As any comic book geek worth their salt will know, the alter ego of Bruce Banner, the Hulk, is a super hero famed for his immense power and super human strength - so who better to have your back on a big day? Like the day you kick off your summer-long residency at one of Ibiza's biggest super clubs, let's say? Well last night that was the case for EDM heavy weights Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike who, under the watchful eye of the green giant himself hosted the opening night of their new residency in the Terrace at Amnesia's new Sunday night extravaganza, Amnesia Presents.
With a stage full of heroes over in the Terrace, you'd be forgiven for thinking my run down of last night in the Main Room would have been all ghost towns and tumble weeds, but of course Amnesia had that covered too, because this new party doesn't just have two international DJs hitting its decks every Sunday, but yes, you guessed it, it has three. Completing this hat trick of talent is trance legend Markus Schulz, who last night begun his ten date Main Room residency, named after his new album, Scream 2.
After getting a glimpse of the towering aforementioned Hulk tribute on Amnesia's Twitter earlier in the day, I headed strait to the Terrace when I arrived to get a better look. Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike were in full swing on the decks and joining them was Funhouse ringleader Steve Aoki - completing their newly formed collaborative venture 3 Are Legend. The Terrace was absolutely packed, and unsurprisingly everyone was going mad for the infamous super-group. True to form the trio themselves were bouncing around the stage to the pick 'n' mix sounds of DJ Fresh's Champagne Showers and Kim Fai's frenzied take on the Prodigy's Breathe, with more energy than sugar fuelled kids at a birthday party. There wasn't a dry brow in the room as this was a tireless set of EDM bangers, step forward Aoki and Flocka Flame, with the trio dropping Milo & Otis' mix of Rage The Night Away, and heavy breakdowns of radio favourites, like Aoki's Dance Remix of Kid Cudi's Pursuit of Happiness.
The Terrace itself was as wonderfully chaotic as the proceedings unfolding within it. The cavernous space was lit up by lasers of every colour, with streamers flying from the ceiling and co2 cannons firing cool air onto the madness below. In between turns on the decks the three DJs kept themselves busy by pouring vodka into the crowd, jumping up onto the decks, and a topless Steve Aoki ticked off a few thousand holiday-makes bucket-lists by treating us to some cake and rubber dingy themed action to finish things off. A hard act to follow by any standards, and the brave man to do so was Dutch mixing genius Chuckie, who switched things up with some housier, deeper strains of EDM.
I headed to the Main Room to see what headliner and resident Markus Schulz had to serve up for his set, which saw him carry the crowd from 3am right through till the end. Known for his marathon stints, which that can often see him play a room from start to finish, (to catch this head to Amnesia Presents on the 3rd August), I can certainly see why he keeps getting asked back to do them again and again. Taking the crowd on an expertly crafted musical journey, his set was full of creative song choices, heartfelt drops and moments of pure euphoria.
Amnesia has to be one of my favourite clubs on the island in which to power on through and make it to the end, but sadly a sleepless Saturday night and the thought of work on Monday meant that last night wasn't one of them, and I headed to the disco bus before the sun had made its grand entrance. Maybe next time - and with Amnesia Presents I'm pretty confident that there will be a next time. With its jaw dropping production and stellar line up, this innovative clash of trance and EDM is definitely one night everyone should go and check out.
WORDS | Joanna Wright PHOTOGRAPHY | Amnesia
