In essence, this third record in the series is Tubular Bells meets Ibiza. I built a house with a studio on a clifftop in Iiza, and stayed two years soaking up the culture of the place - from crazy nights in huge clubs to ghost towns in winter, from dolphins to nude sunbathers.

Ibiza had the highest suicide rate in Europe before it became the ravers' favourite island - but it is still a crazy place and I had to leave earlier this year for my own sanity. Although I did partake of normal life, my abiding memory is of the post-club experience that left me and my car on top of a crash barrier and cost me my licence for a year. This island of extremes afforded me the most painful creative experience of my life.

I keep returning to Tubular Bells because, I suppose it's special for me. I feel I'm almost part of a band. You could say that it is a commercial exercise in the sense that this is my flagship. And for that reason, I feel it warrants an enormous event such as this premiere in Horse Guards Parade, in the same way that I performed Tubular Bells 2 in Edinburgh Castle.

These events are tremendous fun for me and, I hope, for every- one else. There'll be computer-controlled fountains by the side of the stage which will react to the music, flames made out of water, snakes, walls of water on which images will be projected.

Above all, Tubular Bells 3 is a she, whereas the first two were male. It's also the first Tubular Bells you can dance to. This is the real Mike Oldfield coming through, rather than some chap boasting about what a whizz-kid he is. I sweated blood for this record and nearly ended up in jail. What more can I tell you?

Mike Oldfield Tubular.net