Cream at Amnesia, Ibiza

06.07.06

Having never been to Amnesia before, this was possibly the event we were looking forward to reviewing most in Ibiza this summer - the massive line up offered; Paul Van Dyke, Marco V and Shapeshifters, along with the promise of an amazing venue - it certainly sounded like this would be one of the top Ibiza events this season.

Cream and Amnesia certainly didn’t disappoint! On entering the club we were presented with a massive second room (bigger than many venues main rooms) featuring plants and trees towering over the arena, and to the right the main room. Visuals in the club were amazing, perfect lightshow and a massive electronic equaliser display in front of the main DJ booth. Cream logos spun elegantly on the ceiling, you knew you were in Ibiza and partying with the best! Acoustics in the venue were also good with speakers positioned around the room providing a nice bassy, but clean, sound all around. The ice cannon made this even more of a memorable evening - blasting cold smoke from above where the dancers performed filling the dance floor so you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.

As we arrived the master of all things trance, Paul Van Dyke, began his set. Interestingly he played a set through his laptops which was a little disappointing. Also, his set seemed a little lack lustre with middle of the road tunes being played - however, when he dropped a massive tune the crowd went wild - maybe the contrast is what he was aiming for. Personally, I would have liked to hear a little more of his own material. I reviewed a Ferry Corsten set a couple of days later and he played a lot of material from his albums - surely this is what people come to see?! Has the world’s number one DJ become complacent?

Later we checked out the second room to see the Shapeshifters set. This is certainly something to check out - a nice funky/ progressive set which I would highly recommend to any fans of this genre of music.

The only real downside of the evening was the drinks prices which were shocking: 10 euros for a small bottle of beer and 8 euros for a "shot" of water - I appreciate that Ibiza club prices are steep but there’s no way anyone can justify such extortionate prices. But, if people pay I guess they’ll charge! I assume that the drinks pricing is regulated by Amnesia rather than Cream so this situation is most probably not under Cream’s control.

Overall, a fantastic night - the venue, the lights, the atmosphere and sound all get 10/10 - let’s just hope PVD was having a bad evening. I’ll check him out again at Global Gathering and let you know!

Photography was not permitted at the event.

Review by Monkey Boy