Our resident wordsmith for the White Isle, Rose Hancock, fills us in on all the latest news, adventures and rampages from Ibiza.
It was slightly shocking to realise this week that suddenly, somehow, it is already July. When I arrived in Ibiza in March I thought that this summer would last forever, as my long anticipated season stretched ahead of me in a panorama of white sand, pine forests and glittery seas and eyes. But here we are at midway point already, which makes me even more determined to continue to storm the island for every ounce of gold it has to offer.
I’ve had two of my best friends out to stay with me over the past week and a half (cheap flights are to blame) and it’s been wonderful to see Ibiza through an ‘outsider’s’ eyes. If you haven’t been here before, I guess you can get a warped view of what the island has to offer (ie. a whole lot more than the West End of San Antonio) so I’ve been taking them to all the beautiful corners of the island to show them the real Balearic buzz. We kayaked around Es Vedra which was incredible (and exhausting) - not recommended after a heavy night! We’ve also been exploring the caves around my villa, which make for great cool shelters for yoga. In theory anyway, we have only managed one yoga session so far. OK, half a session. It’s best not to overexert yourself too quickly after all.
It has of course not all been nature walks and connecting our inner chakras. Tribal Sessions at Sankeys last week on Wednesday was rammed full of people having the time of their lives, not least me. All the rooms were open for a special night of DJ Sneak, Todd Terry, Hector Couto, Sidney Charles and Darius Syrossian. There was a welcoming family like atmosphere of which culminated in Sankeys owner David Vincent launching himself from the DJ booth, crowd surfing at 7am to Syrossian’s last track ‘Nomad’s Devotion’. An image and a night I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Vincent hasn’t crowd surfed since the DC10 glory days, and with Sankeys 20th anniversary this year he quite rightly thought the time was ripe to bring it back.
Tuesday night’s Defected in the House drew a loyal, international crowd who loved Pleasurekraft’s exploratory house set. The duo will be back at Booom again on 16th July. It was also a pleasure to see Marco Carola and Richie Hawtin amongst the crowd. Hawtin’s ENTER opening was this Thursday night, he has also just opened a new sake wine bar in Ibiza Town. Some may have experienced Hawtin’s wine bar at Ibiza’s Sacca, but his new venture, Dassai, sees Hawtin launch his very own bar, selling his beloved Japanese sake. Busy man!
Every Saturday night I seem to develop a burning desire to get my disco on and am yet to be disappointed by Glitterbox’s ethos of unadulterated fun. It’s easy to embrace the hedonistic vibes thanks to the ever impressive line-up. Lovebirds killed it last week; hearing ‘Want You In My Soul’ live amongst the craziest crowd going was definitely one of the highlights of my summer. I can’t wait for FCL there this Saturday. Plus it’s a great excuse to wear my gold sequined hot pants (not that I should need an excuse). After Kenny Dope’s set on Saturday night I shimmied on up to my friend’s birthday, where they were holding The Cosmic Games, and the revelry was still running high. The mountain setting was perfect for a glorious sunrise and I even managed to get into the psy-trance. For a bit. It reminded me of early mornings at the Glade stage at Glastonbury, although we were definitely winning on the weather front this year.
Not sure how the World Cup is still on but it seems to be haunting me. I was appreciating a friend Peyton Christopher’s sunset sounds at Blue Marlin on Sunday evening, but was mortified when the football appeared on the screen behind him. His bluesy-housey vibes were more than enough to drown out the football, however distracting the presence of Robin Van Persie can be. Afterwards a rather cheeky Peyton sauntered into the VIP area to get his own back at Blue Marlin, declaring “I am THE VIP of the VIP. Fuck football!” He didn’t realise he was sharing this special VIP area with prominent members of the England squad, although to be fair they probably shared the sentiment anyway. How long before we are freed of the exhaustion of being expected to have an opinion on last night’s goal? As long as it stays out of friend’s future live sets then I will deem to tolerate it for a little longer.
Very much looking forward to setting sail this Friday on my housemate’s eco Catamaran - the only solar powered one on the island. It will be utter bliss to be out on the water after consecutive nights of serious partying at the Paradise opening at DC10 and ENTER opening at Space this week. Phew. Must continue to take this Island for all it’s got - it will be August before we know it.
Defected In The House is at Booom Ibiza every Tuesday throughout the season – click for full event listings
Glitterbox is at Booom Ibiza every Saturday throughout the season - click for full event listings
