Privilege Ibiza Opening Party

As a Privilege virgin, there were high hopes and expectations for what had been billed as “the world’s biggest opening party for the world’s biggest club”, but all the same, there was a big feeling of walking into the complete unknown. For the 2015 opening, Privilege had opted for an all star line-up of EDM stalwarts such as Example and DJ Wire, Kryder and My Digital Enemy in the main room. Elsewhere, Heidi and Cajmere were back to back to head things up for Do Not Sleep – Darius Syrossian, Santè and Sidney Charles’ new Ibizan venture – in the club’s smaller room, Vista. Vista Blue, Vista’s smaller, ‘sister’ club, was also open, offering a selection of lesser known, but equally fine talent for the evening. Whatever happened, there was a lot on offer to keep everyone going.

The club was billed to open at midnight and finish until an undisclosed time – the last DJ was scheduled to start at 11:30am, so with good intentions of pacing ourselves, and a small queue, we arrived inside the club at around 2:40am. Walking into the main room was a sight to behold, with bejewelled dancers sashaying around in disco-balled bike helmets with pony tails and glittered body paint. A big countdown flashed on the screen bringing on second headliner, Kryder, and after what felt like forever waiting for the countdown to end, Kryder finally arrived to a rapturous response from the crowd and the biggest confetti cannon spraying the entire club. A standard EDM affair, but on a much larger scale than I’d ever witnessed before. The club is vast, holding around 10,000 people across the three rooms, with a swimming pool thrown for good measure in the middle of the main room.

After hanging around to catch a bit of Kryder, we headed into Vista to watch the end of Weiss’s live set, which had warmed the gathering crowd up nicely. Up next were Heidi and Cajmere, and as their set kicked off, the room packed out almost instantly. It was great to see two of the biggest and most innovative names in the game teaming up for the kind of high-energy, hard-hitting set you’d expect from them both, with some well known gems thrown in to keep the drifters from the main room engaged. Vista stayed packed for the duration of their set, with each and every clubber going for it until they finally stepped down from the decks at 6:30am, half an hour after they were billed to finish. Wandering back into the main room to catch the last of Example’s set midway through Heidi and Cajmere’s marathon run, the revellers were still as up for it as when we had left. As a new dad and an older man than in his previous party boy years, it was good to see that Example’s still capable of pulling off the kind of sets that he cut his teeth doing at the start of his long-running career. Closing his set with Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name Of, somewhat an odd choice for the bemused clubbers in the main room, we went back in for more b2b action in Vista.

After Heidi and Cajmere’s set, the Data Transmission Radio Host and all round nice guy Eagles & Butterflies stepped up to take the remaining ravers through the next few hours, just as the sun had just risen behind them. The Vista room’s big glass panel behind the DJ booth allows for an intense experience as the night slinks off and light creeps in, until you’re totally aware that it’s daylight outside and there’s no more darkness to hide behind. By this point, the main room had shut and the two sister clubs were the only rooms open, but disappointingly, the club had emptied rapidly. Despite promises of an all day rave, Privilege finally shut the club at 9:30am to a handful of clubbers who were still clinging on to the idea of partying through until the afternoon. As we shuffled outside, there was a united sense that the night was not ready to be over, but alas, it was the end. Privilege have got some incredible line-ups this season and I for one am looking forward to seeing what they pull out the bag next – Vista looks set to be one of the places to be this summer.