Celebrating its first birthday with what seemed like half the island, Insane opened for a second season at Pacha, a triumphant success story coming out of a year that saw new parties bite the dust right across the island. It was a new year and a new look for the party as, visually, Insane had become much more insane. Enormous inflatables hung from the Pacha rafters like giant ladybirds, astronauts, animal print palm trees and blimps, whilst acrobats smoothly traversed ropes between them.
The house was packed; bodies poured across the many levels, curves and corners of Pacha's main room, so that in the constantly flashing lights it seemed as if the club was flooded with a swelling sea of bobbing hands and heads. Disorienting at times, but it looked freaking cool.
I've noticed over the last few seasons that the Pacha DJ booth appears to have a case of itchy feet - every time my back is turned it skittles to a new position in the main room, sneaky little boothsies. On Friday night it was positioned for the first time at the foot of the main room's entrance stairs, facing out onto the floor. It's not ideal for movement around the room, but it's cool to be able to nose over the DJ's shoulder without having to booth-whore it up.
PHOTO | Clockwise from top: Tensnake/MK changeover, John Digweed in the mix, Pacha dancer strutting her stuff and peak season queues outside.
When my comrades and I arrived MK was rocking his vocal-led house sound with a set that would have been very at home at a Defected night. It was fun, accessible but with enough grunt to please those wanting to squeeze out some hardcore bass faces. For one of his first songs MK was joined by live singer Emma Louise, who gave a great rendition of MK's remix of Wanklemut's My Head is A Jungle, although it didn't really feel in keeping with the club vibe.
MK was really out to please, giving clubbers lots of recognisable vocal tracks to latch on to, including a remix of Disclosure's White Noise and another of Lana Del Rey's West Coast. It was nice to see that not only was the dance floor heaving, but 90% of VIP was up and dancing, so that you could hardly tell where the posh/pleb divide was, which is as it should be.
There's a pretty wide musical gap between John Digweed and MK, but our Diggers bridged it perfectly when he took over just after four, opening with an epic, melody-led track with a slow but steady build up beneath melancholy horns, before dropping into something darker and heavier to signal the arrival of the deep and dark late shift.
Insane made it through ‘the year of too much' and has come back busier, more confident and much weirder looking. Here's to a freaky season.
WORDS | Jordan Smith PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
