SPACE IBIZA SOUTH AFRICA WITH ROGER SANCHES REVIEW
As a
music enthusiast it goes without saying that when you hear the word Space, you
immediately think of the infamous club brand in Ibiza. When we heard that the
Space Ibiza Club brand was to tour South Africa with three world acclaimed
artists Roger Sanchez, Camilo Franco and Danny Marquez we knew that it was an
event not to be missed.
The night
of 27 April 2013 saw the infamous Jozi club Nicci Beach have its parking lot
converted into a street style party experience boasting a 3D cube style DJ
booth set up, sick LED backdrops and of course state of the art lighting and
lasers.
The
event boasted three dance floors, however we went straight to main floor and
that’s where we stayed. Doors opened at 9pm and we arrived about 30 minutes
into opening DJ’s Pascal and Pearce’s set. These Cape Town boys do know how to
throw down a dirty progressive house set. They have an insane stage presence
and their energy combined with their track selection surely gets the crowd
singing and dancing anywhere, anytime.
Pascal
and Pearce definitely opened the dance floor and by the time the first of the
internationals Space Ibiza resident Camilo Franco took to the decks the crowd
was already quite pumped up. We had never heard of this Spanish music maestro
and well much to our delight it was an absolute pleasure listening to him do
his thing on the decks. Much of his set was tech house and led to plenty of
hand in the air movements and we as well the rest of our fellow partygoers did
not stop moving to the smooth, vibey sounds.
Camilo
set the stage for headliner Grammy Award winning producer, remixer and DJ Roger
Sanchez. Roger Sanchez is no unknown in the South African music scene and
naturally the crowd was eager to get down to his house sound. Roger played a
variety of styles of house music and we loved the fact that he incorporated
many old school house tracks. Although in edits or updated forms (remixes,
mashups, reworks), partygoers lapped up each and every track by singing,
dancing screaming and throwing their hands in the air. This gave his set a
unique dimension and a soulful energy, which we absolutely loved.
Roger
left the booth to another Space resident DJ Danny Marquez to close. By this
time the outside temperature had dropped and a large number of people had left
but the floor did not empty. Danny played more a progressive, electronic house
set that consisted of quite a few current chart-topping tracks. Naturally the
crowd that remained loved this and continued to dance, sing and
enthusiastically party on right till the very end.
We
didn’t stop moving for a single second and the aftermath of that for us and
surely many others is clear in the sore feet and hangovers of epic proportions.
On the bright side it also leaves us with a truly memorable experience of the
Space Ibiza way of partying, which we won’t forget for days to come.
Kudos
to Samsung, GnG productions and of course Space Ibiza for bringing this tour to
South African shores.