‘A special place to visit’ – DJ Pete Tong looks ahead to OAT show

In a concert season which has seen names such as Alanis Morissette and Hollywood Vampires announced to perform in Scarborough, DJ Tong is always a huge draw.

Here, we speak to dance music pioneer Tong ahead of the show – and it’s a venue he’s looking forward to returning to, having entertained crowds there in 2018 and 2023.

“It’s always very welcoming, very warm, it’s a special place to visit,” he said.

“People are very happy to see us there.

“I think the way this show’s evolved, we started at the Royal Albert Hall, and then it was kind of an appointment and we never envisaged back in 2015 anything beyond that one show, but it went so well, that here we are 10 years later still doing them.

“For me the big differential between the winter tours and the summer is all about being outside and being in these amazing locations.

“I think Scarborough just being there by the beach makes it special, there‘s one or two other ones that we do that have that kind of proximity but just being in the open air is a completely different vibe to doing the indoor arenas.

“It suits my Dj’ing the way it is now.”

Tong is looking forward to playing to the 8,000-capacity venue which he says, in terms of audience numbers, is a really good fit.

“Anything under 10,000 – above 5, under 10 - is a great number because with the production you really, really connect with everyone in the audience and get everybody onside whereas sometimes when you’re playing at 20, 30, 40 thousand that’s not always the case.

“Some people are so far away from the stage or the sound doesn’t travel as far as we need it to, but particularly with Scarborough and that size, that’s the sweet spot really.”

So what can dance fans expect on the playlist?

Tong said that every year, different tracks are added to the catalogue but he has not yet decided what he’s going to play come summer.

“But it’ll be unique,” he said, “it won’t be the same as the last time we played or the time before that.

“We introduce a lot of new ideas in the winter on the arena tour and then cherry pick what we think will be most suitable for the open air shows and the summer shows and it partly depends on which guests fall on which show as well.”

Tong said Cafe del Mar and Insomnia are two of the tracks that have been in “every single show we’ve ever done."

He added: “We’ve got so many favourites we can’t always fit them in.

“Last Christmas we did Wish I Didn’t Miss You which is an Angie Stones song – not strictly speaking a house record but it got played as the closing record of the legendary Space Club in Ibiza by Carl Cox many years ago, so we added it into our show, Clementine Douglas sang it, and that was a real high point.

“I get off on that a lot when we add something that’s not necessarily what everyone knows in the audience but you still get an amazing reaction and it becomes a classic in our show.”

Any song in particular that’s guaranteed to get the party started?

“Insomnia, for sure. Sandstorm, the Darude tune, definitely makes people go crazy, Zombie Nation, but even things we’ve been doing for years like Where Love Lives by Alison Limerick, which had a moment again last year as it was used in the John Lewis advert.”

Tong has had a long and illustrious career, but pitfalls await even the most polished, as he recalled a time when things “went a bit Pete Tong”.

He organised a family break about 10 years ago after being really busy in Ibiza.

"When the kids and family are all with us in Ibiza, it doesn’t always feel like a holiday for them so we had this trip planned to Hvar in Croatia, and we had this lovely hotel we were going to and got everyone nice tickets on the plane,” he said.

“From Ibiza, you’ve got to go via Madrid or Barcelona or somewhere else often when you go to a place like Croatia, we cut it a bit fine, but everybody was ready, everybody was super excited – and then I forgot the passports.

"Everyone was so disappointed, I was just heartbroken.

"There was no other way to get there to make the trip work with all the other work I had so I had to pay for a private jet which they were very happy about but it was a lot more expensive!”

Ahead of the OAT’s busiest ever season – which has seen box office records smashed three months ahead of the first show – Tong knows the bar has been raised by some of the acts.

“I’ve got standards to set looking at that line-up,” he said.

“I look forward to seeing everyone in Scarborough at the end of June.”

Don’t miss Pete Tong Ibiza classics The Essential Orchestra at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Friday, June 26.

Tong will be joined by Danny Rampling for an unforgettable night celebrating the sound, spirit and energy of the White Isle.