Legendary Ibiza club Space opened last week with another no-holds-barred, all-day, audio and visual extravaganza featuring more DJs than you can shake a stick at and more euphoria per square metre than any other venue this side of Valhalla.
We were out and about in town the day before and there was a palpable excitement in the air wherever you went and whoever you talked with; and with Bora Bora and Bar M opening on Friday night, new disco Lola's (behind Dôme) opening on Saturday night (with special guest star Carl Cox by the way), and the inimitable DC10 opening on the Monday morning thereafter - the way was paved for a weekend of non-stop debauchery.
With a party that goes for 22 hours, it's always difficult to know when to go?
I mean no one can manage the full Monty - apart from the fact that you'd spend the G.N.P. of a small African country, 22 hours is a really long time. So the original plan was to venture in around Midday and see what it was like, then go back again later...
...well, after seeing the Terrace at Midday, we thought "sod the plans", we went hard early and carried on going... I'm sorry if I harp on about the atmosphere on the Terrace, but it really is quite unique - so exciting, so joyous and so catching - we're Space veterans of 10 years and it sent shivers down our spines once more, as Milk & Sugar (odd name, great set) played exactly the right mixture of sunny Vocals, groovy Balearic beats and some classic piano riffs.
Wisely, Space extended the club by cordoning off the rear parking area and calling it the DJ Mag Arena - giving the club some well needed chill-out space and lots of room to dance to the heavyweight underground sounds of Villeneuve, Saeed & Palash, Smokin Jo, Carl Cox, John Digweed and a tribally-inspired Jose de Divina who finished off 'Outer Space' in true style at 2 am on Monday morning!
Those of you following the Space saga will know that the Main Room has been inspirationally redecorated - the new bars and enormous surfaces for the laser projections make Space look more high-tech and 'Spacey' than ever before - we've never seen a sight like it as first of all John Digweed and later Carl Cox took the Space faithful to new heights in their closing sets from Midnight onwards.
There were so many great moments in so many sets, it seems churlish not to mention them all, but the simple fact of the matter is there were over 30 DJs playing, and we'd left our 'World DJ Almanac' at home. Still... special mention must go to the aforementioned Milk & Sugar, Tom Novy on the Terrace (really good!) and one of the best finishes we've seen and heard in years from John Digweed and Carl Cox inside, who had the new Function 1 Sound System begging for mercy.
Brave as we were, we weren't quite brave enough for the main Terrace closing set from Erick Morillo - we could hear the ecstatic cheers and we could feel the vibes from afar, but it was just a bit too full for our liking.
Our tip of the season, which applies as much to the Openings and Closings as it does to the 'We Love Space' Sunday parties, is to GET THERE EARLY. There's nothing quite like the mid-morning Terrace vibe and there's plenty of room to dance too!
Thanks Space... for another storming start to another glorious season in the World's party capital... Ibiza!