Privilege
Nightclub, San Antonio Road,
Ibiza Town, Ibiza
In 1978 the venue known as Club Rafael
was bought by three Basques. One of their number was the famous
footballed Jose Antonio Santamaria. They changed the name
of the club to Ku after the nighterie they already owned in
San Sebastian.
Throughout the 80s the soon-to-be legend
was born and suckled. In 1987 Queen's Freddie Mercury dueted
with rival diva opera singer Montserrat Caballe for a tv show
broadcast round the world.
In 1990 a roof was added, literally bringing
to a close an era of outdoor partying. In 1991 this roof collapsed
during a storm and after refurbishments and much speculation
it became Privilege. The arrival of Manumission in 1996 heralded
the modern age of imported promoters, guest artists and mass
club tourism.
Location
Half way between Ibiza and san Antonio
on the main road, near San Rafael. Tricky to miss, given its
massive height, girth and garish lighting.
Music
Policy
Like most venues in Ibiza it depends
on the promoter on the given night. The legendary Manumission
offered a much-mashed mish mash of rock, house, electro and
pop but moved to Amnesia in 2007 and has since ceased to exist.
If it's your first time in Privilege
you're highly likely to get lost. It's extremely easy to get
separated from your friends and not see them again till the
sun comes up. Don't worry tho, you'll make new ones.
Inside
Privilege
Upon entering the club you go down a
massive staircase. You are now bang in the middle of one of
the world's largest dancefloors. At its centre the dj is suspended
above a swimming pool . At the far end is a stage where girls
and boys dance around in varying stages of undress and a show
with a non-linear dramatic structure (i.e. it's confusing)
takes place.
Above this room is a large lattice dome
which supports the Privilege sign. To the left is a multi-level
terraced chill out area. Downstairs is a toilet complete with
dj booth. To the right (south) is the gayer-than-average Coco
Loco. In the far corner is the aforementioned Music Box. There's
a map on a sign out the front.
Meganite
Review
I said I'd never go back to Meganite
after the poor turnout the last time I went but as I was still
buzzing from the amazing nights I had at Cocoon and Carl Cox
on the Monday and Tuesday this year, I decided I had to go
to Privilige and it'd be busy surely as it was the birthday
party.
Arriving at the club at 1am there was already a massive queue
outside Privilege which was a good sign. A girl I was talking
to in the queue said she had been doing PR for Privilege this
season and Meganite had been pretty dead so far but she expected
a good turn out for the night. She was with 15 fellow workers
she was sharing a 2 bedroom apartment in PDB with.
There were groups of unhappy looking punters filtering past
us going back up the path to the exit and I was wondering
what was happening at the door. When we got to the door there
was this bouncer pointing at randoms in the queue and telling
them to go away - no explanation, nothing. The thing was,
no-one was acting drunk or shouting or anything like that!
I've never seen people get turned away like this in Ibiza.
The other bouncer was searching everyone, ID'ing girls and
every handbag was being searched for cameras. I thought I
wasn't going to get in but after looking through my cigarette
packet and finding nothing he let me through.
Finally we got into the main room and the 2 DJs MarkAntonio
& Joseph Capriati were on the decks.
They were playing a good set of upfront banging techno and
already Privilege was looking like it should do - busy! The
garden area to the left of the main room was closed all night
but I'd say there ended up about 3500 people in the main room
by the time it filled up.
There was a really good atmosphere in there that night which
was great because I wanted to show my friend Privilege rocking
after a near empty room at Monza!
The decoration this year was really good and they had these
cool 3D projection screens which changed colour whilst the
lasers ripped through the place - looked awesome!
Finally the best place in Privilege opened it's doors - The
Coco Loco room. This is a small side room to the right of
the DJ booth which has a massive window which looks onto Ibiza
Town when the sun starts to rise. The sound system and atmosphere
is immense in there, and you can look back through into the
main room through a large glass window.
Gabry Fasano and Claudio Coccolutu were playing when we went
in and then the excellent Dutch underground house DJ - 2000
and One came on and played a great set.
We stayed in there for a while before heading back into the
now rammed main room to catch a bit of Mauro Picotto's closing
set before heading back to San An.
Managed to talk an illegal taxi driver down to 20 Euro from
40, so not a bad deal - he had to take us home via the back
road past Pike's hotel as he said there was a Guardia checkpoint
in place on the main road.
So the verdict for Meganite this year was - mega! Still a
really good night to go to even if their numbers are down
a bit.
