- There was a heavy Detroit presence at Sankeys Ibiza last week. Moodymann played a rare island set at VIVa Warriors on Sunday, but really it was the appearance of Derrick May and Jeff Mills at Tribal Sessions on Wednesday that caused the biggest stir—initially, for all the wrong reasons. In the lead-up to the event, the club announced that May and Mills would be playing back-to-back for the first time ever. From the off something about this seemed a little strange—May plays a lot of house in his sets these days, while Mills is nothing if not uncompromising in his approach. And then, two days before kick-off, the two-way was pulled for reasons unspecified.
The first I heard of the cancellation was inside the club. Regardless, the lineup in The Lab remained impressive, with Mr. G warming up for Mills, and May closing. The sprightly Brit proved the perfect opening act, building the floor with his combination of warm, funk-fuelled tech house, infectious smile and animated dance moves. By the time Mills was due on stage, he'd packed the place.
A sharp contrast to Mr. G, a stony-faced Mills barely looked at the crowd during his two-and-a-half hour set. Motionless, except for the occasional rapid hand movement, he opened with a lengthy orchestral intro, before dipping straight into an unending succession of richly cosmic techno. Though always hard and fast, Mills worked elements of dub, trance and jackin' house into his set, played off against a backdrop of pitch-black panels, spaceships and the words “"Are You Tribal?" written in Star Wars font. Of the many tracks he played, one stood out: DBX's "Losing Control."
As intense and engrossing as the music was, the atmosphere wasn't quite there. Mills' transitions sounded rough on the Sankeys system and the room was at most three-quarters full, comprising an odd mix of passers-through and die-hard fans. Given that this was his only Ibiza date of the summer, you'd have expected a better turn out (though Marco Carola's headline set at Paradise probably played its part). To close, May segued neatly into several stomping techno workouts—including DJ Rafael's "Drill"—before gently leaning into more swinging grooves. Wednesday night was up there with Sankeys' best parties of the season, but it had the potential to be the island's standout event of 2014.
Photo credit: Luke Dyson