As I made my way up the winding road to Vista Club at Privilege for the opening night of Marco Bailey's MATERIA, a near full moon hung in the sky and Ibiza Town glittered in the distance. The Vista Club is small in comparison to Privilege's bigger sister main room, yet the size of the place and the volume of the sound system created an intimate atmosphere that was dark and perfect for techno.
Zoe was in full flow as I entered, and dazzling red lights bathing the crowd as they danced. Revellers were a wash of black and white t-shirted techno fanatics, and one couple who apparently challenged each other to a dance off. At one point I thought I heard a flickering of New Order's ‘Blue Monday' buried in the banging techno that Zoe was dishing out, a welcome addition to the minimal beats.
Sam Paganini was up next, and he whipped eager clubbers into a frenzy of limb-flailing action. As he played Harvey Mckay's remix of Sirtakis', ‘On & Off', my companion whispered in my ear, “I'm scared of techno dancers, they're crazy”. She may have had a point as the man beside us danced manically. On the small stage to the right a group of Daft-Punk esque masked women appeared, holding aloft the MATERIA logo, they soon dropped the letters and began to dance.
I made my way to the VIP area, where you could appreciate a true sense of the atmosphere. The speakers were pumping out deafening bass - enough to make your arm hairs stand on end. It was there where I met Marco Bailey - the night's head honcho - for the first time. He was as cool as you'd picture, sporting a black vest and sleeve tattoos on both arms. We exchanged pleasantries as I returned to the floor; it was not the last time we met on the night.
Shlomi Aber was next up to bat. The techno was intense; two hours felt like four as I danced metronomically to ‘Chronic Time' by ‘Nock B'; the music passing through me as if I were a sieve. Many people were shirtless as Aber destroyed the floor with the culmination of his set and handed over to Bailey. The two clasped hands as the crowd cheered in appreciation. Bailey's set was steady, driving, classic techno. It was my first time seeing him and he had my fellow techno addicts and I doing revolutions on the floor. As he neared the end I returned to the VIP area to retrieve my hoody and while there, someone handed me a mysterious scroll. I unfurled it to discover directions to an after party, where Bailey played for hours at a villa nestled in the hills. I'm still recovering from that party but I'll definitely be back for more over the coming months.
WORDS | David Fleming PHOTOGRAPHY | Phrank
