A friend, Nick, went to the after hours protest in Ibiza town yesterday evening and sent us this short account:

Basically, about 8pm an assorted ragbag of hardcore (ie ageing ;-}) clubbers, queens and hippies headed off from Vara de Rey chanting “Libertad”. (It took some time for a chant which could be agreed on to emerge.)

The crowd then traipsed round sitting down at various road junctions accompanied by the honking of car horns. This may have been seen as support although it was rush hour… The demo was also joined by a car with a stereo only slightly less powerful than Amnesia’s. This gave everybody an excuse to jump around and perhaps provide justification for the authorities’ actions.

The local police made a half-hearted attempt to clear people from the road. But the Guardia Civil didn’t show, at least while I was there. And that was it really.

According to this mornings Diario de Ibiza - there were roughly a maximum of 300 people…

Desperately bored on a flight to London, I actually started reading those bits at the back of the EasyJet in-flight magazine which offer information and recommendation about their various destinations (and which I suspect only the terminally uninterested ever read). I expected to learn stuff that will probably never be of any use to me, i.e., that Wagner composed Parsifal in the Grand Hotel in Palermo and that it takes half an hour to get from Orly airport to central Paris by train.

I didn’t expect the advice in the Palma entry which reads: “If you still have some energy to burn after leaving Palma’s clubs at 6am, why not hop on the fast ferry at 8am to the neighbouring isle of Ibiza? You can then take a short taxi ride and experience one of the world’s best clubs, Space, open all day.”

Clearly news of the new after-hours restrictions hasn’t drifted as far as the ears of EasyJet correspondent David Anderson. More to the point, do you think news has drifted to the ears of the Ibicenco government that it was the glorious fun of daytime parties like Space, DC10 and Bora Bora that made Ibiza famous? And that for many visitors they were the whole point of a trip here?

Last month in Ibiza NOW we reported on the International Music Summit and the eternal strife that seems to exist between the established ’superclubs’ and the rest of the music and party organisers on the island. Since then DC 10 and
Kumharas have subsequently been shut down, so those in power would appear to have won. But have they…?

Reports are now beginning to filter through of alternative events that some at the conference predicted would occur. Their predictions anticipated a market that will develop over the summer involving 4 x 4 police chases into the depths of the campo.

It would appear that a rethink might be in order…

This report came in recently in response to concern expressed by foreign observers at the conference. They were worried that Ibiza’s previously tolerant and welcoming attitude to foreigners had been crushed. We felt this report worthy of
publication to illustrate the fact that the island’s spirit will not be crushed.

Interestingly, the majority of the participants were residents and almost exclusively Spanish. The party clampdown is not being fought by Italians, or any other organised group of foreigners. These are the legislator’s own children… Is anyone
surprised?

The venue was in Ibiza Town, but to be honest from the outside you would never have guessed it was a club. It was only the two meat-heads standing outside a door that gave it away. We were charged 5 euros to get in and were then led down some stairs through a series of blankets which were doubling up as makeshift soundproofing. Very old-school.

The club was in a dark, musky basement and was already very busy with a predominantly young Spanish crowd even though it was not long past kicking out time at the big clubs.

The fug of marijuana smoke was as unmistakable as it was overpowering and people were openly taking drugs - well, I’m no chemist, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t sherbet dib-dab they were snorting off the tables that’s for sure. The walls were wet with condensation and a DJ was playing dark minimal house which suited the surroundings perfectly, but it wasn’t quite loud enough to dance to (they obviously didn’t trust the makeshift soundproofing).

There was a bar selling reasonably priced drinks and the crowd in there were smiley and relaxed - very relaxed actually. Basically the whole experience was as far away from the big clubs as you can get. These parties are obviously in their infancy and the low volume of the music did reduce the atmosphere to little more than an after-hours bar than a proper rave. But I could tell kids in there were getting off on the fact it was illegal, they seemed excited just being part of it. I’m sure that eventually they’ll get braver and start turning the sound up which will give it the atmosphere the punters were looking for.

I didn’t stick around for very long - it was just my curiosity that had taken me there in the first place - but I’m sure that more and more of these parties are going to start popping up around the island. And maybe the music might get so loud that the politicians might even start hearing it.

Please don’t ask where this venue is…

The Diario this morning reported that the Island council is going to propose that the all the clubs will have to close at 6am (as normal) but not open until 4.30pm - (which basically only affects DC10 & Space). However they’ve said that the boroughs can allow the clubs extensions/exemptions if its between May 25th & June 5th and 1st - 15th October. This is obviously trying to get the clubs to extend their season…

What is strange is that there a couple of music bars who are openly advertising that they are “after hours” - ie they open at 7am…

Josep Mari Ribas

At a meeting last night San Jose passed the legislation to ban after hours from 6am to 12 noon. They dismissed arguments by the clubs and although 8 P.P. councillers abstained the laws were passed and fines set to a maximum of 600,000 euros for “serious” offences. The major, Josep Mari Ribas also said that the rules were designed to be the same as neighbouring San Antonio but there could be small adjustments if needed by the council and that it would allow [clubs] to apply for exceptions for certain days. We guess Space for example could apply to open all day for New Years day…

The festive season is a distant memory now for those embroiled in the business of a long cold winter north of the Alps. So now attention turns to that glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel - summer holidays.

T.V. advertising is now awash with waves lapping beaches decorated with bikini clad revellers frolicking in the sun. The time has come to book a summer holiday, and the tourist boards from resorts all around the Med are setting out their promotional stalls. It is also the time of year when news gets a bit thin on the ground. Journalists have to dig a little deeper into their resources, or imagination, to come up with something that the ‘editor’ might find print worthy.

So, neatly combining these two facts, the international press have once again seized upon the imminent demise of Ibiza as a holiday destination with headlines like “The Party’s over”. The logic behind writing off Ibiza this year stems from the decision of San Jose municipality to fall into line with the rest of the island’s municipalities by insisting that its clubs close at 6 in the morning.

This has been the case for some time for the rest of the island and for all but one of the big clubs – Space.
The only other notable venue affected will be DC10, but that has more or less revolved around a dozen or so Monday mornings each summer. Consequently it seems a little odd to vilify, for alleged noise nuisance, a venue in the middle of a field on the far side of the airport runway.

The consensus of opinion, amongst the majority of those who should know, is that the negative effect on island tourism is unlikely to be huge. As regards Space, it has capitalized upon being voted the ‘best night club on the planet’ by prudently investing and expanding to cater for the various ‘Carry-on’ parties and other events that have enabled it to stay open almost around the clock. Their business will be affected, as will the livelihoods of their daytime promoters fighting for slots in the most exclusive clubbing market in the world, but don’t expect Space to file for bankruptcy any time soon…

Turning to the thousands of clubbers who’ll change their holiday plans if they’re not allowed to party between 6 in the morning and lunchtime - most of us probably won’t notice their absence. In actual fact, they’ll be struggling to find anywhere else in Europe offering ‘after-hours’ parties, so they might as well pass those morning hours waiting for the clubs to re-open at one of the islands’ hundred plus beaches for a change?

If, however, the island authorities’ assertion that the people who attend after-hours parties are undesirables and cause problems, what are their contingency plans if these people still turn up?

They won’t be confined to two easily controlled clubs in the southern corner of the island - they’ll be everywhere else… One does wonder what constructive observations were put forward by the islands’ police, to proposals that will likely see them running around the island breaking up illegal hill and beach parties when they’re already understaffed and struggling to keep on top of petty crime. The ambulance authorities certainly aren’t amused by the prospect of attending to drug casualties in homes spread across the island, rather than at one or two clubs with security and medical officers in house. All in all it promises to be another interesting summer on Ibiza.

Expect to see further growth in the burgeoning private villa party sector, which the police have no power to stop…

(This article appears in February’s Ibiza Now Magazine - tomorrow…)

Just because we like it we’re putting this piccy up:

UPDATE 14/01/08: Since that Independent article by a writer in Barcelona erroneously quoted the “ban” times by San Jose council, hundreds of websites and message boards have been quoting it - its not 6am to 10am - its 6am to 12 noon and in reality only affects DC10 & Space - and even then numbers during those times are minimal considering the numbers overall. This is an edict from Madrid, part of the national governments plans for the whole of Spain.

The first meeting of the new Music Council of Ibiza took place yesterday in the Consell. The committee has been formed to promote music and nightlife in Ibiza to the rest of the world. One initial concern is that they have performed a u-turn on the fact that in the Tourism Marketing plan “No public funds should be earmarked for specfic promotiona actvities of this segment [nightclubs]“.

According to the chairman of the council, Xico Tarres, “this is not a contradiction because it is a change and evolution since all things are subject to change.” “We want Eivissa to remain number one of the world in terms of music, which can not continue without being aware of what can happen because we treat it badly.”
(translated)

Tarrés added “that the efforts will be reciprocal, as the clubs could agree to open earlier and later in the season for at least a year “to see if it is possible to lengthen the season.”

Unsurpringly The President of the Federation of Spanish nightclubs Pere Vidal, said he was “very satisfied” after the meeting. However one island musician tried unsuccesfully to attend the meeting and said that “musicians have not had any say over the years and everything indicates that the (council) will be a forum for nightclub owners, who are already rich and now will have a share of the money promoting tourism”.

The council though did state there will be further meetings with bars, promoters and resident musicians.

Maybe they’ve finally realised that all the negative press thats been generated over the course of 2007 has come back to bite them and they need to start sorting out their pr. department…