- "I guess we've now all seen that the island really doesn't need another tech house night," said Sankeys owner David Vincent in a recent interview with Ibiza Spotlight. These are the words of a club owner still finding his feet in a scene where constant upheaval is the game you have to play to survive. In the three years I've been visiting Ibiza, Sankeys has gone from running underground house and techno parties seven nights a week to experimenting with a broader, and in some cases more accessible, range of club styles. It's a shift that has helped Sankeys distinguish itself from its rivals—this side of the island doesn't need another Space or Amnesia—while widening its appeal among its largely young, British clientele.
This year's roster is the club's most diverse yet, with tech house (Steve Lawler's Warriors) and headsy European minimal (Unusual Suspects) next to old-school hip-hop (Applebum) and UK garage (The Redlight). Nestled in between them, on Wednesdays, is Dance 88/89, a new night celebrating the music and DJs that soundtracked the UK's Second Summer Of Love. On paper it's a smart move—for an island so obsessed with its past, there's actually very few places to go and hear good, old dance music. But there are also a couple of potential snags: will it the pique the interest of Sankeys' core crowd, most of whom weren't even born when acid house took root? And almost 30 years on, do the likes of Alfredo, Nicky Holloway and Danny Rampling still know how to rock a crowd?
I left Sankeys in the early hours of Thursday, May 26th, with few concrete answers, but I was nevertheless buoyed by how much fun I'd had at the opening. The action went down in The Lab, a high-ceilinged room with pillars and a mezzanine that I'd wager was built with the Haçienda in mind. (When the room opened in 2013, it was fitted with a set of original lights from the Manchester club). Bushwacka!, one of two weekly residents alongside Alfredo, was on the decks when I got there, mixing sizzling acid house that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Tracks like How To House's "Time To Feel The Rhythm," Lil' Louis' "French Kiss" and The Orb's "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Underworld" sounded incredible through the crisp, booming Pioneer stacks. Every fresh piano line or set of stabs was met with whistles and whoops from the crowd; at one point, Bushwacka! executed a perfect spin-back just as the bassline on the next record came in. Everyone lost their shit in a way you rarely see in Ibiza.
Mr. C, who'd spent most of the night dancing not five feet away from me, took over and dished out a similar blend of thrilling Chicago and acid house, albeit with a few more classics such as Adventures Of Stevie V's "Dirty Cash (Money Talks)," Joe Smooth's "Promised Land" and a personal favourite, True Faith's "Take Me Away." Like Bushwacka!, he was playing a lot of vinyl, clearly having gone to the effort to dig out his old weapons. Danny Rampling, on the other hand, played through a Macbook, which I felt missed the point slightly. He was also playing a lot of newer tunes—Shazam picked up two Riva Starr tracks on Defected, one which came out in January. Rampling's set suggested that there may be the odd bump in the road at Dance 88/89 this season, but as long as everyone sticks closer to the script, these will be far outweighed by moments of genuine dance floor euphoria.