Aside from a very busy New Year's schedule, Ibiza's super-clubs are on sabbatical now for winter. However, the island's global influence continues elsewhere in the world.
During the low-season, we bring you club reviews from Ibiza favourites at other party destinations from around the world.
Next, we hit London's original super-club, Ministry Of Sound, for the second of Glitterbox's monthly winter residency. More than accustomed to shaking our stuff on Sunday nights at Hï Ibiza during summer, this change of scenery served up something different.
Glitterbox | Ministry Of Sound | Saturday 5 November
Fireworks fizz and pop above London's iconic skyline as we weave through the city's notorious traffic. Destination Ministry Of Sound is calling. It's been a while. Pulling up metres outside the former bus depot, it's a quick dash to the door to escape the rain.
We've never been so thankful for express entry. As we break inside to the club's 103 room, the conditions outside are soon an afterthought. Arts Of Tones, a DJ we'd last caught at Glitterbox on Ibiza, welcomes us to the dancefloor.
It's not only DJs from the summer roster present tonight, but performers too. Lucy Fizz, Remy and Alizé are just some of the sparkling personalities on the razzle-dazzle tonight.
Guy Fawkes night is a notoriously tough night to crack in the UK. Not that you would notice it looking around tonight. Ministry Of Sound is filling up. Fast. In a few hours it will hit capacity, every ticket having sold out in advance.
The rain may have played a role in forcing an earlier rush to the door, but the overwhelming feeling is that everybody just wants be here regardless. Drinks are ordered before we settle in, soak up the music and put our dancing feet through their paces.
Before long, the club has little choice but to open The Box as the crowd surges.
Disco Don Melvo Baptiste has the honour of the peak-time set and he has the bonus of a crowd happy to eat up whatever he throws at them.His track selections are as much an education as they are an entertainment.
Familiar hooks presented in their original form, from long-forgotten, sampled tracks feature heavily - the stems and the building blocks of modern House music. Timeless music from the likes of Loleatta Holloway and CeCe Peniston gets the crowd singing along in unison.
Amid the classics, we clock music from Mike Dunn, David Penn, Joey Negro and we'll never tire of hearing legendary remixer Shep Pettibone getting some rare club plays.
Ministry Of Sound can often be accused of attracting a casual, tourist crowd. That trend is bucked tonight however. Selling out weeks before the night means that this is a true Glitterbox crowd of all shapes, sizes and colours.
Encounters in the smoking area are the biggest evidence of this.
The banter, chirpsing and frequent requests to borrow a lighter are typical, but further conversation reveal that everybody is here because they subscribe to the Glitterbox mantra. Back in The Box, the temperature is rising.
A catwalk jettisons out from the front of the DJ booth into the midst of the dancefloor. Glitterbox's cast of confident and colourful characters gleefully vogue up and down Ballroom style. Professional dancers and hobbyists alike are showered in confetti.
Controls are passed to Ibiza's own Melon Bomb who see the night through to its natural conclusion. As if it needs saying, the crowd stays for the duration. Just try pulling them away.
Where Glitterbox is concerned, both London and Ibiza are home territories. It was these two destinations, some 1,400 km apart, where the brand was conceived into existence. If Hï Ibiza is Glitterbox's ideal Ibiza home, then Ministry Of Sound is it's UK counterpart.
Clubbers hoping to capture that piece of Ibiza magic on a dreary autumnal night in London will largely go disappointed. But if you know where to look, it isn't impossible.
Melvo, Melon Bomb and Anna Collecta will be back flying the Glitterbox flag on New Year's Day, for a huge all-day party inside the industrial confines of the city's Printworks. Danny Tenaglia, Nightmares On Wax, DJ Holographic and Dirty Channels are also billed on Sunday 1 January.
If you can't wait until then, Glitterbox is back at Ministry Of Sound for part three of its winter residency on Saturday 3 December.
For our European cousins, there are also dates in Hannover (26 November) and Amsterdam (10 December).
In the interim, we'll bring you more Ibiza worldwide reviews from the UK and beyond in the coming weeks. For an in depth analysis of Ibiza 2022, read our full season review.
PHOTOGRAPHY | by Connor Baker
