It’s been a crazy few months over on the White Isle, but now that the season is finally drawing to a close, we can start to look back at some of the highlights from what has been a truly special year in Ibiza.
2010 will be remembered as the year that people returned to Ibiza in droves. Anyone who’s been lucky enough to visit the island this year will know that the dancefloors have been packed, the bars have been thronging with people, and there has been a real party spirit in the air. And while there are arguably many reasons for this new lease of life – the re-opening of DC-10, the diminishing returns of minimal, and doubtless countless examples that we have overlooked – nowhere is this return to form more evident than at Pacha.
There have been several Ibiza stories that have grabbed people’s attentions over the last year, with most of them revolving in some way around the island's oldest club. Chief among them was the arrival of Luciano and his Vagabundos, in what was seen as a highly controversial move and has subsequently defied many of the critics by bringing their uniquely underground flavour of house music to Sunday nights. At the other end of the scale is the seemingly unstoppable juggernaught of Cathy and David Guetta, who have pretty much single-handedly brought dance music to the forefront of the pop world and whose Thursday night party is always ludicrously packed.
However, among these respective titans of cool and commercial, Defected In The House has more than held its own.
At the start of the year, Pacha Brand Director Danny Whittle was in no doubt that we had what it takes to take control of the enviable Saturday night spot. “Defected is perfect for Saturday nights at Pacha” he explained. “It’s that absolute quality sound that just fits perfectly. I have always liked what Defected do from the attention to detail to the music and the marketing, it’s all top notch.”
If you’re a regular visitor to defected.com, you’ll know doubt have stumbled across the blogs of our girl on the island; Bex. For the last 4 months she’s been to more VIP rooms, exclusive bars and hidden beaches that you can shake a stick at, but has always found time to report back to us with an insider’s view on exactly what’s been going down. Now she’s put together all the favourite bits from her time in Ibiza and written a super-blog especially for us – check it out here!
In a year of some seriously good parties and huge, international DJs it was one that you wouldn’t necessarily expect that is being touted as the party of the season. Last weekend, Simon Dunmore, Copyright and Shovell took control of proceedings on a night usually expected to bit a little more low-key, falling as it does between the super-busy August period and the madness of the closing parties. “It was incredible!”enthused Simon. “I rarely blow my own trumpet about these things, but I think this was the best I’ve ever played at Pacha. The club was rammed at 6 and the dancefloor still packed at 7. It has to go down as an all-time classic party.”
The mix really is incredible and as a special treat we’ve decided to share it with you. Listen to it via our Soundcloud page and let us know what you think!
Simon Dunmore Live at 'Defected In the House' Pacha Ibiza 4th Sept by Defected Records
Check out the reaction to Simon’s last tune right here:
Words: Greg Sawyer
Defected Presents The Closing Party: Ibiza 2010 is out 13th September - click to listen & pre-order
