Ibiza 2001: Review
Updated 17th Sept 2001

Ronnie Randall has worked in Ibiza for the last six summers editing the DJ Magazine Ibiza supplement and producing his own magazine, Cultura. As the summer draws to a close and suntanned promoters head off to the South of France to buy a new villa, we asked Ronnie to give us his summary of Ibiza 2001. He gives us his view on the high-lights, best clubs and trends of the season. He also gives us his predictions for Ibiza in 2002


Good Year or Bad Year?
It's been a good year, but it's always a good year in Ibiza. People say it's been quieter this year but all the clubs have been packed, all the rooms are full and you can't get flights out here. I thought most of the clubs did really well this year. Eden didn't seem to do as well in the main room, but did really well in the back room. This year it seemed to start a bit later and didn't really get going until mid July. But then, it seems to be going on a little bit later than it did two or three years ago.


The Best Nights
I've never liked El Divino but I had a good time every time I went there this year. The atmosphere was good at From Russia With Lust and there was a great atmosphere at Roger Sanchez; they seemed to have found their own distinct sound by playing house music. No one usually plays straightforward house music here, it is always tribal or hard or some other genre of house, but El Divino seemed to play frothy house, and it worked for them. House music has been the sound of the summer. I made up a chart of the biggest tunes this year and I couldn't think of a trance tune to put in there. It's all made up of sing-a-long house tracks.

Best Venue
Amnesia just seems to get it right. Amnesia is the best clubbing club on the island. It has it all. It's gigantic and it has that wonderful Terrace. The main room is euphoric and not too impersonal. The club is in the middle of the island so they get a good variety of nationalities coming to the nights. They also do really well to attract a good cross section of nights. On Friday it's Dutch, they do gay Ibiza with every nationality on a Wednesday, there's Gods Kitchen and Cream on Tuesday and Thursday, then Germans on a Monday. They've got the mix right. If the club was predominantly British then they'd get slagged off for it.

Highlights
Manumission has been good every time. They are moving in the right direction. They put on a show now; they don't rely on too many gimmicks. Considering what they have to do, which is fill that huge venue each week, they do incredibly well. They keep it going non-stop and don't really need to rely on a sex show, which they haven't done for years now. They've moved more into theatre, fobbing off the celebrity DJ thing. Sure, they have good DJs but they don't have to tell you all about it, they don't rely on the name of the DJ to sell the night.

New Things
In terms of new things in Ibiza this year, DJs taking control of their nights has been a trend. Everyone is saying that that's way it is going to go. Roger Sanchez, Erick Morillo and Judge Jules have all done well, but others haven't, so maybe not. I think you have one of the legends or an American to really do it. I can see Sasha pulling it off, but he wouldn't do it, or maybe even Carl Cox. The DJs are bigger than the promoters. I think the new back room at Eden did really well, but that seemed to be at the expense of the main room, where the atmosphere wasn't as good.

The Future
There was a hell of a lot more Italians in San Antonio this August, a lot more Italian people are coming to the island. The way forward is for different nationalities to get together now and blend more in the nightclubs. More club nights are starting to emerge from other parts of Europe, which is encouraging and will make Ibiza more appealing next year. La Troya, which is mixed with all nationalities, is now rated as one of the great nights on the island. The following morning at Space is now the best day of the week there, not Sunday, which is too crowded to enjoy yourself. Carry on is still doing well and Zenith is excellent at the right club. Made in Italy has been doing really well at Pacha, so there already you have four great nights in the week. In the past a lot of British people would ignore nights like this. Next year I can see more and more UK clubbers trying these kind of nights out.


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