It was all smiles at Space for the club’s 24th birthday celebration. From the staff in their yellow smiley faced t-shirts, to the always fun and overwhelmingly sized smiley face inflatables adorning the tops of the main dance floors, comforting smiles accompany clubbers throughout the We Love… journey, ensuring everyone has that extra dose of happiness in their back pocket. Appropriately 24 DJs were selected to kick of the birthday celebration, beginning every week at 7pm sharp on the Sunset Terrace, and Pulse Radio’s Shea Hausen was on hand to check out all the action.
Expert graphic designers turned t-shirt design engineers Wasted Heroes hosted the Sunset Terrace this week, handing out slick tees to a lucky few. Colour Series label owner Jem Haynes and friend Jason Bye warmed things up for crowd favorites Jaymo & Andy George, who have been churning out hit after hit on there record label Moda Black, which has also seen releases from the likes of Hot Since 82 and Huxley.
Early on, the covered terrace, hosted by Pulse Radio, was the place to be, with French native and Cadenza favorite Technasia warming things up with his stomping, momentum heavy brand of techno. From the raised platform in the middle of the terrace to each and every corner of the room, bodies were packing in for an evening of feel-good, bass heavy house music that had the crowd erupting with applause and screams, ready for anything the 24-year-old club could throw their way. Joined by friends, Technasia could even be seen tossing his hands up to the music, pumping the crowd up just a bit more. Clearly everyone was up for helping to celebrate the big date.
Joris Voorn took the reigns just after Technasia, giving us a huge opening track that sent chills down the spine of just about everyone in the room. After an almost endless build, the track finally landed to frantic roars from the crowd. Joris was now fully in control. With hardly a moment to catch your breath, Voorn kept the energy squarely in his corner, with his pumping and jumping brand of tech house rocking the crowd. Dropping classic tracks such as Joris’ own ‘The Secret,' moving into a more melodic feel towards the end of his set with his remix of Marc Romboy and Stephan Bodzin’s ‘Callisto,’ we got to see all sides of Joris Voorn, taking us on a journey that spanned more than a few of his known styles. Pepe Rosello, owner of Space, even stepped in for a quick hug and a picture with the Dutchman himself.
The man seemingly born in a Hawaiian shirt, Fatboy Slim, was set to take the stage in the main room at 2am. An immediate shift within the club was obvious, as people scrambled from every one of Space’s many rooms to secure their spot in the main room. The legendary jock opened with a massive countdown, leading us right into his jam with Riva Starr, ‘Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat,’ followed by a hard-hitting electro set that had the crowd jumping and throwing themselves as high into the air as possible. He burst onto the Discoteca stage with remixes of tracks like Groove Armada’s classic ‘I See You Baby (Shaken That Ass),’ to edits of newer tracks such as the unstoppable Disclosure’s new smash, ‘White Noise,’ and Gary Beck’s slamming ‘Get Down.’
He kept the crowd at full tilt an full hour and a half, expertly mixing massive tunes as only one of the world’s favorite jocks can. Always a showman, Fatboy Slim, aka Norman Cook, brought an air horn to wail on along with his music, even jumping up on top of the decks and singing along as a sensory overload of lasers, confetti blasts, C02 guns and We Love… smiley-faced balloons bounced around the crowd.
The always-dapper 2ManyDJs popped onto the decks just after Fatboy finished up. Using the energy Fatboy Slim had created, in classic form, the duo from Belgium expertly mixed their way through a plethora of genres, heading into techno territory with the timeless ‘Plastic Dreams’ by Jaydee, to trance-esque fields with tracks like Oasis’ ‘Shoop,’ over to ultra cool and funky disco beats like Hamilton Bohannon’s ‘Let's Start The Dance.’ In true 2manyDJs fashion, the duo kept things jumping hard, putting their own twist on most every track, including edits like crowd favorite ‘Girls’ by the Beasty Boys. The two continued their set right up until 5am when the always fun Foamo took over, finishing the night in style, the crowd unwavering in their pure passion and elation for one of the world’s best club nights at one of the world’s best clubs, We Love… at Space Ibiza.
And as the sun slowly started to rise, the music finally tempered off, and the mass of faithful slowly sauntered out of the club, it hit us – Space is a wonderful 24 years old today, and after a night like this, it’s no surprise why it’s lasted this long. Happy birthday Space.