- It's been a funny old year in Ibiza. The police have been cracking down worryingly hard, and worryingly randomly, across the island on numerous clubs and parties, handing out fines and closures with heavy-handed regularity. There was talk of "bad drugs" flooding the island among workers and regulars, numbers were noticeably down, prices are noticeably up and the season-usual refrain that "it's dead this year" is louder than ever, despite the thousands that continue to join queues and hog dance floors island-wide. But the general consensus though, is that this year, things really have changed.
When I visited, at the beginning of the closing parties, the first thing that shocked me was yes, for what is usually one of the best and busiest weeks of the year, numbers did look down. At night the streets in Ibiza town seemed a little less buzzing, and the bars definitely less busy than they usually are at this time of year. Several bar owners agreed that it's been like this for the past month.
But what about inside the clubs? There has been much speculation this year about one of Ibiza's biggest draws, Circo Loco at DC-10. Closed for much of the season to serve out the rest of 2007's 60-day ban, it was a surprise to see the club actually open for business. Open it was and rammed to the gills (with many more than its laughingly small 65 official capacity). Many have bemoaned DC-10 as an icon of "it's not as good as it used to be" and admittedly, since an Ibiza law forced a roof upon its legendary terrace, a lot of the magic has gone. The only people able to cheer those 737s are those outside in the newish garden. Another mood killer is the 4:30 PM opening time. Where once DC-10 was a morning institution, now it's just another nightclub.
Photo credit: Marion
And the music? It's still a veritable den of techno and minimal, although this year it's tech house that is the sound that's swept Circo Loco, and the island at large (or at least in every place I visited). Sossa was banging but bleak, Timo Maas on the terrace equally dull, but UK guest Jamie Jones more than ratcheted up the inside, turning the cold, soulless, blue-ish dancefloor inside red hot. "Outside," if you can call it that, the terrace was elbow room only—a sweating, seething mass where you were lucky enough to find space to stand, let alone dance if you got in later than 5:00 PM. Resident Tania Vulcano was solid, while recent resident favourites Arpiar—the Romanian trio of Raresh, Pedro and Rhadoo—showed why they are clearly this year's flavour. Bassline heavy, throbbing tech house from start to finish—always holding something back, then dropping in a much anticipated groove. Despite the squeeze, there was very much a party going on. But for how long can it last at doomed DC-10?
On to Cocoon, still one of the island's most talked about nights and clearly one of the busiest. Sadly, the whole thing felt like a cynical affair before we even got there. Tongue-in-cheek or not, Sven Väth's posters for Cocoon are maddeningly desperate and smack of a DJ taking himself way too seriously. Despite killer line-ups, the whole Amnesia/Cocoon experience feels like a mugging—or at least it did at the closing party. More than five thousand people crammed into two rooms, with barely a fingers-worth of space, the main room at least had atmosphere and Richie Hawtin captured the intensity of a smaller techno club before handing over to main man Sven Väth, who hammered the baying masses. At least in here it felt like a party.
But room two was woefully bad. The sound wasn't a patch on room one, and despite some great moments from Luciano and Ricardo Villalobos back-to-back, it never really seemed to go off. In fact the Arpiar guys, so good in a small space like DC-10, were woefully dull here. Maybe the crowd were tired, maybe it was the muddy sound, maybe it was the fact that the whole place felt like a morgue. Who knows? It wasn't good. The fact that I witnessed two separate fights didn't help. This was a place where I looked for someone, anyone, smiling or visibly having a good time for three hours—I found four. In a place where some punters were forking out as much as 80 euros for a so-called good time, I would have expected better. Sadly, Cocoon at Amnesia felt like one big money-making exercise and everything that's bad about Ibiza right now.
Paying through the nose has become the number one thing to moan about in Ibiza this year. How long will it be before prices top €100? (Maybe they have already.) Luckily there is one place that has stayed resolutely cheap over the years—Ibiza Underground. Perched above the San An-Ibiza highway, this late night institution is still a favourite among Ibiza's workers and techno fans alike. The nights we went, Mathew Jonson played a live set and M.A.N.D.Y. turned up for DJ duties. Why can't more Ibiza clubs be like Underground? It's free for girls and €10 for blokes (but that includes a drink), there's a lovely outdoor space with plenty of seating, great guests and a friendly crowd. If only it opened later than 4 AM. Underground has always done what it does quietly and calmly and still manages to remain just off the radar enough to be busy but never too rammed.
Photo credit: Jane Fitz
For every distress story, there's a success story. And the Zoo Project is this year's ray of sunshine. The closing Secretsundaze party at this venture being its beautiful sunset. The Zoo Project has added some much needed DIY magic to Ibiza's programme this year. Set in an abandoned zoo in the Benimussa Hills just outside San Antonio, it offers a lovely poolside terrace and dance floor, plenty of affordable bars, some great inside space and even good toilets. It's also miles off the beaten track and run by genuine clubbing fans. This year they've done their own events at the weekends and some collaborative events with some of clubland's most credible names during the week. The Wednesday I arrived London institution Wiggle were doing an outdoor event (and unusually for Ibiza, the heavens rained on their parade). But the next week, for the closing, Secretsundaze were blessed with sunshine.
Opening late afternoon, the Zoo (now named Galanight) is a lovely place to watch the sun go down, drink in hand, round the pool. By the time SS's James Priestley opened up with a set of laidback disco (including Cole Medina's sublime Love You Inside Out) there were already a few people chilling by the pool, not feeling the need to dance. Today's guest was Kristian from Âme, and after playing for a bit, settled in for a bit of back to back action with James and fellow resident Giles Smith. It was just one of those days when nothing was that serious. By the time the sun had disappeared behind the hills for good, the floor at the Zoo was hooting more than a monkey enclosure. There were some balaeric moments, including Âme's Inxs bootleg or those long lost disocfied DJQ records, a Brit-heavy crowd and most importantly, and missing from so many other places, the real feel of a party. Here it was cynicism-free fun. Maybe it was being outdoors, having the space to dance, the sublime music from the SS lads or just the fact you weren't raped for entry here, but this was proof that you can still find something special in Ibiza. Let's hope the authorities don't close the Zoo's gates just yet. The animals are just beginning to have some fun.