Images: Phrank

You often hear the tragic tales of Monday, the most hated day of the working week, but in a magical vicinity like Ibiza, such a thing does not exist. At least not when techno veteran Sven Väth and his Cocoon team are at the helm of it, sending you tumbling down a warped rabbit hole at a rapid speed, not once pumping the brakes and showing you no sweet mercy of any kind.

It is not surprising that as you walk into Amnesia Ibiza on this ritual Monday night that both the club room and the terrace are slammed, packed with club-goers from all over the world. Most of the faces in the dark crowd are the long-time faithful acquired across Cocoon’s seventeen season run, while others step into the unknown after whispers around the island hinting that missing out on Sven Väth’s Cocoon is almost sacrilegious.

Cocoon’s legendary stature is largely thanks to its top of the line, beautifully curated weekly line-up that leave techno fans with their mouths watering. All season long, there is not one line-up that doesn’t feature some of the most noteworthy, respected players in the game. In this week’s edition, as expected, both dancefloors were brimming with high energy levels from the very beginning, until the final tracks played into Tuesday morning’s sunrise. Seth Troxler and Craig Richards opened up Amnesia’s infamous terrace with a special back-to-back set to send the party rolling into high gear, leading into a Ricardo Villalobos closing set that toyed with the crowd with mind-altering sounds and pumping basslines that had feet digging into the floor, but always leaving the hungry crowd unsure of what Villalobos’ next move was. One of the outstanding sets of the summer so far, he controlled the floor like a master puppeteer!

Over in the club room, Âme’s stand-out set left eyes wide, and jaws on the floor, reaching in deep and satisfying every inner craving that the club’s patrons might not have realised they even had. With a round of applause from the crowd and Papa Sven himself, Âme bowed out and left Sven Väth in the pilot seat, where the turbulence didn’t let up for the entire ride. Using and abusing the club’s sound system, and unveiling yet again that this kind of music is not for the faint of heart, Väth’s complete control of the room was unwavering from start to finish. Sven Väth did not have a single person at Amnesia who wasn’t eating out of the palm of his generous hand, showing exactly why he has had such a long, prosperous tenure in dance music.

As you’re walking out of Amnesia after a session with Cocoon, whether the moon is still out beaming or the sun is rising as you make your way home, there is one thing that is certain… you will leave Cocoon with reassurance that true, unadulterated underground music is still reigning as Ibiza’s thriving, signature sound, and it’s not going away any time soon. Thank God.