Paradise Lost At Eden Ibiza.
With news that two parties at Eden Ibiza have been cancelled, rumours are intensifying surrounding the future of the sunset venues’ premier club. This week, the Trance event Shine, which hosted DJs such as Paul Van Dyk, John O’Callaghan, and Aly & Fila, announced on their social media pages that four events scheduled for Eden in September have been cancelled. A statement read, “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we regret to inform you that SHINE Ibiza will no longer be taking place at Club Eden this summer. We are, however, actively working on an exciting alternative event, scheduled for September 25th in Ibiza”.
The cancellation of Shine follows another casualty at the Dutch-owned club, after One More Time, with headliners Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, and Seb Fontaine, was abandoned in February. Both parties have the same promoter, and the news was met with sadness and disappointment by fans. Thankfully, the cancellations have more to do with club politics than they do with the popularity of the music. After the high-profile car crash of the short-lived Space Ibiza party at Eden last season, the club is staring into the abyss of oblivion. The decision by Defected to depart Eden in 2024 now appears to be a wise one.
During the infamous 16-year war between Pepe Rosello and the Matutes group over the ownership rights to the Space Ibiza brand, Eden surprisingly announced that it would host the party in 2024. The majority of the opinion in Ibiza suggested that the Space Ibiza brand was radioactive and that anybody touching it would get badly burned. When Eden announced that it would proceed with the party, an avalanche of legal correspondence, probably including “cease and desist” orders, most likely landed at its door, culminating in a Spanish Court ruling that confirmed the Matutes Group as the rightful owners of the brand. Only after the court case did Eden finally throw away the shovel that was digging its own grave. The costs associated with that legal wrangle, as well as the lowering of the lifeboats by Defected, Shine, and One More Time, all point to an uncertain future at Eden.
Like Adam in the biblical version of the Garden of Eden, the club had taken a bite from the forbidden fruit by hosting the litigous and cursed Space Ibiza party in its club. The jumping ship of two of its most popular parties is an ominous sign, and rumours are gathering pace that Eden is sinking into the shark-infested waters of Ibiza club politics. One More Time has already announced that it will relocate to 528 Ibiza, and Shine will likely follow in September to Benimussa Park, which is a positive outcome for both parties, considering the rising popularity of the Pikes Ibiza managed venue.
Davy Jones Locker.
It would be very sad to witness Eden heading to Davy Jones’ locker, but one would have to question the crew’s logic, throwing caution to the wind as it chartered a course straight into the eye of a legal storm. Ibiza is littered with the corpses of those who strayed into local minefields. Property prices in Ibiza have soared since Salvador and Paquita Salinero put Eden on the market with an asking price of €12 million in 2013. The couple had initially purchased the club in 1998 and refurbished it from a rundown 18-30’s club, called Kaos, into what is now Eden. Salinero was also involved with Sunset Strip venue Kanya and smaller bars in the West End, such as Playboy, where Pepe Rosello rose to fame.
I would guess that Eden’s Dutch owner, entrepreneur Michael Van De Kuit, may sell or develop the prime real estate on which Eden sits, just like the infamous Boom club in Marina Botafoch, which is now a block of apartments. If my memory serves me correctly, I think the car park located in front of Es Paradis also belongs to Eden. With the rise of UNVRS and the consolidation of Ushuaia Entertainment as the dominant clubbing power on the island, it will be a difficult task for any club to compete against them. I feel many will sell up rather than fight for a dwindling share in an oversaturated market.
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