The premise was simple, and one David Vincent, the club’s founder, wanted to realise for many years – to transplant the spiritual ethos of Sankeys Manchester to Ibiza. Taking on such a huge challenge exemplified not just the forward-thinking nature of David and his ceaseless drive to improve the Sankeys brand globally, and in coming to the world’s most iconic party epicentre he took on and successfully pulled off a spectacular first season in 2011.
In achieving one of his longest-held ambitions, David brought the globally famed club from the United Kingdom to the White Isle to great acclaim. And as the island’s newest new club quickly became the in-vogue epicentre of the underground, winning plaudits and fans for its focus on stellar names in the intimacy of the club, it was evident that the bastion of the underground had done it again.
Bringing in a peerless sound and light system for a venue of its size, and recreating the iconic Basement, Spektrum and Boutique rooms – as well as an outdoor terrace – was a masterstroke, embodying the club’s foundations in Playa d’en Bossa.
As the club continued to grow, its reputation spread across the island. Tribes started developing at weekly club nights like Monza and Carnival, as island and workers congregated at the club as they had space to dance instead of the packed more successful clubs which workers tried to avoid during tourist season. This helped to give Sankeys its cool underground credibility.
Speaking of that first season, David says, “Our first summer was an absolute rollercoaster,” he explains. “I think that I made every mistake possible running a night club in Ibiza! If there’s a handbook on what not to do, I followed it. There’s no-one to show you what to do, you just have to try and see what happens. But luckily, despite all of the problems, we got through it. I can’t deny there were some tense moments, especially building up to the grand opening weekend when it was all hands on deck and everyone was flat out right until the first people came in.”
“No-one really realised that behind the scenes it was chaos, with the sound system literally being tuned as people were queuing up and the paint was still drying. But we quickly proved we had got what it took to make a success of a brand new Sankeys on the island, and as the season progressed our parties got bigger and better. It was an amazing and insightful summer for me, personally, because I learnt so much and for me that was vital in understanding not only what we had achieved in 2011, but how big the potential was for the following years.”
“By the time we were coming to the end, the closing parties were some of the best I have been involved in, and we knew as the season climaxed that we had created something truly special, and brought something new to Ibiza. The feedback from DJs and clubbers from all over the world was phenomenal.”
