Cream are back in Ibiza at Amnesia for 2010.

The opening party is Thursday 17th June and closing party is Thursday 30th September.

Winner of Best Ibiza Night at the DJ Awards 2008, Sven Vath’s techno-plus extravaganza Cocoon opens 15th June at Amnesia, and this year will mark their ten year anniversary here.

The Ibiza operation is run by Johannes Goller, a man whose life changed dramatically ten years ago when he decided to abandon his family’s original plans for him to take over their butchers company. He’d already got all the requisite diplomas and was all set to follow in his father’s footsteps before having a radical change of heart after seeing Sven Vath, whose music he already loved, perform here at Space. To cut a long story short, for now, the rest is history.

Johannes works during winter in the offices of the Cocoon family above Frankfurt’s Cocoon club and restaurant. He arrived yesterday for the International Music Summit, and the summer season which sees months of winter planning play out week after week at Amnesia, with wall-to-wall crowds on each occasion. Cocoon has traditionally been the home of the most eclectic club crowd on the island, and is famed for its international melange of both performers and aficionados. After his participation in the brands panel this afternoon at the IMS, I sat Johannes down for a forthcoming interview in Ibiza NOW, during which we touched on the highlights for the coming season…

“We’re ten years on the island, and will be celebrating this every single Monday, so we’ll have special guests all throughout the season with lots of new artists as well as old faces. It’s going to be a very interesting line-up. If there’s anyone on the island bringing new artists, then it’s Cocoon.”

These faces include Guillaume Coutu Dumont, Nick Curly, Cassy, Raresh, Marcus Fix, Zip, Livio and Roby, Radio Slave, Magda, Gaiser, Joris Voorn, Marco Carola, Dubfire, Josh Wink and Federico Molinari. The artists are often chosen by Sven, or by residents Richie Hawtin, Ricardo Villalobos and Loco Dice. “Ricardo played at an after-party in Chile, and he found this guy called Uhmo. And he called me when I was in India and said, “We have to invite him to Ibiza, I’ll pay the flights!” so he’ll be playing with Ricardo and Raresh this season.”

Cocoon have always had an open door rule for island residents, and that policy will continue this summer. “As long as you turn up with a Resident’s card you get in for free. There has always been this big connection between Cocoon and the island because of this.”

And for the opening night, June 15?

“On the opening night we have Sven and Chris Tietjen playing the main room, with Cassy and Ricardo on the terrace.”

Cocoon have always had a season’s theme, often with a futuristic bent. So what’s the theme for summer 2009?

“We thought about it. We had the photographers, the creative directors… and we thought you know what? Isn’t ten years with Cocoon Ibiza enough? Isn’t it enough to say hey we are on the island now for ten years, so let’s just stand still, look back and let’s see what we’ve done. We have nine different models, why don’t we put all of them in a pot and do a crazy visual mix of all the images and all the years. Let’s use all those pictures, let’s invite all the performers, let’s celebrate ten years of Cocoon. We have Dita Von Teese coming, we have Rose the snakewoman [Rosalind Bee, the famous contortionist], The Freaks from London – they’re all coming back. Roman from Alter Ego is coming for a DJ set… We’re going to try to make every Monday as special as possible…”

Helen Donlon
Full interview with Johannes Goller in next month’s Ibiza Now

Confirmed dates

Today (28/09/08) is 4 months after the historic public meeting at the International Music Summit in Ibiza of the main clubs and the government.

We’ve been once again assured that the IMS will put up the panels so that everyone who wasn’t there can hear what happened.

all of our blogs about the ims are here

After smashing it up at Ibiza Rocks in July Dizzee Rascal will be back on Ibiza for Manumission’s Coney Island Review at Amnesia on Friday 5th August 2008.

Never ones to shy away from a good old bump and grind, the folks behind Ibiza’s most flamboyant night out: MIKE & CLAIRE MANUMISSION and their very extended family thought it most appropriate that Britain’s Dizzee Rascal add the icing on the cake to the Manumission Masquerade Ball this Friday in Amnesia.

Now it’s Dizzee’s Showtime on the Manumission Terrace. Wear a mask and get ready for more mayhem at Amnesia, Ibiza. The Rascal will perform a 45 minute live show, starting at 02.30am.

The Soundtrack… will be lovingly provided not only Live & Direct from Dizzee Rascal, Newham Generals and Paco Fernandez but also by this fine team of hand picked music maestros: Lottie, Jon Carter, Fred Falke and Griff.

The Culture Fest… A heady combination of music, art, fashion, performance, dance, beauty, glamour and fabulousness, all brought together with pure Manumission passion.

The Show and its Cast… coming to life on the Manumission Terrace throughout the night, a spectacular stage show with a cast including Johnny Golden, Antonio Culebras, Polly Fey, The Manumission maidens and the Dynamite Hosts.

August in Ibiza means one thing: clubs, clubs, clubs. It’s the month of blazing sunshine, beautiful people and parties that roll into the wee hours of the morning.

Make no mistake, the Ibicenco economy is close-hitched to the success of its clubs. The Diario de Ibiza recently reported on a survey which showed nine out of 10 British tourists come to Ibiza specifically for the nightlife. So, how are we doing?

At Amnesia their highlight events are going strong. Cocoon’s Monday night party is pulling a huge international crowd, its
usual popularity given an extra boost by the closure of DC10. The price of their “friends & family” concession guest-list tickets has shot up from €20 to €30 so it’s a safe bet anyone involved in this techno powerhouse will be laughing all the way to the bank this autumn.

Thursday night’s ‘Cream’ party is perennially popular with the British market and despite the economic hardships they
are still pulling full houses on the strength of their heavy duty DJs like Paul Van Dyk, Sasha and Ferry Corstan. Also wooing the trance crowd is Armin’s Tuesday night ‘Armada’ with guests like Sharam from Deep Dish and Laidback Luke.

However, another Brit standby, ‘Manumission’ (Fridays) has struggled to cope with heavy competition from Madrileno night ‘SuperMartXe’ which has been filling Privilege to capacity thanks to a canny mix of competitive door-pricing and mind-blowing production.

It seems Privilege has realised that its strength lies in making the most of its vast space as the other big night is Tiesto’s ‘In Search Of Sunrise’ party every Monday. Eager kids (mostly British, Dutch and German) are happily shelling out €60 or more for a peek at Tijs’ staggering, rock’n'roll style audio-visual trance extravaganza.

Filling out
the roster of big hitters at Privilege are two nights of techno: ‘Meganite’ and ‘Monza’.

The former has found success with a mix of classic tough techno and live acts, while ‘Monza’ is making a strong showing with its Berlin-orientated line-ups (Magda, M.A.N.D.Y. and Guido Schneider among others).

It’s not all smiles though, as local
favourite ‘La Communidad’ – which moved to Saturdays at the World’s Biggest Club after losing its Friday nights at Space – flopped and was quickly replaced by a new night called ‘Soldiers’.

Space, having ruthlessly culled its promoter roster after losing half its opening hours to new laws has still sometimes struggled to fill its six rooms. ‘Carl Cox and Friends’ is having another fantastic season, and long-running gay night ‘La Troya’ (Wednesday) is still packing them in despite squabbles with authorities over their colourful parades and artwork.

Danny Tenaglia’s first Ibiza residency, ‘Be’ on Thursdays has wooed fans of classic house but faces tough competition from its glamorous opposite ‘F*** Me I’m Famous’, fronted by Cathy & David Guetta at Pacha. In any case, Space’s undisputed flagship is still ‘We Love Sundays’, which pulled crowds and column inches with the return of the Chemical Brothers to Ibiza for the first time in 14 years (for a reported six-figure fee).

Other island big spenders include Eden, which has been rewarded for splashing the cash on Pete Tong with his muchtalked-
about ‘Wonderland’ party on Fridays. Along with Brit faves like Groove Armada and Rob Marmot the night has brought the
likes of Tania Vulcano and Deadmau5 to San An for the first time.

Tuesday night’s ‘Koolwaters’ party has kept Eden jumping with a mix of breaks and electro. Night-by-night, Eden is probably the most eclectic club on the island with events for garage (Twice As Nice), hard house (Advanced Vs Tidy), house (Garlands Vs The Hacienda) and electronica (Mondo Loco). Though it is still easy to get free or reduced entry to most nights, a sure sign they’re working to pull in the punters, the club has maintained a good atmosphere and Judgement Sundays is still hugely popular with the San An crowd.

Also flying the flag for San An eclecticism, Es Paradis has a mix of classic and new nights. Its flagship ‘Fiesta del Agua’ has expanded to two nights a week (Thursdays and Saturdays) and is the biggest pull with local youngsters. Their ‘Bassline Vs Garage’ night angles to grab some of the urban crowd away from ‘Twice As Nice’ while ‘Clubland’ woos fans of commercial house and trance.

Possibly the most interesting night is Wednesday’s ‘Rogue DJs’ party which brings DJ sets from bands like Utah
Saints, The Subways and The Mystery Jets.

Meanwhile, the glamorous Ibiza Town clubs are still locked in a fierce rivalry. Louie Vega’s ‘Soul Heaven’ night at El Divino has taken the club back to pure house music with lots of live PAs and support from the likes of Erick Morillo (whose Wednesday night ‘Subliminal’ party at Pacha has been a bit quieter than previous seasons), while its busiest night remains Saturday’s ‘Hed Kandi’ party – a firm favourite of the stylish British crowd.

Competing
for their cut of the pie are ‘Fashion TV’ & ‘Miss Moneypenny’s’ on the Friday, Tuesday’s ‘Salvacion’ bash, house heavy hitters ‘Kinky Malinki vs Kidology’ (Thursday) and ‘Mn2S’ (Monday).

Minutes away is Pacha, which has stuck with a tried and tested line-up for summer 2008, beginning with Roger Sanchez’s ‘Release Yourself’ party on Monday (which started at El Divino, some years back). According to insiders the focus on traditional US house has given the club a long-in-the-tooth feel, with staples like ‘Def Mix’ (Saturday) and ‘Defected’ (Tuesday) relying too heavily on older acts.

Undoubtedly the most exciting night of the week is Friday’s ‘Pure Pacha’ which responded to Tong’s move to Eden by booking some of the biggest names in dance: Sander Kleinenberg, the Swedish House Mafia, Basement Jaxx and Faithless. The new acts have energised the night. “The atmosphere is brilliant and our guest-lists are full till September,” reports press manager Jasmine Elias.

Overall, it seems the club scene has stratified. The biggest, longest-running nights are as packed as ever with loyal fans.
However, less established parties are struggling as clubbers economise by making safe choices rather than exploring new
events. Numbers for the season may look roughly similar, across the board, but the true story is of a handful of big successes and a host of strugglers.

Of course, Ibiza has almost lost one of its most renowned clubs entirely – DC10. For the full story on the rise and fall of this underground institution see DC10 – club closure?.

By Cila Warncke