A Brazilian review... - part 2: The whole experience

T

Thiago from Brazil

Guest
Now it´s the second part of my saga... memories, memories... (sigh)

Hope you enjoy it.

Love,
Thiago.

Sunday 01/09

Arrival. My excitement started when the plane flew over the island, then it increased when I started coming across party ads all the way, in the baggage claim area at the airport, on the road to Eivissa... Checked in at my tiny hostel, took some brief rest and headed to Space. On the bus I had my first contact with “Ibiza people”, such fun, such excitement... when the bus stopped across the street from Space, and I saw that huge temple, it felt undescribable. My dream was coming true, and I could hear the screams from the terrace as Voodoo & Serrano played "Blue Monday", "Love Story" and a house mix of Talk Talk´s "It´s My Life", a song that I adored. After some queueing, getting in was one of the best emotions ever. Everybody was beautiful, smiling, putting their hands up and dancing their arses off, such a vibe. I wasn´t supposed to come this year but decided to when int´l press said prog house was dying and this was its last summer. And on my first day Mr. Sasha gave me all I had come for. The first half of his set was beautiful, started cool and funky and developed into some very pretty, warm progressive house. I danced two hours nonstop and then strolled around the club - the salt-watered toilettes, the bars, the masseurs with angel wings... when I came back Sasha was not prog anymore, he seemed to be showing what the future of his sound would be, acid house, breaks, whatever it was it sounded a bit boring to me. And John Digweed had not come for the announced back-to-back. So I decided to stay at the discoteca. I was hoping to see Jimmy Van M but perhaps he had shown up in the afternoon and I missed him. But that´s OK, Jason Bye and Rui da Silva were amazing. Started deep, then tribal, to end techy. Very nice beginning for my clubbing experience. I was too tired to stay up to the end and went back to the hostel around 5am.

Monday 02/09

I took the bus to Salinas but there were no hamacas (sunchairs) left and no room around Sa Trinxa. Then I crossed the paths and arrived in Es Cavallet. The water was clearer than Salinas´ and the sound of the chiringuito (beach bar) much nicer - some wicked, cool house tunes. Almost perfect, apart from the penis piercings all around. Went back to Ibiza crushed inside the beach bus, took a shower and explored the Ibiza harbour. Bought my ticket for 35 euros and noticed, by chance, that I was supposed to be there before 1:00am. And it was already 12:45am. I runned as far as I could and arrived at the door at 12:58am. Was so twisted that I didn´t feel the impact of ´´getting into Pacha´´. Nice club, just different from what I imagined. Too many candles, tables, bars, lounges for a very small dance floor. Roger Sanchez´s house was too latin and the venue was empty. I had my hand stamped and walked back to Ibiza, where I climbed to the top of Dalt Villa for that astonishing view of the port. When I got back to Pacha, at 3:30am, things had changed completely. He was playing very nice house music, sexy, groovy, funky. The place now was full, very good vibe. A performer was carried around the dancefloor in a tall bench; she was shaking long red bat wings, ventilating the crowd over her and causing a visual spectacle, as all the club lights drew patterns over her and the wings. I made friends with a very sweet bartender and she provided as many free drinks as I wished, helping me stay until the end of the party. Then I hit Croissant Show for that portion of fuel and went to bed.

Tuesday 03/09

I went to Playa d´en Bossa for my first contact with Bora Bora and its unbelievable vibe. I won´t describe it because you all know what it´s like very well !!! It was so good that I lost the time to check the sunset in the West End. At night I went to Renaissance at Amnesia. I didn´t like Yousef´s set at all. It would be good enough if he was warming up some unpretentious villa party, but not for Renaissance, which is supposed to be a PROGRESSIVE HOUSE party. I got bored, had my hand stamped and took a cab to Pacha, so I could check Oakenfold and not miss Digweed the following Tuesday. I was sorry to find out what Oakenfold had become. His music was poor, cheesy, commercial, disgusting. Hundreds of teen Brits screamed his name and took pictures and he made a ´cool´ frown, very conceited, as if he deserved all the fuss about him. It was worthwhile anyway, the fall of a myth. Another cab to Amnesia (it was my day to play the sultan of Brunei !) and a few minutes later Sander Kleinenberg started to play. And he was awesome. Not prog at all, but some very creative, deep, classy tech house. I danced as much as I could. He finished with a song I had never heard before. It delighted me. In the end of my trip Dave Seaman would reveal me its name: "Sunshine", by Tomaz vs. Filterheads, the anthem of Thiago in Ibiza 2002.

Wednesday 04/09

I woke up very late. Not enough time to get to a beach or even to San An in time for the sunset. I came across a very nice record store in Avinguda Espanya and stayed there up to 9:00pm. Shower, dinner and the bar scene at Ibiza Town. I made friends with an Argentinean promoter who worked at K-ube bar and sold me cheap tickets to La Troya. My first intention was to check Darren Emerson and X-Press 2 at Pacha, but everyone was saying that La Troya was a true Ibiza experience not to be missed. Amnesia was very lively and that air cannon was a nice surprise to me. But I was just too tired to enjoy anything. It was my fourth night in a row of hard, drug-free clubbing. I caught the Disco Bus at 5am back to Ibiza and missed La Troya´s after party at Space. I regret that, but... I just wasn´t able to endure it.

Thursday 05/09

Salinas was full again and I went to Es Cavallet. When I arrived, to my disappointment, the beach bar was playing Gregorian chants instead of house. So I went back to Salinas again. This dumb back-and-forth stuff took most of the afternoon, so in the end I didn´t enjoy the beach... Space was announcing that Carl Cox would start playing at 9pm at the terrace. I arrived at 9:15pm and the club was still closed. I made friends with a Dutch girl on a scooter and we went to Bora Bora for some pre-party business. At 10pm we entered Space, some resident DJ was playing and the crowd was just ignoring him, sitting at the lounge with their drinks. As soon as Coxy arrived, everybody got up and quickly filled the dance floor and started to dance (to the music of the resident, as if suddenly it had become superb). Carl Cox showed why he is the master. He can make techno appealing even to those who don´t like techno. His set was very fresh, nice and funky tech house. I couldn´t help jumping, smiling, celebrating! And he ended the set at 12:05am with... "Sunshine". I tried to ask him the name of the song but crowds of fans made me change my mind. They opened the discoteca room but Cox would start again at 3am. Instead of spending these three hours of wait chilling in the terrace, meeting new people or perhaps giving a chance to the techno guests, I made a silly decision: jumped on two buses and went to Amnesia. I was attracted by the reputation of Cream, its compilations and its very tiny logo which I loved. The venue was so packed I had to go out for fresh air twice. A good sample of what August must be. I arrived at 3:20am and thought I would be able to see Tiesto, maybe he would play some nice progressive stuff. But Timo Maas was playing and it was definitely not my kind of thing (I´m not saying he was bad though). I waited ´til 5am to conclude Tiësto must have played before Timo, and went back "home". I was really exhausted. If I didn´t take a day off away from clubs, I just would not enjoy myself anymore.

Friday 06/09

For the first time I did everything very calmly. No schedules, no pressures, no stress. I was late for the beach, but that was OK. Strolled around Ibiza Town, took a pic of Pacha and then caught a bus to San An, because it was my sixth day and I still hadn´t seen a single sunset. Checked the bars at the Strip, took pics and then found a place in the rocks to view the spectacle. That huge fire ball going down very slowly, drawing hypnotic waves in the sea, suddenly gave me so much peace ! Suddenly | realized how lucky I was to be in the island, where all my friends back in Brazil dreamed to be... and I learned I should not worry at all, just have the time of my life, and any way I made it, it would be just fine. It was really meaningful, the highlight of this day without clubbing and one of the best memories of my journey.

Saturday 07/09

There are some good things about not going to clubs. One of them is that you can arrive in Salinas in time to find a sun chair and place it anywhere you like. I had it put just in the front of Sa Trinxa and so I had my live set of ´Salinas Sessions´ during the whole day. I had meant to eat at Jockey Club, but had to give it up so as to catch the 5pm bus back to Ibiza. People from this board had agreed to meet at Bora Bora at 7pm, and I had to go to the hotel, take a shower and get there in time. Bora Bora was full but I only found two mates from Spotlight: Christian and Amber. We didn´t find anyone else. I was supposed to split a cab with them but they still had lots of things to do so I tried to make it to Privilege on my own and get in for free before 11pm. With such public transport system I obviously didn´t make it in time. I arrived at 10:45pm and it seemed that the whole island was trying to get in. Well, what I can say is that I would have payed three times the door price to attend such a party. THAT was truly a MAGICAL experience. The DJ booth inside the pool contained the living legend, Danny Tenaglia. And he was so nice, sweet, good-humored... was he down-to-earth or were we up-to-heaven ? He gifted me with a beautiful trip to the kingdom of house and prog... the crowd was so up for it, the club and the dancers added that special extra, my two Spanish pills were amazingly superb, I got myself a hot, sweet lover and we instantly got totally connected. So the night was complete. I lived and cherished every single minute of it until the morning. At 8:15pm Danny played his famous mix of KOT´s "Finally" and I thought it was his gran finale. My newfound lover was too tired, so and we stared at Danny to catch that scene into our minds and then we left. The following day we would be told that Danny sticked to it up to 10:15am (wow).

Sunday 08/09

In Brazil I had planned to go to Breakfast@Space to check Satoshi Tomiie from 8:00am. What I didn´t know is that Saturday night would be SO huge. So we went to bed and woke up in the late afternoon. Ate something and made it to Space at 9pm. Steve Lawler filled up the terrace with happy people and some brilliant house ´n´ prog, in his own style. It was just... delicious ! Everybody screaming and making for that special vibe that has to be experienced to be understood. Everyone so friendly... those habanicos (fans) from Space in the hands... memories (sigh)... And Steve Lawler finished his set with that same amazing song ("Sunshine") whose name I was trying to find out. I couldn´t reach him in time and entered the discoteca. Mr. C played some tech house and made people dance anyway, but... he didn´t get close to the beauty of so many other sets I had heard so far. Layo & Bushwacka kind of deceived me. I expected much more than those empty boom boom beats. Only the last half hour of their set had some melody. Once again I was too tired and gave up Circo Loco. I could never imagine that Tenaglia was going to show up by surprise.

Monday 09/09

Beach life with my lover and friends during the day. Then we went to Cala Salada for the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. The whole beach "sunsets" with the sun (how can I explain that in English ?) I had meant to check Manumission that night but I wasn´t feeling like going to a huge venue, full of dancers and paraphernalia. I needed something smoother and more intimate. Then I remembered Dave Seaman was playing at El Divino and I hadn´t visited that club. The club itself didn´t impress me, and Dave´s set was surprisingly commercial, considering all his recorded work so far. Perhaps this was due to the kind of crowd in that venue. On the other hand, the bartender gave me a free Red Bull and suddenly Dave started playing that song whose name I was searching so hard. I jumped on the cabin and he showed me the record: "Sunshine". I left the club happy, met an English couple from a city called Boston (I suppose it´s the mother city of Boston-Massach.) and took them to see the sunrise from above Dalt Villa.

Tuesday 10/09

I took a bus to San An and then a ferry. I wanted to check the famous turquoise sea of Cala Comte/Cala Conta. The beach itself was not special but those waters were surely worth the trip. After a nice lazy afternoon I caught the ferry back and jumped on a cab. I asked for Cala Salada again but as we were arriving I thought maybe I should check the sunset from a different setting. So I asked him to drive me to Cala d´Hort. The view of Es Vedra rock was interesting, but the sunset itself was not as pretty as Salada´s. Besides, it was very hard to get a taxi back to Ibiza. I was anxious to get to Amnesia and hear John Digweed, so it was really frustrating to arrive and face another no-show. I entered the club only not to lose the money, but the substitute DJ was not nice at all and the club was empty, so I couldn´t stay any longer than 15 minutes.

Wednesday 11/09

My last day !! I was so depressed. I would have gone to Formentera if I hadn´t woken up so late and still had to pack up. I strolled around Ibiza Town, bought some souvenirs for Mum, took some photos and said it goodbye. Then I went back to the hostel to pack things up. My last evening in Ibiza was a very sweet goodbye: Subliminal at Pacha. Futureshock at the back room was very nice (and they played "Sunshine" again !). But the main highlight of them all was... Erick Morillo. I had seen him in Brazil at a electronica festival on my birthday in 21 April ´02. I went to talk to him at the DJ booth and thanked for his set in Brazil and he was really sweet to me. And he played with his heart, as usual. There isn´t a DJ that puts his heart on his sets as much as this little man does. My lovely bartender friend filled me up with the last cranberry chupitos of my journey (thanx, sweetie). As it was my very last night I pilled again to celebrate and it was a very very magical closing to my Ibiza experience. I left at 7:00am, back to the hotel and then to the airport, with those sweet slow repetitive vocals (from a track whose name I still don´t know - I asked it on the board, hope somebody helps me !) echoing in my head.......

And here´s what it all meant to me in the end:

Ibiza was not what I had expected, but it was very nice in its own way. I believe Ibiza can be anything you make out of it. It can be trendy, it can be lame, it can be hard, it can be peaceful, it can be pure stress or pure bliss. I was faced to many choices and decided the best way I could at each time. Some mistakes and some victories. I would have done some things differently if I could wind back time, but now I realize it´s pointless to carry regrets. When I arrived in Brazil, I was so warped and twisted that I couldn´t tell if it had been worthwhile at all. It seemed that everything had slipped through my fingers so quickly, and I had not profited and taken my time properly. Nevertheless, after a couple of days eating and sleeping properly, I became able to look back at the experience and realize that it had been just wonderful, and I was pushing and demanding too much to myself. I may not have made as many friends as I thought, and perhaps some aspects of the island are just a bit overrated, but in general terms it really kicked ass, some moments really touched my heart, and in the end the stressing moments really taught me a lot about myself and my weak points. I learned quite much from the whole experience, and today I feel the difference in little things on my routine. I slowed down. I don´t expect so much from other people. When I see a beautiful photo of a beach in the cover of a tourism magazine out on the street, I don´t walk on anymore - I stop to see it and admire it and sort of dive into it. I learned that friends are very important, and a bad day can be totally saved and transformed if there´s a beautiful sunset in the end. So, to sum things up, it was definitely worth it. And I wouldn´t hesitate to consider it one of my best experiences ever.
 
I totally agree with your analysis of the Island. At times it can overrated and others totally knock you off your feet. The time does fly by and when you leave I had a feeling of emptiness or depression like the day after Christmas. What happened, I waited so long for this trip and now its over.
The experience is quite unique and its was definitely worth the time and money.
 
WOW!!!!!!
What a review, this is fantastic, writing with soo much emotion and meaning.

THANKYOU!!!
 
I missed the Be Yourself Party at Privilege, can you give me some more details. What is the club like in comparison to Space or Pacha? Is there a terrace, smaller rooms, where is the pool. I'm bummed I missed it, I even had two free passes!
 
ROBO: Thanks a lot. Let´s say I put my heart in it ! Actually it was important to me to write this and come to terms with the whole thing. The first sensation was very strange, as if I hadn´t lived it... now I know I completed my mission !

FIRST TIMER:
If you had two free passes, I think you really made a mistake not attending it. But I can´t blame you - as you see I made mistakes too ;)
Well, Privilege is the biggest club, but it doesn´t necessarily mean the biggest one for dancing. The dancefloor is the main ambient and in the center of the dancefloor there´s a swimming pool with the DJ booth in its center. Around the dancefloor there are some gazebo gardens with benches, plants etc. for those who couldn´t care less about the music or need to chill a bit.
The club is... nice, but without a major line up I don´t think it´s worth it for the place alone. From outside I thought it would be much bigger. Specially because the club looks a lot like Epcot Center Florida !!! :lol: But in fact it has quite the same "syndrome" as Pacha: the club is quite big but not even half of its area is for dancing. Space´s discoteca (inside), for example, has more room to dance than Privilege.
So, next year, if there´s another Danny T giveaway, do yourself a favour and go. You shouldn´t regret having missed the club, you should cry for having missed Danny T. I tried to report his set, but my fellow friend Christian (Le Danseur Canadien) speaks better English and did a better job. So the part about the music, you go ask him !!! OK ? ;)
 
Thanks for getting back to me. I will make a better effort next time around. We chose to go to Pacha instead that night.
 
song from Morillo's set at Pacha on 11/9

this might be it........"Two Months Off" by Underworld
 
Thiago,

What a truly remarkable review.

Just reading about all your bus/ taxi journies make me weary. I'm sure you couldn't have crammed any more into you time!!! Sounds like you know how to have a good time, reading your review has made me revisit our time on the island this year, and to cherish the memories even more.

Be happy
:D
 
Salut le beau Thiago ! !

Splendid review, great job on painting your experience ! It was cool meeting you at Bora Bora and having supper with you and Lindsay ! When we briefly met at D. Tenaglia's gig, you really seemed to be having a good time ! ;) :p

I too was at Pacha for Subliminal on 11 Sep....too bad we did not meet up ! Guess we were in our own worlds ! 8)

You are very philosophical about your IBZ experience and I tend to agree with you, it is all about what you make of it and how you perceive what you do..........sometimes I think that the reflecting of the outings / trip is almost as good as the actual outing......I love to reminisce ! !

Take Care, Christian
 
Hello...

WELUVIBIZA (so do I): Yeah, I think I did my best. I was exhausted in the end ! And my knees... But it´s funny, in spite of that it still felt like something was missing to achieve complete satisfaction. That´s what Ibiza does to you, it´s enough to your body but not to your will... you have to be a clubbing Superman to do it all... or perhaps you have to get yourself a scooter ;)

CHRISTIAN: Merci, Canadian fella, c´est gentil ! :) It was really cool meeting you as well. Lindsay seems to have had a wicked time too.
And... yeah, I think I was having the best time of them all when we (very briefly) met at Tenaglia´s... 8) I think anyone who would see me could tell... :twisted: At Subliminal I was very "available" but at the same time it was a moment of contact with my inner self saying goodbye to Ibiza and putting an end to my lovely journey.
But definitely, reminiscing is the cheapest way to fly back !!! :p
Luv, Thiago.
 
Thiago from Brazil said:
Tuesday 10/09

I took a bus to San An and then a ferry. I wanted to check the famous turquoise sea of Cala Comte/Cala Conta. The beach itself was not special but those waters were surely worth the trip

not special? i think cala conta is a very special beach!! :rolleyes:

23693448.jpg

23693444.jpg

23693433.jpg


(pictures taken 3 weeks ago)

McRackin ;)
 
Back
Top