From the moment you sign in, you know this hotel is like no other. For there on the registration form, instead of a place for your signature, you are breezily requested to add your 'autograph'.

Which makes sense once you look around. If you've been paying attention, the vibe begins much earlier. Like when you pass between a band of dumpy Balinese-god shaped stone musicians flanking the stairs as you enter. Or the squat drum-shaped pillars, complete with concrete braid, and the ten metre guitar at the entrance.

And then, as if you were in any doubt, there is Center Stage, the hub of the Hard Rock Hotel Bali, and the walls of the bar area surrounding it, thick with memorabilia. Here, there's Angus Young's autographed guitar; there, Jimi Hendrix's suede coat, circa 1968 in a glass case; and dozens and dozens of gold records - from the Beatles, John Lennon and many more – covering the walls.

In the same glass cases rubbing shoulders with Jimi's gear, there is Madonna's pointedly famous black bra as worn on her Blond Ambition tour in 1990, Prince's orange jacket from his Sign o' the Times tour in 1987, as well as one of Elton John's one-off suits, and a Beatles' outfit, cap included. In fact anyone who is anyone in the rock scene has donated, or had donated on their behalf, something to this shrine to R&R.

There are several Hard Rock Hotels around the world now, but this was the second one (the first in Asia and just a turnstile away from the merchandising strip of Kuta) and it's still going strong three years later. The days I am there, Wendy Matthews appears with her two backing singers, high on Center Stage which is perched over the square central bar area. The place is packed and she belts it out to the Aussie-Indonesian crowd and they respond with whistles and applause.

Inevitably this place is themed to the max - guitar-shaped handles on the Hard Rock Store, bar stools shaped like drums, that sort of thing. In my room, an aluminium mock-tambourine holds my amenities, and a note from the management tells me the price of it if I can't resist taking it as a souveniring. Yet I am encouraged to keep the Hard Rock beach bag (it even has 'stolen from the Hard Rock Hotel Bali' printed on it) so of course I do.

While many of the guests are happy enough to soak up the non-stop rock music in the bar area and take in the evening performances, those who fancy their talent can also get wired for sound in the Boom Box bunker, a state of the art recording studio, and even cut their own CD - or simply take a mike in the karaoke rooms.

The music theme even extends to the food. Above the outdoor Cabana Club, huge statues of the Beatles spell out HELP in semaphore, and the name of the Gamelon restaurant of course pays homage to Bali's own musical instrument.

But it's not all rock and roll. The background music at the spa is cool and relaxing as guests are primped and pruned and pummeled. The gym has all the things you want, and there is always outdoor exercise too - beach volleyball, kayak racing, scuba diving and the interestingly named horizontal bungy - for the hotel grounds are bordered by sparkling Kuta Beach.

Bali, just six hours by air from Sydney, is often called 'the island of the gods' and a supernatural presence is often felt here, so maybe it is appropriate that the kings and queens of R&R, legends in their own lifetimes, should get their homage here too.

'Some come to remember, some come to forget' says the brochure, and it seems to be the slogan of this place. Both are so easy as you relax at the bar in the presence of the spirits of Jimi and Elton and Madonna and Elvis - and of course the boys from Liverpool. The hard part is leaving.

 - Sally Hammond

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