Got in on early Sunday morning and headed for a beer, only to have a bit of a "run-in" with the Guardia, resulting in a Benny Hill style chase scene, followed by a smack in the face from one of them. Well, more of a slap. I have to say, I don't have a lot of time for the Guardia, I have seen them be extremely heavy handed and very naughty during the many many times I have been to Ibiza. Almost all of the violence they employ is utterly unjustified and for their own gratification. The exact words one of them used to my friend Neil was "You want a fight? You want a fight?" Er, not really mate, you have a pepper spray and baton. Put those down and we might consider it.
Anyway, on to the real reason I went out there; Cocoon. Early Monday afternoon we decided to check out DC10 for a few hours. There was decent room to dance on the Terrace, so we checked out Dinky (who played some excellent tech house) and then Michel De Hey inside. Some fun and games ensued with our Craig David mask, plus we managed to get Sarah and Tom to "do the Sven stretch". Tom won, with his understated effort !
Left about 8pm or so, and back for a shower etc before Cocoon. The queue was pretty big by 11:30pm, but we were in by midnight and at our usual spot. Hawtin took a good hour to get going (or "Twitchy Rotten" as he became known later, another "you had to be there" moment). Got very busy by 5am, so a couple of us decided to beat the taxi queue (having been told the night would finsh at 6am !). But it went on till 8:30am, so we missed a few more Stretches. Big respect to the guy in the DJ box who didn't stop dancing like a madman all night, arms everywhere - that's what it's all about !
Got to Port Des Torrent about 11am (I think !) and there was a free-for-all to get in, a very uncomfortable crush. Cocoon had put the prices up AGAIN, but 15 euros for another 10+ hours of clubbing didn't seem to bother anyone. It's a superb place for an after party, although the bar and toilets became a bit of a stress later in the day. We kept popping out to the bar along the road for a cheaper round of drinks and a seat and then back to the dancefloor. Sven played all day, in his usual state with his top off, more strecthing and more of the big bassline tracks he's become renowned for. The biggest for me has to be Gregor Tresher's "The Now People", which has an incessent driving electro riff, possibly one of my tunes of the year so far. Instead of tailing off towards sunset, it seemed to get busier, perhaps a few people coming back for more later in the day.
There was a noticeable Police presence at the afters, 3 of 4 cars were waiting on the main road, although didn't appear to be searching anyone when we went in. However, word spread of there being undercover police in the venue, and I saw uniformed officers storm in on 2 occasions, one of which to arrest (or assault, whichever way you saw it) a seemingly innocent pasty-white very young Brit. I can only imagine he wasn't subtle enough in whatever he was doing, but it didn't really need 3 guys to rugby-tackle him to the floor when he clearly wasn't going anywhere.
While I fully understand that a lot of illegal activity takes place at such parties, it felt as though you were being watched at all times, so the atmospehere was almost edgy, especially after many people's noticeable excesses of the previous 24 hours.
I guess I could gripe about the growing popularity of Cocoon and it's move towards blatant corporate clubbing, but they still put on a great party, if only we were perhaps left to enjoy ourselves, without the underlying tension between clubber and authority.
I'll post some pictures and videos when I get copies, there are some crackers.
Anyway, on to the real reason I went out there; Cocoon. Early Monday afternoon we decided to check out DC10 for a few hours. There was decent room to dance on the Terrace, so we checked out Dinky (who played some excellent tech house) and then Michel De Hey inside. Some fun and games ensued with our Craig David mask, plus we managed to get Sarah and Tom to "do the Sven stretch". Tom won, with his understated effort !
Left about 8pm or so, and back for a shower etc before Cocoon. The queue was pretty big by 11:30pm, but we were in by midnight and at our usual spot. Hawtin took a good hour to get going (or "Twitchy Rotten" as he became known later, another "you had to be there" moment). Got very busy by 5am, so a couple of us decided to beat the taxi queue (having been told the night would finsh at 6am !). But it went on till 8:30am, so we missed a few more Stretches. Big respect to the guy in the DJ box who didn't stop dancing like a madman all night, arms everywhere - that's what it's all about !
Got to Port Des Torrent about 11am (I think !) and there was a free-for-all to get in, a very uncomfortable crush. Cocoon had put the prices up AGAIN, but 15 euros for another 10+ hours of clubbing didn't seem to bother anyone. It's a superb place for an after party, although the bar and toilets became a bit of a stress later in the day. We kept popping out to the bar along the road for a cheaper round of drinks and a seat and then back to the dancefloor. Sven played all day, in his usual state with his top off, more strecthing and more of the big bassline tracks he's become renowned for. The biggest for me has to be Gregor Tresher's "The Now People", which has an incessent driving electro riff, possibly one of my tunes of the year so far. Instead of tailing off towards sunset, it seemed to get busier, perhaps a few people coming back for more later in the day.
There was a noticeable Police presence at the afters, 3 of 4 cars were waiting on the main road, although didn't appear to be searching anyone when we went in. However, word spread of there being undercover police in the venue, and I saw uniformed officers storm in on 2 occasions, one of which to arrest (or assault, whichever way you saw it) a seemingly innocent pasty-white very young Brit. I can only imagine he wasn't subtle enough in whatever he was doing, but it didn't really need 3 guys to rugby-tackle him to the floor when he clearly wasn't going anywhere.
While I fully understand that a lot of illegal activity takes place at such parties, it felt as though you were being watched at all times, so the atmospehere was almost edgy, especially after many people's noticeable excesses of the previous 24 hours.
I guess I could gripe about the growing popularity of Cocoon and it's move towards blatant corporate clubbing, but they still put on a great party, if only we were perhaps left to enjoy ourselves, without the underlying tension between clubber and authority.
I'll post some pictures and videos when I get copies, there are some crackers.
