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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! |
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The Big Three in Ibiza reviewed: We Love Sundays at Space, Subliminal Sessions at Pacha and Cream at Amnesia...
Reported by Shaun
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Submitted 04-10-04 09:17
Well I must say that my trip to Ibiza didn’t get off to the best start on hearing the devastating news that Bora Bora had been shut down – cue mass hysteria and cries of anguish at my house 12 hours prior to departure. But then we consoled ourselves that at least there was still Space, Amnesia and Pacha to look forward to as well as a whole week of extravagant hedonism on the best party Island in the world. Then things took another turn for the worse when our plane was five and a half hours late taking off….now I know the people in the Caribbean needed to be rescued from the hurricane with your planes blah blah blah but frankly the only thing I was concerned about was missing the infamous We Love Sundays @ Space – an essential Ibiza event!
We Love Sundays At Space, Space, 12th September 2004
Alex P was the first bright spark who thought that it may be a good idea to put some decks on the terrace of Space and spin some tunes to the chilled out clubbers that used to lounge there. In those days the decks were behind the bar and the whole terrace was open air – many years on and to most people the Terrace IS Space. A unique clubbing environment that feels like it is outside even though it is mainly covered up; the terrace truly has attained legendary status within clubland the world over.
Space is a 5,000 capacity club in the tourist resort of Playa D’en Bossa in the south of Ibiza and Sundays host the most high profile promotion there: We Love Sundays at Space. Born out of the ashes of the Home promotion, We Love… runs every Sunday from 8am to 6am Monday morning – 22 hours of clubbing non stop. Meaning that it is an afterparty and a party in its own right. The Terrace holds about 1000 people and is open till midnight, although roofed, the terrace still has an outdoor atmosphere as there are extensive gaps around the sides which makes it feel ‘outside.’ The inside of the club is a cavernous dark room which hosts around 3000 clubbers. Massive is one word to describe it!
Sorry for the bad photo but no cameras can be taken into Space!
I arrived at a later than expected time of 7pm and found the terrace in full swing. Busy but not rammed and full of the crowd that Space is renowned for: international, stylish and hedonistic. One thing you notice in Ibiza is that club crowds tend to cross ethnic and national boundaries and this is great to see! The DJ was Jason Bye who has been a resident at Home/We Love Sundays… for a number of years, he was playing a sexy mix of Balearic house and chunky house numbers and finished with the all time classic ‘Blue Monday’ by New Order. As the Terrace filled up even further, it was Steve Lawler’s turn to take to the decks. He proceeded to play one of the best sets I have heard this year! Steve Lawler has become the king of the terrace over the past few years and this set showed why; mixing it up from chunky prog to the dirtiest of house music, the set really raised the roof. The amazing thing about the Space Terrace is that even though the music isn’t that loud (due to local noise pollution laws) the atmosphere there is simply the best that I have ever witnessed within a clubbing environment. A joyful celebration of life, house music and clubbing! Next up was Groove Armada who took the music in a slightly more traditional house direction but really captured, for me, the essence of what Ibiza is all about. From old school uber classics like Joe Smooth’s Promised Land and Strings of Life to newer tunes such as Superstylin, Weak Become Heroes and In My Heart this was a set that couldn’t possibly fail to put a big beaming smile on your face…The Terrace closed at 12:30 and everyone shuffled into the main room for Steve Lawler’s second set of the night – Lawler showed his diversity by playing a very different set to the Terrace earlier and gave the crowd a much darker, far more twisted set – it was bloody fantastic! Just the thing to get lost to in amongst the darkness and the laser stabs of Space. Up in the Red Room, NastyDirtySexMusic was just kicking off with some filthy house and the new and fabulous upstairs terrace was full of clubbers chilling to Hip Hop and Disco. I left at 2am rather knackered but very happy that I had just experienced one of the best clubbing experiences I have ever had…
Subliminal Sessions at Pacha, 15th September 2004
Four days later and it was time for Subliminal Sessions at Pacha. Pacha is seen as the ‘daddy’ of the Ibiza clubs and I was very much looking forward to spending a night there for the very first time. The night looked to be one of the best all season for house aficionados with Erick Morillo, Jon Carter and Benny Benassi all due to appear – a mouth watering prospect!
The club is located just south of Ibiza Town’s port area; those who have been to Ibiza will know that Ibiza Town is truly one of the best things about Ibiza and the clubs there reflect its glamour and style. The whole of Pacha was lit up in a resplendent violet colour when we arrived and we went straight through the club upstairs to its terrace. Unlike the Space Terrace this Terrace is for socialising and chilling as opposed to partying, it was extremely opulent and looked gorgeous. We ventured into the belly of the club at 1:30 to see Benny Benassi – Benassi plays a very high tempo, quite tough brand of house music and so I was surprised that he was on first. He didn’t tone down his style one iota and had the crowd whooping to some pretty fierce electro jacking house – I didn’t recognise many of the tunes at all but most had an electric effect on the dance floor. Pacha itself is shaped like a amphitheatre with the main dance floor in the middle and then many layers of walkways and seating areas building up around it. This creates a cool pulpit effect and the club itself was stunning in its design and look. However, there was kind of too much seating in there in my opinion and as a result I think the atmosphere slightly suffered as a result; although in the midst of the dancefloor you certainly wouldn’t have noticed this.
Next up was one of my favourite house DJs currently playing: Jon Carter. Not only does the man own my favourite pub (The Lock Tavern) but he has also become one of my favourite DJs over the past year or so. Having seen him play wicked sets at Lovebox and Godsktichen Global Gathering I was really looking forward to seeing him lay into the sound system at Pacha.
He did not disappoint! As usual he played his trademark brand of ragga/RnB tinged party house to begin with before veering into all together more acidic and filthy territory. Highlight of his set had to be when he dropped the massive Rocker by Alter Ego, a tune to send small children running for their beds! Carter’s party house really rocked the place and set the club up perfectly for the main man Morillo.
Morillo has probably been my favourite DJ in 2004, his sets at SW4 and Godskitchen have blown me away and I have been extremely impressed with every aspect of his DJ-ing from his tune selection, to on stage persona to his awesome mixing ability. At Pacha he once again demonstrated why he is now the biggest house DJ on the planet. Armed with three CDJs and an FX unit Morillo demonstrated his amazing abilities with those technologies whilst playing some simply brilliant house music – tunes of the set were Kinda New by Spektrum and Strings of Life by Soul Central, both got an amazing reception. Ultimate highlight of the set however was when he dropped Gadjo So Many Times – a moment of pure joy! He did however get a little self indulgent for about an hour when he played a very dull hour of tribal house, not being a fan at all of this music it was a good chance to have a break! The last hour the music got much better but he appeared to tire and the mixing was suffering as a result – some of it was really quite shocking and the kind of clangers that make you cringe whilst dancing! Not what I would expect from someone of his stature. He did play some very unexpected tunes, notably the fantastic UK Garage anthem ‘RIP Groove’ by Double 99 – it was very funny watching a few thousand people dancing their socks off to UK Garage in Pacha! The night kind of fizzled out as his enthusiasm for it became less and it was a bit of a damp squib end to the experience.
Pacha the venue was an amazing club to look at, however I felt that there was a bit too much looking going on at Pacha and not nearly enough clubbing. A great experience for sure and great music but as a night I felt there was something missing, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. A fantastic night was had but just didn’t have the intensity of Space or Amnesia, still it’s definitely worth going!
Cream Closing Party, Amnesia, 16th September
Now, I have reviewed Cream at Amnesia twice already for Harderfaster during the last year so I wont talk about the club again too much! (If you are curious then check out my previous reviews…) But a brief description is that it is huge 5000 capacity club in the middle of Ibiza with a main room and a terrace. Terrace is slightly misleading description, it used to be a terrace until the anti-fun police made them convert it into a second room and now it is completely ensealed. The main room at Amnesia has to be my favourite clubbing room in the world though and holds around 2000 people.
I got there at around 12:30 and the warm up DJ Gareth Wynn was busy getting the already expansive crowd moving. An excellent warm up I thought with some superb prog and techno, highlight being Cohen V Deluxe ‘Just Kick’. The club by 1am was rammed and the crowd eager to hear Tiesto who kicked off at 1:30am. As soon as he came on the atmosphere lifted and the place really started to go off. He played a set which started with his usual proggy trance and then went up to ‘proper’ trance with some techno thrown in for good measure. As usual it was a masterpiece in how to construct a trance set and was extremely well received. Amnesia is literally an assault on all of your senses – it has an amazing sound system, superb lighting and of course those Ice Cannons! If you haven’t experienced the Ice Cannons before then the experience is pretty difficult to describe but essentially it is one of the most intense experiences you are ever likely to have whilst clubbing!! Go there and find out what I am talking about!! In this kind of intense environment, Tiesto’s set went down an absolute treat and after the disappointment of his set at GKGG it was great to see the man back on top form. Highlights of the set were Traffic and the new tune from Mojado : El Toro, even clubbing veterans in Amnesia I spoke to were impressed with Tiesto and his set once again showed why so many consider him to be the world’s number one.
The crowd at Amnesia was definitely the most English of any of the clubs we had visited that week but was still a crowd that would put the average UK club to utter shame. They created an atmosphere that was unbelievable and the people there were good natured and all there to have a genuinely great night out. Was also a nice average age; a mid twenties crowd, something that I think is more common in September in Ibiza as opposed to August.
The crowd were fully pumped up now and next up was Paul Van Dyk, who I feel has edged Tiesto this year in the battle for trance supremacy. I was expecting four hours of high octane power trance and that’s exactly what I got. Paul Van Dyk’s sets are always relentless in their nature: no breathing time, no time to take a break, no time to relax – just a relentless race to the end of the night! His sets have changed over the past year and have reflected the decrease in popularity of the old style euphoric trance and the increase in popularity of a new techier, edgier, dirtier type of trance music. As my interest in the uplifting, euphoric stuff is on the wane I lapped up Paul Van Dyk’s set as he played some awesome tunes from Deep by Sam Sharp to the tune of the year (imo!) Silence by Randy Katana. Tough, dark and fast tunes were interspersed with some classics from years gone by including the timeless Greece 2000 and the rather bizarre choice of Dreaming by Arrolla! Mind you, this being Ibiza, the mixing up of such tunes went down a treat with the still rammed dance floor. Last year PVD played well past the end time and we thought it would never end but this time he finished bang on time and finished rather disappointingly with his tune Time Of Our Lives (one of his worst ever productions!) Was a bit of a poor ending to what had been a truly amazing night but overall the biggest and best trance night in the world delivered once again and I left the night satisfied that I had just experienced one of the best nights of my clubbing life. When you add the two best DJs in the world to what is widely considered as the best club in the world with an electric atmosphere then you really can’t go wrong. I should also really mention the house room as well which I was reliably informed was heaving all night, I just couldn’t drag myself away from the main room long enough to experience it!
My favourite night in Ibiza was definitely We Love Sundays at Space but Cream ran it a very close second – both events definitely rank as some of my best ever clubbing experiences. Subliminal Sessions was also extremely good but didn’t quite meet the standards set by the other two. Of course all three parties were ludicrously expensive with water at Amnesia costing a whopping 10Euros in the VIP room, but somehow they were all worth it. The price of clubbing in Ibiza is however an issue that needs to be addressed, I have no complaints about paying 50Euros to get into a club (and I realise that the high prices are to keep out the San An 18-30 Brigade) but must the drinks be SO expensive? Space has decreased prices since last year and now a bottle of water there costs 6Euros which is getting closer to acceptability. However, because the clubs charge so much money they have to provide a truly quality experience – otherwise people just simply could not justify spending that amount of money on a night out. This means that what you get in Ibiza is quality and tonnes of it – from the sound systems to the DJs to the lighting to the Air Conditioning to special features such as the Ice Cannon at Amnesia – everything screams quality at you. If this level of quality was not maintained then people would not be prepared to spend 100Euros + on a night out.
The fact that people are prepared to spend this shows the allure of Ibiza is as strong as ever. Don’t believe the naysayers who proclaim that Ibiza is overrated, tired and dead. Fat chance! From the dance floors of Amnesia, Pacha and Space, Ibiza is very much alive and throbbing with the very best music being played to the very best party people from all over the world.
Long live Ibiza!
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Other Features By Shaun:
Nastydirtysexmusic, Interview with Tim Sheridan and Smokin' Jo
Interview with Tim Davison.
Review of SW4 - Clapham Common, 21/08/04.
Review of Cream, Amnesia opening party.
Interview with Riley and Durrant
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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