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DJ Mag Top100 Clubs
1
Space Ibiza
6

THE mythical, hypothetical status previously afforded to Space Ibiza as the "world's number one club" is now official. Okay, it may have topped this poll in 2007 as the DJ's choice, but this year - for the second time only - the poll has been decided by the people that really matter, you, the public, the bug-eyed children of rave who adorn rooms worldwide with gawkish grins, freaky dancing and rubber-legged stepping, without fail, every weekend.

This time you have spoken, voted in your thousands for the White Isle's pride and joy, the clubbing Mecca which anyone with a pulse would gnaw off their entire arm for a piece of during the Ibiza season. Not only for its opening and closing spectacles of epic proportion every year, but the consistent flow of on-point clubbing brands washing over the dance metropolis every season - We Love, Caf?le, The Revolution Continues, Kehakuma, BE - Space Ibiza is undoubtedly one of the most debonair clubbing institutions in the world.

And, while we are sure the guys at Space (in the nicest possible way) realise how brilliant they are (c'mon, with parties as good as this, how could they not?), we'd like to hear, from the horses mouth, just how it feels to be voted world's No.1 by the people that matter, the DJmag readers?

"It's an honour to be voted No.1 club," says Juan Arenas, creative director of Space Ibiza. "It comes as recognition for the staff, DJs, promoters and, of course, the best crowd in the world."

Indeed. While the nitrogen blasts, confetti explosions and theatrical face-painted performers on stilts make Space one of the most carefully engineered, pyrotechnically advanced clubs ever to exist, it is the rare affability of its crowd that makes the club so exceptional. Shiny faces in every room, unrivalled warmth and a lack of pretension borne out of a sense of privilege, a mutual cognition that the experience - that mutual feeling of liberation - is one to be savoured.

Since cropping up in 1989, the club has gone from strength-to-strength hinged on its ethos - as Juan puts it, of "the best acts, tech innovation and poly-sexual cultural magic". Space has managed to maintain the loyalty of its many followers even in the face of reduced numbers on the island in recent years. So, what's the secret to Space Ibiza's success? "Hard work, full dedication and love for the work we do," explains Juan. "Carrying the word 'Ibiza' as a surname helps, as does the amount of people involved. Not forgetting the energy that Pepe Rosello, owner and creator, transmits to us all."

Fresh from bringing Space's Ibiza spirit to festivals and clubs worldwide throughout 2010 - Sydney, Brazil, Miami and beyond - Space recently set up shop in Egypt's region of Sharm El Sheikh. Now in 2011, it eagerly awaits the start of the Ibiza season in May with Armin Van Buuren, Gareth Emery and Markus Schulz already on board for BE, and Carl Cox gearing up for the 10th anniversary of The Revolution at, what he calls, his "favourite club".

And, judging by the results of this year's poll, Carl's not the only one who feels like this. From the terracotta tiles of Sunset Terrace to the lunar world of The Terrace - the gargantuan main room to the intimacy of The Red Box or El Salon - Space Ibiza is a multi-dimensional maze, a bubbling cauldron of visceral energy. A hedonistic escape from everything negative, ugly or unpleasant in this world; complete immersion in booming sound, nebulous apparitions and explosions of light to be treasured, remembered and anticipated until next time. Space Ibiza does exactly what every club should do - and more.