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I partied at UK’s biggest nightclubs in 80s & 90s…but, at 57, can I keep up with the ‘Gravers’ at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot?
THE last easyJet flight of the night from Luton touched down in Ibiza to a round of applause and shouts of “Oi Oi!”
It was 11.40pm, I was ready for a nice cup of chamomile tea and bed, but the two Essex ravers, who looked barely out of their teens, in the seats ahead had other ideas.
“We’re going to Amnesia, mate” one gurned — that’s a nightclub, not the condition experienced by some middle-aged folk like me.
While I was with the young clubbers in spirit, my 57-year-old dad bod said a firm no.
I was saving myself for the big one — UNVRS, the world’s first hyperclub, later in the week.
Pronounced “universe,” it is the recently opened king of clubs on an island that helped launch acid house, which morphed into the rave phenomenon that swept Britain in the late 1980s.
UNVRS may not have many vowels but it has a lot of punters — 10,000 can cram into its labyrinth of bars and dance floors.
Its superstar DJs including David Guetta, Carl Cox and Fisher attract clubbers from all over the planet.
Footie ace Jude Bellingham was at the opening night last month.
So, staring down the barrel of 60, would I be able to cut it at clubland’s hottest ticket?
And would I be the only relic from the halcyon days of Eighties and Nineties clubbing still trying to throw shapes?
Known as Gravers, I was interested to talk to survivors from the rave era for whom the party won’t stop until the Grim Reaper calls.
I haven’t been to a nightclub for decades, but back in the day I graced London clubs Ministry Of Sound, Heaven, Sin and Bagleys.
With Cardiff-born superstar DJ Jamie Jones on the UNVRS decks on Wednesday, I headed to this pinnacle of modern clubbing, hoping to rekindle the rave era spirit.
I bought an early-bird ticket for 55 euros, which means you must arrive at UNVRS before midnight.
VIP tickets go for £425-plus.
As you journey inland towards San Rafael de la Cruz, the club’s mammoth, red-glowing dome dominates the skyline like St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
I joined the queue with thousands of women in barely there skirts and boob tubes and well-honed guys in shorts and tees.
Most looked young enough to be my grandchildren.
Security thoroughly patted me down, then I entered another world.
Intense white light cascaded from a mirror ball into my eyes as the unrelenting bass seemed to rattle my chest bone.
This being Gen Z clubbing, there was an immediate opportunity to update your socials at the transparent selfie booth.
A sweeping staircase leads to a huge dance floor with a raised DJ booth at the far end, and it was soon a swarming mass.
Just like the old days, the hands are in the air when the music reaches a crescendo, but now thousands of phones are held aloft, recording every beep and thud for posterity . . . and Instagram.
UNVRS began life as Club San Rafael in the 1970s, later changing its name to KU Club and then Privilege.
‘DON’T EVER CHANGE DAD’
Celebs who once partied there include Bowie, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Tina Turner.
In the 1990s, it hosted the infamous Manumission night, which featured live sex acts on stage.
UNVRS is less decadent for a different age, drawing a very glam and British — crowd.
With my back aching from too much standing, it was time for a beer and a sit down at the cavernous Dome Bar. I wince at the price list.
A 33cl bottle of Heinken? That’s £15, guv.
A bottle of water is nearly £13 and a vodka- redbull around £23.
Also catching some air were clubbers approaching my own age.
Department store manager Jose Antonio, 55, his wife Maria, 56, and their son Alonso, 21, were on holiday from Marbella in Spain.
Asking Jose what brought them to the hyper club, he revealed: “We like electronic music and know Jamie Jones and, of course, we are going to dance and will stay for two or three hours.”
Student Alonso, meanwhile, points out a decent advantage to going clubbing with your parents, revealing: “They paid!”
But Andrew Killin, 56, from North London, who has been to Ibiza ten times over the years, said he wasn’t impressed by the sprawling size of the club, finding it a little “soulless”.
In the main room I spot a greying figure with large specs nodding his head as if entranced by the beat.
Skegness dad-of-four Matthew O’Connor, 57, tells me he’s been “havin’ it” since 1988.
I’d found a bone-fide Graver.
“I couldn’t be on the island, in light of all the hype, and not come to UNVRS,” he told me.
“I wanted to see it and I’m quite wowed.”
So are his kids embarrassed that he is still raving as he approaches his seventh decade?
“Quite the opposite,” he insists.
“They tell me, ‘Don’t ever f***ing change, Dad’.”
Matthew — aka DJ Chinny — turns out to be a great raconteur who still “loves” this party island.
“I came out here in 1988 raving then in 1989 went to Tenerife where things also f***ing exploded,” he revealed. “
Since then I haven’t been to Ibiza every year, but it’s a love affair that’s lasted.”
‘IF IT’S IN YOU, IT’S IN YOU’
He’s still DJ-ing while running a decorating business, and I ask if his clubbing was ever fuelled by drugs?
“I’ve experimented over the years,” he added.
“It was all about ecstasy and LSD.
“That’s back in the day.
“I’m proud now that my weapon of choice is alcohol.
“I’m of the age now where I really need to slow down!”
Finally, I asked this fellow 57-year-old if we are too old to rave?
“I’m the same age as the parents of some of the guys I travelled out here with. I’m like the old fossil,” he reveals.
“If it’s in you, it’s in you.”
With Matthew’s assurance ringing in my ears I head back to the dance floor and throw my arms in the air to the pumping music.
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