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The first year I ever came to stay in Ibiza for the summer, I went everywhere on a scooter. I always wonder whether that was one of the reasons I fell so head over heels in love with the island, seeing its majestic beauty, with the wind in my hair and a delighted smile on my face.

So when Legends Vespa Bike Tours asked Ibiza Spotlight to come for a 4 hour excursion on an immaculately restored vintage scooter, the answer was a resounding yes!

Located on the main road heading from Ibiza to San Antonio on the right, just after the huge Gros Mercat (thats wholesalers to you and me) its easy to find. You cannot park directly outside the garage, but there are two large car-parks nearby, either by the wholesalers or outside the Eroski supermarket a bit further up across the road.

I arrived for our tour at 4pm, excited to meet my vintage scooter. Owner and passionate creator of Legends Vespa Tours, Carlos, after extending a warm welcome, unveiled our authentic 1960s chariots with a grin. One word. WOW!!!

Gleaming chrome, polished mirrors, immaculate paintwork. The best, classic helmets. Soft, padded leather seats. Engines purring like kittens. I put on my ray-bans feeling like an extra from Quadrophenia, (without a doubt one of the coolest films ever). I remember wishing for a scooter back in the 1970s. In a flash of gratitude, I realized that finally, my wish had been granted. I was, if only for a day, sat on one of the coolest classic scooters in the known universe, about to explore one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Now thats what im talking about! High-five, fairy godmother!

We set off in glorious sunshine and headed for Santa Agnes. The tour takes about 4 hours and uses only country roads, so there's hardly any traffic to deal with. Within 2 minutes, we were leaving any kind of urban scenery behind. Ibizas long, ancient, winding roads began to reveal her naked magnificence, the fields bursting with poppies and forget-me-nots stretching their long stems above the smaller but no less vibrant competitors. Kilometres of evergreen forest draping itself luxuriantly over the rolling Ibiza mountains.

Excerpt from:
Review: Legends Vespa Bike Tour, Ibiza - Ibiza Spotlight

This summer sees Space's flagship extended hours party, 'We Love... continue its organic ascension to the top-most tier of island clubbing. Beginning at 7pm and occupying all rooms - whether in-house or via promoter hosting - We Love aims to cultivate a festival-like atmosphere that caters to a broad spectrum of musical tastes. Although each weekly line-up remains extensive it can be a challenge to maintain a certain level of hysteriawhat withresidents playingregularly and production detailing beingkept at a relative minimum.

On this occasionthe status quo of the locale had been reversed. Usually it is the expansive Discoteca that hosts the more notable or widely known artists:this time Voorn, Deetron, Zabiela and Kolsch were billed for Pulse Radio's Terraza whilst Pearson Sound, Technasia and Marco Bailey amongst others found themselves attached to the yawninghall.

In the main room one third of the acclaimed Hessle Audio trio Pearson Sound - aka David Kennedy - sat back to back with We Love resident Paul Woolford. Considering Woolford acted as an inspiration and sounding board for Kennedy as the younger artist took his first steps along the Ibizan road a tight-knit, perceptive partnership was expected - and the pair delivered. Chugging, unpredictable flows of blackened dub techno streamed over a crowd who weren't quite sure how to react - the night was young and yet the vibe was already uncompromising. Pangea's track Vidaductslotted into the grungy, Midlands-flavoured bass music that - spliced with subsonic techno, dubplate and jungle strands - made for a somewhatesoteric set.Formerly a duo, Frenchman Charles Siegling amicably split with his partner in 2010 to continue his 'culture defying' Technasia project. After the previous genre bending pair Siegling's sound brought some agreeable adherence to the 4/4 model - delivering a cumbrous, elastic sound with an industrial sheen.

As mentioned the two main rooms were very different heterogeneous beasts. In the Terraza: a lesson in wispy electronic romanticism from the towering Kolsch - whilst in the Discoteca: the dark space flickered with growling, inky sex. Island man of the moment Deetron took to the decks after Kolsch had concluded his live set. Although long pegged in the industries technocamp, of late the Swiss has made a conscious decision to instead embrace the classic, soulful sounds of middle-American electronica. Although the recurring motown vocals and warmer house tracks seemed a little soft for the occasion tracks such asSyrossian & Coutos House is Houseon Hot Creations ensured the crowd were eager to contribute a swaying cohort of raised hands. The baton was then passed to tech house prince Joris Voorn who - with subtle use of enhancing effects - molded the room into an increasingly energetic silhouette. Dexterous excursions into both new and classic tech tracks gave way to a change of pace as machine-driven whines and warped synth sidled into existence.

The dense, unfinchingambience remained in the Discoteca asEuropean stalwart Marco Bailey - utilising a four-deck setup complimented by a Pioneer RMX1000 effects unit - released a series of writhing techno wolves. Bailey has the peculiar ability to present hard material in an accessibly way: leaving just enough melody and vocals mired in the shredding kicks and percussion to engage the diverse room - and deliver boundless energy.

The shift in the usual We Love dynamic,with straight up techno edging its housier compatriots to the smaller stage was novel and refreshing. The prevailing atmosphere was a little more serious; the lights dimmed lower and the heads bowed more religiously. The island's premier Sunday party continues to reach new heights of success - and deservedly so: being able to presentsuch a diverse range of artists and tastes in a consistently interesting way within a single event is no mean feat.

Photography by James Chapman

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Review: We Love, 21st July - Ibiza Spotlight

On arriving at Pure Pacha last night I could tell before I got in the doors that this night continues to be a success. Every queue was packed, spilling out onto the street, at least a half hour-wait back. People were still clamouring to buy tickets on the door, keen to catch Hardwell, Chris Lake, John Dahlback and Dannic.

Once inside, I could see this clubbing Mecca had stayed true to its name... This gorgeous and glamorous venue is always visually impressive as it is, and as Saturdays are dedicated to embodying the open spirit, freedom and fun of the original Pacha, you can imagine they pull out all the stops to celebrate their global achievement and the sound that put them on the map. Silver streamers poured from the ceiling onto the packed dance floor and onto the male and female dancers in their sequin-frosted cat suits. A huge globe swung from the ceiling, a symbol of all the different musical and cultural influences mixing together over one night.

Chris Lakes set was fantastic, and a great way of warming everyone up for Hardwell himself. He played a great mix of other hits and his own tracks, including Sundown. The walking bass line in this song is perfect for Pachas sound system which really did it justice, and his track Ohh Shh, which he played towards the end of the set, had everyones feet off the floor and hands in the air.

As his set came to a close, the entire crowd began to chant The White Stripes Seven Nation Army. Ive heard this being chanted before the headliner a few times already this summer, and if anyone has any idea who started it I would love to know... There is nothing quite like hearing the whole of Pacha in its entirety singing this at the top of their lungs in anticipation.

A hooded Afrojack snaked through the unsuspecting crowd to announce that the moment these partiers had been waiting for was here - Hardwell was hitting the decks. Camera phones flashed in the dark like stars in an Ibiza night sky as he opened with his track Spacemanand the lights came up on the DJ booth. His set had a lot of theatre to it, full of suspense and delicious drops. Clearly Pacha was awarded the highest confetti budget this season, and the smoke cannons were also working overtime, making sure that they had every sense covered. Hardwell played samples of Swedish Houes Mafias Antidoteand Well Be Coming Backby Example and Calvin Harris, along with Armin van Buurens hit This is What it Feels Like.

Even with so much choice this summer, lots of new parties and a full calendar of competition, Pure Pacha is still going strong- we can expect this to be another summer Saturday nights and great music, glitter and a gorgeous clientele.

Photography by James Chapman

Continued here:
Review: Pure Pacha, 20th July - Ibiza Spotlight

On 22nd July, two teams of five amateur rowers will be setting off on a gruelling 200 mile extreme endurance ocean race across the Mediterranean from Barcelona to Ibiza.

Fewer than four hundred people have successfully rowed across an ocean, but the motivation for these ten novice rowers, known as the 'NOMEN" is profound; they are aiming to raise awareness about HPV - the carcinogen which causes 5% of cancer worldwide - and, in particular, its connection to men. This campaign highlights the fact that a gender-neutral virus requires a gender-neutral vaccine, and whilst it is known that men are equally prone to contracting HPV, at present only girls are vaccinated in the UK.

The race will also raise funds for the HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation's programs, and marks the third anniversary of the charity that Tristan Almada (one of the rowers) co-founded with his sisters when his mother passed away from HPV related anal cancer in 2010. More than just a physical test, the Med Row is a unique endurance experience, representing the struggle and isolation that can be experienced by cancer patientsespecially those with a challenging stigma attached.

Joining Tristan on Team Isabel (named after his mum) is Dan Zelezinski, Edward Knight, Alex Von Moll and Chris Wardropnone of whom have any rowing experience.

Team Danielle is named after Pierre Andurand's mother who is currently undergoing treatment for recurrent HPV related anal cancer. Again, with zero rowing experience, Pierre is joined by Pierre Lacaze, Andrew Toumazi and Mark Hunter. As an Olympic rowing gold medallist and world champion, Mark has been coaching both teams, but in spite of his rowing background, he has no experience in ocean rowing.

The race has the backup of a support team of professionals, who will be keeping an eye on the teams' welfare, steering them through busy shipping lanes, and ensuring that both boats comply with the race rules.

After 72 hours of constant rowing, the crews are expected to arrive in the Port of Ibiza on Thursday 25th July where they will be greeted by friends, family and supporters, so if you are in Ibiza, please do go along to join in the celebrations and show your support of this amazing feat of endurance and dedication.

Trackers on the boats will provide the exact time of arrival in Ibiza, and you can follow progress, send messages of encouragement to the rowers and make a donation via their website http://www.nomanisanisland.co.uk, Twitter @nomancampaign or Facebook.com/NoManCampaign.

Read the original here:
NoMan is an Island - Row to end HPV - Ibiza Spotlight

To everyones serious disappointment (especially those ticket holders desperately attempting to scale locked walls of the entrance) BOOOM! did not manage to open in time for last night.

KIDDING!! it totally opened. Its been a long and bumpy road to get to this point, but the Ibiza Town superclub which stands in the scaffolding that also held Penelope, later Heaven, has finally pulled it out of the bag in the best way possible.

Standing outside BOOOM! in the residential area along the marina, you could never guess that the biggest party on the island that night was going on a few metres away. To accommodatethe apartments surrounding the site, the robust sound system hadbeen perfectly insulatedand nary a party peep leakedout of the entrances double doors. Through these, however, we wereimmediately enveloped in this high roofed, mid-sized clubbing cave.

Upon entry we found ourselvesat the back-left of the club, with a bar to theright and some wide stairs leading down to the main dance floor before us. The floor was rectangular with the DJ booth only slightly raised above the crowd at the far end and another bar flanking the left side. There was the standard friends-of-the-DJarea behind the booth, whilst the paying VIP stretchedalong the right hand side of the dance floor in two raised tiers, dotted by hostesses siphoned into tight black corset tops.Yes, there is quite a lot of VIP space, and the view from there is great, but thanks to the layout this simply does not feel like a VIP heavy club. Thesection is not on show or invading the space of the main dance floor in any way; its a very good example, in fact, of how to combine the two clubbing experiences without treading on any standard-ticket toes.

The custom designed Pioneer sound system was also a popular topic of discussion in the countdown to BOOOM! opening and Im glad to report it performed beautifully. Speakers were set into various wall cavities around the club, with the main dance floor edged by some intimidatingly large and robotic speaker towers which not only produced the finest sound waves, but also looked as if they might at any point open up and emit the odd death ray or two, Transformer styles. We caught DJ and creator of BOOOM!s Thursday night Circus residency, Yousef, making the rounds, who impressed upon us how satisfied he was with the quality of sound - so thats a big tick for BOOOM! on the audio front.

Having mobilized quite early in order to observe the club filling up, we arrived during the beginning stages of Kaz James and Destructos back-to-back set, which was later to become so much more than a warm-up. For now, Monkey Safari Hi Life rang in the air and pale gobo spotlights scraped across an almost empty main floor. Other early-markers clustered themselves around the clubs edges, waiting passively for something or someone to shift them into fiesta gear. Ibiza workers can always be counted upon in these situations, and sure enough the energy of a group of young worker lads on the dance floor began to reel in the less bold, two by two.

Thinking back on their set, Kaz James and Destructo proved to beheroes of the night, smoothly traversing the incredibly varied musical terrain that the occasion demanded, with unwavering energy. Starting at the easy, melodic end with tracks like Hi Life and Claptones No Eyes, they later got deep and dancey, testing the new Pioneer with bassy numbers like Gorgon Citys Real and Duke Dumonts Streetwalker. Once the whole house was well and truly on the hop they plucked funky classics out from yesteryear, like the Motown hit Aint No Mountain High Enough, and as clubbers raved deeper into the morning Kaz and Destructo began to pull out savage electro bangers to satisfy the growing need to let loose and match the myriad of laser beams combing and cross-hatching the floor.

The energy that had been steadily escalating hit a wall some time after 3.30, as those who were hanging out for Avicii (set to play at 3) started to despair. But once again the musical chameleons Kaz and Destructo met the needs of their crowd and shifted skins, blasting out Prydas Allein which incitied vigorous clap-alongs and catapulted the atmosphere back up to the rafters. By the time Sebastian Ingrosso took over for a completely impromptu morning set there were few who would have had the night any other way -herocked the house.Avicii, it transpired, haddecided not to playand so dipped out on the club and his fans by going home. Such a shame he didnt stay to see howBOOOM!filled upand got along just fine without him.

See original here:
Review: Booom! Ibiza Opening Party 2013 - Ibiza Spotlight