Space Ibiza 2011 – The Full Experience

The crowd, like a field of golden wheat in the fading rays of an Ibizan sun, seemed to sway and ripple with the ebb and flow of the Baleric beats as they washed across the Sunset Terrace. I looked out across that sea of bodies, the musical rush in my blood taking me higher and higher as the DJ brought the crescendo to an almost climax, the euphoria in the crowd reaching that point on the roller-coaster where you look down and know that you’re in for the ride of your life…

Sounds good doesn’t it? That’s probably my abiding memory of We Love Sundays at Space. That was four years ago, and I was wondering how my first visit to the club in all those long years would live up to that halcyon memory. This past Sunday, I got to find out.

There is something different about Ibiza this time around. Far from the mixed and beautiful bag I fondly remember of Euro-trash, obnoxious Aussies and Saffers, and Scandinavian super-model types (the sort of people you don’t mind overtly perving over as you’re patiently waiting to come up!) the prevailing flavor of punter on the island is the sort you’d see spilling into the street at kicking out time in the centre of Newcastle or Portsmouth. You know, all bad tats and no tan, gurning his or her tits off as the beats drop and the beer stains settle. We Love Sundays @ Space was not immune to this prevalent influx of Britain’s brightest.

However, aside from this rather unexpected change of consumer line-up, Space still delivers. Starting off at The Sunset Terrace, we made our way through the churning and mostly packed dance floor as Jon Ulysses dished out the pumping house, driving the crowd higher and higher with his usual flair.
Something that I found a little saddening about the venue itself was the fact that the Terrace is now almost completely covered. Raving in that formerly open air space was one of the defining elements of the club and I can only surmise that this may have had something to do with the politics of tighter licensing laws that has affected most of the clubs on the island in recent years.

From there it was a (somewhat difficult) wander through the heaving crowd to the main Discoteca, and James Zabiela. Watching this guy bounce around behind the decks, blonde locks flying as he blasts the tech house is worth seeing any time, anywhere!
By the time 2 Many Dj’s took their place on the turntables a few hours later, the crowd was at fever pitch, and when the Belgian duo dropped in their first track, a hard as nails, pumping, thumping number, the resultant roar of the crowd was numbing in its intensity!
Hours later, my little group and I found ourselves sheltering from the pounding beats emanating from the other rooms in the upstairs lounge or Premiere Etage – all of us wearing the distinctly vacant expression of people who have clubbed their little hearts out.

When I discovered We Love @ Space for myself four years ago, I fell in love with the place and the event. It had the right mix of just about everything, from the top tier names to the diamonds in the rough making their reputations, the crowd was as beautiful and eclectic as the music, the ‘space’ itself was something to behold, from the cavernous gloom of the main room to the sunlight breeziness of The Terrace. Ahh, I remember it all so fondly.
But change is the nature of things, and although We Love @ Space seems a little less cosmopolitan than I remember, and there are certain other superficial changes that rankled (the enclosure of The Terrace) the essential elements are mostly still there, and I can’t deny the fact that I still love, We love….

By Hadrian Howard