3 weeks in the sunshine!

Alfonse

Active Member
Well arrived Friday night, hit Pacha last night for Defected (music was ok but not enough kick to it for me :lol:). Off to Space now for Rob Roar, Jason Bye and Jon Uylsses so will start some proper reviews from tomorrow onwards!
 
Sorry it has taken so long but we finally got round to writing up the review of our first 10 days! Hope you enjoy/find useful. Will post up the next 10 days once we have done them!

Saturday 22nd - arrived in the early hours of the morning, got our bags off quickly and with lots of excitement jumped into a cab for the Hotel Garbi in Playa den Bossa. The hotel had a refit a few years ago and they have done a great job giving it a really modern look and feel with a great entrance, bar area and nice rooms with LCD tvs and lots of space so the holiday started off great.

After some sleep we headed down to Ushuaia in the daytime for a cocktail and some lunch to get us in the mood for a big night out at Defected, which we managed to win free entry to courtesy of Ministry's iPhone app! It saved us 90 Euros... Lots of our friends were out for this weekend so we had a great time up on the terrace chatting away before heading downstairs to see Tucillo, Frankie Knuckles and the Shapeshifters. Music was good but a combination of what we call the 'pacha atmosphere' (i.e. lots of blokes on the pull and women posing on the dancefloor without actually dancing) and the fact our taste seems to have changed towards the more techy house sound of late, we decided to call it a night around 4.30 and save our disco energy for Space on Sunday......

Sunday 23rd - woke up at about 2.30pm after it took us ages to get to sleep (a bit like that Xmas eve feeling when you were younger...), scoffed some wheetabix, chased it down with a few beers and a vodka and headed down the road to Space! An unbelievable 60Euros to get in (I guess it is August) but we got a 20 Euro discount and managed to wrangle a pass out which came in handy. Just missed the end of Jason Bye's set which was a shame but we arrived in time to see Rob Roar from Phonetic Records getting the vibe going nicely. He played lots of great tunes but those that stood out include Michel Cleis 'La Mezcla', Joris Voorn 'Sweep The Floor', Down So Long and Martijn Ten Velden's 'Together' (a track made for the sunset terrace IMO) with an acapella of 'Everythings Gonna Be Alright' over the top. Got everyone going nicely. We had about 20 of our mates there so took over the area next to the DJ booth by the bar and generally had a lot of fun and silliness....

Jon Ulysses came on next and true to form got the place jumping immediately with Sebastian Ingrosso's 'Kidsos', Sander Kleinenberg's 'This Is Our Night' and even a cheeky drop of Thriller by Michael Jackson. Alfredo then rounded things off nicely playing some upbeat summery house. I was really disappointed by him last year (salt n pepa is not what you come to Ibiza to hear...) but he seems to have picked it up a bit this year and played tracks such as Fluata Magica by Mark Knight and Funkagenda which we have heard a lot.

Ended up using the pass outs to chill out for a bit before catching Steve Lawler on the Terraza. He seems to be on top form at the moment and really enjoyed his set although the legs finally gave in and we had to call it a day...

Monday 24th - Monday was a bit of a struggle after the mammoth weekend. Our big plans to chow down at the hotel breakfast went out of the window, to be replaced by a couple of 'Oatibix' and UHT milk scoffed down in our room! A bit of a departure from the glamour of Pacha!

Oatibix duly consumed, we wandered along to the beach to Ushuaia to catch up with our unlucky friends who were leaving the next morning (and we tried not to be too excited about our remaining 19 days of holiday......). Hats off to the brains behind Ushuaia, we first went there last year when it was in the spot now occupied by Sands and they've done a great job on decking out their new venue. Good furniture, nice atmosphere, friendly staff and an eclectic music selection (everything from David Bowie to House with a bit of Blondie thrown in) - they've really made an effort. As we're on a budget (3 weeks in ibiza will damage your bank balance) we took along our own towels and parasols, which the staff were very relaxed about, and whiled away the afternoon and evening setting the world to rights under the sun.

Still suffering from the excesses of the nights before, we made the most of our half board at the Garbi but succumbed to the temptation to eat two massive plates of evil 'brown food'. To our shame there were even some chicken dippers in there!!! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Tuesday 25th - the heavy session at Space on Sunday finally caught up with us so we chilled at the beach by bora bora for a bit before having some lunch at the Delano next door, which is well worth a visit. Their big sun beds and loungers are free to sit on and the food is good and not too expensive.

Managed a quick disco nap before heading off to see Carl Cox at Space. Won free entry via the trusty iPhone app again (woohoo!) and arrived in time for the closing of the sunset terrace. Sebo K's Diva track was playing and the atmosphere was building up nicely. Unfortunately, Coxy himself was not there but the Terraza had a Toolroom Knights showcase and we had a good old dance to Dave Spoon and Mark Knight before stumbling home for some sleep...

Wednesday 26th - Our very generous friends have let us borrow their car for the three weeks of our holiday so to return the favour we've decided to 'Pimp their Ride'! San Antonio seemed the most likely place to stock up on penis themed novelty items, mini disco balls, LED banners and those horns that go 'du de du de' - you would know it if you heard it..... so we headed over there around lunchtime. After a wander around the west end (past quite a few restaurants banging out hard house at 2pm (?)) we grabbed a coffee at Mambo and had a chat with a very helpful Spanish girl who (after we asked her in atrocious Spanish!) recommended we swing by Cala Compte. Neither of us speaks fluent spanish but the most helpful phrase so far is definitely 'losiento, habla solo un poquito espanol' or, 'I'm sorry, I only speak a tiny bit of Spanish' which seems to win people round and shows that you're at least trying to make a bit of an effort.

Cala Compte is a lovely beach and has some great views but it was also totally packed by the time we got there (around 4pm). The smell from Sunset Ashram was pretty great although noone seemed to be eating the curry that we were smelling. If you don't have a car, there's a bus from San Antonio and we saw a ferry dropping people off too - not sure where from though.


Thursday 27th - Nursing the latter part of a two day hangover (Carl Cox we blame you!) we decided to follow one of the Ibiza Spotlight driving routes starting off in Santa Eularia. The highlights of the drive were definitely San Carlos, a beautifully picturesque village nestled in the hills, and the stunning Aguas Blancas which more than lived up to our expectations - there's also a lot of wild rosemary growing around there which gives it the pleasant scent of a Sunday roast!!


Friday 28th – after our couple of days off (we are here for 3 weeks…and are not 21 anymore…) we decided to get back in the party spirit and got tickets for Wonderland to see El Tongo. During the day we discovered the free Spa at the Garbi so sweated out the remaining toxins in the steam room and Jacuzzi before heading over to San An around 11ish to grab a drink in Bar M, which turned out to be one of the cheapest bars we have been in so far. We have been really impressed by the Wonderland resident Rob Marmot the last few times we have seen him so got in early to catch the last of his set. There was already a bit of a crowd forming and he got everyone dancing quickly. Really recommend going to see him if you get a chance.

Fatboy Slim came on next and played his usual crowd pleasing set but so many of the tunes he plays are getting old hat now IMO so we decided to go up to the Looking Glass room and stayed for about 2 hours having a good old dance and chat with everyone and anyone! Went back down to the mainroom when Tongy came on and the place was rammed. He played some great music and the highlight was probably Rose Rouge, which he seemed to loop round for ages with his Wonderland acapella. All in all a cracking night but we have to say Eden – shame on you for charging 9 Euro for a tiny bottle of water…that is more than Space, Amnesia and Pacha. Another useful phrase is ‘y un vaso con hielo’ which means a glass of ice and makes your water last a bit longer…

Saturday 29th – A bit of a non-event! Chilled out at the Delano – taking advantage of their free beds again – ate a giant burger and had an early night (be warned, Delano burgers are gigantic and you will be doing ‘burger burps’ all night!).

Sunday 30th - woke up and ate as much carby food as we could at Passion in Playa den Bossa (great value healthy food and smoothies) for some disco energy before heading to Space at around 5.30! We managed to get some cheap wristbands on the beach by the Delano, which got us in for 15 Euros so the day started well and only got better! We have been coming to Ibiza and Space on Sundays for years now and this turned out to be one of the best days we have had on the terrace for a long time - great music, great people, a great atmosphere and everyone in a great mood.

Alex Taylor started off proceedings playing some really summery upbeat house that got everyone dancing straight away (unusual to see on the sunset terrace since the change to the opening times). Standout tracks included Rose Rouge and Grand Final by Livio & Roby which seem to be defining the summer sound this year (African/Latin/Charleston/Foxtrot house anyone???). He finished on a classic with Underworld’s Two Months Off before Jason Bye took over the reigns with a great balearic house set. Too many good tunes to mention although our favourites included a track with a 'sunshine getting down' vocal and Slam’s classic Positive Education. He even threw in the 80s disco classic 'I just can't get enough' for good measure!

Alfredo then did his thing keeping the party ticking along nicely playing this years terrace anthem 'fluata magica' by Mark Knight & Funkagenda who came on next himself and had the whole place absolutely jumping for what has to be the BEST set we have ever seen on the sunset terrace. The floor was packed, hands seemed to be raised in the air for 2 hours straight, the bar staff were dancing with big smiles on their faces and the it felt like the place was shaking the atmosphere was so great! Our very friendly barmaid Laura said it was the best set of the summer period.

As you would expect there were loads if his own productions played with classics like 'What The ****' and ‘Man With The Red Face’ (which he played with an acapella of Roland Clark’s ‘Let There Be House’ in the breakdown whilst miming the words from his DJ booth pulpit) but he seemed to be looping them, breaking them down and reconstructing them on the fly using a combination of what looked like Ableton and CDJs which was great to watch. I haven't seen a DJ get the crowd going like that and build such a great atmosphere for a long, long time. He closed with his Mark Knight collaboration 'Good Times' to an exhausted and very hot and sweaty crowd but had everyone singing along with massive smiles on their faces. A proper Ibizan set to remember and bore our mates with back home for years to come!!!!

Monday 31st - phew...chilling by the pool today with big smiles on our faces from last night still...sunset at mambos tonight and then lots of sleep to gear up for the next 10 days!! Woohoo!!!

p.s. If you have not guessed I (Alfonse) am a bit of a trainspotter so here are my top 10 tracks we have heard so far....

1) Michel Cleis - La Mezcla
2) Analogue People In A Digital World - Rose Rouge
3) Mark Knight & Funkagenda - Fluata Magica
4) Olav Basoski & Erick E – Don’t Turn Your Back On Me
5) Unknown - Sunshine getting down
6) Joris Voorn - Sweep The Floor
7) Funkagenda - What The **** (mixed with the Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams)
8) Mason - Front Row Chemistry
9) Sander Kleinenberg - This Is Our Night
10) Sultan & Ned Shepherd – Block Party

Some of these are on a couple of DJ mixes I did before coming out here. They are not perfect but if you fancy a listen check out http://soundcloud.com/alfonse

p.p.s. we are making next Sunday at Space Mexicali day!! Please wear a Sombrero if you’re going along so that we can say hello to you – you can pick up some good ones in La Sirena in Playa den Bossa or San An. See you on the dancefloor!! We are taking some for Jason Bye and Alfredo so fingers crossed they wear them too!
 
Can't believe you used a passout to miss Paul Woolfords out of this world set on the 23rd!! Did you see me in the sunset terrace?? Iwas literally dancing from 6:15pm til 12pm right next to the DJ on the right on the top step :D
 
That has just brought it all back, the start to an amazing time on the sunset terrace. 8) The crowd were f****** amazing. Good times. 8)

If only they had time machines :spank:

I know! Have spent the last two days watching it repeatedly! Wish we could do it again. One of those special clubbing moments when it all just comes together and you remember it for years to come. I saw Tenaglia at Amnesia in 2002 and have special memories from that set too but this tops it!

Ps. I love Space but until they invent that time machine they haven't quite got it right for me :lol:
 
Can't believe you used a passout to miss Paul Woolfords out of this world set on the 23rd!! Did you see me in the sunset terrace?? Iwas literally dancing from 6:15pm til 12pm right next to the DJ on the right on the top step :D

Arghhhh our fave spot is by the fans on the left hand side of the DJ booth!!! Was with you in spirit on the other side though! Is the first time I have ever used a pass out at Space...must be getting old...or as our mates would say PFN7 (Party Foul Number 7 - leaving the party without permission to get unnecessary refreshments and rest)...there is a list of about 15 of them I will post at some point if I can remember them all, they are quite funny...

ps. Hopefully see you there dancing non stop next year.
 
Arghhhh our fave spot is by the fans on the left hand side of the DJ booth!!! Was with you in spirit on the other side though! Is the first time I have ever used a pass out at Space...must be getting old...or as our mates would say PFN7 (Party Foul Number 7 - leaving the party without permission to get unnecessary refreshments and rest)...there is a list of about 15 of them I will post at some point if I can remember them all, they are quite funny...

ps. Hopefully see you there dancing non stop next year.

See you at Space this Sunday. Good review. Will keep an eye out for the hats!!!
 
Saturday 29th – A bit of a non-event! Chilled out at the Delano – taking advantage of their free beds again – ate a giant burger and had an early night (be warned, Delano burgers are gigantic and you will be doing ‘burger burps’ all night!).

We were at Delano also alot of the afternoon, taking advantage of those lovely big free beds. I know the chef Mark (he used to chef at Kasbah beofre Jules took it over), the food isnt bad. We were the bunch of about 9 lads (on a stag) :p
 
We were at Delano also alot of the afternoon, taking advantage of those lovely big free beds. I know the chef Mark (he used to chef at Kasbah beofre Jules took it over), the food isnt bad. We were the bunch of about 9 lads (on a stag) :p

Hahahaha we were there that day too. Loved the outfits! We met one of your group at Wonderland in the evening and he was still going strong! The food at the Delano is good.
 
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