DPetey81
Active Member
Ok, I've been back for a few days now, so I guess I am overdue for a bit of a review. I may add details in the next few days as they come to me. I don't plan on going all that deep with it, but we'll see where it goes. Also, I apologize ahead of time for not proof reading this; I hope it's not too difficult to read.
The focus of my review will be on the club nights, as that was the majority of my trip. I had all the plans in the world of experiencing adventurous, fun-filled afternoons all over the island of Ibiza, but Mother Nature did not wish to cooperate. The moment my plane set down on the island, it started to rain. This would turn out to be a sign of things to come over the next 11 days. The majority of my daylight hours can be summarized as follows: Chill for a bit after the club, shower, sleep, wake up, look outside, see that it is cloudy/rainy, sleep a few more hours, wake up hungry, start the evening. I only made it to the beach one day, and the hotel pool one other. I would have liked to explore the island more and had hoped to make it to a number of the beaches, as well as spend a few days hopping around the more popular daytime parties (BoraBora, Ushaia, etc.). My failure in doing so, however, is currently the main motivating factor in returning next year. I digress, though, as I surely wasn't going to allow a few clouds hamstring my first ever trip to Ibiza.
Day One: Monday, September 14 - Cocoon
As I mentioned, rain and clouds dominated the forecast for the entirety of my trip, and the first day was no exception. I think it also must be mentioned that I may have over extended myself the weekend prior to arriving in Ibiza. I used it to visit London for the first time and, while I absolutely loved the city, I spared no amount of energy experiencing it to the fullest. I tend to not drink nearly as much as I used to, but it seems I took the old adage "When in Rome" very literally, and the libations flowed freely throughout London the entire weekend, including right up until I left for the airport in the wee hours of Monday morning. This was on top of an already full week spent galivanting around New York City after Electric Zoo Festival. In any case, I arrived in Ibiza already running on empty, which would lead to me feeling under the weather for the first half of my stay on the island. This was only a minor obstacle, and could have easily been avoided by taking better care of myself leading up to my arrival. I will only mention it once, partially as a way of scolding myself for ignoring common sense.
Anyway, checked into the hotel Mitjorn in San An and took a much needed nap to prepare for the evening. Also, my roomate's luggage had been lost by the airlines as he connected flights on his way to Ibiza. We were very hopeful that the issue would get resolved before heading out for the evening and, luckily, his bags arrived at the airport early in the evening. This was a headache that we were happy to get resolved.
Walked into the Cocoon main room as Nick Curly was warming the crowd up. Decent tunes, but wanted to spend some time checking out the club. Walked around for a bit in both rooms before settling back in the main room in anticipation of Sven Vath. Sven finally came on and the crowd was definitely tuned in. His set progressed nicely and, bofore too long, he was dropping bomb after bomb on the dance floor. It was impressive to see a dj that still exclusively used vinyl. I was thoroughly satisfied before ducking out just a little early to beat the crowds to the bus. This was a great way to start the trip. I got to experience Amnesia and Vath for the first time, and made it back to the hotel early enough to rest up for day two.
Day Two: Tuesday, September 15 - Armada
More rain, lots of relaxation....
Back to Amnesia for round 2. The techno of the previous evening was a good warm up, but I was quite excited for this particular evening because trance will always own my soul. I wanted to get to the club a little earlier than usual because I was interested in how Markus' set would progress through the evening. It was advertised as a 7 hour set, but I personally have no proof as to when he started. In any case, he was on when we arrived; I believe it was maybe 12:30 or so?? He was definitely keeping it light early on as the main room began to fill up. If I remember correctly, it was around 2:30 or so when he really picked it up a notch, and it was a terrific night of music from there on out. I couldn't bring myself to stop moving for the last 3+ hours, which I had expected going in. I was a little put off when the music ended around 6:35, but I came to find out in future visits, that this was the norm for Amnesia. Still, I was hoping for an encore or two because I was not quite ready to stop sweating yet. I guess I can't complain too much, though, because this was the night I was most looking forward to, and he didn't let me down.
Day Three: Wednesday, September 16 - Subliminal
My roomate left to check out a soccer match in Milan. The sun was actually shining so I took the opportunity to head down to the beach in San An. I didn't stay out too long but, had I known what weather was to come, I would have spent the entire day out there. As it was, I took a short nap in the room before making the trek over to Playa to check it out. I hopped around to a few bars and ended up eating a pretty decent dinner at a place across from Bora Bora.
From there, I caught a pretty late bus over to Pacha. Once again, it began pouring rain just before arriving at the club. It was late enough, though, that there was no line and I basically ran directly in. I immediately caught the set times posted near the entrance, which I thought was nice. I strolled into the main room in the middle of Dirty South doing his thing. Pretty much what I expected from him, some really good mashups and dirty basslines. On the main floor, I met up with some fellow Americans from the Spotlight forums. They had arrived that day, and we would end up kicking it at most of the rest of the parties the rest of the way. At this point in time, however, I was a little pre-occupied with checking out the rest of the club. The most obvious thing I noticed was the amount of VIP area spread throughout the main room. Now, I have no problem with VIP areas in clubs. I understand what a cash cow they can be, but Pacha really does stretch this concept to the limit. There is just soooo much unused space in that club. Anyway, I explored a litte further to find quite a few nice areas in the club. First, there was the "funky house" room upstairs, which I shall return to here shortly. Then, I ventured out towards the patio area which I was suprised to find covering the entire side of the building. Had it not been raining, this would have been even more impressive. Making my way back inside, I found the upstairs to the right of the dj booth to be a nice "getaway" as well. It provided a great view of the dj and main floor. I ended up back in the thick of things as Morillo came on. After a few songs, though, I was compelled to make another trek around the venue. This time around, though, I got stuck for quite some time in the funky house room. The groovy style of house music being spun up there seemed to really be what I was in the mood for at the time. Not to mention the ample seating, bar service, and restrooms. I met some cool people up there, and found myself back there quite often during the course of the evening. I did spend my fair share of time back on the main floor, too. I have actually become a fan of Morillo just over the past couple years, and have seen him tear it on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. I didn't feel like his set had any direction. There were some tracks that got me moving, but for every one of those, there were two or three that I wasn't feeling. On top of that, I think he really went overboard with turning the music down for sing alongs and cranking the highs up for large portions of songs. In fact, I thought the sound was especially bad all night, and I think my ears are still ringing from it, haha. Luckily, every time I got sick of the main room, the house room upstairs was there to save the night. I spent a lot of time dancing, relaxing, and mingling up there, taking time here and there to see what Morillo was dropping. I did end up spending the last hour or so downstairs as he finished up. It was nice to see him play right up until 7, unlike Amnesia the night before. All in all, it was a good night. Even though I thought it was one of the worst Morillo sets I've heard, house music still really hit the spot. I am really torn about Pacha as a venue. I think it has plenty of good qualities to overshadow the pompous attitude that comes with putting so much emphasis on VIP area.
As it turns out, staying til the very end didn't exactly benefit me. I seemed to have missed the last disco bus towards San An, so for a while I played the part of stupid lost American in Eivissa. I eventually ended up making my way over to the main bus stop in town and caught a local bus towards San An. There was something about sharing a bus with mostly parents and kids on their way to school that made me feel a little out of place, haha. I actually spent a portion of the ride playing peekaboo with one little girl. I imagine that she was quite a brave little soul, as she didn't seem genuinely scared by my appearance, which by this point in time had to have resembled some sort of zombie like creature.
Day Four: Thursday, September 17 - Cream
I awoke early afternoon as my roomate returned from his side trip. Perfect timing to hit up the beach again, right??? Wrong. Clouds. Rain. Again.
After some nice little pre-partying, we were off to Amnesia for a third time. The lineup on this night promised to deliver some blissful trance. As we walked in, Sander van Doorn already had the crowd worked up and I knew it was going to be a good night. We had just gotten into the groove when none other than Ferry Corsten took to the decks. On a sidenote, I believe Ferry Corsten to be the best dj on the planet right now. Obviously, I have a preference towards trance, but even besides that, I cannot come up with anybody better. His mixing and track selection are always spot on. His own productions, new and old, never fail to rock dance floors. I have never seen him have an off night, and this wasn't going to be the first. Between him and Eddie Halliwell, the next few hours of music, imo, would be the best of the entire trip. JO'C came on and did a nice job closing out the evening. Riding the high of a great trance night, I could've walked back to San An. Thankfully, we chose not to, haha.
Day Five: Friday, September 18 - Pure Pacha
The clouds finally cleared up by late afternoon, and we took the opportunity to try and catch a sunset. We found a good spot at Cafe del Mar, ordered some Sangria, and settled in for the show. As the sun neared the horizon, the horizon itself filled with more clouds. Needless to say, the sunset left a lot to be desired. The Sangria, on the other hand, was delicious. After the sunset, we were ready to eat. Now, allow me to go off on a tangent for a moment. I am not a chemist, nor will I ever be. Therefore, I do not know the specific ingredients in certain drugs and substances. For example, I had previously been unaware of what exactly goes into a tranqulizer dart or sleeping pill. After this particular day in San Antoni, I can now say with much certainty, that those items are obviously made up of red wine sangria and lasagna.
We lethargically awoke in the hotel as the clock approached midnight. We reluctantly got ready and made our way to Pacha, figuring that Sander K could shake us out of our stuper. We were wrong. His so-called "musical journey" (which is what he kept calling it on the microphone), lacked any sort of underlying theme. He was all over the spectrum as far as timeline, genre, bpm, etc. Now, in all fairness, he really started to pick things up when Darren Emerson showed up and they started tag teaming back and forth. In fact, the last tune that he played solo was absolutely massive. Even then, though, Sander seemed very distracted with champagne toasts and man hugs in the booth, rather than dj'ing. Also adding to the vibe, or lack therof, was the crowd. I mentioned above what I thought about the VIP area on my visit for subliminal. The difference, though, is that on Wednesday the people in those areas were actually dancing and into it. On this night, however, it was quite the opposite. It was one of the oldest crowds I've ever seen at a club, which wouldn't be a problem, except that they were not dancing. I'm not sure most of the people were even listening to the music. So we decided to leave about midway through the tag team set. I don't mean to say that the night was a total waste, because I did enjoy some of the tunes played, but if I had to do it all over again, we would've just taken it easy and stayed local.
Day Six: Saturday, September 19 - Hed Kandi
Once again, my roomate took a journey abroad, this time for a Coldplay concert in London. I don't remember exactly, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say that it was cloudy and windy again this day. The plan was to meet up with some Spotlighters and go to Hed Kandi at Space. Originally, in fact, I believe this was my idea. As the day rolled on, though, I was becoming a little reluctant. Coming off the heals of a rather disappointing night at Pacha, I did not want a repeat. This day also marked halfway point of my Ibiza adventure. I kept thinking, "What better time to rest up for a wild second half". I could recharge the batteries, rest up, and completely kick what was left of a nagging sickness that had been bothering me earlier in the week. In addition, I had no idea what to expect from Hed Kandi. I had prevously searched online for vids and stuff regarding that night, but I couldn't pinpoint the type of music, crowd, vibe, and so on. The only thing that kept creeping into my head was something I read about the vibe at these parties. I couldn't even remember what it was, except that it was positive. Also, I really wanted to check out Space. And so............... onward to Playa.
We arrived fairly early to Space, if I remember right. The music was a bit of old school diva house and it progressed from there to some Ibiza classics and on into a little bit of everything. This was more of what I would call a musical journey, as the djs did a great job of flowing from one decade/genre to another. It seemed to all tie together pretty well. As the room filled up, I noticed that it was quite a nice crowd. Good looking, energetic, fun, so on and so forth. As the music picked up, so did the crowd and energy level. In no time at all, the party was in full swing. It is actually a little bit diffucult to describe so I can't go into much detail, except to say that we danced a lot, enjoyed the music, and just had an overall good time. This was easily the surprise of the entire trip for me.
Day Seven: Sunday, September 20 - Judgement
Cloudy.
I was pretty excited about this night, also. Not only did the lineup look good for Eden, but it was nice knowing that the party was right down the road. We met up with everybody at the pre-party right across the street from Eden. Judge Jules and Richard Durand showed up to play at the bar, which was cool. It definitely got the crowd going, and you could tell it was gonna be a busy night at the club. After some drinks and gab, we strolled over to Eden.
They had the set times posted, and we walked in just as Marco V hit the decks. I thought he would get a later time slot, but I had to get into the groove fast since he was the man I came to see. The crowd was already rocking, and Marco V kept it going with his usual brand of tech trance/house. I enjoyed his set from start to finish. Judge Jules came on next. He showed a lot of energy and I give him props for developing this night that has stuck around in Ibiza. With that said, I know that he has been around and paid his dues in the industry, but I just don't get it. He played at a very high bpm, which I can appreciate, but it went a little too far when he threw some drum n bass into the mix. I love me some DnB, but it just didn't fit. Overall, his set just completely killed the mood for me. There were some good spots, but those were overshadowed by the constantl voice overs saying "Judgement Sundays, make some noise!!!" and whatever else. I hope somebody can back my opinion that these are extremely annoying. Well, on the other hand, maybe not.... the crowd seemed to love every minute of it, so I guess he was doing something right. In any case, I was still having a good time and was looking forward to Richard Durand, who came on next. Durand also threw in a couple cheesy tracks here and there, but for the most part he came with the hard stuff that I expected to hear. It was a very enjoyable set, and he looked like he was having a great time up there. Next up was Lisa Lashes, who I'd never seen before. This was probably the set of the night for me. She brought her A game, and had the crowd loving every minute of it. I haven't been out to see more than a handful of femal djs before, and I commented a few times on how strange it looked to me, seeing this short little ball of energy behind the decks. She was great. I know she had the attention of the guys who were up close to the booth. They kept showing her what I am sure were borderline racy comments from their cell phones. She would take a look at one, blush, shake her head, and turn away. It was quite funny to watch, all the while rocking out to her set. As her set progressed, it transitioned into more and more rave style hard house. I was really digging it. It took me waaaaay back, lol. The crowd at Eden was quite a bit different from anywhere else, but everybody was having fun and it was a good night overall.
Day Eight: Monday, September 21 - Tiesto
It seems like we may have done something during the day, but at this point I just can't remember.
We had actually thrown around the idea of doing something other than Tiesto on this night. Maybe another club, bar hopping, hitting up Playa, etc. The consensus for a while now has been that time has passed Tiesto by, and that he is mainly after paychecks nowadays. Still, I figured that his closing party, in the biggest club in the world, on the coolest island in the world, would be the place to catch him if anywhere at all. So, after dinner and drinks, we hopped aboard the Privilege bus from outside of Bar M. Even after being to Amnesia, Space, Pacha, and Eden, the loudest place I encountered during this trip was the bus on the way to Privilege, haha. Seriously, it was packed and this crowd was hype for Tiesto.
Once inside Privilege, I had a look around and, yes, it certainly is big. I had seen the pool in vids and pics of the place, and yet it still looked out of place a bit. Can anybody tell me if they actually use it during the season??? Anyway, our timing couldn't have been better, because Tiesto came on after about a half hour. The first couple hours consisited of a fair amount of cheese, which was to be expected from the modern day Tiesto. After that, though, I really enjoyed it. Some of his classics sprinkled here and there among what I thought was a pretty good collection of trance. Adding to the experience was the incredible production setup. The lighting and effects were exceptional. The sound was really good, too. We found a good spot up on the front dance floor. It was really crowded for a while, but a lot of people must've left around 4 or 4:30 because a bunch of space opened up and it became quite comfortable. Stayed until the end, and even though his set didn't approach the advertised 6 hours (4.5 I believe), it was still a lot of fun inside the world's largest club.
Day Nine: Tuesday, September 22 - Cox
There was a rough plan on this day to meet up with people over in San An Bay to celebrate a fellow Spotlighter's b-day. Most of the group never made it over from Playa, so those plans fell apart in a hurry. Our apologies to the young lady at Pink Panther who was expecting us. In retrospect, it was a flawed plan anyway, since people were going to trek over from Playa, even though we were all planning on going to Space that night. Oh well, live and learn, I guess. A good meal was still enjoyed in the bay before heading out. We arrived in Playa and met up with the rest of the group near their hotel. After some drinks and stuff, it was time for Carl Cox at Space.
This night was also at the top of my list when I embarked on my holiday. I have been a fan of Carl Cox for a very long time, listening to his radio show for I don't know how long now. When I think of Ibiza, his name is the first that always pops into my head because of his legendary status at Space. I had seen him several times at festivals, outdoor parties, and such, but I can't remember ever seeing him inside a club. My excitement only increased when I read on the flyer that he would be doing an extended set for the closing party. I was honestly as giddy as a schoolgirl as we walked towards the club. Once inside, we grabbed a quick drink and headed directly into the room where Cox was playing. The party was insane and the music was banging from the start. I could feel the energy of the crowd immediately. We would later find out that he had already been on the decks since midnight. We found our spot and I don't think any of us moved for more than a drink or the toilet the entire night. It was one massive tune after another after another, quite a few of which I don't think I'd even heard before. It was fantastic. The crowd, the vibe, the club, and especially the tunes. I knew that Mr Cox would not let us down, and he exceeded my expectations by a mile. The best part about the entire evening is that when 6:30 rolled around, and Cox said his thanks and good byes, he still dropped another four or five songs. Shortly after 7, he finished up, but I think the crowd wanted another 7 hours out of him. I know I did!
Day Ten: Wednesday, September 23 - Meganite
Well, after the excitement of Space and Carl Cox, we felt that a little rest was needed. To assist with the relaxation we came up with the brilliant idea of taking some sort of sleeping pill. It seemed like a good idea at the time, with such messed up sleeping patterns and such. Well, long story short, the first sunny day in what seemed like years was wasted in bed. Lesson learned. We did manage to get ourselves up in order to go enjoy a nice dinner down at the sunset bars. No more did we get down there, though, and the horizon filled up with clouds. Despite the lack of a pristine sunset, the meal and ambience was just what we needed. Oh, and the sangria, haha. It also was the perfect setting to contemplate the upcoming evening. Once again, at first thought, it seemed like a good night to take it easy and stay local. I took issue with this, however, for a couple reasons. First off, I saw no reason to save any energy with only two nights left on the island, especially since I wanted to complete the 11 night marathon. Also, it's not like there was absolutely nothing going on. There were still a few decent parties to pick from. Subliminal was brought up as an option, and it would have been an easy choice had I not attended the week before and been disappointed with Morillo. I did think, though, that it might be worth going for Dubfire. On the other hand, there was Meganite. I was not all that excited about this party, but it did offer a few intriguing aspects. I knew the music would be a little different than anything I'd heard up until that point during the trip. Also, it was the closing party and would give the opportunity to check out Priviledge on a non-Tiesto evening. In addition, Privilege was a bit closer and a little cheaper. So, in no hurry at all, we eventually congregated at the hotel before heading out. It was pretty late already, as we hopped over to Bar M to pick up tickets. This turned out to be a little more of a struggle than we anticipated. The people at Bar M tried to tell us that Privilege was closed for the season and the closing party was the previous week. This certainly seemed to contradict the sign outside the bar that had the closing party listed for 35 Euros. Hmmmm. Perplexed, we hopped next door to Itaca, where the bartender served us up three tickets to Privilege......... and only 15 euros each. Feeling pretty good about the money we had just saved, we headed out, intending to catch a taxi. On our way, we noticed the Privilege bus about to depart across the road. It was the last one to leave that evening and we made it just in time.
Once inside the club, it was interesting to take note of the changes made compared to Tiesto. They did a fine job of shrinking the club to accomodate a smaller party. The stage for Tiesto was covered, with a screen in front of where he played. Most of the upstairs areas were closed, along with the very back of the club. As for the music, I was pleasantly suprised. I think Adam Beyer was spinning as we entered. His sound was pretty good as he warmed the crowd up for Mauro Picotto. It had me wishing that I had made it to DEMF earlier this year. Picotto followed him with his normal brand of hard thumping techno and prog. The crowd, although small, was in good spirits and enjoying themselves, as techno crowds usually do. We eventually made our way over to the side room, luckily in time for a little of Paco Osuna. I thought maybe he'd get the main room along with Picotto and company. In any case, I enjoyed what I heard from him and was glad that we caught the end of his set. I really liked the side room, but our time in their was short lived. It was extremely hot and had a peculiar aroma floating about. I would have stayed in there longer, but the little time we did spend in there, although enjoyable, sent me down the road of certain dehydration. Back out in the main room Picotto was still going strong. He ended up tag teaming with another guy - not sure who - for quite a while. Eventually, as I expected, the music became a tad repetitive and we decided to head out around 6:30. All in all, I was satisfied with the evening. We didn't go crazy, but we still went out, had a good time, and spent very little money in doing so. Depending on the lineup, I would maybe be likely to skip this party on future trips to the island, but I'm still glad I went this time around.
Day Eleven: Thursday, September 24 - Cream
Sunny and awake... Holy ****! Well, I really can't say we made the most of the sun, but an effort was made. I didn't want to hike down to the beach, so we just relaxed down by the hotel pool for a bit. It was more of a moral victory than anything, as I didn't spend enough time down there to absorb much sun. The real accomplishment came a few hours later down at the sunset bars. The group made it over from Playa and we relaxed over drinks at Cafe Mambo. The sunset was the best one of the trip, and not a moment to soon, haha. Somehow, sangria also made another appearance as a large crowd gathered in anticipation of David Guetta playing his pre-party there. On a sidenote, it is absolutely insane how popular that guy has become in such a short span of time. Seriously, I think he might be the most popular dj going right now. I heard that the Thursday before, Pacha sold out?!?! I mean, wow..... So anyway, we stayed for about two songs and left to embark on the evening.
Amnesia filled up rather quickly as we settled in for Cream:Round #2. I had fairly low expectations for the evening, mainly looking forward to Eddie Halliwell again. Whoever was warming up the crowd was doing a good job, and the PVD came on to the delight of the crowd. A good majority of his set definitely took me back to some past experiences with PVD years ago. It was hard, driving trance that barely gave you time to catch your breath. Not too bad at all. It was obviously good enough, along with a dense crowd to navigate, to keep me in the main room, though I had intended on catching some of Sasha's set in the Terrace. Eddie came on next and played a lot of the same songs from a week earlier. Still, it was enjoyable, though extremely short as he didn't even close out the night. Overall, it was not anywhere near the best night in Ibiza, but since it was my last, I made a point to soak it all up and enjoy myself. The bouncers ushered us out and it was time to say our goodbyes, as my flight was quickly approaching.
Friday
I flew off the island just after 10:00. It looked like it was going to be a nice day.
8)
Summary
Such a great time on my long overdue first trip to Ibiza. I met a lot of great people, heard a lot of great music, and gathered a lot of great memories that will last a lifetime. I was only on the island for a short time before I had already started thinking about a return visit, haha. The only thing I've ever experienced that compares is the week of Winter Music Conference in Miami. It compares so similarly, in fact, that I plan on doing a thread involving a full comparison of the two, just to analyze how they stack up with each other. In any case, if all goes well, I plan on being back in Ibiza next year. I feel I still have an entire island to explore and more friends to make. So, until then....... CHEERS!
Special Shout Out to the Spotlight Crew:
Jason, Minh, Jerry, Julie, and Felipe
Good Times!!
The focus of my review will be on the club nights, as that was the majority of my trip. I had all the plans in the world of experiencing adventurous, fun-filled afternoons all over the island of Ibiza, but Mother Nature did not wish to cooperate. The moment my plane set down on the island, it started to rain. This would turn out to be a sign of things to come over the next 11 days. The majority of my daylight hours can be summarized as follows: Chill for a bit after the club, shower, sleep, wake up, look outside, see that it is cloudy/rainy, sleep a few more hours, wake up hungry, start the evening. I only made it to the beach one day, and the hotel pool one other. I would have liked to explore the island more and had hoped to make it to a number of the beaches, as well as spend a few days hopping around the more popular daytime parties (BoraBora, Ushaia, etc.). My failure in doing so, however, is currently the main motivating factor in returning next year. I digress, though, as I surely wasn't going to allow a few clouds hamstring my first ever trip to Ibiza.
Day One: Monday, September 14 - Cocoon
As I mentioned, rain and clouds dominated the forecast for the entirety of my trip, and the first day was no exception. I think it also must be mentioned that I may have over extended myself the weekend prior to arriving in Ibiza. I used it to visit London for the first time and, while I absolutely loved the city, I spared no amount of energy experiencing it to the fullest. I tend to not drink nearly as much as I used to, but it seems I took the old adage "When in Rome" very literally, and the libations flowed freely throughout London the entire weekend, including right up until I left for the airport in the wee hours of Monday morning. This was on top of an already full week spent galivanting around New York City after Electric Zoo Festival. In any case, I arrived in Ibiza already running on empty, which would lead to me feeling under the weather for the first half of my stay on the island. This was only a minor obstacle, and could have easily been avoided by taking better care of myself leading up to my arrival. I will only mention it once, partially as a way of scolding myself for ignoring common sense.
Anyway, checked into the hotel Mitjorn in San An and took a much needed nap to prepare for the evening. Also, my roomate's luggage had been lost by the airlines as he connected flights on his way to Ibiza. We were very hopeful that the issue would get resolved before heading out for the evening and, luckily, his bags arrived at the airport early in the evening. This was a headache that we were happy to get resolved.Walked into the Cocoon main room as Nick Curly was warming the crowd up. Decent tunes, but wanted to spend some time checking out the club. Walked around for a bit in both rooms before settling back in the main room in anticipation of Sven Vath. Sven finally came on and the crowd was definitely tuned in. His set progressed nicely and, bofore too long, he was dropping bomb after bomb on the dance floor. It was impressive to see a dj that still exclusively used vinyl. I was thoroughly satisfied before ducking out just a little early to beat the crowds to the bus. This was a great way to start the trip. I got to experience Amnesia and Vath for the first time, and made it back to the hotel early enough to rest up for day two.
Day Two: Tuesday, September 15 - Armada
More rain, lots of relaxation....
Back to Amnesia for round 2. The techno of the previous evening was a good warm up, but I was quite excited for this particular evening because trance will always own my soul. I wanted to get to the club a little earlier than usual because I was interested in how Markus' set would progress through the evening. It was advertised as a 7 hour set, but I personally have no proof as to when he started. In any case, he was on when we arrived; I believe it was maybe 12:30 or so?? He was definitely keeping it light early on as the main room began to fill up. If I remember correctly, it was around 2:30 or so when he really picked it up a notch, and it was a terrific night of music from there on out. I couldn't bring myself to stop moving for the last 3+ hours, which I had expected going in. I was a little put off when the music ended around 6:35, but I came to find out in future visits, that this was the norm for Amnesia. Still, I was hoping for an encore or two because I was not quite ready to stop sweating yet. I guess I can't complain too much, though, because this was the night I was most looking forward to, and he didn't let me down.
Day Three: Wednesday, September 16 - Subliminal
My roomate left to check out a soccer match in Milan. The sun was actually shining so I took the opportunity to head down to the beach in San An. I didn't stay out too long but, had I known what weather was to come, I would have spent the entire day out there. As it was, I took a short nap in the room before making the trek over to Playa to check it out. I hopped around to a few bars and ended up eating a pretty decent dinner at a place across from Bora Bora.
From there, I caught a pretty late bus over to Pacha. Once again, it began pouring rain just before arriving at the club. It was late enough, though, that there was no line and I basically ran directly in. I immediately caught the set times posted near the entrance, which I thought was nice. I strolled into the main room in the middle of Dirty South doing his thing. Pretty much what I expected from him, some really good mashups and dirty basslines. On the main floor, I met up with some fellow Americans from the Spotlight forums. They had arrived that day, and we would end up kicking it at most of the rest of the parties the rest of the way. At this point in time, however, I was a little pre-occupied with checking out the rest of the club. The most obvious thing I noticed was the amount of VIP area spread throughout the main room. Now, I have no problem with VIP areas in clubs. I understand what a cash cow they can be, but Pacha really does stretch this concept to the limit. There is just soooo much unused space in that club. Anyway, I explored a litte further to find quite a few nice areas in the club. First, there was the "funky house" room upstairs, which I shall return to here shortly. Then, I ventured out towards the patio area which I was suprised to find covering the entire side of the building. Had it not been raining, this would have been even more impressive. Making my way back inside, I found the upstairs to the right of the dj booth to be a nice "getaway" as well. It provided a great view of the dj and main floor. I ended up back in the thick of things as Morillo came on. After a few songs, though, I was compelled to make another trek around the venue. This time around, though, I got stuck for quite some time in the funky house room. The groovy style of house music being spun up there seemed to really be what I was in the mood for at the time. Not to mention the ample seating, bar service, and restrooms. I met some cool people up there, and found myself back there quite often during the course of the evening. I did spend my fair share of time back on the main floor, too. I have actually become a fan of Morillo just over the past couple years, and have seen him tear it on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. I didn't feel like his set had any direction. There were some tracks that got me moving, but for every one of those, there were two or three that I wasn't feeling. On top of that, I think he really went overboard with turning the music down for sing alongs and cranking the highs up for large portions of songs. In fact, I thought the sound was especially bad all night, and I think my ears are still ringing from it, haha. Luckily, every time I got sick of the main room, the house room upstairs was there to save the night. I spent a lot of time dancing, relaxing, and mingling up there, taking time here and there to see what Morillo was dropping. I did end up spending the last hour or so downstairs as he finished up. It was nice to see him play right up until 7, unlike Amnesia the night before. All in all, it was a good night. Even though I thought it was one of the worst Morillo sets I've heard, house music still really hit the spot. I am really torn about Pacha as a venue. I think it has plenty of good qualities to overshadow the pompous attitude that comes with putting so much emphasis on VIP area.
As it turns out, staying til the very end didn't exactly benefit me. I seemed to have missed the last disco bus towards San An, so for a while I played the part of stupid lost American in Eivissa. I eventually ended up making my way over to the main bus stop in town and caught a local bus towards San An. There was something about sharing a bus with mostly parents and kids on their way to school that made me feel a little out of place, haha. I actually spent a portion of the ride playing peekaboo with one little girl. I imagine that she was quite a brave little soul, as she didn't seem genuinely scared by my appearance, which by this point in time had to have resembled some sort of zombie like creature.
Day Four: Thursday, September 17 - Cream
I awoke early afternoon as my roomate returned from his side trip. Perfect timing to hit up the beach again, right??? Wrong. Clouds. Rain. Again.
After some nice little pre-partying, we were off to Amnesia for a third time. The lineup on this night promised to deliver some blissful trance. As we walked in, Sander van Doorn already had the crowd worked up and I knew it was going to be a good night. We had just gotten into the groove when none other than Ferry Corsten took to the decks. On a sidenote, I believe Ferry Corsten to be the best dj on the planet right now. Obviously, I have a preference towards trance, but even besides that, I cannot come up with anybody better. His mixing and track selection are always spot on. His own productions, new and old, never fail to rock dance floors. I have never seen him have an off night, and this wasn't going to be the first. Between him and Eddie Halliwell, the next few hours of music, imo, would be the best of the entire trip. JO'C came on and did a nice job closing out the evening. Riding the high of a great trance night, I could've walked back to San An. Thankfully, we chose not to, haha.
Day Five: Friday, September 18 - Pure Pacha
The clouds finally cleared up by late afternoon, and we took the opportunity to try and catch a sunset. We found a good spot at Cafe del Mar, ordered some Sangria, and settled in for the show. As the sun neared the horizon, the horizon itself filled with more clouds. Needless to say, the sunset left a lot to be desired. The Sangria, on the other hand, was delicious. After the sunset, we were ready to eat. Now, allow me to go off on a tangent for a moment. I am not a chemist, nor will I ever be. Therefore, I do not know the specific ingredients in certain drugs and substances. For example, I had previously been unaware of what exactly goes into a tranqulizer dart or sleeping pill. After this particular day in San Antoni, I can now say with much certainty, that those items are obviously made up of red wine sangria and lasagna.
We lethargically awoke in the hotel as the clock approached midnight. We reluctantly got ready and made our way to Pacha, figuring that Sander K could shake us out of our stuper. We were wrong. His so-called "musical journey" (which is what he kept calling it on the microphone), lacked any sort of underlying theme. He was all over the spectrum as far as timeline, genre, bpm, etc. Now, in all fairness, he really started to pick things up when Darren Emerson showed up and they started tag teaming back and forth. In fact, the last tune that he played solo was absolutely massive. Even then, though, Sander seemed very distracted with champagne toasts and man hugs in the booth, rather than dj'ing. Also adding to the vibe, or lack therof, was the crowd. I mentioned above what I thought about the VIP area on my visit for subliminal. The difference, though, is that on Wednesday the people in those areas were actually dancing and into it. On this night, however, it was quite the opposite. It was one of the oldest crowds I've ever seen at a club, which wouldn't be a problem, except that they were not dancing. I'm not sure most of the people were even listening to the music. So we decided to leave about midway through the tag team set. I don't mean to say that the night was a total waste, because I did enjoy some of the tunes played, but if I had to do it all over again, we would've just taken it easy and stayed local.
Day Six: Saturday, September 19 - Hed Kandi
Once again, my roomate took a journey abroad, this time for a Coldplay concert in London. I don't remember exactly, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say that it was cloudy and windy again this day. The plan was to meet up with some Spotlighters and go to Hed Kandi at Space. Originally, in fact, I believe this was my idea. As the day rolled on, though, I was becoming a little reluctant. Coming off the heals of a rather disappointing night at Pacha, I did not want a repeat. This day also marked halfway point of my Ibiza adventure. I kept thinking, "What better time to rest up for a wild second half". I could recharge the batteries, rest up, and completely kick what was left of a nagging sickness that had been bothering me earlier in the week. In addition, I had no idea what to expect from Hed Kandi. I had prevously searched online for vids and stuff regarding that night, but I couldn't pinpoint the type of music, crowd, vibe, and so on. The only thing that kept creeping into my head was something I read about the vibe at these parties. I couldn't even remember what it was, except that it was positive. Also, I really wanted to check out Space. And so............... onward to Playa.
We arrived fairly early to Space, if I remember right. The music was a bit of old school diva house and it progressed from there to some Ibiza classics and on into a little bit of everything. This was more of what I would call a musical journey, as the djs did a great job of flowing from one decade/genre to another. It seemed to all tie together pretty well. As the room filled up, I noticed that it was quite a nice crowd. Good looking, energetic, fun, so on and so forth. As the music picked up, so did the crowd and energy level. In no time at all, the party was in full swing. It is actually a little bit diffucult to describe so I can't go into much detail, except to say that we danced a lot, enjoyed the music, and just had an overall good time. This was easily the surprise of the entire trip for me.
Day Seven: Sunday, September 20 - Judgement
Cloudy.
I was pretty excited about this night, also. Not only did the lineup look good for Eden, but it was nice knowing that the party was right down the road. We met up with everybody at the pre-party right across the street from Eden. Judge Jules and Richard Durand showed up to play at the bar, which was cool. It definitely got the crowd going, and you could tell it was gonna be a busy night at the club. After some drinks and gab, we strolled over to Eden.
They had the set times posted, and we walked in just as Marco V hit the decks. I thought he would get a later time slot, but I had to get into the groove fast since he was the man I came to see. The crowd was already rocking, and Marco V kept it going with his usual brand of tech trance/house. I enjoyed his set from start to finish. Judge Jules came on next. He showed a lot of energy and I give him props for developing this night that has stuck around in Ibiza. With that said, I know that he has been around and paid his dues in the industry, but I just don't get it. He played at a very high bpm, which I can appreciate, but it went a little too far when he threw some drum n bass into the mix. I love me some DnB, but it just didn't fit. Overall, his set just completely killed the mood for me. There were some good spots, but those were overshadowed by the constantl voice overs saying "Judgement Sundays, make some noise!!!" and whatever else. I hope somebody can back my opinion that these are extremely annoying. Well, on the other hand, maybe not.... the crowd seemed to love every minute of it, so I guess he was doing something right. In any case, I was still having a good time and was looking forward to Richard Durand, who came on next. Durand also threw in a couple cheesy tracks here and there, but for the most part he came with the hard stuff that I expected to hear. It was a very enjoyable set, and he looked like he was having a great time up there. Next up was Lisa Lashes, who I'd never seen before. This was probably the set of the night for me. She brought her A game, and had the crowd loving every minute of it. I haven't been out to see more than a handful of femal djs before, and I commented a few times on how strange it looked to me, seeing this short little ball of energy behind the decks. She was great. I know she had the attention of the guys who were up close to the booth. They kept showing her what I am sure were borderline racy comments from their cell phones. She would take a look at one, blush, shake her head, and turn away. It was quite funny to watch, all the while rocking out to her set. As her set progressed, it transitioned into more and more rave style hard house. I was really digging it. It took me waaaaay back, lol. The crowd at Eden was quite a bit different from anywhere else, but everybody was having fun and it was a good night overall.
Day Eight: Monday, September 21 - Tiesto
It seems like we may have done something during the day, but at this point I just can't remember.
We had actually thrown around the idea of doing something other than Tiesto on this night. Maybe another club, bar hopping, hitting up Playa, etc. The consensus for a while now has been that time has passed Tiesto by, and that he is mainly after paychecks nowadays. Still, I figured that his closing party, in the biggest club in the world, on the coolest island in the world, would be the place to catch him if anywhere at all. So, after dinner and drinks, we hopped aboard the Privilege bus from outside of Bar M. Even after being to Amnesia, Space, Pacha, and Eden, the loudest place I encountered during this trip was the bus on the way to Privilege, haha. Seriously, it was packed and this crowd was hype for Tiesto.
Once inside Privilege, I had a look around and, yes, it certainly is big. I had seen the pool in vids and pics of the place, and yet it still looked out of place a bit. Can anybody tell me if they actually use it during the season??? Anyway, our timing couldn't have been better, because Tiesto came on after about a half hour. The first couple hours consisited of a fair amount of cheese, which was to be expected from the modern day Tiesto. After that, though, I really enjoyed it. Some of his classics sprinkled here and there among what I thought was a pretty good collection of trance. Adding to the experience was the incredible production setup. The lighting and effects were exceptional. The sound was really good, too. We found a good spot up on the front dance floor. It was really crowded for a while, but a lot of people must've left around 4 or 4:30 because a bunch of space opened up and it became quite comfortable. Stayed until the end, and even though his set didn't approach the advertised 6 hours (4.5 I believe), it was still a lot of fun inside the world's largest club.
Day Nine: Tuesday, September 22 - Cox
There was a rough plan on this day to meet up with people over in San An Bay to celebrate a fellow Spotlighter's b-day. Most of the group never made it over from Playa, so those plans fell apart in a hurry. Our apologies to the young lady at Pink Panther who was expecting us. In retrospect, it was a flawed plan anyway, since people were going to trek over from Playa, even though we were all planning on going to Space that night. Oh well, live and learn, I guess. A good meal was still enjoyed in the bay before heading out. We arrived in Playa and met up with the rest of the group near their hotel. After some drinks and stuff, it was time for Carl Cox at Space.
This night was also at the top of my list when I embarked on my holiday. I have been a fan of Carl Cox for a very long time, listening to his radio show for I don't know how long now. When I think of Ibiza, his name is the first that always pops into my head because of his legendary status at Space. I had seen him several times at festivals, outdoor parties, and such, but I can't remember ever seeing him inside a club. My excitement only increased when I read on the flyer that he would be doing an extended set for the closing party. I was honestly as giddy as a schoolgirl as we walked towards the club. Once inside, we grabbed a quick drink and headed directly into the room where Cox was playing. The party was insane and the music was banging from the start. I could feel the energy of the crowd immediately. We would later find out that he had already been on the decks since midnight. We found our spot and I don't think any of us moved for more than a drink or the toilet the entire night. It was one massive tune after another after another, quite a few of which I don't think I'd even heard before. It was fantastic. The crowd, the vibe, the club, and especially the tunes. I knew that Mr Cox would not let us down, and he exceeded my expectations by a mile. The best part about the entire evening is that when 6:30 rolled around, and Cox said his thanks and good byes, he still dropped another four or five songs. Shortly after 7, he finished up, but I think the crowd wanted another 7 hours out of him. I know I did!
Day Ten: Wednesday, September 23 - Meganite
Well, after the excitement of Space and Carl Cox, we felt that a little rest was needed. To assist with the relaxation we came up with the brilliant idea of taking some sort of sleeping pill. It seemed like a good idea at the time, with such messed up sleeping patterns and such. Well, long story short, the first sunny day in what seemed like years was wasted in bed. Lesson learned. We did manage to get ourselves up in order to go enjoy a nice dinner down at the sunset bars. No more did we get down there, though, and the horizon filled up with clouds. Despite the lack of a pristine sunset, the meal and ambience was just what we needed. Oh, and the sangria, haha. It also was the perfect setting to contemplate the upcoming evening. Once again, at first thought, it seemed like a good night to take it easy and stay local. I took issue with this, however, for a couple reasons. First off, I saw no reason to save any energy with only two nights left on the island, especially since I wanted to complete the 11 night marathon. Also, it's not like there was absolutely nothing going on. There were still a few decent parties to pick from. Subliminal was brought up as an option, and it would have been an easy choice had I not attended the week before and been disappointed with Morillo. I did think, though, that it might be worth going for Dubfire. On the other hand, there was Meganite. I was not all that excited about this party, but it did offer a few intriguing aspects. I knew the music would be a little different than anything I'd heard up until that point during the trip. Also, it was the closing party and would give the opportunity to check out Priviledge on a non-Tiesto evening. In addition, Privilege was a bit closer and a little cheaper. So, in no hurry at all, we eventually congregated at the hotel before heading out. It was pretty late already, as we hopped over to Bar M to pick up tickets. This turned out to be a little more of a struggle than we anticipated. The people at Bar M tried to tell us that Privilege was closed for the season and the closing party was the previous week. This certainly seemed to contradict the sign outside the bar that had the closing party listed for 35 Euros. Hmmmm. Perplexed, we hopped next door to Itaca, where the bartender served us up three tickets to Privilege......... and only 15 euros each. Feeling pretty good about the money we had just saved, we headed out, intending to catch a taxi. On our way, we noticed the Privilege bus about to depart across the road. It was the last one to leave that evening and we made it just in time.
Once inside the club, it was interesting to take note of the changes made compared to Tiesto. They did a fine job of shrinking the club to accomodate a smaller party. The stage for Tiesto was covered, with a screen in front of where he played. Most of the upstairs areas were closed, along with the very back of the club. As for the music, I was pleasantly suprised. I think Adam Beyer was spinning as we entered. His sound was pretty good as he warmed the crowd up for Mauro Picotto. It had me wishing that I had made it to DEMF earlier this year. Picotto followed him with his normal brand of hard thumping techno and prog. The crowd, although small, was in good spirits and enjoying themselves, as techno crowds usually do. We eventually made our way over to the side room, luckily in time for a little of Paco Osuna. I thought maybe he'd get the main room along with Picotto and company. In any case, I enjoyed what I heard from him and was glad that we caught the end of his set. I really liked the side room, but our time in their was short lived. It was extremely hot and had a peculiar aroma floating about. I would have stayed in there longer, but the little time we did spend in there, although enjoyable, sent me down the road of certain dehydration. Back out in the main room Picotto was still going strong. He ended up tag teaming with another guy - not sure who - for quite a while. Eventually, as I expected, the music became a tad repetitive and we decided to head out around 6:30. All in all, I was satisfied with the evening. We didn't go crazy, but we still went out, had a good time, and spent very little money in doing so. Depending on the lineup, I would maybe be likely to skip this party on future trips to the island, but I'm still glad I went this time around.
Day Eleven: Thursday, September 24 - Cream
Sunny and awake... Holy ****! Well, I really can't say we made the most of the sun, but an effort was made. I didn't want to hike down to the beach, so we just relaxed down by the hotel pool for a bit. It was more of a moral victory than anything, as I didn't spend enough time down there to absorb much sun. The real accomplishment came a few hours later down at the sunset bars. The group made it over from Playa and we relaxed over drinks at Cafe Mambo. The sunset was the best one of the trip, and not a moment to soon, haha. Somehow, sangria also made another appearance as a large crowd gathered in anticipation of David Guetta playing his pre-party there. On a sidenote, it is absolutely insane how popular that guy has become in such a short span of time. Seriously, I think he might be the most popular dj going right now. I heard that the Thursday before, Pacha sold out?!?! I mean, wow..... So anyway, we stayed for about two songs and left to embark on the evening.
Amnesia filled up rather quickly as we settled in for Cream:Round #2. I had fairly low expectations for the evening, mainly looking forward to Eddie Halliwell again. Whoever was warming up the crowd was doing a good job, and the PVD came on to the delight of the crowd. A good majority of his set definitely took me back to some past experiences with PVD years ago. It was hard, driving trance that barely gave you time to catch your breath. Not too bad at all. It was obviously good enough, along with a dense crowd to navigate, to keep me in the main room, though I had intended on catching some of Sasha's set in the Terrace. Eddie came on next and played a lot of the same songs from a week earlier. Still, it was enjoyable, though extremely short as he didn't even close out the night. Overall, it was not anywhere near the best night in Ibiza, but since it was my last, I made a point to soak it all up and enjoy myself. The bouncers ushered us out and it was time to say our goodbyes, as my flight was quickly approaching.
Friday
I flew off the island just after 10:00. It looked like it was going to be a nice day.
8)
Summary
Such a great time on my long overdue first trip to Ibiza. I met a lot of great people, heard a lot of great music, and gathered a lot of great memories that will last a lifetime. I was only on the island for a short time before I had already started thinking about a return visit, haha. The only thing I've ever experienced that compares is the week of Winter Music Conference in Miami. It compares so similarly, in fact, that I plan on doing a thread involving a full comparison of the two, just to analyze how they stack up with each other. In any case, if all goes well, I plan on being back in Ibiza next year. I feel I still have an entire island to explore and more friends to make. So, until then....... CHEERS!
Special Shout Out to the Spotlight Crew:
Jason, Minh, Jerry, Julie, and Felipe
Good Times!!
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