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Cocoon is synonymous with institution. Its Monday night sessions at Amnesia are a White Isle establishment and the foundation for techno on the island, having started 15 years ago. The boss, Sven Vath, is a DJing institution himself – with only a select few true musical contemporaries. With Amnesia as the perfect stomping ground, Sven and Cocoon were poised to mark the end of their 15th season in a long wild session of hedonism and collective joy.
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Entering the Terrace at around 2am, the atmosphere was decidedly different to previous recent visits to the club. The darkness and the large crowd in the Terrace lent a certain natural intensity to the party, but it was also a loose and joyous affair, devoid of the kind of pervasive tension that can be caused by overcrowding. The place was packed, but carefree attitudes filled the cavernous space.
Henrik Schwarz was laying down his high octane live set in the absence of the special guest, who was not given permission to perform by his club, according to signs plastered on the doors to the Amnesia entrance. Although the novelty and brief excitement that the words ‘special guest’ may bring were lost, it wasn’t to the detriment of the party in any significant way. Bumped up the bill to warm-up for Papa Sven in front of the rammed Terrace crowd, Schwarz blasted through his set with burning intensity.
Schwarz is a joy to watch, channelling all his physical energy into his set-up and coaxing out thunderous kick drums, frantic percussion and snapshots of sultry vocals. Each nuance grabbing attention and keeping us on our toes as disorientating strobe lights flashed amongst the cold blue hue.
There was no filler – just a compelling amalgam of cuts primed for the dance floor. It was a bold set from the Innervisions associate, strongly executed and leaving the Terrace suitably warmed up for Sven’s introduction.
Sven’s sets stand out as he leads by example and pours his passion and enjoyment into his work. He wants you to dance, he wants you to have the time of your life and genuinely wants to instil a pure party spirit in every one of us. The journey is always one which will never become tiresome as he roots around his record bags, deciding what piece of wax is going to hit the turntable platter next, smiling and showing the cheeky signs that he parties just like the rest of us.
Schwarz had left the energy of the room high for Sven, who followed suit with a volley of fast-paced, jacking sounds to keep the bodies moving. Euphoria is closely associated with the German’s sets, and it wouldn’t be Sven Vath without huge progressive and cinematic techno cuts flowing out of the sound system.
Sven combined euphoric trance-like breakdowns with hard rapid percussive techno and some instantly recognisable summer hits that we’ve all heard and we all love, such as Alan Fitzpatrick’s remix of ‘I Want You’ by Trus’me and DJ Koze’s remix of Moderat’s ‘Bad Kingdom’.
There’s never a dull moment with Papa Sven. Each track selection has something special about it to latch onto. Playing heavy and warped techno tracks and appealing to the masses is no mean feat, yet Sven Vath does it seamlessly. The vibe of the room was second to none as dark techno punched out of the speakers – Recondite’s eerie ‘DRGN2’ and Alan Fitzpatrick’s colossal ‘Truant’ particularly spring to mind.
As ever with Cocoon, and Sven on the Terrace, the longer you stay, the more party will reward you. There will always be a point after you’ve been dancing for eight hours when thoughts that you’ve had enough start to creep up on you, but fighting through it is always the answer.
As time went on we were awarded with little extra pockets of space on the floor, and by the early morning as the sunlight began streaming into the club, Sven brought the vibe down to a steady chug of house beats. In complete control of the crowd he remained on this tip, keeping us engaged yet almost disengaged at the same time before eventually mixing in a jacking cut at just the right time – automatically raising a sea of hands to the sky as if he were the master of a thousand puppets.
10am called and it was breezy, easy and relaxed as the throng continued to dance, all smiles, before the final trio of tracks. The first of which was the anthemic ‘Epikur’ by David August, he then hit us with a widescreen array of synths, finally completing the set with something out of leftfield – a bizarre, glitched-out tune from South African producer Nozinja, dubbed "Tsekeleke" – Sven Vath is never boring.
No Traktor, no effects, no memory sticks, no CDJs – just a genius with two turntables, a mixer and a heap of outstanding records. Despite seeing Sven play on numerous occasions this summer, I was frankly left flabbergasted by his performance. That says it all.
Listen to Cocoon at Amnesia Ibiza on Pulse Radio.
