First review...8th-13th September!

elmooreo

elmooreo

Well-Known Member
Right here goes, I've been reading these for ages and I made myself a promise that I'd write one for myself this year!

I haven't stopped to count how many times I've been to Ibiza but I've been pretty much every summer for the last 10 years or so, some summers I've done multiple trips so I have a fair few trips under my belt. I never fail to get excited and this year was no different! I had the flights booked back in February and have had one eye on this week in September since then! For some reason I was booked to fly out from Stansted and all my mates and my girlfriend were flying out from various flights from Gatwick. God knows why but I had gone out the night before the trip with my work mates and I got completely bladdered! I was feeling so awful that I couldn't bring myself to have a cheeky pint at the airport while I was waiting to board! Luckily I had thought ahead and I had lined myself up a few episodes of Breaking Bad to get me through so I was alright. The flight itself turned out to be really easy and hassle free...I was expecting a healthy dose of Essex mob on the flight but actually it was one of the tamest Ibiza flights I've had - barely even a cheer when we landed!

By the time I was through passport control on the other side I was ready for a beer and I had about an hour to kill before the other guys in my group arrived. Luckily I found the little snack bar for a sandwich and a few San Miguels and a solid hour of people watching! The time flew...My other half, my sister and the rest of the group arrived soon enough and we were soon ready to head for the villa. Luckily I still had the number of an illegal taxi guy that we had bonded with last year and soon enough he was waiting for us in his 7 seater ready to whisk us away.

Our villa this year was in San Jordi, really near Club del campo...we were a group of 10 in total and so the cost of the villa was pretty cheap, I think we paid around £300pp for the week. I can't recommend the place enough, it was beautiful and really well looked after. The location itself was perfect, really near the airport, near playa d'en bossa and also salinas. By the time we arrived and checked in/settled in it was pretty late. There were a few that were keen to get to El Row but I was still feeling jaded from the night before and I wanted to be fresh for the rest of the trip. I turned in hoping for some better weather the following day as it had been raining since we had arrived!

Sunday came and it was bright enough to get round the pool and chill for a few hours. There was a supermarket nice and close, only issue was that we didnt have a car so we pretty much all had to go along and help carry all the supplies (beers!) back. After a few beers, a bit of a bbq and a visit from our favourite Uruguayan friend who bought us some presents for the week ahead we all decided to head to Playa d'en bossa relatively early, grab some drinks and then have a wonder over to Space for We Love. The line up didn't bowl over everyone in our group and there were a few who wanted to check out Luciano at Boom, but we decided that if we got to Space early enough and secured cheaper early entry, well then we could go and explore some other places later on if we wanted to and not break the bank too much.

When we got to Playa d'en bossa we managed to get some E.30 tickets for We Love as long as we entered before 11pm. To be honest I wasn't too worried about getting in early as I saw that Lottie was going to be playing the sunset terrace, and also one of my favourite things to do is catch Alfredo on the premier etage...well I'm glad to say that my instincts were right and when we got in Lottie was right on point. Was great to see her playing after so many years without seeing her! She was obviously enjoying herself as well...it was difficult to drag myself away for an hour or so of Alfredo's set upstairs but I'm glad I did as he was creating quite an atmosphere up there. He played an edit of "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" that had everyone jumping around with big smiles, as well as Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives and a number of other gems that I didn't recognise....when midnight came and the music on the premier etage was cut we weren't too sure where to head and most of us were a little worried when we got to la terrazza to find it deserted. How wrong we were, Ryan O'Gorman did the perfect job warming up for Jimmy Edgar, and soon enough the place was comfortably full and simmering away waiting for the banquet of detroit sounds that awaited. The Space terrace is one of my favourite rooms and I find the sound in there crystal clear and nice and loud. This went on to be one of my favourite experiences that I've had at Space, such a contrast to years gone by when it has been so crowded and hot for We Love that you just can't get comfortable until later on when the crowd has thinned out. Jimmy Edgar rocked the place with his unique sound of jacking house and techno, Derrick May then came on and took things up a notch. The real hero of the night was DJ Hell who grabbed the place by the balls. The tune of the night was the Tale of Us remix of Mano Le Tough which I had heard and enjoyed before this trip, but hearing it on that soundsystem was something else. It picked me up and shook me! We were all jumping round together on the dance floor, beaming smiles all round coupled with the odd fist pump and shriek of pure delight! Bliss!

By the time we had all come around on Monday we were horrified to see that the sky was dirty and it was obviously going to howl it down and soon! Unfortunately for me and my mate it did so just as we made it to the supermarket and we stayed there pretty much marooned for a good hour longer than we should have been there. With the weather this bad, I was a little worried that Circo Loco at DC10 would be off the menu, but luckily things cleared and we actually had a really nice evening. Perfect for a light dinner, a good bottle of vino and and early visit to DC10 for few of us....

TBC
 
...Now the reason that only a few of us went to DC10 this year was because for many it was a "no go", the last couple of years we have gone there, phones/bags have gone missing, there have been horrible crowds and the girls have had hassle etc...so most of the group didn't come this year. Well, in my view they missed out...it could not have been more of a contrast to the previous years. Crowd levels were just right, I was able to dance comfortably on the terrace and also the crowd was really nice, lots of smiley happy people and everyone was very friendly....music wise I have always been a massive fan of System of Survival, I have seen them play in Ibiza, London, Berlin...and they never disappoint...this occasion was no different, nice deep chugging sounds that everyone was lapping up. They did play a radiohead remix which seemed a little out of place, but who can complain?! Next up was one of my favourite dj's, Dyed Soundorom....I love this guy, his energy is just so infectious and he can play any set, any time, anywhere. He never stops dancing away behind the decks, and I couldn't help but follow suit on the dancefloor along with my 2 friends that had "braved hell" with me. I had a vodka limon in my hands, the music was just insanely good, and everyone was having a great big party on the DC10 terrace...I couldn't help grinning from ear to ear! The terrace has got such a reputation and I can see why but for me the sound in there has always been a bit patchy, when I came outside for a break my left ear was ringing despite never having been near a speaker...I guess the acoustics in there are quite tinny so getting the sound on point must be a struggle. After a quick chill we headed for the main room, and in there Ellen Allien was having such a ball playing, you could just see how much she was enjoying herself, and as a result the sea of people inhabiting every corner of the dark pit in front of her was too! I think that is the real difference with Circo Loco, the dj's all love playing there and many of them have partied there themselves, so they have so much love and respect for the party...and that always really comes through when they play. It's quite a unique thing, you could say the same about fabric or Panorama Bar but they seem to lack that real air of good old fashioned fun that Circo Loco has!

We were mindful of getting over to Cocoon as there was a special line up on there tonight and we didn't want to miss much of Dixon who was playing early. We headed for the taxis at around 12.30 or 1am. It was difficult to peel ourselves away from DC10 but we were still sober enough to be a little disciplined! The rest of our group were at amnesia awaiting, and as we got there Dixon was filling the terrace with deep bleepy warm sounds. You could feel the air of anticipation in the room, for our group alone there was a real raw excitement about the prospect of seeing Dixon play Cocoon....for many of us he had slowly crept into "favourite dj" position over the last couple of years. My sister in particular had been through a "lifechanging moment" seeing him play at the Innervisions party at Sonar fairly recently. Well what can I say? I was incredible, I love seeing a room fill from being fairly empty and seeing it gradually fill up over the course of a few hours right up until the moment when the dj has the crowd in the palm of his hands...he played the perfect set, happily his essential mix went out on radio 1 the night we flew back which brought lots of memories flooding back. My best friend and I had a bit of a moment when he played that new Agoria track, "Kick the Peace part 2"...By the time Ame had come on and was playing we wondered into the main room to see what was going on there...Marcel Dettmann was playing and again you could see immediately that this guy had such a charisma behind the decks. He was casually puffing on cigarettes and sipping champagne, barely needing to bring his headphones to his ears or concentrate on a mix. But don't get me wrong, he was mixing flawlessly and the beats were rolling with a kind of swagger and funk. This is a guy I need to see again soon! Sven came on and picked up where Marcel had left off perfectly. Nobody knows Amnesia better than Sven, and it is testament to him that he held us in the main room for the rest of the night, we weren't even really ever tempted to pop in and see Loco Dice in the other room - although judging by the crowd levels we would have found this quite a mission! 6am rolled around, and whilst we didn't want to leave as we had the feeling that the party was still young - and in the end we proved right as we heard it was still pumping gone 9am - we had a boat booked for the next day. We were due to meet at noon and we didn't want to risk ruining such a rare treat so with heavy hearts we got ourselves home for a few hours sleep making sure that multiple alarms were set to get us up in time for the meet!
 
done dc10 cocoon that day too, amazing day, sasha in the main room at dc10 was the highlight, Dixon was great too, theres some fairly lengthly blanks throughout the day though!
 
So no matter how ropey or bleary eyed we felt, we managed to be up and about, and eventually we made it to Zoo Bar in Ibiza Town for the meet...armed with lots and lots of water! The weather seemed nice and we were all a little anxious to get on the boat and find out just what was in store. I say this because to be honest 9 out of 10 of us had never done anything like this before. This Ibiza trip was a little special because a couple of our group had birthdays while we were there (one 30th) and so we had decided a month or two ago to try and do something a little special. A friend of ours is a broker and has wined and dined many a client in Ibiza...he mentioned that this would be a really special way to spend a day so we obliged. Luckily we got "mates rates", and the boat for 7 hours or so would cost us around 120 euros a head with someone to drive it and fuel. We took loads of beers etc and we were armed with loads of music, the only way to blow the cobwebs away from Cocoon the night before was to get the boat up to full throttle and get back on it with the tunes blaring! As we pulled away from the marina the heavens opened! We all headed down below and feared the worst, but after 10 mins or so we had pulled away from the clouds and we were on course for Formentera! When we dropped anchor for the first time we had found sunshine and we all took delight in jumping off the boat...we were all lapping this up as we knew it was something special that we may never do again so we were all determined to make the most of the day. This really hit home when we saw a lone swimmer heading for our boat..."would you like to try the world's best mojito???" This guy's job is to swim up to boats and sell mojito's to whoever is in them...what a wonderful life!!! We couldn't fail but oblige, and before long 10 mojitos were being made on the back of the boat - this guy had a wet bag with all the rum, ice, fresh mint, soda and sugar required to make the perfect mojito. The 10 euro price tag seemed cheap in comparison to the 12 euros we had been paying all trip for a bottle of beer in the clubs so we all lapped it up! Life doesn't get much better than this! The hangovers/come downs were a distant memory at this point!

We had a table booked at Juan y Andrea for lunch which was just divine, we were a fairly big table so a few bottles of rose were doing the rounds and this just seemed like complete bliss in the sunshine. Me and my girlfriend shared a seafood spaghetti, it could have been a little bigger, but it was delicious! Everyone was chatting away and having such a wonderful time, we could have stayed there for hours and hours, but we were mindful that we only had the boat for a limited time, so after a couple of hours we were back on the boat with the wind in our hair....we stopped off again for more swimming, music and a good diving competition...not even the gathering swarm of jelly fish could spoil it! If I had it my way this day would've lasted forever, but of course it couldn't, and before long the sun was sinking in the sky. The boat dropped us of at Blue Marlin and we stayed there for a good few more hours of good music and plenty more mojitos. Of course by that time we were all rather worse for wear! The plan was to head home and prepare for another big night out, but after a rather lengthy taxi wait a lot of us were flagging. Once I made it back to the villa my intention was for a couple of hours nap time before heading out for Sankeys and Diynamic...I'm a little ashamed to say that many of us didn't make it and most took the opportunity to have a decent sleep... the few that did make it out (the true warriors!) had an excellent night, although they were a little surprised that the music was much harder than they had expected...

The intention was for Wednesday to be an extension of Tuesday and more birthday celebrations. We had a table booked for lunch at El Chringuito just on Playa es Cavallet. We all made it but just as we sat down the come down/hangovers that we had been keeping at bay seemed to all catch up with us at once and as a group you could feel the tension and unease. We all felt a bit fragile and no matter how nice the restaurant and food was, it all seemed a bit much and getting through it was a bit of a mission. Its a shame because its a really lovely spot and the food was delicious! I had a bloody mary, a glass of coke and a couple of glasses of rioja with my food and this pulled me through! By the end of the meal we were all back on form, and of course the complementary shot of hierbas helped us all along! Not a cheap way to spend lunch but pleasant none the less!

A few of our group were heading home the following night, so we were determined to make Wednesay count! After a few more wines and a good few games of cards back at the villa we were mulling over our options. Joy Orbison at Paradise seemed a decent option but in the end we headed for Underground and DJ Sneak. The rationale was that this would be a bit of a cheaper/lower key night that would hopefully show us something a little different. When we first arrived there we weren't too sure we had made the correct choice as we seemed to be the only ones there! The weather had been bad again and I guess this had played its part. To be honest it eventually filled up quite nicely and the drinks seemed nice and cheap, so who were we to complain? Hector and Darius Syrossian were on warm up duties and they played some wonderful sounds. Hector I feel especially is really underrated - he's a great dj! I have some affection for him as he is Mexican and a former Phonica Employee - I have spent a year of my life in Mexico and many hours in Phonica so I feel like I know him well! Darius Syrossian really took things up a notch before Sneak came on. A true highlight was him dropping Soul Capsule - Overcome....not often you hear a tune like that when you're out and about...Sneak then came on and played a vinyl only set...when I heard the first few unmistakeable bars of "The Chicago Connection - Dancin' (Mark Grant mix) coming through the speakers I knew that we had made the right choice for tonight. We danced the remainder of the night away on a nicely full dancefloor, listening to one of my favourite dj's playing a fairly exclusive set full of absolute gems. What more can you ask for???
 
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