- It'd be easy to view the We Love opening party, a mere two weeks after the Space opening party (also, incidentally on a Sunday) as another cheap Ibizan gimmick to entice punters to depart with another €50 of their hard earned cash. And, in many ways, it is. But when the line-up features the likes of Carl Craig, Joris Voorn, Danny Howells, Claude Vonstroke, Steve Lawler, Tiefschwarz and (*deep breath*) Alfredo, it's a small price to pay for the privilege. It's also enough to make most festival organisers wilt. While the traditional Space opening party features the obvious big names (Carl Cox) to the blatantly cheesy (Deadmau5) as well as the hardly unique concept of an outdoor stage to drag clubbers in, any regular worth their salt will tell you that the Space season really kicks off after the first We Love session.
Space is an enormous club. It's of American super-super-market size proportions in fact. Think Walmart with aisles labled "Techno" and "Electro House" and your conception of this club is still realistically way off. Sure, the giant steel and glass doors which divide the main entrance from the terraza are more than a bit of a fire safety issue, but they do help to separate all the different variations of clubbers Space lets through its doors every Sunday. Hang with the beautiful people in the terrace or follow the predominantly British (and let's be honest, not as good looking) crowd to the main room? Decisions, decisions.
Part of the beauty of the We Love sessions then, is that musically, there's something for everyone here. The giant hanging smiley faces emitting from the venues roof? Random sure, but by aligning themselves with the heady days of rave culture, it's plain to see that Space is a club keen not to take itself so seriously. And with an estimated 21,000 entering its doors for the official opening two weeks previous, someone's doing a good job. Many clubs actually suffer as a result of such colossal numbers, DJs citing the fact that the club lacks any atmosphere, punters complaining of overpacked dance floors. Luckily, however, the key ingredient: the atmosphere, wasn't amiss once on the night in question.
Much of the night included incessantly traveling between the floor and the club's entrance to check the DJ schedule. VonStroke or Lawler? Voorn or Howells? If I've one criticism of the night it's that it isn't made clear to the punters who's playing where. Lucky, then, that VonStroke's giant frame is fairly unmissable and that Alfredo resembles a lost pensioner behind the decks. Either way, such choices offer an enviable predicament. Despite seeing Ali Tiefschwarz last week in Dublin, I opted to stay in the Terraza, where the brothers' new production, "Trust," was met with typical Ibizan aplomb. A mention should also go to Alex Wolfenden, who kicked things off nicely before the major players with set highlights including the ubiquitous sounds of Reboot's "Ronson." Expect the opening acts to shy away from the big room sounds before the main acts come on? Think again. This is Space, stupid.
Seven hours in and still four to go, but the memory begins to get a bit hazier from here to the finish line. 11 hours of dancing; it could only be palatable in an atmosphere like this. I've seen most of the artists before, but in Ibiza—and Space specifically—they just seem to care more. They genuinely want to be here, their music is appreciated here and the crowd know their productions. Forget Berlin or the trainspotters championing the Adriatic as the new White Isle, Ibiza is still the world's main stomping ground for electronic music.
OK, so officially the We Love opening session is not the real Sunday opening, but as Steve Lawler finished his set to rapturous applause in the Terraza, it felt momentous.