- Things felt a little off-centre in the run-up to Ibiza this time around, not least because several of the main clubs chose to disregard the time-worn tradition of the opening weekend. Sankeys launched three weeks earlier than usual on May 1st, Amnesia switched from May 28th to the 14th (and then back again), and DC-10, which is typically the last to open, unbolted its doors a week earlier than expected on Monday, May 23rd. This meant that the first Circoloco of the summer doubled up as the unofficial launch party for Ibiza 2016, an alignment that cranked up pre-party excitement by several notches.
After all, nothing tells you the season is here quite like dancing outside at DC-10 for the first time in more than six months. By the time I arrived around 8 PM, hundreds of revellers had gathered in the Garden to catch the tender house of Circoloco debutant David August. He was putting the new Loud Professional soundsystem through its paces, dropping fat, pristine tracks that sounded as punchy whether you were five or 50 metres from the booth. Several smart tweaks had also been made to the layout, all of which freed up space on the dance floors. It was great to return to find the club feeling fresh and much improved, something that's rare on the island, despite the resources available.
There were also a few new additions among the largely familiar lineup. As well as August, tINI and John Talabot had been brought in. The Spaniard's set, though, never quite got off the ground in the Terrace, with a few too many plodding house tracks amid the occasional banger (Ben Klock's remix of Kerri Chandler's "Pong"). Outside, I caught 45 minutes of fun, frisky tech house courtesy of Tania Vulcano and Cassy (Mihai Popoviciu's remix of Benno Blome's "Abotha"), before The Martinez Brothers and Seth Troxler followed down a similar, albeit tougher, path (David Morales Presents Red Zone's "Tribal Funk.") But it was the Main Room that, for me, hosted the best sets of the night. Watching Jackmaster and Tom Trago try and out-funk each other, while ensuring the kicks hit harder with every track, was a treat, especially when the Glaswegian dropped Len Faki's edit of DJ Hyperactive's "Wide Open."
The Main Room was also the dance floor with the most space—Circoloco gets so horribly packed that it's easy to forget you're often better off dancing than hanging out on the peripheries. I moved freely while the night's most curious and promising partnership, Gerd Janson and DVS1, negotiated the common ground between them, meeting in the middle at a kind of rhythmic, swinging techno. Given DVS1's stellar reputation as a house DJ, I was hoping they'd veer off in that direction, but it didn't matter. I imagine that when you're faced with thousands of laser-lit revellers, all having the time of their lives, the urge to bang it out is just too strong.
Photo credit /
James Chapman