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Tiësto's opening party @ Privilege: Reviewed

Reported by Matt Dahl / Submitted 06-08-08 15:19

What do you get when the world’s biggest club, Privilege, plays host to arguably the world’s biggest DJ, Tiësto, for a season of Monday night parties in Ibiza? Well thanks to the guys at Ibiza-spotlight.com and Hotel Garbi I was able to attend the opening party to find out.

The trip was arranged for me by the guys at www.ibiza-spotlight.com who are the complete holiday guide for Ibiza with everything from hotel details and resort guides through to boat charters and real estate details. But what will interest most of us HFers is their excellent clubbing section and especially their party calendar which is perfect for planning your clubbing assaults while on the Island.

Call me a big kid but it doesn’t matter how often it happens, I still get a kick out of walking into arrivals and being greeted by someone with your name on a placard.
The person meeting me at Ibiza airport was Stephen who runs the hotels section of Ibiza-spotlight.com, he kindly offered to pick me up and run me to my hotel. After a quick drive and chat I was dropped off at Hotel Garbi in Playa Den Bossa.

Now seeing that the hotel kindly played host, it would be remiss of me not to give them a quick mention. Having just had a total refurbishment and been upgraded to four stars, it is a world of difference form the Hotel Garbi I saw when I stayed in Playa Den Bossa last year. Ultra modern throughout, with flat screen TVs and wireless broadband in each room, they are certainly aiming for the clubbers with a bit of money to spend and who want to be in the middle of the action. While I can’t say it’s one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed in, it pretty high up there and definitely the best I’ve ever used in Ibiza. Well worth a stay.



Anyhoo, on to the review of the night and where better to start the night than at the pre party? Well if I’m honest, anywhere. The whole of Playa Den Bossa was more like a ghost town than a busy resort in the summer season. Chatting to a couple of people in the bar, they were also perplexed by the lack of people even though it was a Monday night, so with little atmosphere to be enjoyed, drinks were downed and I headed to the club.

Now if I could liken the pre party to a morgue then the main event would have to be a fireworks factory that’s been crashed into by the Red Arrows and then doused in petrol. The visual and aural feast was just phenomenal. As soon as I entered Privilege was hit by this wall of sound that rattled my chest with the vibration (earplugs are a must have). Once I’d fought my way through the crowd in the upstairs bar area, I was offered a fantastic view over the entire dance floor, swimming pool and all. Tiësto’s DJ booth was positioned on the stage at the front of the club in front of a gargantuan light wall which ran from the stage to the ceiling and the entire width of the club. With its moving images and cool light effects, it was very much the centre piece of the night, dwarfing the presence of the man everyone was there to see.



This was my first time at Privilege (during an event at least) and I must say on first impressions I was very impressed. With the multi level gardens to chill out in outside, the swimming pool in the centre of the dance floor, the maze of stairs and corridors and of course the massive dome outside, all it really needed was Richard O’Brien going on about his "mumsie" to convince me that I was in an episode of the Crystal Maze (although to be honest I’ve never seen a episode with 10,000 contestants running around)

As with pretty much any review with of a night of this scale, going through a list of who played what is as pointless as a snooze button on a smoke alarm. The one slight reservation, musically wise, I had about the night before I went, were the words “In Search Of Sunrise” on all the promo material. Having listened to the last couple of albums of the same name and with the tales of his In Search Of Sunrise tour a couple of years back, I think I could be forgiven for thinking that this time round I’d be hearing more of the techy side of trance. That was definitely not the case! The six hour set was a mixture of upbeat and energetic prog, house and trance. All real feel good tunes, exactly what the crowd needed mixed to a far higher technical level than I’d seen Tiësto do before.



Taking a wander around the club was easier said than done due to the sheer number of people but I did manage to battle my way into the second room a couple of times. I have to say this room was surprisingly empty given the volume of people in the rest of the club and had they not been playing the type of blippy house that makes me want to take a screwdriver to my eardrums, I would have probably spent more time there.

Of course, when you have a press pass, there is always one place that you inevitability end up, the VIP area. Which, although it has a great view over the club, has to be the worst place in the entire club acoustically. Clashing sounds caused by the delay between the speakers at the front, sides and back made the whole night sound like a train wreck, very surprising for a club at Privilege’s level. It certainly gives credit to my theory that VIP areas in Ibiza clubs are for the people who want to be seen, rather than people who want to go "see". Given the high levels of Brylcreem and the fact there were more plastic noses and fake boobs than a plastic surgeons back catalogue in that part of the club, I feel pretty safe in that assumption. That said the VIP area was not without its merits, it was the only place in the club, that I found at least, that had huge fans to grant you some respite from the heat.



Ah yes the heat. Given that I was in a club on a Mediterranean island in the middle of summer, you’d expect any club to be pretty warm, but you could have been mistaken for thinking that Privilege had been relocated to the surface of Mercury for the night. This has to be my only negative of the night but unfortunately it’s a big one. It didn’t matter how much water I pumped into myself, I was dehydrated again in minutes. Obviously cooling a club the size of Privilege when it has a capacity crowd is going to be a problem but it really has to be an area the club has to pay more attention to in my opinion. Even with the fans in the VIP area the heat was totally unbearable.

So what do you get when the world’s biggest club plays host to the world’s biggest DJ? Quite simply, a fantastic night. The capacity crowd and unique location creates an electric atmosphere that is pretty much unrivalled compared to other events I’ve been to. The music was spot on from start to finish, the production levels were hugely impressive and the whole night left me with a huge grin at the end of it. Without doubt it is one of the “must do” nights this season and given the massive queues outside even after the club had reached capacity, I think it’s going to be one of the most popular.



My thanks again to everyone at Ibiza-spotlight.com for arranging the trip and Hotel Garbi for putting me up, you guys rock


For more info:
Tiësto.com
Buy your tickets for Tiësto at Privilege
Ibiza Spotlight.com
Hotel Garbi


Photos courtesy of Matt Dahl. Not to be reproduced without permsiion.
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Other Features By Matt Dahl:
What a Privilege. An interview with Tiësto.
Tiesto’s Elements Of Life: reviewed
Dropping the Bomb – A night out with Faithless
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
Comments:

From: ED_case on 10th Aug 2008 17:06.28
You had reservations due to the In Search of Sunrise CDs?! That's a quality series! And not at all techy!

From: Jennie B on 12th Aug 2008 14:45.19
even though I am not a big fan of trance I would lik eto see him play privilege

From: Sats on 13th Aug 2008 08:47.22
Very entertaining reading, great review Thumbs up

From: K.A.R.L. on 14th Aug 2008 08:34.21
Great read Matt. Can't wait to see Tiesto & Sander at the closing party. Smile

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