Attending Cocoon at Amnesia is typically an extremely pleasant experience, and their many discerning fans have been awaiting the opening party of their 2004 Cocktail sessions, shivering in antici... pation.
Unlike some events in Ibiza, music is the focus of the night and the clatter as we slid into the venue had the clicks and slick sheen of future edge technology. Richie Hawtin, Miss Kittin, Laurent Garnier, Hell, Marco Carola und Pascal FEOS, Ricardo Villalobos are just some the artists scheduled to play at Cocoon this year (check our calendar for further details).
By placing himself alongside so many stars in ascension Cocoon Direktor of operations Sven Vath is egoless (at least in this regard) as top talent can make you look bad in comparison.
It might look all chummy when Sven pals around with Richie and Laurie and the rest in the booth, but you wouldn’t want to turn up to one of the most high profile techno gigs in the world with anything less than your freshest and most decent cuts.
Members of the crowd too are clubbers with more clues than your average dj dunce. We took a business lunch with one, Dan Ellitts, a 29-year-old promoter deeply involved in the club industry in Brighton England who was on his second trip to Ibiza, and got these comments:
“The first time I came, I came out of season so it’s a very different experience to the one I’m having now. It was very laid back, not many people. This time it’s only a flying visit, four days. Taken in a couple of clubs, eaten lots of nice food, sat around, got a bit sunburnt, seen some naked ladies.”
What parties have you been to?
I went to the Cocoon opening party at Amnesia. And I’ve just been to La Troya afterparty at Space.
How was Cocoon?
It was wicked. I got a bit distracted and spent a lot of time in the terraces and kind of forgot about the main room. That was the first proper Ibiza club I’ve been to so I was a bit sort of taken aback by it. It took me a while to actually realise that I was in a club, if you know what I mean.
Why were you taken aback?
First of all it was the sheer size of the place. It was pretty plush, compared to UK clubs. You go clubbing in the UK and they’re generally dark sweaty holes. That’s a bit of a generalisation, but they’re not the most airy light places. It was unusual to be in a club that was so full of people yet you didn’t feel as if you were in a pressure cooker. There was no sort of negative vibes there at all, it was all very happy and nice.
Was it what you were expecting?
It was better that I was expecting. The reputation of Ibiza in the UK at the moment is not that great. I kind of expected it to be full of English tourists very pissed and cheesy house playing and everyone just concerned about what they were wearing. But it wasn’t like that at all. Quite the opposite in fact.
Has your opinion of Germans changed at all now you’ve been to a German party?
I like a lot of German music anyway, I’ve got a lot of it at home, the stuff that comes out of the Berlin scene. But this was different, almost techno with a Balearic feel. It’s a lot lighter and summery.
What did you think of Ricardo Villalobos?
I was quite pleasantly surprised. I thought his mixing was atrocious at times but his tune selection was great. I first went in there and thought this must be the house room, the more chilled cheesy area, but it wasn’t. It was really nice imaginative sort of funky techno that complemented the main room really well I thought.
- Mr Ellitts also made it to the beach-side afterparty at a not-so-secret location and got back from that sometime on Tuesday afternoon. Ole!
- Entry to Cocoon @ Amnesia was facilitated with the warmth of Latin hospitality and the reliability of German efficiency. Danke schön, wir sehen uns nächste Woche.