15/06/08: WE LOVE OPENING PARTY

Celebrating their tenth year this year are Ibiza stalwarts We Love… And the team behind the island’s most successful party have asked themselves why throw one birthday party when you can throw 16? That’s one per week for the duration of the season and today marks the beginning of the festivities - and Miss W plans to be on hand for each and every one of them so she doesn’t miss a second of the action.

Gone was the car park arena and stilt-walking entertainers of the Space opening party and in their place, a plethora of acid house themed décor adorning the club, from enormous oversized smiley face balls hanging from the roof to illuminated flashing fluoro lights and even t-shirts declaring ‘We Love… Acid House’. We Love… have been notorious for steering clear of pomp and ceremony over the years and focusing solely on the music, but when thousands of smiley faced yellow balloons were dropped from the ceiling, we couldn’t help but get even more carried away in the moment.

For Miss W, again it was all about the Discotek. With house-master DJ Pierre at the helm of the DJ booth, banging out an amazing two-hour set packed with acid house classics, rave anthems and futuristic techno beats, it was no surprise that the room was packed to the rafters - one entire corner was packed full of the island’s finest DJ talent paying homage to the legend - from We Love’s very own David Phillips to Manumission’s Colin Peters and the Underground’s Justin Field, plus a posse of the Ibiza Rocks crew and local audio visual producers FR4M3 and last but not least, a handful of influential bar, restaurant and local business owners from across the island, it felt like the whole population was feeling the ‘We Love…’

In the new terrace (also packed to the rafters by all accounts) however, Miss W heard whispers that Ben Watt was giving DJ Pierre a run for his money, with those on hand to witness his set calling it awe-inspiring. Followed by mash-up heroes 2ManyDJs, it definitely felt like no one was using the exit doors until the lights went up at 6am,

But for Miss W, it was fantastic to note a lot of up and coming talent being given a chance to shine - the funky El Salon room was treated to an amazing two hours of funk-house meets percussion with Mr Doris, the rooftop Premier Etage played host to local deep house legend Jon Howell, the Sunset Terrace moved to the beat of Café Mambo’s own Andy Baxter and London’s Chew The Fat! crew returned to give the Red Box and injection of their classic breakbeat sound - all in all, combined with the masters working the two main arenas, the perfect mix of music across all six rooms, with something to suit everyone. Which is what We Love are renowned for really… We’ll be seeing you again next weekend!

THE GOOD: This year sees We Love… go green. Using recycled paper for all of their promotional flyers, posters and even CD covers, along with vegetable based ink to reduce their impact on the Ibizan environment. Miss W encourages other clubs on the island follow suit so our beautiful island can continue to be enjoyed for many years to come.
THE BAD: Everyone’s favourite 22-hour party marathon has now been cut to 13.5 thanks to the new laws regarding daytime clubbing. When a promoter such as We Love… have successfully been running daytime parties for ten years, surely there should be some exceptions to the rule?
THE GOSSIP: After the DC10 terrace being incredibly empty upon opening at 4.30pm the previous week, many speculated that the Space Sunset Terrace would suffer a similar blow. With queues outside before the club had opened, this proved not to be the case and it was business as usual, with Andy Baxter delivering a superb set that got punters straight onto the dance floor the minute they stepped through the doors.