Carl Cox and Louie Vega's Disco B2B at UNVRS Ibiza: House Music History Made

When Legends Play Disco: The UNVRS Set That Mattered

On 13 September, Carl Cox closed out another night at [UNVRS] Ibiza — but this one was different. Alongside house music legend Louie Vega, Cox steered the room deep into disco territory, pulling from the very wellspring that house music was built on. Not a set for the algorithm. A set for people who know why the genre exists.

What Cox Played and Why It Matters

Ahead of the show, Cox previewed his selection on Instagram, flagging Ashford & Simpson's 'Don't Cost You Nothin'' and Patrice Rushen's 'Forget Me Nots' as cornerstones of the set. For anyone who's traced house music back to its roots, that context is everything. Rushen's 'Forget Me Nots' has been a building block for producers and selectors since the early '80s — its bassline, its groove, its warmth all feed directly into what Chicago made in the mid-80s and what the genre became globally. When Cox plays it at UNVRS in 2026, he's not being nostalgic. He's reminding the room where the floor came from.

Louie Vega: The Right Partner for This Set

The choice of Louie Vega as b2b partner here isn't incidental. As one half of Masters At Work alongside Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez, Vega has spent three decades building the bridge between disco, Latin soul, and underground house. His instinct for groove — the way a record breathes, swings, and locks in — is essentially unmatched. Put him alongside Cox, whose technical control and crowd-reading are legendary, and you get a b2b that functions less as a competition and more as a conversation. Cox leads; Vega extends. Then the reverse. The set reportedly ran deep into the night, building and releasing in the way only two veterans can manage without calculation.

Cox's UNVRS Residency in Full

The 13 September show was the latest instalment in a residency that runs through 4 October at UNVRS Ibiza. The guest list has been consistently strong — Joseph Capriati, The Martinez Brothers, Chris Stassy, Dennis Cruz, Nicole Moudaber, WhoMadeWho — and the format gives Cox space to shape the night around each pairing rather than simply switching in a second DJ. Earlier in the season, David Guetta joined Cox for a b2b, a pairing that landed very differently in terms of genre territory. The Louie Vega night pulled the series back to its axis.

2026 Has Been a Big Year for Cox

Cox received an OBE for services to music in the King's birthday honours earlier this year — a recognition that landed broadly across the industry, given how thoroughly he has shaped club culture across four decades. He also visited Buckingham Palace for the 50th anniversary of The King's Trust, the organisation that gave him a grant at 24 and helped launch his career. Ranking 25th in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs 2025, Cox remains active on multiple continents with no sign of pace dropping. The UNVRS residency is one thread in a very full season.

Disco as the Root System

Sets like this matter beyond the people in the room. They're a reminder that tech house and minimal didn't emerge from nowhere — they came from disco, from soul, from the specific physical experience of standing on a floor and feeling a record push through a soundsystem. When Cox and Vega reach for Ashford & Simpson or Patrice Rushen, they're not digging for cred. They're showing the genealogy. The floor responds because the music genuinely has hold of something: that rhythmic tension, the swing in the percussion, the way a good groove leaves room for the body to do the rest. That's what house was always about. And it's what the best sets still are.