Barefoot Doctor: Can Rich People (And VIP bottle service) and the Underground ever Realistically Co-exist?
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EDM/ trance titan Tiesto recently suggested Las Vegas is more attractive to ‘real’ clubbers than Ibiza ‘because the hotels are cheaper’ adding ‘I think the government and the people there have tried to make it more like St. Tropez. It’s more of a destination for rich people and the real dance clubbers get disappointed.” (Inthemix: Youtube)
Skrufff contributor (and Ibiza AND St Tropez veteran) Barefoot Doctor discussed the distance between the ‘real clubbers’ and the rich . . .
Barefoot Doctor: “Whether it was the original bohemians, the beatniks, the hippies, or the nouveaux hippies, creating a new underground scene, eventually – and it happens faster these days because of the internet and everyone telling everyone everything all the time – those who live not on the edge of the creative originality but who’ve an eye for the fresh and new, and who have the wit and wherewithal to buy their way into it, start infiltrating, bringing with them a less edgy, hence more conventionally palatable quality, which necessarily influences the scene and inevitably waters it down or redirects it.
Hence, for example, the club scene of Ibiza that developed out of the rave scene of the late 80s, and reached its apogee in the early 2000s, based on nonconformism, liberalism, and spiritual hedonism, eventually attracted the likes of Puff Daddy/Diddy,and Naomi Campbell, which story made it to the mainstream press, and gave birth to the Ibiza VIP phenomenon, that has grown so strident since, the whole island has more or less become a VIP area, with little room or appeal for anyone of a genuinely creative, innovative persuasion, unless they’re being paid huge ransoms for doing a quick set at someone’s private party or the like.
So now instead of the original loving nurturing atmosphere of the clubs in the early days, you’re more likely to get shoved out of the way as you dance by some oligarch’s son’s minder as his boss strides along behind to get to the VIP area.
In 2008 Ibiza airport was clearing 168 private jet landings per month. In 2012 the number had jumped ten times to 1680. Aside from contributing to global warming there’s nothing wrong with private jets – they’re great fun if you’ve got the money to blow – but when a whole scene that originated with creative people gets taken over by those simply buying their way in, the scene loses its heart and soul, and the atmosphere becomes vapid.
The same thing happened in St Tropez, for instance, which believe it or not, back in the 60s was a hippy haven. Same thing happened in Marbella, in southern Spain, one of the greatest seaside urban messes on the planet, but which used to be pure hippy heaven.
Of course the vibe doesn’t die overnight and there’s a crossover period between the genuine scene and the faked up VIP version in which the two dance quite harmoniously with each other. But while that occurs, the real innovators have already moved elsewhere yet as soon as the word gets out, the VIP virus will spread there too like a contagion.
The weird thing about the VIP phenomenon, is it’s really boring being stuck away from the main body of the action, looking down on it like a disaffected god/goddess, at all the non-VIP people having fun.
Berlin’s best clubs for example don’t have VIP areas at all and if I ruled the world I’d experiment by banning VIP areas in clubs everywhere. I do recall clubs being way more fun back in the days when people didn’t even know what VIP stood for. “.
Questions by Skrufff.
http://www.barefootdoctorglobal.com
