Day 1
I had been looking forward to this, my eighth trip in 14 years, since I booked in early July... Hell, since leaving in September last year after the We Love... Closing
Since this trip coincided with the year I turned 40, it was an excuse for a longer than usual trip - Thursday to Tuesday, with the firm intention of discovering DC10 and Circo Loco for the first time, as well as the Cocoon closing, on Monday, and going to Enter at Space. I had got into the mood by reading up on the Spotlight forums, and was loving the Enter compilation - especially the dicoteca mix by Matador. Who just happened to be on the line-up on 25 September, my first night in Ibiza!
My flight in was smooth and uneventful, direct thanks to Ryanair and with extra legroom paid for. The sense of excitement on the plane as Ibiza came into view was palpable, and the cheer louder than usual on landing. The weather was unfortunately not great, but I hopped into a cab and the sight of the billboards and the Ushuaia Tower in the distance as I drove to PDB told me I had arrived. Within a few minutes of dropping my luggage at Hotel Algarb, I was into my shorts and heading to the Migjorn apartments where my three mates were staying. The Algarb is ok, clean and comfotable beds, although the furniture and TVs clearly haven't been renovated since the seventies... And this year I paid almost double what I paid last year. The Migjorn is pricey but definitely a nice place to stay if you're prepared to splash the cash. Great design and pool, with top tunes mixed by their barman Marcelo, who along with Ricky were always smiling and joking with the guests. Best service I've experienced in Ibiza!
Having met up with two of my mates, the first port of call was to fill up the fridge with Grey Goose vodka, corona beer and red bull for the pre-party later
Since the weather was still lousy, we had started on the vodka red bulls by five. And when the sun came out, we decided to head down to Sands to catch Carl Cox's funk and soul set. It was nice to walk down playa d'en bossa, and as we walked past Beach House, the party there was already well under way. Sands in contrast, while full, was dead and the big man himself was not yet on the decks. The music was no way danceable, and you had to get tokens to buy drinks... So we gave up and headed back to Beach House. What a great idea that turned out to be! The tunes were excellent, the crowd was up for it and the beers were affordable (4 euro if I remember well). So we had a few beers and a dance as the sun went down, and then decided to have a bite to eat there since the vibe was so good. After a bit of a struggle to find a table waitress, and the gorgeous 'VIP person' (her own words!) taking us to her, we sat down next to the dancefloor and ordered some food. We ended up having a great meal - tagliata di manzo with potatoes and salad, perfectly cooked and seasoned tender steak. I can highly recommend eating at Beach House.
After dinner I headed back to the Algarb through the driving rain to get changed for Enter. Before heading to Space we got some supplies and had a few more vodka red bulls at the Migjorn. I was so keen to get to Enter, we headed over for about 1am. We paid 45 euro I think to buy pre-sale tickets on the strip, and were able to head straight in without queueing. It was such a great feeling to be back in Space!!! Still without a doubt my favourite club. We did the tour, enjoying the terraza a bit before going in to the discoteca for Chris Liebing. At that point his set was not really doing it for us, so we went back to the terraza with the firm intention to catch the last half hour of his set. And good that we did - when we came back at 2:00, he was playing some great driving techno.
As the end of his set approached, I was a bit worried that it would be hard for Matador to take it a step up, as there is often a lull hen the DJs change over. How wrong I was! Matador smashed it from first to last - taking the techno up a level from where Chris Liebing had left it. Cue two hours of perfect, melodic, hypnotic techno, often verging on trance, which is just how I like it. Matador's set was even better than his mix on the Enter compilation, but I recognised at least a couple of tracks from the album, and I was locked in to the music for the duration.
When Richie Hawtin came one, I was curious to see how he would do as I had never seen him before and he is such a legend. But to be honest, I experienced that lull I was talking about when he came on... He took it down a couple of notches, and although the show started with him, with dancers in the eye of the dot either side of him, after half an hour I was done. With tiredness catching up with me, I decided to call it a night and headed back to my hotel, still buzzing from Matador's set and decidedly satisfied with my first night of five in Ibiza!!!
