- In a back room at Cavo Paradiso in Mykonos there's a weathered photo of a small, white, single-roomed building perched on rocks near the edge of a cliff. It was taken in the early '90s, and at the time a farmer used the space to make yogurt. He must have worked with a smile: the building has an incredible, uncluttered view across the Aegean Sea. It was from this tiny structure that one of Europe's biggest and most beautiful nightclubs grew. Each summer between May and September, up to 4,000 people a night come to Cavo Paradiso, a multi-levelled, open-aired venue with a swimming pool at its centre. Traditionally people went to Cavo to hear progressive house (which was massive in Greece in the early '00s) and classic US house, with DJs like Tony Humphries and David Morales among its regulars. These days Cavo's bookings cleave to a distinct dichotomy: EDM on one side, techno on the other. Ricardo Villalobos, who has a long-standing relationship with the club, was booked to headline the final techno session of the summer.
The party took place on a day that marked a major chapter in Greece's on-going financial crisis, as its government agreed terms for a third bailout deal with its creditors. Mykonos, however, has been seemingly insulated from the economic hardships that have gripped the country. The world's moneyed elites flock to the island in increasing numbers. Luxury yachts line its coastline. There are more five-star hotels on Mykonos than in the rest of Greece combined. Cavo has understandably cultivated a VIP culture off the back of this, but, on this evidence at least, it's not been at the expense of a good party.
Stathis Lazarides, who has been a core member of the Cavo team since the late '90s, played the opening set. He told me beforehand about the challenges of playing his preferred deeper strains of house music in such a huge venue with a transient crowd, and indeed, for the first three hours of the night he tried to hook people with as few fireworks as possible. The approach worked for the most part. A few people gave up and headed to the bar, but by 2 AM most were locked in. King Britt's evergreen remix of Josh One's "Contemplation" got the crowd clapping, and the gradual rise in intensity over the next hour nicely set the stage for the headliner.
In a move that was typical of his onstage charisma, Villalobos turned up late, entered the DJ booth in a whirlwind of motion and air-kisses, and within 60 seconds had flamboyantly teased his first track. Villalobos is almost affectionately known to be inconsistent, but in seeing him a lot over the years I've noticed that if he's throwing the faders around, like he was at Cavo, it's usually going to be a good night. The first couple of hours unfolded in predictable but exciting fashion: he lined up trippy, percussive, Latin-tinged techno, and everyone loved it. It's often said that you can go hours without recognising a track in a Villalobos set, but tonight he was in full-on party mode. Johnny D's "Orbitalife" and Mr. Tophat & Art Alfie's "I Want To See (That You're In Love With Me)," although instantly recognisable, were subtle selections compared to the run of tracks that came later, which included Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and the Deep Dish remix of Sandy B's "Make The World Go Round."
As the sky began to gradually and spectacularly change colour behind the dance floor, Villalobos indulged in a mega-mix of his own tracks. "808 The Bass Queen" in particular sounded great at that time, but "Easy Lee," "Dexter" and his remix of Depeche Mode's "The Sinner In Me" all slipped down nicely. It wasn't a set that pushed boundaries and bended minds—as Villalobos is capable of doing—but his performance was completely befitting of the context. At a little after 6 AM, with tones of Chilean folk music ringing in the ears, Villalobos and his father, who danced behind him for almost the entire set, exited the club in the same chaotic fashion in which they entered it.
Photo credit: Johnny Panopoulos