All this is fair enough however one of the first things i noticed was Ibiza Rocks bar, as i said i wasn’t in San An last year and i didn’t really take in the news that Bar M had been re branded. Bar M was a great bar. In the daytime they played relaxing but great music, i feel the food they have got in that bar is spot on! I would almost go as far as to say you get to much food, i would always recommend the spicy wings!!

Ibiza Rocks bar was very different however, still got the same great staff, great food but the one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the new music policy in the bar, Not surprisingly considering the name change, the chilled out beats have gone and replaced with Indie all day long. For me, the heart of the bar has been ripped out and replaced with something extremely average and dull. Moving on from the day time too night and things got no better. Again, Bar M was a great bar for the evenings, I’ve never seen it quiet and it always has great music. Unfortunately, Ibiza Rocks Bar does not continue that, we went last Sunday just after Judge Jules had played for the JS pre party and again, bog standard Indie was being played and the bar was the quietest I’ve ever seen it in an evening. Do they really expect people going to Judgement Sundays (who had the tidy boys playing that week) wanting to listen to Indie before they head of to the club? I certainly didn’t want to so moved on very swiftly with great disappointment after bigging the place up to a puzzled friend.

The next experience of Ibiza Rocks for me was the gig at the hotel. After hearing the music being played in the bar, there was no chance i was putting myself on a boat for the Ibiza Rocks boat party.

My experience of the gig itself was as good as ever, The Vaccines were the head liners and when i looked at the line up for the whole summer i really thought i had pulled the short straw, they did however attribute to a really good gig. The dreaded dull Indie was playing when we first got their but it quickly livened up. Darwin Deez played great and was very entertaining musically and visually.

The Vaccines came on shortly after and considering how little i was looking forwards to it, i thought they were really good and really enjoyed it. To finish of the night off, Zane Lowe did a DJ set. I’ve seen Zane do a DJ set at the hotel before at an opening party so i knew what to expect. Extreme high energy music that gets everyone jumping up and down like idiots…. CHECK!!

Following the gig at the hotel we gave the Bar a miss and headed back to the hotel room for a short while before heading over to Es Paradis for the after party.

Last time i went to an Ibiza rocks after party was for Reclaim The Dance floor, My memories were of a rammed club, 3 rooms of music including an electro room, Zane played the after party and the seasons residents were 2 Many D’s, It was the night Jordan made an appearance, Again, lots of really good music, heard lots of Indie / Rock influenced dance music which was a change to anything else i had found, but really enjoyed it. I felt Ibiza Rocks had generated a new genre of dance music and they were packing out the club with people wanting to listen to it. Indie Rock Dance was born for me!

Unfortunately, Es Paradis could not have been and different, it was quiet to start off with but when people realised Zane would not be playing the after party it went very quiet very quick. The same old dull Indie music policy had made a return and if i was being very generous i would say it was slightly worse than the bad nights i had in the students union i went to listening to exactly the same music.

The only reason it was worse was because at my universities student union, we didn’t have shit falling out of the skirts of girls walking round the dance floor, seriously, that did happen, and it stank, credit to the staff of Es Paradis it was cleared very quickly but at that moment in time someone walked past with a ‘San An Trash’ T Shirt on, and it couldn’t be more fitting. This was the final straw for us and we left very disappointed.
My personal thoughts on this were, how can something that was so good now be so wrong?

Ibiza Rocks is in every nook and cranny this season in Ibiza. The gigs in the hotel are outstanding, speaking to one person i hear the house is something very special (something I’ll never be lucky enough to see), however, the rest of it all (i can’t comment on the boat party) seems to have no effort put into it, they are there to push the brand, but it’s doing the opposite, i want to go to Ibiza Rocks bar and it make me want to indulge more in the brand e.g. go on the boat, by my gig tickets, indulge in the after party, unfortunately it doesn’t.

I think this blog post is a first for me on this blog as it is very critical. Usually, if i don’t have something good to say then i just don’t say it, everyone has their own opinion and Ibiza is big enough to just avoid and go somewhere else.

On this occasion however i feel begrudged, Ibiza Rocks bar has removed a great bar and venue from the Ibiza nightlife and the number of people visiting the bar each time i went past should be a ringing alarm bell.

The gig itself was exactly what i expected and can’t be faulted but the after party was such a let down to what i expected based on past visits and not a night i expect from the people that brought us so many great nights with Manumission. Despite this blog post, i do love Ibiza rocks but i think they have taken their eye of the quality in an attempt to spread the Ibiza Rocks brand further.

This isn’t a slating because I’m a hater; it’s a slating because something that was great 100% of the time is starting to slip in terms of quality.

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Ibiza Rocks Overload!!!

So they all get to smash it to the sounds of John O’Callaghan and I write to you from my appartment in Manchester, I may not be there in person but I am certainly there in spirit (thank god my girlfriend loves techno too). Daily texts between the lads are flowing with excitement for when we go and we are counting down the days, holiday clothes are being bought and an untold amount of sit ups are being painstakingly ploughed through! The rituals have started, podcasts downloaded to keep up on the summer bangers, calenders checked and re-checked to make sure we hit the clubs we want and catch the tunes we need,  the websites and rumour room scoured and verified to make sure we are with the cool and sexy, young and trendies! We WILL get the most out of our time!!

I really urge everyone who reads this blog and is making a pilgrimage this summer to do everything that is in your power to take one new person with you this year, I will personally buy a return flight for anyone who isnt 100% hooked after one night!

Peace, Love and Techno…

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29 more sleeps…

On the roundabout and road going to DC10 there was a heavy police presence with lots of cars and bikes being pulled over and searched, i know police have had a presence outside before but i’ve never seen anything like that before in Ibiza.

Arriving at the club there wasn’t any queues outside so we walked straight in. As soon as you got in it was rammed, the outside bar area was busy but manageable. We headed to the inside room first off as they wasn’t allowing people on the terrace because it was already full, The main room was also very busy but there was enough room to get into the night.

After a couple of hours we headed over to the terrace which was a waste of time, they had let so many people in it was just one massive fight to try to move anywhere which was a shame, it made it impossible to stand in one place without being shoved around. We abandoned that idea and spent the rest of the night inside DC10.

Here are a couple of Video’s of the action.

Video By ciaogiorgio

Video By fudos

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Circoloco New Era Opening Party @ DC10

it’s already a few days ago, but still, here’s a short review from last monday’s cocoon at amnesia…

we arrived at around 130am and the guestlist queue was impressive. ticket holders got in quite fast though. the line-up was sven väth and extrawelt (live) in the main room and loco dice plus marco carola on the terrace. as i had been almost only to the terrace when i went to cocoon this year, i thought we’d go to the main room this time for a change. sven was already playing, the main room was already very busy. at 2am, extrawelt did their one hour live act. they had their pc’s, synth’s and much more equipment in the middle of the main room on that podium which i thought was brilliant. do you remember their 2006 biggies “titelheld” and “soopertrack”? they played them both and more cool stuff, of course. at 3am, sven was back in the dj booth and had a famous visitor in the box aswell: carl cox. but it was only sven who played. generally, i am not the biggest fan of sven väth, but that night he really rocked the main room. by 3am, the main room was really full, but surprisingly it never got as bad as the terrace. when we shortly went over, we noticed how super-duper-packed the terrace was! i think the terrace at cocoon is the new main room in a way, it’s the busiest room and also both vip’s were VERY busy! friends who stayed on the terrace were raving about how good loco dice and marco carola were!

one advise for people going to cocoon this year: come EARLY. last monday they closed the guestlist at some point (some people waited for more than an hour anyway to get in through guestlist) and a bit later they also generally stopped people entering – it was the first sold-out event this summer! and now with august beginning, i think it will keep being like this for the next weeks. so don’t arrive only at 3am, come around 1am, find your spot on the dancefloor and enjoy…

re afterhours: there are still afterhours happening. no official cocoon-ones, but various smaller ones…sometimes with cocoon-people appearing or even playing, many though just in a private house/villa or in a small bar in town…

Source: Nostrum Ibiza Spotlight

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Cocoon Review By Nostrum

First off, I have been a huge matinée fan for a few years already and my heart was bleeding when the new clubs opening hours were confirmed. To me, matinée was the best daytime party in space by miles. But after grieving, my positive thinking came back. First, I knew matinée group are doing many really successful nighttime parties in Barcelona as well (that’s their homebase anyway). Second, Matinée is a very well-known brand in Ibiza by now and third, Saturdays nights in Ibiza have never been the strongest nights. So I really expected Matinée also to work night time. Speaking about nighttime, it doesn’t start at night. And here’s where my review starts…

When I drove past space for the first time yesterday just before 6pm (and thus just before they opened), already many people were waiting in front of the doors. The inflatable matinée thingy welcomed the partygoers as every year and the sun was shining – horrayy! i was still busy though. When I drove past the second time, at 8pm, there were huge queues in front of space, the parking was already full and I kept getting messages from my friends saying “come quick, the sunset terrace is in full swing already”. I did hurry up, but still I didn’t make it to space before 10:30pm. So I missed the “bright hours” – everyone who was there before me said they were really really cool and I definitely do believe them.

So when I finally got in, I directly headed to the sunset terrace to enjoy the last 90 minutes of sunset terrace feeling. In a way, it’s a bit like “We Love” now – just with matinée music and a bit different folks (better in my opinion)! In this session until midnight, I heard nalin & kane’s “beachball” (the original version), then a new remix of faithless’ “Insomnia”, another new remix from “people from Ibiza” and “otherside” (by RHCP). Just before midnight, the sunset terrace closed with the new remix of Fragma’s “Tocas Miracle” – one of the biggest tunes around at the moment and it got played 2 or 3 times more that night in different floors. Speaking about floors, ALL floors were open for matinée. Which means the sunset terrace (till midnight), then the discoteca, the main terrace and also the smaller rooms such as the red box, el salon and also premier etage! The two main dance floors after midnight (main terrace and discoteca) were really busy and the smaller rooms were more chilled. But come mid-july, I expect matinée to be almost the same as We Love when it comes to how busy it will be!

We stayed most on the main terrace, but also in the discoteca for a bit. It was really a great matinée night with a lot of matinée classics being dropped and people going big everywhere generally…I remember a lot of the tunes that were played out…Shine on me (2007 Matinée hymn), Silence (by Delirium, the new remix), Knights of the Jaguar (the original and a newer, harder version, which was the last tune being dropped in the morning on main terrace), Automatic, break the house down, 9 moons (by lemonade market – matinée hymn 2006), Closer to Me (by chab), then a house remix of “personal jesus”, then “trippin’”, a remix of the doors’ “this is the end”, children (by Robert miles, also a new remix), professional widow, free, the old original version of BBE’s “7 days and one week” (goosebumps because of so many old time memories), a rocking remix of “just a little more love”, more matinée tunage with “heart of the sun”, “bullet in a gun”…and save the best for the rest – New Order’s “blue Monday” and Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”. WHOA!

When the music stopped at about 6:30am, it was already bright again outside and we welcomed another sunny Sunday in Ibiza…what a party! You do have to change your mind regarding matinée being only a daytime thing (because it’s simply not anymore), but if you do that, then you still will have an absolutely great time at matinée! Together with amnesia’s “people from ibiza”, this will be this summer’s Saturday night thing – fact.

queues at 8pm

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Matinee @ Space – Opening

We Love Opening

I arrived at around 10pm and directly headed to the sunset terrace to enjoy the last two hours on this floor. After only a minute, I already dropped into friends who told me the terrace didn’t really get into swing until 7pm, but when I arrived, the atmosphere on the terrace was exactly how I knew it from earlier years and how it basically just should be! Tom Novy had just taken over the decks after Jason Bye (and before him it had been Jonathan Ulysses who apparently was really really good). Novy played a solid set with some new stuff (from which I don’t know all the names yet, I’m sorry…) as well as some new remixes from Robert Miles’ “Children”, Snap’s “Rhythm is a dancer”, a new housey/electro-ey remix from an old trance track I can’t name right now. (went properly off on the terrace!) as well as Oxia’s “Domino” and he closed with a house remix of “Love is in the air”. These two hours went by flying and I really had a great time! The vibe…the people (hi Babs and Tom, hi Austrian gang, hi everyone else!)…it’s just good to have the sunset terrace sessions back!!!

After the terrace had closed, I took a walk through space…the premier etage was – as usual – the place to be for a quiet-ish drink and same went for “El Salon”. The red box was really busy and the two remaining big rooms (main terrace and discoteca) were both really busy as well, but never as packed as for the openings (I didn’t expect it to be like that anyway). On the terrace, Paul Woolford was playing a very powerful set, much better than the sets from last year when I always thought he was playing really, really boring stuff. Inside (discoteca), Riton played even harder and more on the techy-acid-side. We decided to make ourselves comfy on the main terrace and oh, how lucky we were to be there. Because after wooly, Ben Watt followed. I now have to admit, I hardly knew anything about him before yesterday night and his two and a half hour set turned out to be the outstanding highlight for me last night (and more people who thought the same around us). His set was unbelievably good, he took the energy a bit down after Woolford, but added a much more emotional and, in a way, tender touch to it. We absolutely loved it. I remember hearing some vocals of Björk mixed into proggy house stuff, then a new version of Rodamaal’s “Insomnia”, he also dropped that great 2005 remix of “49%” (who made this??), generally played out a lot of brilliant stuff and closed his set with a new version of his own “missing” (produced as Everything But The Girl). Really can’t stop raving about this, it was definitely the set of the night for us  . After him, 2manydj’s took over and for us – blown away by Ben Watt’s performance – it was time to leave then…we also wanted to save some energy for the next days. Great opening party really – We Love is Back!!!

Cocoon Opening, Mon June 16

I arrived at amnesia at around 1:30am. as usual, in the parking area, many people (drectly coming from dc10) were having pre-drinks (or maybe in-between-drinks then), already dancing around their cars, laughter and fun generally…just the well-known picture when it comes to “el rollo cocoon”. all queues were very busy at the door but eventually everyone got in. when i was inside (at 2 on the dot), sven väth was already on the decks in the main floor and raresh played his last 30mins on the terrace. the main floor was already very busy and the terrace was quickly filling up. an hour later, both rooms were absolutely buzzing. sven played driving techno, while ricardo villalobos varied a bit more – but also his set was really energetic and all the fresh stuff he played sounded so goooood on the new terrace soundsystem

i changed quite a lot between the terrace and the main floor and enjoyed both rooms. and i especially enjoyed the fact the club wasn’t rammed to the rafters! generally, almost all of the opening parties in the last week (cream, we love, wonderland etc.) were always really busy and with a great atmosphere, but luckily not overcrowded – great

cocoon opening was really really good, lots of fresh stuff (to my ears anyway) and all with a good energy and flow. (or shall i say funk? sven called it minimal funk, no? )

Armada / Contact opening, Tue June 17

When I arrived at the club at around 1:30am, markus schulz was already playing in the main room so I stayed there to enjoy his trancey beats. The room got busier soon and when armin van buuren arrived in the dj booth at 2:45am, the main room was perfectly busy, the atmosphere was great and AvB was cheered welcome from everyone present. AvB played the middle set this night and delivered a stormer of a set, including some of his recent productions (inticracy for example), lots of other trance tracks that sounded fresh to me and some classics as well. Woohoo!

I also went to the terrace, where “Contact” is happening. Remember in the last years amnesia terrace on Tuesdays always was a bit weak? This will change this year. The contact guys have done their work well, this summer you’ll see Sharam from Deep Dish playing there (3 dates), Laidback Luke (3 dates as well), then Mark Knight playing a lot of dates and more housey stuff by Seb Fontaine, Tocadisco and so on! Yesterday night the terrace wasn’t full (how could that be possible if not even cocoon opening, which normally is rammed to the rafters, wasn’t?), but as soon as more people are on the island, this will be superb! (I can’t help it, I am a big supporter of this night) Together with the fact AvB got voted No1 DJ this year, I am sure this summer will see the strongest Tuesday night at Amnesia since years!

Source: Nostrum – Ibiza Spotlight

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We Love, Cocoon & Armada Opening – Review

wonderland opening, fri june 13

first off, i have to say we were only there for an hour or so, to have a look and a drink. i was quite tired and looking at the programme of the next days, i simply wanted to save my energies for other nights. but anyway, here’s the score – when we were there (between about 2am and 3:30am), groove armada were playing in the main room (and afterwards tong would have closed the night). the club was busy, the main dance floor really busy, but the venue wasn’t at full capacity. that’s no surprise though because neither cream opening the night before was packed – the island’s just not full yet. i am sure wonderland will be a success this summer, many people follow tong to eden and he really brings great guests this season. so the 3 big nights on friday will be wonderland, pure pacha and manumission. as for “wonderland or pure pacha?” i’d say: venue-wise, i personally think i’d stick to pure pacha because i just like pacha more than eden. music-wise though, i’d check the lineups (which are really good for both parties) and just decide which dj’s i’d prefer to see!

Source: Nostrum – Ibiza Spotlight

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Wounderland @ Eden Opening – Review

meganite opening, wed june 11

we arrived at 1 and privi main floor was just getting busy. gabry fasano played the warm-up, he began minimal-ish and slowly took the energy higher. 90 minutes later, it was adam beyer who took over and by then, the main floor was really busy and his energetic set was reflected by the people’s moves and shouts – great! later, meganite head-honcho mauro picotto (who will play every wednesday there this summer) closed the opening night with a state-of-art techno set…good to have meganite back on the island!

cream opening, thu june 12

i got to amnesia at around 1:30am. sasha was already playing in the main room. his set was proggy, with some trancey twists, quite deep and laidback in the beginning and then got harder towards the end. the main room was busy from early on while for the terrace, it took much longer until it was really busy (it never got packed that night, also a sign the island’s not full yet, but i think no one on the terrace had a bad feeling about the place not being rammed). on the terrace, it was a housey story with a lot of electro put in. here’s the terrace, nicely cream-decorated and laser-lit:

Click To Enlarge

back in the main room, short before 4am, paul van dyk entered the dj booth and continued where sasha had stopped – powerful prog at first, and then trancey stuff (including his “half a world away” for example).

i didn’t stay till the end because i had to get up early today, but still, it was a very enjoyable night at amnesia and cream will be a winner this year as it is every year! the only thing that was missing last night was the ice machine…it neither worked on the terace nor in the main room…but i’m sure it will be back working soon!

Source: Nostrum – Ibiza Spotlight

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Meganite & Cream Opening – Review

Traditionally, Amnesia is the last one of the big clubs starting the season. And traditionally, their openings and closings are huge fiestas. This year, Amnesia even started one week earlier than usually, but still the last proper opening and we were ready for it!

We arrived at the club (which will be open from 11pm all through the season) short before 2am and I went directly to the terrace, I was too curious to see how the renovated terrace looks like. Well…I personally think that, in a few years, the terrace will be the main room! First off, dont worry  its still quite the terrace you knew. They didnt change too many things (which I like, it still absolutely has the same feeling as before). What they did change is: first, the soundsystem. Wow!!! Go and experience it for yourself. Then, there is a new floor. They moved the DJ booth from the right side of the floor to the far end of the room, but the box is still almost as low as before. The camel is still there, as well as a turtle on the other side of the room. They slightly changed the bars and above the DJ booth, there is also something like a scene which will surely be used for the Manumission shows. Talking about the above part, the terrace has still a huge VIP section. I think they also made this one a bit bigger than it used to be. So far for the new terrace. Ah sure, the ice-machine and the laser shows are still there as well!

One thing that amazed me is the following fact: On the flyers, there were no DJs announced. And I knew it would be only the residents and other DJs from the Island. But still, by 3am, the club was absolutely packed and the atmosphere was great. We all had a ball, I also went to the main room (which is still the same) for a bit, but mostly stayed on the terrace. The night passed very fast and soon it got bright on the terrace. Mar-T was the last DJ playing there and he dropped many tracks we knew, EBTGs missing the new remix of rhythm is a dancer as well as Fragma “Tocas Miracle then Beachball Yeke Yeke and Greece2000. He closed with Like a child from the Junior Boys and Alter Ego Jolly Joker. When we walked out of Amnesia, I had a look at my mobile and noticed it was 11:45am!!!!

Click to enlarge

Source: Nostrum – Ibiza Spotlight

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Amnesia Opening – Review

Stuffed and ready to go, we drove to dc10 mid-afternoon. Parking was a bit of an adventure, because we got thoroughly searched by the guardia civil. I must say though, they were friendly and far from rude or anything like that. those guys are only doing their jobs and I honestly think some of them really would have preferred dancing their asses off instead of inspecting other people’s underwear…but anyway!

So in the end, we just got in short before 5pm. But that was perfect like that, it wasn’t too rammed then yet and like this, we found a great spot to dance. Dc10 news 2008? Already told ya, the bar outside in the garden is now permanent – great to have a drink out in the fresh air (no music though!). Else? All I say is “we’re all living in a yellow submarine”

Arpiar (Raresh, Pedro, Rhadoo) were doing a triple back2back 3 hours set which went off properly on the terrace. When at 7:30pm Matthias Tanzmann took over, dc10 was rammed to the rafters…but that’s no news, no? Loved MT’s set, much less though Tania Vulcano’s who played afterwards. Finally, at 11pm, Luciano played the last set on the terrace and it was as brilliant as ever! The terrace closed at 1:30am while things inside went on till after 3am. Although I liked the music inside as well, I just don’t like dc10 inside that much and after another 10hrs dancing non-stop I thought I’d call it a day.

Review By Nostrum – Ibiza Spotlight

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DC10 Opening – Review