Review: Sasha and John Digweed's first Ibiza b2b since 2009

4.30am and it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for – Sasha and John Digweed playing back-to-back in Ibiza. The light jockey cuts the strobe. Then the first beat drops. Visuals, music. And the Main Hanger comes alive. This is contemporary Sasha, contemporary Digweed – the warped vocal stabs and trance melodies we remember from back in the day replaced by a barrage of tough deep tech, a hypnotic, futuristic sound crafted for big room audiences.

Watching the iconic duo back together in the booth it’s impossible not to feel nostalgic. Twilo, Northern Exposure, Renaissance, even Communicate – an entire generation of clubbers were raised by the records these guys were making. We wonder how they feel, Sasha and John Digweed back together in the booth after all these years? It’s difficult to know for sure. Both artists are stony-faced, concentrating on the job in hand, clinically managing the next mix like specialist physicians hovering over their next incision.

“I’ve been waiting for this night for weeks, years, decades!” says Becky, 27, from London. “My boyfriend got me into Sasha and Digweed when we first met back in 2005. I love Northern Exposure and all of those old Twilo New York sets on SoundCloud. The fact that Sasha and Digweed are playing back-to-back here in Ibiza is like a dream. We booked our holiday specifically to see them play tonight.”

“That was epic,” nods Max, 25, from Turin, Italy. “Sasha and Digweed aren’t just legends in England; they’re massive in Italy as well. The music was a little harder than I was expecting. I thought they might play a few more vocal tunes in their set, but I’m not complaining. This is a big room, you have to respect that. And they were following Nicole Moudaber, who was really boshing it out!”

Obviously it’s still early days for Resistance in Ibiza, but it’s fair to say the initial signs are more than positive. The slick production values, customary at Ultra parties, tendered the event a genuine superclub feel without corrupting the raw, underground vibe of the venue. As for the sound, nothing on the island even comes close to competing with the Funktion-One system currently installed in the Main Room. The crowd was nowhere near as big as it was for Pure Carl Cox, but using Carl as a comparison in this regard is slightly unfair considering the history he has here on the island.

Indeed, pulling in a crowd of 5000 ravers on a busy Tuesday night in Ibiza isn’t anything to complain about – in fact, it’s a total triumph, especially considering this was Ultra’s first ever Resistance party in Ibiza. Nevertheless, we wonder if the event might have attracted even more bodies than it did. Last week, for instance, Carl’s team did a wonderful job promoting his party to the local workers crews here on the island. In the days leading up to the gig, a limited number of discounted wristbands were sold to the most influential kids in San Antonio, who packed out the venue before midnight. But for whatever reason the vast majority of those workers crews weren’t in attendance last Tuesday night. If team Resistance can find a way to price-in those young ravers, Privilege might just have another season-defining party on its hands.

Johnny Lee is Mixmag's Ibiza correspondent

Resistance is on at Privilege until September 12. Line-ups and tickets here