David Guetta turns Vélez-Málaga into Andalusian dance music capital

Dreambeach Costa del Sol turned Vélez-Málaga into a veritable all-night rave on Friday 31 July and Saturday 1 August, attracting thousands of young and not so young fans of EDM (electronic dance music) “marking the debut of a venue specifically designed to offer a more comfortable, accessible and immersive experience for the audience”, according to the organisers.

As well as four stages offering techno and hard techno to drum and bass and breakbeat, there was something for everyone. The venue on the town’s Prado del Rey fairground next to El Ingenio shopping centre also offered food and drink zones, an illuminated Ferris wheel, tattoo areas and a technical production that accompanied the slick, professional organisation that Vélez-Málaga has come to expect of the major music festivals it has hosted over the years.

Musically, the first noght offered a journey through some of the most outstanding acts on the international EDM scene with big names such as British duo Sasha & John Digweed, Swedish DJ Eric Prydz who provided 90-minutes of pure club anthems (although disappointingly did not play his classic Call on Me, which he did revive in 2025 having refused to play it during his sets for many years), Pole Position and Imbermind Live, Save The Rave, Hedex and Bou were among many others on night one of the two-day event.

Organisers of the festival, which has held previous editions in Almeria before moving to the eastern Costa del Sol town for the first time this year, said, “The audience’s response confirmed that moving the festival to Vélez-Málaga was the right decision, in this first outing which was marked by a fantastic atmosphere throughout the night and a large turnout of attendees who were able to enjoy a comfortable, seamless experience, fully adapted to the growth Dreambeach is undergoing in this new phase.”

The biggest name of Saturday night was undoubtedly French superstar DJ David Guetta with his massive Monolith audiovisual show, as part of his tour. Guetta started with Titanium, one of his most iconic tracks as the stunning audiovisual show got under way.

Classic after classic followed with the DJ delighting even those of us who are old enough to remember some of the music the first time round: his 2022 remix of Satisfaction by Benny Benassi and The Biz from 2002, Prodigy No Good Start the Dance from 1994, Fedde Le Grand’s Put your hands up for Detroit from 2006, Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation from 1999 and even a mix of Forever Young by German synth-pop band Alphaville, released in September 1984.

Towards the end the unmistakable voice of Cher and her 1998 dance hit Believe accompanied the lightshow with everyone, young and not so young, singing along. He was engaging, spoke to the crowd (in English) and said towards the end of his 90-minute set that he had been DJ since was 14. Now at 58, let’s hope he’s DJing into his 60s because he didn’t look like he was going anywhere soon. He was clearly enjoying himself, the crowd were too and in the words of Benny Benassi, the “satisfaction” was evident among the 'dreamers'.

Artists such as Mathame, Korolova, Hannah Wants, Joyse, Brennan Heart, Nightmre and Eptic also performed into the small hours across the four stages of the festival while Blackworks transformed the Dreams Tent into one of the main hubs for fans of hard techno, with sets from Oguz and SNTS among others.

As we walked past the Loop stage on our way out, the unmissable high-pitch, ear-splitting screech of Josh Wink’s Higher state of Consciousness (1995) was being building the crowd and as we made our way home I could identify other anthems from my clubbing days of the mid-90s and early 2000s. Some of them might be 30 years old or more but the club classics are timeless. My head wanted to stay but my body was telling me that it hasn’t aged as well as some of those club classics.

Organisers said this weekend’s festival “marks the start of a new chapter for Dreambeach” and added, “The opening of the new venue has enabled the festival to continue growing without compromising the identity that has made it one of the leading names in electronic music in Spain, opening a new chapter with its sights set on the future and on further establishing Vélez-Málaga as one of the Mediterranean’s major electronic music capitals on the summer calendar.” From this old clubber, roll on next summer!