Off the south-west coast of Ibiza stands Es Vedrà, a 400m-high limestone rock which legend suggests was the island of the Sirens who lured sailors to their deaths in Homer’s Odyssey. Since early history, Ibiza itself has attracted hedonists and freedom-seekers, from the Carthaginians in 654BC, to the hippies of the 1960s, to the clubbers of more recent times.
As Stephen Armstrong wrote in his history, The White Island: “Over the centuries, virtually every culture around the Mediterranean has used the island either as a playground or as a dump for the kind of people who didn’t quite fit in back home, but who you’d probably quite like to meet at a party.”
Now, following the clubbing explosion at the end of the 80s and two subsequent decades of partying, fatigue was setting in, with many clubbers put off by expensive tickets and the decline of the free party scene. But Ibiza has an unerring ability to reinvent itself. Invigorated by a breakthrough of dance music in the US, led by acts such as Deadmau5 and the French DJ David Guetta, a broadening of the music on offer and the authorities showing a more relaxed attitude following a clamp-down on free parties in recent years, it feels as if this could be one of the island’s hottest summers for a while.
“It’s nuts,” Guetta laughs when we meet in Ibiza. “It’s June and the clubs have been sold out for weeks already. The season hasn’t even really started yet. Where in the world can you find clubs where you can have this kind of party at this time of year?”
F**k Me I’m Famous, which he runs with his wife, Cathy, at the eternally glamorous Pacha, is currently the most high-profile night on the island. Its opening party this year crept forward to the last week of May, coinciding with the International Music Summit, which rivals Miami’s Winter Music Conference as the most important event in the calendar for the dance music industry. The mood at the latest IMS was upbeat, with 82% of those present claiming their business was in a better place than it was a year ago.
“Ibiza has had quite a tough few years,” says Ben Turner, co-founder of IMS and editorial director of Pacha magazine. “There’s been the recession, plus the greed of some club owners, who pushed entry and drinks prices up. I think they have seen sense now. And there’s a free party scene here again.”
Ibiza’s clubs certainly seem to have weathered the economic downturn much better than those in the UK, which have also been affected by competition from late-night pubs and bars since the change in licensing laws. The most high-profile casualties have been Matter at the O2 in Greenwich, which recently closed, its sibling Fabric, now up for sale, and institutions including the End, Turnmills and the Cross, also in London.
Although Ibiza was once synonymous with the Balearic mix of genres that DJs like Alfredo Fiorito created in the 80s, in recent years the bigger clubs had become dominated by minimal, tribal and commercial house. Some clubbers with more leftfield tastes moved on to Barcelona’s Sonar festival or places such as Petrcane in Croatia, now host to several eclectic boutique festivals. Over the last few years, however, Ibiza Rocks has reintroduced guitar music to the island and elsewhere there’s been a general broadening of tastes. The big statement this year was Pacha taking on Ibiza’s best-loved underground DJ, Luciano, who plays a mix of Latin-tinged house and techno that would previously have been thought too underground for the seminal club founded in 1973.
A few years ago, the Ibiza authorities, looking to encourage family tourism, began to clamp down on clubs opening into the daylight hours. But recently, their attitude has softened as they realise the importance of music to the island. “I do think there was an acknowledgement that they came down too hard in certain aspects,” says Turner. “But they needed to stop these horrible flashpoints where you had thousands of people leaving clubs at 8am and families taking kids to nursery in the other direction, which is not a pretty sight, and one I think everyone’s glad to see the back of.”
One high-profile victim of the clampdown was DC10, which had a one-year ban imposed at the end of 2008. A converted finca near the end of the airport runway, DC10 (”DC Diez”) started life as an after-hours venue for clubland workers and became one of the most influential underground clubs in the world. With its stripped-down space, it more closely resembled the warehouse raves of the acid house era than Ibiza’s other clubs like Privilege, Space and Es Paradis with their VIP areas.
DC10 opened again on 31 May for the season. Every Monday afternoon, a parade of clued-up clubbers, cultured casuals, cartoon caners, crazy characters, a few chic celebrities and the odd clown wind their way down the dusty road to join Circo Loco (Crazy Circus) at DC10.
I land in Ibiza a few minutes into Tuesday morning and head straight to DC10 but, frustratingly, it’s just closing. Instead, I go to Pacha in Ibiza Town where the Swedish House Mafia stage a night called Masquerade Motel. These three DJs-cum-producers – Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello – look set to have one of the smash hits of the summer with their new single “One”. Inside, the decor attempts to create the look of a 1950s motel and the club is rammed. I bump into former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown and his band, who are playing Ibiza Rocks tomorrow, on the main balcony, and then Manchester United footballer Wes Brown (no relation), who is in the VIP area, dancing with sunglasses on.
Next morning, I head to the town of San Antonio and check into Ibiza Rocks. Initially, Ibiza Rocks gigs took place at Bar M (now renamed Ibiza Rocks Bar), but in 2008 the promoters opened the Ibiza Rocks hotel, where the headline gigs take place every Tuesday. The project is the brainchild of Andy McKay who, with brother Mike and their partners Claire and Dawn, have been on the island since 1994, when they left Manchester after, Andy says: “I’d been doused in petrol.” They ran Manumission, Ibiza’s most infamously debauched club night, for 15 years.
It was McKay who decided to bring guitar music to the dance kids in Ibiza. “In 2005, we were promoting the biggest club night here, but I was sat there thinking, ‘This island is getting older and older.’ We wanted to make it younger again.”
After overcoming initial scepticism, Ibiza Rocks is now well established and as well as weekly gigs that take place at the hotel, they have launched a new night, Reclaim the Dancefloor at Eden. This features DJs such as Aeroplane, Chase & Status, Benga and Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, reflecting the more diverse tastes of a new generation. This season also sees the launch of Mallorca Rocks on Ibiza’s sister Balearic island.
The Ibiza Rocks hotel is aimed at a young clientele who’d never make it into the VIP section of Pacha. It’s the only hotel I’ve ever stayed in where you’re required to wear a wristband and show it to a bouncer every time you enter and the only one where fellow guests wear shades in the swimming pool. Arctic Monkeys were one of the first to play Ibiza Rocks in 2007, and their debut album seems to be on constant repeat in the foyer, which feels appropriate given the residents checking each other out around the pool, thinking something along the lines of: “I bet you look good on the dancefloor…” There is a small supermarket next door, over half of which is given over to alcohol. Of the three food aisles, one is devoted solely to varieties of Pot Noodle.
Ian Brown’s dressing room is much plusher than the hotel rooms, with day beds dotted around. “I love Ibiza,” the laid-back singer tells me. “I’ve been a few times on holiday, but until last night I’d never stepped foot in a nightclub and I thought it was knockout.”
When he comes on stage to a packed audience, those lucky enough to have a room overlooking the stage are dancing on their balconies, with one particularly enthusiastic girl dancing naked in her room above the stage, unaware others can see her. Brown plays the Roses’ own Balearic classic “Fools Gold” as an encore and is on a high in the dressing room afterwards.
“I thought it was beautiful,” he says. “Twenty years ago, the spirit of Ibiza was taken back home,” – he means by the Roses, Happy Mondays and acid house – “and 20 years later I’m asked back and I’m still a part of it. When I did martial arts, the whole point was that the circle is the lifeblood of the system and here it’s come full circle.”
In the morning, nobody is around. This is not a hotel where you need to rush out with a towel to reserve a sunlounger. I overhear two parties from Essex reacquainting themselves, the afternoon after the early hours before. “Hi mate, I’m Kev,” says one lad, offering his hand. “I know, you were in our room ’til 9am this morning werentcha?” comes the reply.
I chat to a young group by the pool. Antony Norfolk, 23, is from Chelmsford, Essex, and it’s his first time in Ibiza. “We chose Ibiza Rocks because everyone who came said it was awesome.” Norfolk and his mates’ itinerary includes Amnesia, Zoo Project on Saturday and Space on Sunday.
Ellie Cornish, 20, from Brentwood, Essex, came to Ibiza Rocks for a slightly different reason. “I saw Katie Price here on TV,” she says, a touch abashed. What Cornish and her friends are most looking forward to is David Guetta’s F**k Me I’m Famous night at Pacha. “I’m a massive fan and we’ve heard it’s the only place to go and it’s worth the money.” Won’t the €70 ticket eat into their budget? “Yeah, but if he played a concert in England it would probably be nearly £50 to go and see him.”
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