10 ways Ibiza will change in 2017

Ibiza is busy. According to Balearic statistics specialist Ibestat, tourist numbers are up 11 per cent from last year. Hotels are doing a roaring trade and Ibiza airport's tally for August hit 1,390,009 passengers – a 6.9 per cent increase on the same month in 2015. White Isle adventures are still a top priority for many when the summer rolls round.

Good news indeed, but the scene on Ibiza's dancefloors has reached a crucial point as a number of sonic, social and cultural trends have converged. Space has closed for good, making way for Hï Ibiza, Pacha is up for sale and the island’s customer base is broadening, meaning there's a VIP EDM party for every on-point, tech-house all nighter. Many have misinterpreted this as an identity crisis, but in reality the island is simply going through an intense period of change, which promises to make this summer one of the most intriguing – and popular – on record.

With all that in mind, here are 10 things to expect from the 2017 season.

The biggest trend of Ibiza 2016 was the generalised shift towards outdoor daytime clubbing, as Ibiza Rocks boss Andy McKay explains: “I feel the island is probably going through shrinkage in the post-midnight clubs area. The entertainment economy continues to shift towards the day, with the pre-midnight Ushuaïa, Ibiza Rocks slot and the pool party afternoons and beach clubs becoming more popular.”

With more outdoor daytime pool party venues on the island than ever before, expect venues like Ushuaïa, Destino, Ibiza Rocks, Hard Rock and Ocean Beach to become even more popular in 2017, as more and more clubbers opt to party alfresco.

The continuing decimation of the post-midnight clubbing scene in San Antonio was another significant theme of Ibiza 2016. The gradual decline in popularity of San Antonio’s traditional superclub venues, Eden and Es Paradis, was hastened by the opening of Sankeys and Ushuaïa in Playa d’en Bossa back in 2011. Overnight, clubbers had two far cooler clubbing options to choose from and the two least popular venues on the island suffered most of all. To compensate, Eden and Es Paradis are now restructuring their business models, offering free entry and cut price drinks on selected nights. But will it be enough?

The festival scene in Croatia is booming, especially with ravers under the age of 25. In Ibiza, club politics and festivals don’t mix, which puts the island at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to offering festival-styled product packages to its customers. Cue the rise of the conceptual theme party, which incorporates many of the elements that make dance music festivals so appealing. Take elrow at Space, for instance, arguably the biggest success story of Ibiza 2016. The event itself is unique, with multiple stages and different interactive areas and zones to explore. Expect more abstract-style parties to surface in 2017, as Ibiza attempts to condense the magic of a weekend festival into an eight-hour timeslot.

Expect parties like WooMoon at Cova Santa and Cosmic Pineapple at Pikes, which incorporate elements of underground music, live music, craft, community and meditation, to become more popular in 2017, as the global physical and spiritual health awakening gathers pace.

“Dance culture has always had a tribal subculture,” Josh Wink explains. “Even when you talk about the primal days of music, there was always an aspect of community involved. Today, people are becoming more conscious of world issues and they want to share in something that is more than just this façade of going out and getting drunk and getting laid. I think a lot of people want to go deeper."

“Parties likes Cosmic Pineapple are bringing back the mystical idea of what Ibiza really is,” adds Carl Craig. “I think it has been lost over the last decade. People are tuning their bodies, but they are gonna have to come back and tune their minds. Cosmic Pineapple is a place where people's spirits and minds can be tuned. It will be interesting to see if the whole Las Vegas thing remains separate from this new movement.”

“This summer [2016], we’ve seen a power shift away from the venue towards the promoter,” says Ibiza Rocks chief Andy McKay. “The situation is entirely healthy, because it’s the promoter who will reinvent the scene, not the venue. For years, the nightclubs have been going straight to the talent and cutting out the promoter. This year the promoter is back. Speaking as a venue owner now, we are quite rightly losing power. What we have to do is give the power back to creative, inspirational promoters and let them discover the future for us.”

Interestingly, the busiest parties on the island this summer – elrow at Space, Music-On at Amnesia, Glitterbox at Space, Craig David’s TS5 Pool Party at Ibiza Rocks, and WooMoon at Cova Santa – are all promoter-led parties and not in-house events.

Elements of gastronomy, dance and art are fast becoming an integral part of Ibiza’s clubbing landscape. One of the best examples of this contemporary fusion of fine dining and underground music can be seen at Heart Ibiza, where Spain’s leading celebrity chef Ferràn Adrià, and Guy Laliberté, the founder of theatrical entertainments company Cirque du Soleil, share the limelight with top DJs like Sven Väth and alternative composers such as Nils Frahm. Richie Hawtin’s affection for sake is another example of a promoter aligning your taste buds with the vibe on the dancefloor. Anticipate more chef and DJ collaborations in 2017, as promoters and venues alike make every effort to nail the concept.

On the street, the closure of Space was the biggest talking point of 2016. Dance music purists view the move as another kick in the teeth for counterculture Ibiza and the symbolic incarnation of its mainstream alter ego, which openly supports EDM, VIP and selfie culture. Leaving nostalgia aside for a moment, it will be interesting to see how the underground reacts to the loss of Space. Culturally, it’s a situation that could persuade an army of underground fanatics to abandon brand Ibiza on mass, causing a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy that indirectly causes the scene to regress back to a time when the island was regarded more as a party isle rather than a music isle. Either that or…

As Ibiza’s daytime pool parties continue to grow in popularity, the island’s most iconic venues could begin to lower their entrance prices on selected nights (although we don’t expect this to happen on the scale currently being seen in San Antonio). You may even see the more expensive EDM acts gravitating towards the busier daytime slots, leaving the underground to dominate afterdark. Musically, promoters won’t feel the need to pitch their rosters to dilettante dancefloor day-trippers and Ibiza’s underground scene will become more experimental.

We spoke about the dangers of banning PRs from the streets of San Antonio last May, explaining that the ban could persuade young industry hopefuls to take their energy and ideas elsewhere. As it turns out, the PR ban hasn’t been widely enforced. As a result the practice is now unlicensed and the PRs working the streets are doing so illegally. It’s a weird situation that doesn’t appear to be benefiting anyone. Hopefully the ban will be lifted over the wintertime and San Antonio can get back to doing what it does best, which is nurturing hundreds of young dance music afficiados who are eager to cut themselves a foothold within the scene.

Space won’t be around this season, but Pepe Rosello’s award-winning clubland brand will continue to hog the headlines in 2017. The focus of attention will shift from Playa d’en Bossa to the Reco des Sol Hotel in San Antonio, which, barring any legislative hiccups, is set to become Space’s new home. According to the rumourmill, the existing hotel complex, which overlooks Es Pouet Beach, will be refurbished and a new brand new Discoteca-styled dancehall constructed next door. If everything goes to plan, Space Hotel and Club will open in 2018, affording San Antonio’s flagging nighttime party scene a huge boost and lessening the burden on the Playa d'en Bossa-bound Discobus.

Johnny Lee is Mixmag's Ibiza correspondent

Eliot Wyat is a freelance illustrator. Check his website here

This article was originally published in September 2016

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