Murder On The Dance Floor

"You better not steal the moves, DJ, gonna burn this God damn house right down." Well, let's not get carried away. There will be no murder and no burning of houses down, but stealing of moves, DJ? Sort of, yes.

Sophie Ellis Bextor would be rather passé now for the dance floors, streets or terraces of Magalluf, but Pitbull or Jessie J would not be. Indeed, they aren't. They are just two artists who could be on their way this coming summer to Magalluf, where dancing will be on terraces and streets as well as on floors.

There won't be stealing of moves so much as competitive moves, and these moves - dance and others - are going to come about largely as a result of Mallorca Rocks.

You may recall there having been a spot of bother surrounding Mallorca Rocks. The association representing tourist business, Acotur, was threatening various actions against the hotel and especially against Calvià town hall because of questions over whether the hotel was licensed to stage its music concerts. The threats went away when the regional government's tourism ministry discovered that it was able to grant the required licence when it had previously said that it was unable to.

Mallorca Rocks has been highly successful. The hotel itself has enjoyed pretty much full occupancy and the concerts have been well patronised. The success, due in no small part to a concert schedule replete with British dance acts, has not gone unnoticed. Other businesses were unhappy about this success, but they were ultimately unable to prevent it. So rather than try to beat it, they are going to join it, and then try and beat it.

Everyone knew which businesses were behind the opposition to Mallorca Rocks that was channelled through Acotur. If they didn't, they would now have a pretty good idea, as BCM plans staging up to nine concerts of its own in its "square", and Pitbull and Jessie J are a couple of the acts being talked about as possibles.

Objections to Mallorca Rocks were couched in technical terms, as with the correct licence and on health and safety grounds, but at the heart of the objections was the competition that the hotel brought. The director of Grupo Cursach, of which BCM is a part, has said that the concerts will be in response to hotels which have "changed the balance" in Magalluf.

Mallorca Rocks did change the balance, because it introduced new competition. There were certainly question marks over whether the hotel should have been staging what are "secondary activities", but these activities are going to be sanctioned once and for all in the government's new tourism law. There will be no more question marks, and their removal opens the way up to not just a more competitive market but also to the making of Magalluf as far, far more of a club and dance resort than it has been.

BCM isn't the only operation planning on or considering concerts or DJ events. Another hotel chain, Marina, has converted its Barracuda hotel into a themed party hotel, even going so far as to re-do its rooms in a "fun" style and with singles (young singles) in mind. DJ events are on the cards for this year. Meliá's rebranded Sol Wave House, which features two surf wave machines from Wave House, is also likely to stage concerts.

Mallorca Rocks may have upset some businesses, but by changing the balance it has created competition that is now fighting back, and in so doing the resort is going to catch a wave of a new explosion in popularity. It will be a popularity that doubtless some will scorn, as it is youthful popularity, but it is popularity nonetheless that other resorts would be only too delighted to share.

Magalluf, for all its at-times bad reputation, represents a changing face of Mallorca, one that is following more of an Ibiza line, which is ironic as Ibiza has sought to shed its party reputation. Murder on the dance floor there will not be. It's going to be altogether happier than this, but one thing is for sure, there is going to also be some intense competition. If this means more concerts and bigger names, it can only be positive. The God damn house is going to be burned down right enough.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.