popped down for a bite at Piccolino last night, Rob told me that since setting up the mini carnival, the restaurants and bars have seen a four fold increase in drinkers and diners. "The music can be heard from Regent Street so it beckons people in" he told me.

Although a noise restriction kicks in at 9pm, this archaic bi-law is set to be changed when the Heddon Street outdoor DJ set-up will continue next summer, hopefully late into the night.

There are eight restaurants and bars located in this London destination including the famous Absolut Ice Bar. The street was originally made famous by the David Bowie album cover “The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”.

For the time being you can catch Rob every Tuesday and Wednesday down Heddon Street til the end of September. I thoroughly recommend it if you're visiting London and fancy an al fresco pre-club drink.

Pete Tong - Mid Season Report - August 2009...

A funny thing happened to me the other day. I went for lunch at my favourite beach restaurant and someone had taken my reservation pretending to be me! I'm telling you this because its indicative of the type of summer we are having in Ibiza, everyone's 'at it', some for the better some for the worse. Ticket prices, drinks, guest lists, things are not always as they should be. This mildly frenzied state has been brought on by the effects of the 'credit crunch' summer. Picture the scene, everyone behind the tills waiting for the gold rush that never quite materialised....

Having said all that there have been some amazing parties, events and fresh excitement. We are mid August, mid season during our second Wonderland summer of Friday nights at Eden in San Antonio and we have had some breathtaking parties. Lady Gaga's appearance was inspired and brought another ground breaking event to a reviving San Antonio and got the club message out around the world.

The following week was even madder as all house attendance records at Eden were smashed as Radio 1's Essential Mix broadcast sets from Deadmau5 and Luciano whilst Zane Lowe & Mark Ronson tore up The Box and I had the pleasure of an epic closing set in the main room that went well after 7am. The quality on show was incredible. Around 5000 people managed to witness it in person (see clip below). Other Wonderland highlights for me have included sets from Nic Fanciulli, Dubfire, Layo & Bushwacka!, M.A.N.D.Y, Casper (in the Box) and our monthly residents Groove Armada.

Across the rest of the island, We Love @ Space had an incredible show with Grace Jones, Cocoon's first Monday of August was about as good a club night as I have ever seen, insane!! Ushuaia has been the Sunday afternoon spot on Playa D'en Bossa with Tania Vulcano, Sands next door has been great too playing host to two Wonderland beach parties... The Guetta's are ruling at Pacha on Thursdays with a night that has turned in to a celeb concert! and The Sweeds have started well on Mondays. Finally we did another Radio 1 party at Privilege on the Saturday with Cream, Over 7000 people danced the night away but poor old Eric Prydz got some horrible leg bruising when a confetti cannon went off behind him at the end of his set, I've seen the pictures he was in agony.

Looking forward to the rest of the season!

Pete Tong

I arrived in Ibiza on Tuesday night and came straight from the airport to Reclaim The Dancefloor at Eden. And I saw Fake Blood, who I have to say totally smashed it.

Then on Wednesday I had my first ever gig in the main room at Pacha for Erick Morillo at Subliminal: that was quite a different gig for me to play! It was a house set but when I walked into the booth, I couldn't speak for about half an hour: I was very, very scared. Pacha is like the terrace at Amnesia, everyone is looking at you and it's very intimidating. Also the people who go are different, it's very European and there are a lot of men in white linen. But I got together some deep stuff, some Dirtybird and Riva Starr and played tribal and then disco house at the end. Armand Van Helden came down, which was a bit scary too! And then Erick came into the booth and said 'I've been watching your whole set....' I'm really glad I didn't know that!

After a beach day on Thursday, Friday was Radio 1 live from Ibiza Rocks - really intense. Kid carnage. And that was the first time I did the Mash-Up there, normally it's at Mambo. Miike Snow killed it for me and Fake Blood totally got it. Then I went to Eden with Vernon Kaye and all the Radio 1 DJs - really enjoyed Luciano and Pete. I thought I would be in Zane and Mark Ronson's hip hop-flavoured room all night but I was really into it.

As for Saturday night, it was a case of house music at Privilege all night long with the amazing 2manyDJs on before me. So yeah, there have been lots of highlights!

No, that's not an express train lurching across the Creamfields campsite at midnight, it's someone wearing this retina scorching 6LED Energizer headlamp.

I can recommend it as the brightest and lightest on the market, perfect for avoiding potholes, sleeping drunks and treacherous guy ropes, but also for putting on the red LED setting and pretending to be the alien from the classic film Predator.

ratacatatacat

It's my 2nd summer in a row for Cream in Ibiza and I've been itching to get back onto the Amnesia Terrace for a long time. Had a crazy couple of weeks away in Canada, then straight home to move studios and off to Ibiza finally for the first time this year. It's a big night for me. Sasha has always been a huge influence especially when he converted me to House from D'n'B via his '95 Essential Mix! So to play after the man himself for the first time is a special thing.

I arrive early to leave my stuff at the club and meet with the Cream Ibiza crew, catching up with football transfer gossip and all the usual banter. I head back to the airport to pick up a friend and get back to the club around 3am, where Sasha has been doing what only he does best for an hour already. The place is looking good and it's a typical full on journey from the main man. Around 4am, he jokes with me about a punter asking him. "Paul, are you gonna play For An Angel?" (PvD was very much in the other room). Most DJ's would have got slightly offended but Sasha is in fits of laughter.

I take to the controls at 4.30 and the crowd had already thinned out slightly, maybe the wrong choice of shirt? Sadly even some great new music from Audiojack, Paul Woolford and also Funkagenda's new take on Paganini Trax 'Zoe' don't tempt the crowd to miss the first of the Amnesia busses that were due to leave. To be fair the island is quieter at the moment before the mid-end July rush, and maybe bank accounts are more carefully managed but I totally anticipate a more normal service to be resumed in the next week or two. Last year's residency for me was amazing and was consistently true to form every show I played there so I have no doubt we'll be on course for another big summer at Amnesia for Cream.

Next week I'm back with Chris Lake on 9th, who's in?!

Spoons
x

I was lucky enough to be invited to 'Showtime', the launch of the new Sony Ericsson W995 the other day, where I witnessed the incredible Salah. I won't try to describe what he does - you'll just have to watch the video

fast forward to the last twenty seconds to find out why that expression has replaced 'Great Zeus!"

There's a new club in town everybody. BoHo in Ibiza is the new club in San Antonio and last night I popped in for a little look-see.
The venue, by the Egg roundabout, used to be Extasis - a forgotten about venue a stones throw from Eden and Es Paradis. Now after a one million pound makeover from eight investors, the club is back in good shape and with notorious 'undewear and models' party, Swankys, opening there last night, I spotted plenty of 'good shapes' on the dancefloor. Everywhere I looked were body painted boobs, nipple tassles and, unfortunately, an equal amount of spray-on mens jeans.
But what of the club. The venue is a lot bigger than I preconceived. It's White curved walls give it the feel of a giant melting igloo - but in a good way. There are loads of nooks and crannies plus one of the investors (Dean Gaffmey no less) took pride in telling me it gets repainted everyday to keep it whiter than white "We've got two handymen doing 12 hour shifts" he told me "Im pouring money away" he laughed. Well Dean, if you've got it to pour I can think of worse things to blow it on that amazing looking clubs full of writhing half-naked beautiful people.

young electro up and comer Burns has had his new tune 'Turbo' mashed up with 80s breakdance classic 'Breakin' by fan Thomas Bachellier
the result is very entertaining
burns - turbo from Thomas Bachellier on Vimeo.

The International Music Summit took place in Ibiza last week.

A sort of boutique version of the Miami Winter Music Conference, with 400 delegates from the dance music industry, Pete Tong as one of the founders, and speakers including Richie Hawtin , the IMS also canvassed delegates on the following questions, which provide a good clue to how the dance music industry is thinking.

Do electronic artists need labels in the Beatport era?
Yes: 76.5%

Are hype charts still relevant to this business?
No: 53%

Is piracy still a major threat to your business?
Yes: 70.4%    

Is it possible to reverse the trend of "free" music to the consumer?
No:  62%

Do you now accept that 'mobile has become the social fabric of youth'
Yes: 80% 

Will the Spotify streaming model work for the electronic music industry?
Yes: 55%

Does radio ultimately still rule?
Yes: 65% 

Is good festival billing now critical to the success of a breaking artist?
Yes: 62% 

Should DJs aged over 50 be forced to retire from playing in nightclubs?
No: 63%

Do you feel electronic music is properly acknowledged by the wider music business?
No: 65% 

Is the electronic music scene more comfortable as an industry sitting outside of mainstream attention and focus?
Yes: 69%

Would you buy the new Cocoon release (for example) if it was only available only from CocaCola.com?
No:  58% 

Is the recession affecting your business?
Yes:  62%

Can you honestly say that you are in touch with the new generation of music lovers?
Yes:  70% 

Do you consider Ibiza the capital of global electronic music?
Yes / No: 50% split vote
Recount - Yes: 52%