With the Ibiza 2013 summer dance season now over, it’s time to reflect on what soared and what sucked on the world’s craziest party isle.

Winners

Ibiza Underground Hero 2013: Marco Carola

Solomun, Richie Hawtin, and Sven Vath had successful Balearic summers, but 2013 will be remembered as the year that Italian techno pioneer Marco Carola ruled the underground.

From July until late September, Carola’s Music-On events at Amnesia were rammed with international techno connoisseurs, with Carl Cox making a one-off appearance in late August.

But what was Carola’s secret? Well, he spent the summer dropping throbbing techno grooves rather than obsolete, industrial cuts.

If you want to catch Carola performing this winter, head to Marquee in New York, or head back to Ibiza in late December for a special Music-On New Years Eve party at Amnesia.

Ibiza EDM Hero 2013: Avicii

Some of the biggest crowds of the 2013 Ibiza season were found at Ushuaïa, with EDM pinup-boy Avicii wielding a USB-stick full of epic electro-styled tunes every Sunday afternoon.

While the young Swede’s mainstream, Americanised sound may not interest too many dance music purists, Avicii’s colossal production set-ups certainly caught the attention of a zillion first time ravers who have now been persuaded to take-up clubbing as a full-time hobby.

If you like your dance music infused with sunshine and costumed in designer beach wear, check-out Avicii’s theatrical EDM showpiece event next summer.

Reassuringly Retro: Pikes Hotel

A guesthouse to Freddie Mercury, Boy George and George Michael, Pikes Hotel was the place to be and be seen in the 1980s.

After a period of steady decline, the labyrinth-like finca was taken over by the Ibiza Rocks group in 2008.

Thankfully, the new owners have organised and augmented life at the old farmhouse without tearing into its liberal soul, which means the best ‘insiders’ parties in Ibiza can still be found beneath the tree line on the dusty hillside that borders San Antonio.

In 2013, big-name DJs like Yousef, Eats Everything, and 2manydjs all performed at Pikes, but in truth, the parties were always much larger than the artists who fuelled them.

September’s annual Freddie Mercury birthday party was particularly loose, and there’s still the scarily hedonistic Halloween Party to come on October 31st.

Pacha’s New Events Roster

Pacha completely revamped their events roster over the winter, with apex DJs like Tiesto, Luciano, and Pete Tong, as well as long running label nights Subliminal and Defected, all switching venues.

In their place, Pacha awarded in-house residencies to man of the moment Solomun, Israeli production genius Guy Gerber, and underground legends John Digweed and DJ Sneak.

As a result, the world’s most famous dance music venue felt more open and accessible in 2013, as Pacha’s legendary VIP crowds were enlarged by gangs of neon ravers and psychedelic Flower Power children of all ages.

We Love Yellow Acid Balls

Richie Hawtin and Carl Cox both attracted humongous crowds to Playa d’en Bossa over the course of the summer, but the atmosphere at We Love was more festive, as Ibiza workers and insiders mingled with over 6,000 visiting pilgrims beneath those famous yellow acid balls.

Fatboy Slim, James Zabiela, Disclosure, and Midland all dropped memorable sets in 2013, before the news broke that We Love promoters Mark and Sarah Broadbent were to retire.

Whether or not the gigantic, festival-sized We Love party has a future may depend on what happens to Space over the course of the off-season.

Sunsets at Café del Mar

After releasing a plethora of enlightening, downtempo mix CDs in the mid-90s, Café del Mar rightly gained a reputation for being the most famous sunset bar in the world.

However, the following decade wasn’t quite as sundrenched, as the San Antonio bar lost itself and its sound.

But this summer, with established DJs like Marco Carola, DJ Sneak, and Ferry Corsten, and underground newcomers such as Finnebassen, Adriatique, and Joseph Capriati all performing exclusive twilight sets on the shoreline, Café del Mar began recalling the glimmer of its own heritage.

The Ibiza Rocks Bar Chicken Pitta

A huge favourite with DJs, celebrities, island workers and transient clubbers, Ibiza Rocks’ Chicken Pitta has been designed for a health conscious, but party withered generation.

Without the colossal Rocks Bar Chicken Pitta, the island would have starved to a grinding halt in early July.

Losers 

Bomba, Booom! or Bust

In early May, a new clubbing venue located in Ibiza Town, called Bomba, was causing a storm of excitement across the island.

With Luciano, Yousef, and Simon Dunmore all fronting for the new project, expectations were unsurprisingly high.

However, anticipation quickly turned to disinterest as the venue repeatedly failed to open on time.

After a protracted period of legislative uncertainty, and with Bomba abruptly rebranding itself as Booom!, the venue finally opened in July, with Sebastian Ingrosso replacing an AWOL Avicii in the DJ booth.

Nevertheless, Booom! did rally support in August, with their Defected and Vagabundos nights both attracting large crowds to the intimate, 1,000 capacity venue.

With a full winter to complete the restoration project and an opportunity to attune a raging Pioneer soundsystem that sounds way too powerful for the venue, Booom! should be ready to compete with the big boys next summer.

Eden Isn’t Vegas

Another venue troubled by a late start to the season, San Antonio’s Eden nightclub was purchased by a group of Dutch entrepreneurs in May 2013.

Totally restored, the renovated venue looks and sounds absolutely fantastic, but Eden’s rearranged events roster failed to cut the mustard.

Desperate to promote itself as a Las Vegas-type establishment, Eden decided to drop some of their more commercial, UK-styled nights, such as Kisstory.

However, their decision to promote a plethora of international DJs that were boring English clubbing crowds years ago didn’t go down well with the educated San An masses.

But all is not lost: blessed with a stunning venue and thousands of educated clubbers on their doorstep, if Eden can get to grips with the musical demographics of the island, they might just be able to prevent a sizeable percentage of San Antonio’s rave trade migrating to Playa d’en Bossa in 2014.

Invasion of the Jelly Fish

In recent years, Spanish fishermen have been paid by the local authorities to pick-up jellyfish swimming close to shore.

This summer, however, these incentives have been stopped. Consequently, more swimmers have been stung by jellyfish this summer than in previous seasons.

Mission Impossible: Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum

Their mission: to smuggle 11kg of cocaine from Peru to Ibiza.

As we all know, Reid and Connolly failed to do this, after being stopped at customs by narcotics officials at Lima airport back in August.

They are now locked down in a Peruvian jail after pleading guilty and awating sentence.

Source : The Daily Mirror UK