closing parties 2008...reviews! (continuous)

[grego]

tiesto closing was pretty much like most of the other parties in that the club was basically full to capacity, everyone was really up for it and tiesto played a good mix of all sorts of sounds for about 4 hours. the main difference was that there were loads more workers there for the finale and that made the atmosphere even more lively.

without doubt i reckon we'll see tijs back next year on mondays.

also, for anyone who complained/wondered about the heat at privilege during the tiesto shows, well the reason is the huge screen behind the console, basically like one big electric heater!!!

have to say that one of my tunes of the summer was one i heard every time i went to tiesto..........Ian Brown - F.E.A.R (First State remix) 8)

 

[neilly303]

basically like one big electric heater!!!

In Scotland this would go down a treat, but Ibiza? Nooo!

 

[20_years_acid_house]

In Scotland this would go down a treat, but Ibiza? Nooo!

Aye, especially in Ayrshire with all that cold wind blowing in from Ailsa Craig and Arran... Oooooooft

 

[stivi]

Not really a closing party, but an interesting one-off (or add-on after carl cox) i was very much looking forward to…

Laurent Garnier Special at Space, Tuesday September 23

Well, I had missed monsieur Garnier’s first double-set at Carl Cox’ night this summer (which was amazing according to friends’ reports), so I knew I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to see him this time around! I had quite big expectations and was curious at the same time about how busy it will be. Last Tuesday, for the Chris Liebing / Sasha Special, Space wasn’t too busy I was told. But then again, this Tuesday, less nights were running anymore, so a bit less competition.

We arrived at around 1am and went straight into the discoteca, where Laurent was already playing. The discoteca was almost empty still, so we went over to the main terrace (where pendulum where playing I think). This room was much busier, I think mainly because the main terrace had been open from 8pm already and the discoteca just had opened around midnight. We met up with the spotlight gang (morbyd, Barbie & tom, utagaura and dan x…grego…I arrived about 2mins after you left!) and went back into the discoteca, which now was getting busy. garnier had a quiet start, played mostly proggy tunes, then a bit more energetic stuff. And of course, “the man with the red face” also got aired (the new remix), which the crowd loved. He played till 3am, then Scan X played their live set. We got a bit of that (also proggy-techy stuff) and then moved onto the main terrace for garnier’s second set. His second set had a really nice flow, always a mix between techy and proggy tunes. There was a phase when he played some remixes of rock tunes with a lot of loud guitars and got back to the “normal” stuff after that. the main terrace was nicely busy, but far from packed. At around 6:30am garnier then closed with the original version of “the man with the red face”.

Verdict – a nice night, good solid dance music all through. But personally, I had expected a bit more musical highlights and surprises from monsieur Garnier. This man is dj’ing for about 20 years already and has such a wide range of music he can play (and sometimes does), so I was hoping to get more VERY old classics dropped etc. but still, we were entertained all night 8)

Ps – dan, hope you had a good flight back home?

 

[MakinaDJ]

Aye, especially in Ayrshire with all that cold wind blowing in from Ailsa Craig and Arran... Oooooooft

Surely there'd have to be electricity in Ayreshire first?



Hope he is back next year, would like my mates to experience it. What else has been occupying Mondays? Not a lot really is there?

He's done himself no damage with this residency this year, think he'd be mad not to do it again for '09, especially with his gradual decline from the spotlight

 

[stivi]

We Love Closing, Sunday 28 September

We arrived at Space some time past 8pm. on the sunset terrace, the whole spotlight gang met up (on the usual spot – the bar on the left of the DJ, looking at the DJ). Hi to everyone, great to party with you guys! The sunset terrace was very busy, although not unbearably packed. Jason Bye was playing an OK set – just who turned the volume down??? At 10pm, it was not Tom Novy who took over, but DJ Alfredo. Last minute line up change there? I’ve heard Novy didn’t make it to Ibiza in time… well, Alfredo played a lot of teasers…Man with the red face, Sis-Trompetta (which is played everywhere now – making it from “dc10 tune of the year” to “closing party tune of the season”), from the speaker by Mark Knight, then remixes from Donna Summer’s “I feel love”, “I just can’t get enough” from Depeche Mode and “Sing it Back” from Moloko. Alfredo’s mixing was quite bad once again but the tunes were great – he ended his set and closed the sunset terrace with Underworld’s “Born Slippy” and then Iggy Pop’s “Passenger”. Great!

Because of Alfredo, we had almost entirely missed ben watt, who had been playing the same time slot on the main terrace. but now that the sunset terrace was closed, we moved over into the main terrace where DJ Hell was playing. A nice set! After him, Steve Lawler played 2-4am. The first hour of his set was very deep, techy and dark, it got more energetic in the second hour then and people loved it! Lawler closed with a (own done?) remix of Villalobos’ “Enfants”. After him, Paul Woolford took over…with Mory Kante’s “Yeke Yeke” for example. His set was less deep and a bit “happier”, but still had an underground feel to it. We liked it lots!

We also went into the discoteca, where James Zabiela and Nic Fanciulli were playing back to back. Great stuff! Both the main terrace and the discoteca were really busy until late and everyone seemed to have a really good time – well, we did!!!

We love…we love! The loss of the afternoon dance on the sunset terrace is a pity really, but else, we love has pleased us once again this summer! Thank you!

Now having a powernap, a carbo-rich meal and then off to the last CircoLoCocoon marathon of the season!!!! 8)

 

[CheekyChicken]

job? partying is not my job...but apart from working here, i do party a lot obviously! 8)


last night, my fave trance night on the island had it's closing party...

armada/contact closing party, amnesia tue sep 16

we got there short after 2am. the main room was nearly packed when we arrived, markus schulz was already on the decks and the crowd was absolutely great! i asked myself various times what's the differene between armada crowd and cream crowd. by now, i think, the armada crowd is basically a few years older...maybe a bit less wild, but definitely up for a lot of partying! markus schulz' set was very energetic as always and everyone loved it.

before armin van buuren began, we went over to the terrace, where first seb fontaine and then martijn ten velden was playing. the closing night of armada and contact (the terrace is called contact on tuesdays) is the busiest night i've seen it overall during the whole season. the main room always was very busy and now, for the closing night, also the terrace was really busy and with a great vibe!

back to the main room, where armin van buuren had taken over. something i had noticed all over the season was the great interaction AvB always has with the crowd. and so it was last night, he really had a fun time in the dj box, dropping ace trance tunes, cheering to the crowd, basically having an absolutely brilliant night. suddenly, markus schulz was back in the dj box and then Avb and markus played back to back.

short after 6am, armin stopped the music, took the mic and had a huge speach, thanking everyone from the club, the promotion, the dancers, the management, the dj's and of course, the crowd. he then announced they (him and markus schulz) would end the night in true balearic style...and for the last half hour they dropped the best ibiza trance classics...energy 52's café del mar (the original version), nalin & kane's beachball (original as well), then josh guru's infinity (new rmx) and the last tune they dropped was the new version of rui da silva's TOUCH ME... what a way to end a season!

One of my favourite nights of my entire holiday, I would have loved to have been there for this , got goosepimples just reading about it !

 

[Tuur]

Great review nostrum! Can't wait till tomorrow for the Circoloco/Cocoon reviews!! 8)

 

[stivi]

the Circoloco/Cocoon reviews!! 8)

circoloco was average really yesterday. cocoon was the bomb. but let me get all my bits and pieces together first and put up a proper review later! 8)

 

[weloveliam@space]

ciroloco was average really yesterday. cocoon was the bomb. but let me get all my bits and pieces together first and put up a proper review later! 8)

hey Stivi, was great meeting you and the Lovely Jessica !!!! Shame we didnt see you in the discoteca, we were to the right of the DJ box, near the stairs !! Thought Zabiale was great, not too sure on Nic Fanc though.

Not feeling too great now though

 

[stivi]

liam - nice to meet you (and your friend as well)

well, here we go finally with...

Cocoon Closing, Amnesia, Monday 29 September

The ultimate cocoon fiesta of the season is always something special. It’s always extremely busy, there are always a lot of known faces around and it’s usually also one of the last closing parties apart of the clubs’ own closing nights. Last season, cocoon generally was a huge night (ok, the real cocoon hype already started in 2005, with “wildlife”, then got bigger with “wildlife 2” the year after, and was still growing with “freakshow” last summer). In 2007, I personally wasn’t always too overwhelmed with the cocoon nights, but this year, cocoon really was a monster. The cocoon family was the big winner of the DJ awards at pacha last week (best night for cocoon, best tech DJ Richie hawtin and best set luciano & Ricardo villalobos) and Monday nights at amnesia this summer always were absolutely chaotic – but in a good way!

We started our Monday night early and went to dc10 to have a warm-up boogie. We arrived there around 8pm and the first thing I noticed was that Luciano, who had been on the line-up, was taken off the roster. Longer sets then for Tania Vulcano and the three Rumanians Raresh, Pedro and Rhadoo (ar-pi-ar). I also noticed I had just missed Timo Maas’ Terrace set, which apparently was really good! Whole dc10 was really busy as always…but something was missing in there. The vibe! When we got onto the terrace, Tania Vulcano was playing. You know I’m not a big fan of hers, but TBH her set wasn’t too bad. It was just…quiet in a way?! We also thought the volume level was quite low, this got better later though. After Tania, ar-pi-ar took over and then, finally, it got a bit more energetic and more circoloco-style. But nothing compared to the week before, when Luciano and Ricardo Villalobos tore the place apart. As I said, the place was really busy, but I guess everyone was saving up their energies for later…it was a bit of a flat session at dc10 imo!

We left dc10 a bit before midnight, had a snack and then soon made our way to San Rafael…we arrived there short past 1am and the traffic around Amnesia was immense. Eventually we found our parking spot and walked to the entrance where we found the same picture – huge queues everywhere! We got in, made our way to the terrace and found our sweet dance spot. Zip had played the warm-up, but was still in the DJ booth, together with Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano. So they played back to back the 3 together. The music was really good, lots of great tuneage, including some hits of course, for example, SIS – standing. During the whole night, there were many spotlight faces around again, having a brilliant time in every corner of Amnesia. (coo-coo guys!)

Only after 3am, we went into the Main Room (so we completely missed Richie Hawtin) and catched Sven Väth just dropping Radioslave – Grindhouse (Dubfire’s terror planet remix). The vibe in both the main room and the terrace was electric, both dancefloors were rammed and I had never seen the upstairs vip’s this busy before. Cocoon closing was sold out at around 3:30am – for the 4th or 5th time this season!

We stayed on the terrace for most of the time, but changed into the main room at around 6am when the music on the terrace unfortunately went a bit flat. But the move into the main room was a great decision – sven väth was in great form, his mixing was absolutely top notch still, and he played a really really good tech set. Some dark stuff, blended with some almost trancey tuneage (extrawelt anyone?) and of course, some sven väth trademark style early morning music such as Joris Voorn – many reasons for example. I got really curious…would they stop at 7am bang on as they did for all the other closing parties so far? 7:00am…nothing happened, sven still banging it out…7:30am…same story with more absolutely fantastic music…7:45am…aah, the volume went down for the first time, but sven was only teasing…and then, only at 7:55am, the last tune ended…the crowd was cheering – everyone was thankful for the additional hour of cocoon fiesta!

Simple verdict: cocoon 2008 – 10 points!


right now, I am off ibiza for a few days and thus will miss a few closing parties…so, no last zoo party and no la troya closing for me and I also will miss the monza and privilege/supermartXé closings. BUT I will be back on Saturday…so who’s gonna give us some updates about these fiestas in between please?!

 

[Sy]

Agreed.

Cocoon closing was immense. I saw most of Richie Hawtin in between Ricardo and Luciano.

Hawtins last track was the Hardfloor mix of Yeke Yeke. His set was incredible and I've not seen so many people going as mental as that in ages!

Great vibes in both rooms and soooooo busy! Heard snippets of Trompetta all through the night in between tracks

We left around 7am so missed the last hour but had a great night

More tunes will come back to me in due course

 

[neilly303]

Agreed.

Cocoon closing was immense. I saw most of Richie Hawtin in between Ricardo and Luciano.

Hawtins last track was the Hardfloor mix of Yeke Yeke. His set was incredible and I've not seen so many people going as mental as that in ages!

Great vibes in both rooms and soooooo busy! Heard snippets of Trompetta all through the night in between tracks

We left around 7am so missed the last hour but had a great night

More tunes will come back to me in due course

Sounds Ace!

Was it super busy or was there room to breathe?

 

[Sy]

Sounds Ace!

Was it super busy or was there room to breathe?

like sardines mate, proper PROPER BUSY but it was tolerable cos the music and the vibe was awesome.

I kept getting loads of english people ask me 'when does it close here mate?'

****s sake don't wish it away just enjoy it! 8)

 

[grego]

last tune at cocoon............libertango!!!!!!!

 

[neilly303]

like sardines mate, proper PROPER BUSY but it was tolerable cos the music and the vibe was awesome.

I kept getting loads of english people ask me 'when does it close here mate?'

****s sake don't wish it away just enjoy it! 8)

The music have been amzing this year at Cocoon- can't wait to hear The Sound Of The Ninth season when it comes out! 8)

 

[stivi]

first, here's some feedbacks about the last parties at privilege this summer:

monza closing: no early start as they had announced (8pm in the cocoloco), only from midnight onwards and till 7:30am. got quite mixed reviews about the music...pity - last year's monza closing was one of my favourites!

Privilege/SupermartXé closing: got really good reviews though and apparently was super-busy!

 

[stivi]

And here’s my last closing party review of this year…and it’s also a review of my last 36 hours in ibiza this summer…

As I had written some time earlier, I was off ibiza for a few days and only got back at 9am on Saturday morning, October 4th. It was quite cool in the morning with a chilly wind, but pure sunshine else. And in the afternoon, when we were out in the sun, it was perfectly warm. We spent a lovely afternoon, having paella with friends at es boldado at cala d’hort (mat&nat, I know you’re reading, so stop hiding ). Es boldado has great views for sure, but the paella at el Carmen (right on the beach at cala d’hort) is better.

Later, I shortly went to bora bora where I stumbled into a few forumers – always nice. I was a bit tired because I hadn’t slept a lot the night before and also had had to get up early because of my really early flight back to ibiza. So, I had a nice pre-fiesta-siesta and slept from 9pm till midnight sharp. Then I got up again, had a hot shower (it had gotten really fresh again), some food and then we were off to..


Amnesia Closing Party, Saturday October 4th

In one sentence: this is how a proper closing party should be.

We arrived there at 2am, which is really early, because as you probably know, amnesia closing always peaks somewhere between 7am and 11am and many people only come in the morning hours, but I knew booka shade were on early and as I had missed them last year (because I had arrived around 6am then), I definitely wanted to see them this time around.

The main floor was really busy already, but I was far more interested in the terrace, which just got going. Davide squillace was playing, nice and chilled, but groovy all the way. Booka shade started at 2:45 and I loved their live performance! They packed in a lot of tracks in their one hour show, started with mandarine girl, they played put put, karma car, charlotte, night falls, darko and more! Their music was absolutely great, but as it was quite early (in amnesia closing relations), the vibe on the terrace wasn’t too euphoric yet. But that changed when they played their last two tunes: first in white rooms and then, aaah ibiza 2005 – body language!!! So I was really happy to catch them this year – they were absolutely worth it

Then it was Mar-T who took over on the terrace and he really delivered a good set, including both SIS tunes “trompetta” and “standing”. He played between 3:45am and 5:45am and during this time, we also went into the (packed) main room twice, where we catched Les Schmitz dropping radioslave’s grindhouse (dubfire terror planet remix), mark knight’s from the speaker and the new remix of energy 52 – café del mar.

Back to the terrace again. Dubfire was on the decks short before 6am, started very deep and a bit slow, but got much more energetic soon after! The terrace now got busier and busier, many people now arriving after matinée closing had shut. From about 6:30am onward, the terrace had an amazing vibe and dubfire played an absolutely great techy set, the terrace was rocking now

Time for breakfast. Yes, I do actually speak about food. There is one bar on the terrace (far end of the terrace, bar to the right of the dj) where you can get sandwiches etc. I had two very nice coffee’s and a lovely chocolate croissant at around 7:30am. But back to the party and the music. Dubfire also played his remix of grindhouse, just as sven väth was arriving in the di booth. He had just flown in from Madrid, where he had been playing during the night and he was fooling around with everyone in the dj box now.

Sven took over at 8:30am, the terrace was perfectly busy by then (really busy but not cocoon-busy) and the vibe was nothing else than pure electricity. The next few hours were absolutely surreal, messy, mindblowing and a loooot of fun. Many friends around, brilliant music and the terrace in daylight – amnesia closing united all the good sides about clubbing in ibiza. Sven (who was in funny conditions and accompaigned by danny tenaglia in the dj booth) played a stormer of a set with a bit of everything really, from techno over minimal to housey and even trancey stuff. I remember solvent’s “radio gaga” (great!), stardust’s “music sounds better with you” (grego – I couldn’t believe my ears when he dropped it) and one of the most memorable tracks of the night (erm…day!) was shlomi aber’s and guy gerber’s “after love” – whoa! The party had a real afterhour feeling to it and I also remember that, at some point, around 15 blokes were dancing on the terrace with their trousers down and sporting their boxers …stories only parties like this can tell. At exactly 1pm the best closing party of the year ended.

Back home for another shower, some more nutrition and then directly off to…


Space closing party, Sunday October 5th

I arrived there at 3pm already. that’s quite early and I knew it. But I also knew I wouldn’t be able to stay there all night, so I wanted to make the most of it. The car park was very quiet still, the sunset terrace was busy-ish, but I still preferred the carpark, because it was the last chance to dance in the sunshine in flipflops this year. The music wasn’t anything special during the afternoon IMO, deadmau5 was ok, but else…hmm. Anyway, to be honest, I wasn’t at space for the music in the first place this time. I was there to say goodbye to a hell of a lot of people. It was a bit of an emotional suicide, saying goodbye to all my friends who were just floating in now and getting in party mode, wasn’t the easiest thing . The good point about warefell at space closing though: I met almost everyone I wanted to say goodbye to! And I’m sure a lot of people made up well for me when it comes to partying that night but hey, I won’t complain, I have been dancing a lot again this summer and only on this weekend, amnesia closing and space closing were another 15hrs bailando so I guess I should be ok with that.

Anyway, I had to leave space at 7pm already, went to grab my suitcases, drove to the airport, left ibiza at 9pm on Sunday night…
…and was working here in Switzerland 12 hrs later already, on a cool Monday morning.

Of course I’m tired now – but it was worth it. It was a great season final and I’m glad I went back for one last huge sesh. I really feel sorry though for a lot of my friends who are still down there and are surely absolutely gutted because dc10 apparently got shut again. We knew it would happen, but still, what difference would it have made to let them end their season…? (and what would happen to all the balloons and toys we had bought already?)

Read more about my ibiza 2008 in my season review, due some time in November I guess. Thanks already now to all the people I met again this season – you rock! Hasta luego amigos

 

[grego]

Amnesia Closing Party, Saturday October 4th

Sven took over at 8:30am, the terrace was perfectly busy by then (really busy but not cocoon-busy) and the vibe was nothing else than pure electricity. The next few hours were absolutely surreal, messy, mindblowing and a loooot of fun. Many friends around, brilliant music and the terrace in daylight – amnesia closing united all the good sides about clubbing in ibiza. Sven (who was in funny conditions and accompaigned by danny tenaglia in the dj booth) played a stormer of a set with a bit of everything really, from techno over minimal to housey and even trancey stuff. I remember solvent’s “radio gaga” (great!), stardust’s “music sounds better with you” (grego – I couldn’t believe my ears when he dropped it) and one of the most memorable tracks of the night (erm…day!) was shlomi aber’s and guy gerber’s “after love” – whoa! The party had a real afterhour feeling to it and I also remember that, at some point, around 15 blokes were dancing on the terrace with their trousers down and sporting their boxers …stories only parties like this can tell. At exactly 1pm the best closing party of the year ended.

me neither! amnesia closing was great, i had my porridge at 8am and went there fresh as a daisy. it was funny seeing all the crazy people in various states of being under the influence............including sven!! one thing i also have to say is that i was loving dubfire, i've always had him down as a bit of a straight laced character but he was there till the end.........4 hours after his set finished and was getting right into the party mood, dancing constantly and messing about with balloons and interacting with the crowd, etc. stivi is right, the atmosphere was totally playful, unique for me this season, it was like the ultimate afterparty.

btw - what was the ambient track he finished with??

space was good fun in the afternoon but i couldn't believe how quiet it was, especially compared to the opening.

 

[Doddy]

that amnesia closing party sounds bloody marvellous!!! 8)

wish i was there