Hey
Just got back yesterday Afternoon so thought I would post a (i removed the word little after I completed the review!) review of my trip...as im sure most of you can understand I have a serious case of the blues tinged with a little relief at being able to get some undisturbed sleep at night time instead of from 10am!
Firstly thanks to everyone who has given bits n pieces of advice and responses to my questions over the last few months. It all proved really helpful!
I came to Ibiza when I was 18 with 10 mates and stayed in San Antonio. Those 2 weeks have been recounted with each other endless times since and so I was really looking forward to doing it again be it that little bit older and in pdb instead of San An.
There were 3 of us meant to be going but the night before we left (Sat) my mate, known as Shady called to say he wanted to come out. I had asked him loads of times to come as the 4 of us travelled around brazil last year and had an amzing time but he said no for one reason or another. Anyway he said he was coming but would be out on Weds which meant the 3 of us had a Mon and Tues together
We arrived on Sun night around 1230 and got a cab to the Fiesta Hotel Playa Den Bossa (which I recommend. Good food, nice clean A/C rooms, big balcony with sea views right on the beach and literally a 30 sec stumble home from Space. The best bit personally was breakfast time when when all the oddities staying in our hotel congregated which resulting much stupid giggling on my part and us becoming friends with an elderly and extremely hairstute russian couple who sat next to us)
Sunday night around 130 we popped out to get a pizza via a sorely tempting walk past the Space queue. We held out and instead had to make do with some banter with some understandably highly excited Italians.
Monday morning was a little lie in and a bit of dip before heading down to DC-10. I was really looking forward to this as last time I came here I remember hearing about it just taking off as an after hours space club. We arrived around 330 and it was fairly quiet. Still plenty of people but it really easy to pick a spot, chill and slowly ease ourselves into it. The sounds when we arrived were mindblowing. We didnt recognise a single tune (for most of the night to be honest) but the dirty squelchy baselines with some creative mixing was perfect and by about 5 ish we were truly all loving it. Around 6ish the place was really starting to pack out and we found ourselvestowards the front of the room really getting involved. We decided to leave around 10ish because the place was absolutely rammed. I think we all agreed from 8oclock onwards the music was amazing and so we really had to pull ourselves away.
In hindsight DC-10 was def our fav clubbing experience. The music, the friendliness of the crowd, the slightly underground vibe and the general feeling that we were sharing something in Ibiza that you actively have to seek out i.e. its not just on your doorstep,made it a great day.
We went back to the hotel, got some munch freshened up and had a little sleep before heading out to Cocoon for around 130ish. I was quite unsure about Cocoon given it clashed with R Sanchez but given our day at DC10 it felt more of a logical choice. I remeber amnesia as being my favourite club from when we came here five yrs ago. Remeber having an amzing night at GodsKitchen and Cream so was really excited.
I wasnt feeling to good for one reason or another when we arrived and it took me till about 4ish to get into it. Really wasnt impressed with the first couple of hours. Found it bleepy and monotonous. It was only when Sven Vath came on that I understood what all the fuss about Cocoon was about. The guys a real showman and his tune selection had me going until 7 and making up for lost time. One particualr tune at close to 7ish, Isbjorn I think its called sealed the smile on my face. At 7 we all made non-committed sounds about catching the after party and these girls we were chating to earlier at DC-10 did a good job at trying to convince us but we were all abit exhausted and coming down so decided to go home via getting the wrong bus which left us in Ibiza Town.
Overall personally I didnt think Cocoon was my best night the way other people feel it is theirs. Having said that it was definately up there and I really liked the cosmopolitan crowd again . Everyone was there for the music and seemed to be really up for it!
Tuesday was a planned chill day. Woke up around 3ish had a little dip and generally relaxed before heading down to Borra Borra for around 7ish. Now I remeber Borra Borra from 5yrs ago only v vaguely as we only popped down for a couple of hrs during space. But at the end of the trip I came to the conclusion that Borra Borra is def one of my favourite places in the world. Some people have said that the music can be poor but apart for the odd occasional and understandable lull I thought the music was spot on and perfect for dancing to outside into the evening.
I should actually qualify that. Borra Borra before 12 is one of my favourite places in the world. After 12 when it all went inside there was a noticable change in the crowd, especially after 1ish. We hung about till about 130ish because despite there being absolutely no need they continued to play some really good tunes. Around 130 we realised that the crowd was becoming dominated by some pretty horny men and given that we had been completely spoiled with the crowd on Mon and earlier that evening we had a little smoke on the beach and played some cards. We still ended up going to bed at 530 because we ended up playing tunes in our hotel room on the portable Ipod speaker I bought for the trip which was good fun.
Wednesday was pretty relaxed again and I ened up sleeping till around 5 oclock. We were pretty keen on catching the Sunset in SanAn but it was looking a little cloudy so we put that on the backburner for later in the Week. Shady arrived around 10 oclock and the 4 of us were reunited. So off we headed into Ibiza Town around 1oclock for some drinks. We went to Zoo Bar and were immediately taken by how lively and buzzing Ibiza Town is compared to PdB. Had a few drinks and generally had a good catch up now that the fprur of us were back together. Around 2 oclock we headed down to Pacha, for Subliminal Sessions. Pacha was the only club I didnt go to last time so was quite excited. Everyone was in good spirits when we jumped in a cab with a really really old cab driver. The moment we got in the driver cranks up his stereo and starts blasting out Calabria which we all love. So there were 4 of us and a 70 year old cabbie singing along as we reached Pacha all smiling
The first thing when we got inside we noticed was how many more british people there were compared to Dc-10, Cocoon and Borra Borra. Didnt mind but we all agreed we really liked the cosmopolitan atmosphere and energy of the first couple of nights. Actually felt away from home!
I was expecting big things from Morillo given Ive bought a couple of his albums in the past and whilst quite mainstream still get you up and dancing which is the name of the game at the end of the day. As my friend Patsy put it so concisely,Morillo was "average". I know a few spotlighters expressed their mixed feelings to this night and in Hindsight the Home of La Troya at space might have gone down better
Still had a good night and a few of the highlights were when he dropped This is Miami and Same Man and Calabria but apart from that he struggled to hold our attention. Admittedly I did go missing in action at around 6ish as a mixture of too much booze + others led to me burning up and having to rub ice cubes on myself which is not the greatest looking thing you'll see at Pacha. Did get chatting to this dippy welsh girl who was hilarious. My hours kip in the club gave a massively strong second wind whilst the others were flagging and came out of pacha no where near ready to call it a night. My newly found Welsh Friend and I decided carry on to the Home of La Troya After Party at Space till about 11am when my hinger pangs got the better of me and called it a night via a quick dip in the pool
The nxt thing I knew and it was Thursday night and I was being shaken awake at 9ish by Patsy. Got a little food and before heading down to Cream at Amnesia. This was the first night we were going to that I had been to 5years ago. That night only 4 of the 10 had made it out but we'd met some American chicks who were great fun and just remeber it being an amazing night. Also remeber it being a bit more progressive than this time round where I found it to be a bit more of a hard trance sound. Admittedly my music tastes have changed over the last few years and trance is really not thing anymore. Things wernt helped by our sweeties not being very sweet but in the end I just relived the old days and found a spot under the Dj booth and just raved.
Also Spent loads more time on the terrace than at Cocoon although found it a little embarrasing to say the least when my mate slipped off the podium and landed straight on top of me. Really enjoyed the more funky sounds being played out on the terrace. Got a pleasant suprise when two of our friends from London, Zoe and Estrella turned up at cream. We were expecting them on Fri and were quite suprised because these are not two girls you'd expect to find a trance rave.
Finally a shout must go out to the Cream crowd.It was far more crowded than cocoon, full of brits, quite young and full of beer boys. It was dominated by sweaty and lobster red guys whipping their tops off and messy guys in luminous boiler suits which I found hilarious and reminded me of when i used to go to Peach at Camden Palace when I was 18. And yet when you put it into perspective everyone was having such a good time and going nuts that you couldnt help but feel the good vibes and enjoy the "geezer" behind me shouting and screaming in my ear "thats a F**king tune...yes yes have itttttttttt!" and found myself enjoying the fact that everyone else was enjoying themselves so much!
So Friday rolled around and it was a pretty late start to things as usual. Another day chilling by the pool with a 45min Borra Borra fix in the afternoon followed by a little Kip and then it was off to Ibiza Town for some drinks around 1ish. We headed down to base bar which I thought was pretty nice. For some reason they gave us free "champagne" which is about as far as you can get from being close to the real thing. It did the trick though because coupled with a few extra strong Mohitos I was def feeling a little wobbly when I stood up. It quickly passed and we set about looking for a cab to take us down to Pacha for F**ck me Im Famous. We couldnt find a single Cabbie tho but luckily loads of drivers had just got off the boat and there was a bit of a Jam. We thought offering €20 for 5mins work was a pretty good deal. The guy we selected looked like he had a pretty large jeep. Unfourtunately he'd packed his whole life in there including a full lenght fan and so by the time we got to Pacha we were all pretty crumpled and in need of a good iron!
Now I was a little nervous about Pacha after Weds as well as the fact that Id heard some mixed things about Pure Pacha on a Friday. was looking forward to all 6 of us going out properly though and what can I say. We had the most amazing night and even if it wasnt my personal favourite by general consensus it was definately the groups best night. Guetta was awesome and had everyone going nuts the whole night. It was def way more rammed than Fri and way more cosmopolitan. The chilled out areas upstairs on weds were overflowing but there was still room to dance around the edges. Overall the tune of the night was def "World hold on" which Bob Sinclair must have played about 4 times....talk about self promotion! Even on the fourth play the club still went crazy. This was how I'd imagined Pacha to be! Overall there were hardly any lulls in the tunes and before we knew it it was 730 and we were ready to make a move. Just as we were leaving whoever was playing at that point dropped this Tiga tune that I love (but have forgotten the name of) which had us all rushing back in for another dance and me being a fool and trekking it all the way to the balcony for one last hurrah! By the time we left it was 8ish and none of us were ready to call it a night. So via some brekkie back at the hotel it was off to Space for Matinee.
I thought the music at Matinee was quality. Quite dark and moody and a great opposite to Pacha. We danced till about 1030-11ish when we paused. Pausing was an error as the moment we stopped moving we realised we had nothing left in the tank and so off to bed it was. Best thing about it was the queue to get in at 8am which was about 15mins long and seemed to have doubled by the time we left as well as the fact that La Discoteca was pretty packed for 830 in the morning.
Saturday night was meant to be another chilled one. we woke around 530ish and had a quick dip by the pool. The plan was to go down to SanAn for a sunset after we put it on the backburner earlier in the week. However there was one slight snag....Borra Borra was going off when we got there at about 730. Way more rammed than any other day we'd been, with Spider Man holding court and some great tunes being dropped again. None of us could tear ourselves away and realised that it was too late to leave for San An and so it turned into quite a large Borra Borra session with a quick bit of dinner and a lot of beer mixed in. Again although it was really crowded the crowd after 12 definately changed again. We met some guys from Austria who were Uber friendly and were really good fun. One of the Austrian girls had a Spanish friend who were the smiliest people I met in Ibiza. In fact I dont think I ever saw them not smiling! I like smiley people btw!
One of my mates headed of to Hed Kandi with the two girls that had joined us on thurs but the rest of us wernt up for it so again we hung out till about 1ish at BB before cutting our losses as the crowd again became slightly sleazy. So a late night poker session was in order which resulting in me losing €20 and use of my speaker to the guys in the other room for the last 2 days of the trip...bitter! Got to bed about 3ish which was pretty early for our trip (and most peoples i would imagine!)
Sunday came around in between getting woken up at 7 by my mate getting in from Hed Kandi. Got up around 2ish and did a bit of the pool thing etc. Now no Ibiza trip is complete without a pilgrimage to see God himself..... Dangerous Dave Pearce. Unfourtunately my friends arent true ravers so we had to make do with Space.
We got in at 6.05 and I was pretty relieved to get a passout because I thght they were usaully quite strict about it being a 6oclock cut off. Anyway first thing i did was do some big time exploring. Personally I love what they have done with the old terrace. Thought it was a really nice room with a great atmosphere. At the same time I wish the new sunset terrace was still the Old Sunset terrace because it didnt have same great layout and vibe of the old one I felt. I couldnt remeber whether La Discoteca has changed (not from saturday but from my last trip!) as it looked different to how I remebered it. Anyways we got involved with the sunset terrace for a bit. Also met the best barmaid in the whole of Ibiza. Pretty and so helpful. We were having a drink in the old terrace about 8ish and appreciating the a/c when I asked her whether there were any timetables about. She said something in spanish and then ran off! I have that effect on people sometimes so I wasnt unduly worried. About 20mins later she comes back having written out the name off every dj playing in the diff rooms and had made a couple of photocopies for us which i thought was so sweet,
Anyway we left Space at around 830 to go to the hotel to have a shower and eat. I was desperate to be back for John Ullyses from 10-12 but my mates were being super slow. Eventually I told them to catch me up and went down on my own about 1030ish and was so glad I did. Thought John Ullyses was brilliant. Met the smiley Austrians so felt like I could share the vibes with someone but was bit frustrated that my mates were missing out. The guy was having a great time DJ'ing which was pretty obvious when he got onto the DJ both with a toy machine gun and pretended to shoot the crowd. He finished up with Faithless Insomnia followed by "All night Long" which captured the mood perfectly and left the whole terrace unsuprisingly begging for more.
Next up it was into the Old Terrace for Andy Cato from Groove Armarda. Now Im no G Amarda fan at all but this was def one of the best sets Ive heard in a while. It was a really dirty and bassy set that would have been perfect for a club like Fabric. The terrace was completely rammed, which at times got frustrating with people pushing all around me but the music was awesome. The perfect guage was Nic Fanciulli who was up next and managed to empty the terrace out within 20mins. Ive heard a lot of people slag him off on here and tried to keep an open mind but after the set Id just heard I went from dancing like crazy to a virtual standstill and looking at my watch until my mate arrived back from the bar. The moment he did it was off to La Discoteca to catch Layo & BushWacka who were frankly disappointing. Thought they were way too hard and just pounded the beats out without going anywhere with them.
Luckily 2ManyDjs came to the rescue from 4-6 with a cracking set although I was in a bit of a state by this point and was buying up Chupa Chups buy the bucket load. Well not quite. Before we knew it was 6am and crowd was screaming for more which 2ManyDJs duly obliged. We rolled out at around 630am with the realisation that it was all over. We headed back to the hotel and after about 30mins sleep tried to pack on a big come down with my ears completely ringing. Man Space is loud!
And then before we knew it we were all back home and dreaming of this time last week being at DC-10
Overall we all had an amzing time. My only regrets were not making it to SanAn for a sunset and not going to eat in any nice restaurants as the food in our hotel was more than good enough. We met so many nice people and even the Italians and Spanish who were too cool for school were endearing! I loved Borra Borra during the day time and challenge anyone not to have a good time there. Overall DC-10 rocked as did F**k me Im Famous.
I try to judge a night in terms of how good the tunes were that I didnt know or recognise and in that sense DC-10 won hands down whilst Space also was quality overall and thats the reason that Subliminal disappointed. Morillo dropped some big tunes but it was the tunes in between that were a let down.
Would love to come back in Spetember but not sure who would be up for it out of my mates given that one is going back in 2 weeks! Im sorely tempted because hes got a villa with 6 of his school mates who I know reasonably well but might be a bit soon. Had such a good time Id even consider going on my own in September which is something I would never normally do.
Apologies for only posting half the review before but I hope you enjoy!
