As a clubber, I arguably spend most of my time in the shadows. Dancing in the dark to underground house and techno is my norm. You can imagine my excitement when I heard about the return of yet another day-to-night party.
Curated by the German DJ and producer Magdalena, SHADOWS is back for its second Ibiza season. This time around, it has moved to the countryside retreat Cova Santa. Here's what went down.
Since the party runs from 17:00 till 6:00, clubbers are in for a full 13 hours of techno therapy. Taking advantage, I made my way to the party early to catch the true essence of SHADOWS and see the musically led, day-to-night transition in all its glory.
Cova Santa was the opposite to any time I'd seen it before. The venue was naked compared to the over-the-top cladding that comes with WooMooN and Storytellers. However, this did anything but affect the quality of the night.
Instead, the music was solely responsible for keeping my attention and I can honestly say it did from the off.
I arrived in time for the German musical duo Kollektiv Turmstrasse.
Their music was melodic, creating an ambient atmosphere to send us into the night. Tracks like Moon Walk (Original Mix) by Shai T shaped his set-list and left the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
The crowd was a wonderful dancing mix of people and cultures. Not a soul could be found unimpressed by the tech-heavy melodies.
Like a slave to the tunes, the crowd and I danced on until the next in the running line had me stop in my tracks with a whimsical opening track.
Magdalena blared a monumental track called For A Moment (Mixed) by Jazz Do It, making for an arm-raising, lose yourself kind of moment whereby the crowd went wild.
Mastering the decks with what I can only describe as magical powers, she owned the night and prepared us for the descent downstairs where Nakadia would then also show us how it's done. Unfortunately, the sceduled set from M.A.N.D.Y couldn't go ahead due to flight delays.
Stepping in for the electronic duo, was the Berlin-based techno DJ and producer Nakadia. But this wasn't before Kollektiv Turmstrasse made a breif return to the spotlight for a rumbling one hour warm up downstairs.
Having done the rounds in Ibiza for years, it was inevitable that Nakadia would put on just as good of a show as the originally scheduled M.A.N.D.Y.
Playing Could Heaven Be (Ruede Hagelstein Remix) by Chicola, the DJ rattled my entire body with the bass, a notable change from the ambient sounds in the early evening.
Leading us into morning with some deep pounding techno, Nakadia kept the crowd until the bitter end of my night - possibly making for my favourite and longest shift at the hillside cave retreat.
To top it all off, the party was free and continues to be so for the rest of the summer. For more information on the next dance into the SHADOWS, keep check of our party calendar below.
