Club review: CircoLoco Ibiza opening party @DC10

CircoLoco returned to Ibiza to kick off its 2012 season in style, with the highly anticipated CircoLoco opening party at DC10. Skiddle went along for the ride.

Jayne Robinson

Date published: 12th Jun 2012

The much anticipated return of CircoLoco to its home on the island did not disappoint, as one of the most respected clubs brands the world over began a fresh season of parties with a bang. If the opening is anything to go, by you are in for one hell of a season!

Personally I love the DC10 venue, which is comprised of three large arenas. You enter into the garden with the stage on your right. A change from last year’s opening, this freed up additional room for clubbers under the Balearic sunshine. Heading inside, the dark main room and terrace appeared similar to last season. I couldn’t wait to experience the bass heavy system installed on the terrace that I think defines the sound of CircoLoco.

The line-up was comprised of a carefully selected mixture of DC10 legends (Tania Vulcano, Timo Maas and Clive Henry to name a few) boosted by a selection of DC10 favourites (Davide Squillace, DJ W!LD and Matthias Tanzmann) and even the inclusion of rising star Laura Jones as she made her debut at the venue.

Ben Klock returned to DC10 after making an impression with his first appearance at the closing last year to bring a slice of Berghain techno to the table.

Noticeable was the exclusion of the Hot Natured and Crosstown Rebel contingent. Not to worry though, as fans of these will be able to catch them throughout the season as they host their own night at DC10 in a new slot on Thursdays.

Kerri Chandler got things moving early on, with a rendition of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ booming out across the garden in a fitting tribute to the recently deceased legend. The track was subsequently repeated later on by Dan Ghenacia as part of the back to back session by Apollonia - a whole lot of loving being shown! After a quick look around the venue we settled in down the front of the terrace for Mattin Buttritch’s epic set in which he set the standard for the rest of the day very high by dropping an amazing remix of ‘Yooj – Mademoiselle’, combining the haunting French vocals over the classic bass driven techno DC10 is famed for. As Buttrich’s set came to a close DC10 legend Timo Maas stepped up on the terrace to keep the party going (listen to his set here). I loved Timo Maas’ enthusiasm for the event, building towards the beginning of his set and moving on to dropping some peak time stompers towards the end.

Next up on the terrace was DJ W!ld - and this is where the dreaded “fear of missing out” (FOMO) set in as there was an overlap between Laura Jones in the main room, DJ W!ld on the terrace and Apollonia – all of which I was more than keen to check out.

We managed to filter between the three and enjoyed them all, finding ourselves finishing with the French trio of Dan Ghenacia, Shonky and Dyed Soundorom going back to back as Apollonia. They were dropping house tracks left right and centre and definitely one of my highlights of the day was Apollonia’s slice of Parisian house out in the garden with Dan Ghenacia & Shonky with ‘Close to the Edge’ being a particularly memorable tune being dropped a little later on.

Next up was time for the legendary ladies of DC10 to step up, with Tania Vulcano rocking the garden and Ellen Allien on the terrace with a fine showcase of the Berlin based Bpitch label. After seeing her five or six times now I can promise you she never fails to disappoint!

Leading on from Tania, Davide Squillace stepped up to be joined on stage by a surprise visit from Dubfire as things were taken to the next level by the Italian in one of my favourite sets of the day. His unique style of driving techno whipped the crowd up into a frenzy and it was to great disappointment when he had to call it a day around 2am. Fear not though, this did not mark the end of the party as everyone headed inside to catch Matthias Tanzamann on the terrace or Ben Klock taking down the main room.

After catching the beginning of their sets I decided to call it a day as I was fully techno’d out! Although the event was scheduled to finish at 5am I heard rumour the terrace was still in full swing at around 10 am the following day, I can only imagine the carnage going on at that late stage of the day.

Out of the three openings I have done now this one somehow managed to improve on the previous years. Hats off once again to CircoLoco and the team down at DC10. See you again throughout the season.