Zone Magazine Issue 011 - Paul Oakenfold

IBIZA DIARY 2016
" The whole experience for me was mind blowing and one I
will never forget. The feedback I received was amazing and to
be asked back to play next season is overwhelming to say
the least. "
It was Friday July 1st and I was
finishing off and preparing my sets for
Ibiza for the next day. It still felt surreal
to think that tomorrow I would be taking
a journey to the biggest clubland in the
world to perform at some of the biggest
clubs that Ibiza has to offer and at just 17
years of age.
Well, I didn't sleep a wink as you could
imagine. Up at 5am to get ready to hit the
road to live my dream. Ibiza let's be
havin' ya!
Day 1.
At the airport I bumped into fellow
Irish DJ Glenn Stankard who was also on
the same flight as me as he was also
performing over in Ibiza at one of the
events I was playing at too "SIN Sundays"
at Ocean Beach. Great respect for this
guy, he has achieved so much and has
been to Ibiza so many times to perform.
After just over two and a half hours I
had touched down in Ibiza and the
weather was just glorious at 32 degrees.
A 30 minute taxi ride and we were at
the hotel in San Antonio. I had some time
to kill as I wasn't in Eden until the early
hours of the morning. I heard Steven
Cooper from 98fm was on the island too
as he was performing at the new bar
Shenanigans in the Westend. I reached
out to him and we met in Linekers bar for
a cool drink and a chat.
Steven is an incredible person and so
funny. This man supported me from day
one, playing my tunes on "Coopers Club
Collection" and believe it or not I had
never met the man as all communication
38 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE
was done via facebook and email. It was
Steven's first time in Ibiza performing too.
We stayed talking for a few hours then it
was time to get something to eat and
back to the hotel to chill out and do some
last minute prep work.
Tonight was the night that I would be
playing in one of the most iconic clubs for
a very respected brand "Sintillate" in San
Antonio and I was buzzin' for it. I had
heard from many other DJ's that the
sound system at Eden was probably one
of the best on the island, and well it didn't
disappoint.
The club is set out like in a circle with a
top tier to it too, for clubbers to look down
while you perform. The vibrations going
through me from the DJ booth where
amazing. I played more commercial
sounding tracks for that night which went
down well. I stayed around for a while to
see and hear some other DJ's perform
and then headed off. Steven had told me
he was performing in Shenanigans that
night in the Westend so I decided to drop
up and pay him a visit.
Westend was buzzin' and very busy,
and I found Shenanigans, through the sea
of clubbers. The place was very busy and
Steven was banging out the tracks. He
even stuck on one of my own productions
which was amazing. Steven just has this
amazing presence about him while he
performs.
It was a long day so I decided to call it
a night and head back to he hotel to get
some shut eye.
Day 2.
I woke up and headed downstairs to
have some breakfast. Refreshed and
ready to go I was on my way down to
Ocean Beach to perform for SIN Sundays.
Ever since I was 14 years old I always
wanted to spin at Ocean Beach and for
Sin Sundays and now the dream was
becoming a reality. I love Ocean Beach, it
has such a great vibe there. My set this
time was very different to the one I had
played in Eden the the night before. It
was more of a very chilled, deep house,
pool side selection. I met Tom Crane, who
is resident there at Ocean Beach. This guy
is amazing and has performed at some of
the best clubs in the world. I was
honoured to meet him and for him to give
me support and encouragement.
So here I was playing to a sold out
Ocean Beach and the youngest ever DJ to
perform there and for the SIN Sundays
brand. Somebody pinch me! I received
great feedback from everyone about my
set and loved every minute of it. It was
great to chill then and do some
networking. I created an exclusive CD for
Ibiza entitled "This Is Ibiza", so I was
busy handing some of these out. I got to
meet Wayne Lineker again. He is such a
lad and have a huge amount of respect
for him and he has also been supporting
me from the start too. Even professional
poker player and the ultimate playboy
Dan Bizerian paid a visit that day. After
some food I decided it was time to go and
get back to the hotel to freshen up as I
was performing later at Ibiza's newest
night club LYT.