- Ushuaia's free beach party was one of the surprise successes of Ibiza in 2009. The DJ behind it all, Luciano, has played to the fringes for the past decade, acting as pied piper to an increasingly large underground contingent. In 2010, he'll make the jump to the big time with a new residency at Pacha. As part of the deal, however, Luciano and his Cadenza compatriots will continue to play the panoramically curving cove of the Playa Den Bossa beach, hoping that the revellers will now follow him to the club after the festivities each Sunday evening.
For the opening party at Ushuaia, though, things didn't seem so fraught. Low flying planes zipped across a pristine blue sky dotted lightly with plumes of white cloud to begin their descent into Ibiza; lush green forested hills acted as the backdrop to bodies that danced on surrounding sand dunes to percussive Latin rhythms and hypnotically deep harmonies. In the distance, a girl with champagne-coloured bubbling curls swayed in a white tee with chunky blue lettering that loudly said, "SHUT UP AND DANCE." By 6:30 PM the beach was full, and bodies lounged across sun chairs. Reboot's "Pra Dizer" was dropped, and the crowd clapped their hands and sang in unison to its lyrics.
A guy on the floor that I chatted with told me that "Luciano's gonna make Pacha cool again" before he embraced me passionately and promptly disappeared to soak up the sunset over Playa Den Bossa. Another clubber also assured me that the move will work: "The people who follow Luciano don't really have a lot of money, but they love him, love music and love to dance. Pacha might not make a lot of money on the bar or door, but the best party on the island will definitely happen here first and then there."
That love was obvious on this day. People gathered around Luciano, touching him, holding their hands aloft as he dropped a re-edit of Underworld's "Cowgirl." A mix of generations mingled easily within the club as wrinkly, tanned old men wearing wide-brimmed Panama hats smoked fat cigars and Spanish women chattered and danced. Some lyrics cut through the ecstasy—"we eat, we feel, we make money"—and caused the crowd to get even happier.
By 10:30 PM, thousands of people were there. Famous Spanish film stars and VIPs were turned away. Mark Ronson squeezed through eventually. Busy P, Cassius and other DJs and producers hung on every one of Luciano's moves. Busy P stood wide-eyed, smiling, moving his head in unison to the underlying funk in the music. What he was witnessing was the underground of Ibiza. What happens next is anyone's guess.