It takes a while for a new venue to find its feet. A residency is just the stepping stone that Hï Ibiza needed to find its identity. I was looking for an oppurtinuty for the new club to blow me away. Last night's first Hï residency pushed me there with Black Coffee.
In the Theatre, I was blessed with one of my all-time favourite producers, Henrik Schwarz, who of course played a live set. Schwarz took full advantage of the soundsystem, which played a pivotal role in the form of escapism he gave to the crowd. His energy alone could have started a dance-off in a courtroom, bouncing from deck to deck as a pair of gargantuan eyes blinked on the screen behind him. Hï Ibiza made it that little bit more interesting for a solo raver. Its crowd last night oozed kind gestures and warmth.
Every night includes a restroom trip. The team behind Hï Ibiza have cleverly thought this through by placing an unignorable booth smack-bang in the middle of the bathrooms. Now the Wild Corner enables punters to have a pit stop and still party, something I found myself doing as I danced away to Womack & Womack's Teardrops.
Back in the Theatre, Schwarz's silhouette against the vast visuals may have been small, but his presence certainly was not. His sounds could have been selected only from a sample pack bought with bags of gold matched with skillful live keyboard solos. The DJ and producer smashed the warm-up thermometer, as the man of the night Black Coffee took over.
Grids of LED lights were layered on the heads of the crowd. The chief of deep house entered with a stampede of rumbling sounds accompanied by mermaid-esque vocals. Black Coffee gracefully DJed in a way that could have been him playing each individual instument he sampled. Even the crowd found themselves moving as if a harp were between their fingers. Each track was unidentifiable, adding to the mesmerising mystery of his set.
Black Coffee knew what he was doing when it came to vocals. Bill Withers's Ain't No Sunshine raised every hand in the theatre. In the Club (Room 2) Lee Burridge had taken the techno route with a hint of Indian sounds.
Hï Ibiza gave me great hope last night, leaving me excited to see what else is in store for the next residency.
