Thousands of you make the pilgrimage to the island for those serotonin-packed closing parties because there's literally no summer destination in the world that does it quite like Ibiza. You might be nipping over for a weekend stint, or with the season inching further into the month of October, you might have signed yourself up for a full-on seven days of heat.
Whatever you choose, this is a guide to wrap your legs around. Even if you think you're up to scratch with all the beat-bruising closing bashes, you should probably give this a read just in case.
Enjoy and get ready to have an absolute blast.
Acid Sundays / HEART Ibiza / Sunday 1 October
What's Acid Sundays all about? Psychedelic trippin', baby. For adults who like to experiment with self-expression, this is the ultimate evening to get stuck in and lose yourselves. Its ethos cconsistently impress tourists and locals with an amazing set up and spirit-lifting psychedelic sounds.
For the final blowout, it welcomes back the father of Acid Sundays, Acid Pauli, together with Nico Stojan and Polityko.
ABODE Encore / Sankeys / Sunday 1 October
London party crew ABODE was promoted to centre-stage Sunday nights at Sankeys in 2017 after storming its debut season. Weighing in on its huge popularity, the house and techno residency extended its season to a fifteen-week showdown.
Residents from the ABODE family this year included Artikal, Ellie Cocks, GW Harrison, Jimmy Switch, Lindsey Matthews and Will Taylor. From that tight-knit ensemble, we have Ellie Cocks, Jimmy Switch and Will Taylor in the for the ENCORE, with guests Santé & Sidney Charles, Infinity Ink (live), Second City and Jack Swift & Devstar.
Defected In The House / Eden / Sunday 1 October
Previously in Ibiza Defected In The House held weekly spots at Pacha, Booom and Amnesia, where it built a reputation for having one of the most loyal followings of any party on the island. After taking a 2016 Ibiza break, it headed to Eden. With a huge UK following, it made sense that the Defected crew would put down roots at the San Antonio club, where it can capitalise on back to basics clubbing that shuns VIP culture. Needless to say, this house-blasting residency blew up and became one of Eden's most talked about parties this summer.
For the closing we have a mega line-up of Sonny Fodera, Sam Divine, Franky Rizardo, Low Steppa, Simon Dunmore, Waifs & Strays, Jacky, System 2 and Sharples.
Cocoon / Amnesia / Monday 2 October
We don't need to pack in much muscle to convince techno aficionados to attend this beast. Now in its 18th season, it's long been the go-to event for a delicious techno earbashing. Cocoon chief, Sven Väth, is an absolute don; the amount of adoration chucked his way is incredible. His line-ups are consistently impeccable, making it far too easy to get lost in there every single week with few complaints.
Bringing us those restless, eardrum hugging beats for the closing are Papa Sven, DJ Koze and Henrik Schwarz (live) on the Terrace, and Adam Beyer, Ilario Alicante and Dana Ruh in the Main Room. Bang tidy.
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La Troya / HEART Ibiza / Wednesday 4 October
Outrageous, explicit, erotic, lusty and fabulously flamboyant are just a handful of words that you'd carve into this fiesta's description box. Moving from Space to HEART this summer, La Troya is an Ibiza institution that rose from the underground to become one of the most famous gay-friendly parties on this planet. Closely tied with Ibiza's gay community, it's notoriously saucy and is famed for extravagant productions to push its chosen weekly theme.
Resident DJs Camilo Franco, Oscar Colardo, Xicu Portas will be providing the sonic punishment, while Baby Marcelo is in for a live PA. While the performance areas can get a little heated with erotic activity, please do try to keep the mobiles in those pockets – what happens in Ibiza, stays in Ibiza.
Solomun + LIVE / Destino / Thursday 5 October
Pacha's open-air venue in Talamanca is seriously unbeatable when it comes to snatching those views over Ibiza Town. It's outrageously lush and the Instagram fiends might struggle to tear themselves away from those phones, but please do try to refrain from the constant updates - it's all about being in the present, party people.
Solomun has now done a solid number of shifts at Destino, meaning he knows how to amplify your experience in these special surroundings. The previous three dates have seen him stick to the formula of bringing in one guest, but for the last he's bringing in a team of five. Too see you from 17:00 through to 23.30 are Recondite (live), Magdalena, Alex Kennon, Javier Gonzalez and Angioma.
Unusual Suspects / Sankeys / Thursday 5 October
Unusual Suspects was one of the first club residencies to dig in for dance floor dirt in 2017, and for that reason it set the pace for the season. Between the Basement and the LAB, over 50 DJs and producers have toyed with our sweat levels, including Barac, Dana Ruh, Rick Maia, Janina, Praslea, Raresh, Josh Wink, Traumer, Tini, Rossko and Voigtmann.
Guests all set to give us one last bass-driven licking are Praslesh (Praslea and Raresh) and Rick Maia in the Basement, and the line-up over in the LAB is one of its biggest to date. Markantonio will be banging out the tracks with Roberto Capuano, Frank Storm back-to-back with Ignacio Morales and Federico Grazzini.
Music On / Amnesia / Closing Part 1 Friday 6 October & Closing Part 2 Saturday 7 October
At the lead of Napoli don Marco Carola, this techno sweat-inducer has been roaring through its sixth season in 2017. Carola continues to dominate in the only way he knows how. Videos of that terrace as the sun hits are on constant rotation on social media, with fans clambering for a slice of the action. His season line-up has welcomed back much-loved guests and chucked in a tidy little bunch of one-off appearances and debuts.
If you missed it all, that's a damn shame. However, as with last year, Carola is giving us double the closing dosage with two parties. What a gent. Your first whopper brings in Music On favourites Stacey Pullen and Leon on the Terrace and Miss Kittin, Oxia and Hugo Bianco in the Main Room. And we're sitting tight for that second listing, so stay tuned if you want to be on the receiving end of a Music On spanking.
Labyrinth / Pacha / Friday 6 October
Hot Since 82's Labyrinth residency had been a long time coming. The British beatmaker's career has deep roots on the White Isle, so it was only a matter of time before he had his own complete, end-to-end residency. Hot Since 82 stood to inject Ibiza with 20 dates, and he's brought in some of his closest industry friends with him. We've had Sasha, Maya Jane Coles, Green Velvet, John Digweed, Dennis Ferrer, Goldie, Art Department and DJ Harvey to name a few.
The closing will be bringing clubbers into his exotic jungle to hear the sounds of Eats Everything, Matthias Meyer, and Heidi is set to go back-to-back with Cassy. Make sure you get suitably lost in those sounds.
Ushuaïa Ibiza / Saturday 7 October
While you've got big names in EDM and mainstream meat holding court at the open-air haunt, the closing is always about waving the flag for the underground thunder. What also makes this a superb party is that it swerves the midnight curfew and crawls that little bit further into the earlier hours.
This year the goosebumps will be induced by Luciano, Jackmaster, Andrea Oliva, Dublin, Francisco Allendes, Joris Voorn and Kölsch. If your Ibiza knowledge is up to scratch, you'll know that these guys have a big presence on the island and have done for years, so you're in good hands.
Hï Ibiza / Sunday 8 October
On this Sunday, you'll have one last chance to get your poses in at the entrance of Ibiza's newest sweat chamber. The large letters erected in the garden might resemble those at Amsterdam airport, but make no mistake, you know exactly where you are. Playa d'en Bossa's plushest indoor club has lured in punters for everything from trance and EDM to big room house and tech house.
It opened in style, and therefore, it'll close in style. In the Theatre, Kölsch is in with Andrea Oliva, Nic Fanculli, Housekeeping and Mr Doris. Step inside the Club and you'll have Steve Lawler, Solardo, wAFF, Agoria, Bas Ibellini and Dublin. Sounds good. It sounds fantastic, in fact. But giving us greater cause for salivation are Guy Gerber, Loco Dice and Jamie Jones. Oooft.
Circoloco / DC10 / Monday 9 October
Continuing with the techno onslaught is Circoloco. Greedy beat munchers flock to this closing because, put simply, it's always outrageously good. As it lands late in the calendar and is usually the last to kick us back into reality, we're like a murder of crows gathering round to peck at what remains of the Ibiza season. This summer, it's not the last but we'll still be descending like libidinous nymphs for our techno heat.
As with all Circoloco line-ups, we'll expect to see it land only a week before the big bash. Because its reputation precedes it so well, we'd quite happily rock up and get ourselves in there completely in the dark as to who's billed. DJs on regular rounds in 2017 have been Ellen Allien, The Black Madonna, The Martinez Brothers, Jackmaster, Davide Squillace, Damian Lazarus, D'Julz, Kerri Chandler, Clive Henry, Tania Vulcano and Seth Troxler, among others. Expect to see some of them back up there on a mission to make you sweat.
Mosaic by Maceo Plex / Pacha / Wednesday 11 October
In his second season at Pacha, Plex continued on his mission to bring in an entourage that included Ibiza mainstays, and most interestingly for the music savvy bunch, some names who're rarely seen on the island. Those that fall into the latter category included Jon Hopkins, Levon Vincent, Moodymann, Derek Plaslaiko, Anthony Parasole, Palms Trax, Röyksopp and Aurora Halal, among more.
While the closing was originally pencilled in for Tuesday 3 October with guests Jennifer Cardini, Modeselektor and Young Marco, as with last year, he's added in an extra date. On Wednesday the following week, we'll be fed copious amounts of pounding techno from German bruiser Ben Klock. Oh yes.
Amnesia / Saturday 14 October
Amnesia's closing bash is heavy-duty, and for that reason, this one is for the resilient clubbers among us. Rolling from midnight through to noon, we'd advise you to stock up on stamina, because you'll not want to be catching the FOMO bug when you see the punters who stayed giving it all they've got under the sunshine.
For the first time, the Main Room will be curated by WooMooN Records, also behind the island's trendiest party, bringing Damian Lazarus, Lee Burridge, Rampue (live), BLOND:ISH and Valentin Huedo to the decks. As this is a first, we cannot say for sure what the extent of the takeover will be, but we are bound to have plenty of WooMooN magic flood over Amnesia. At the helm in the Terrace we have Eats Everything, Ilario Alicante, Mar-T, Hector Couto and Luca Donazelli, as well as residents Caal and Les Schmitz.
Solomun +1 / Pacha / Sunday 15 October
The Balkan heavyweight can do no wrong here, really. Ibiza adores Solomun and his residency at Pacha is in the must-see category for thousands of eager clubbers. His concept is simple: just him and one guest, with them plugging a back-to-back session before the sun rises.
The closing party for his fifth consecutive season is an interesting one as normally it's up to him alone to give us a titillating pelting. However, the game has changed in 2017 as he and Tale Of Us are making debut appearances at each other's residencies which just happens to be those infamous closings. Expect deep, melodic dance floor fodder.
RUMORS / Destino / Sunday 15 October
Parties should be for everyone, right? In an ideal world, listening to good music with people who truly appreciate clubbing wouldn't be a luxury afforded to those with bigger wads. Israeli mastermind Guy Gerber has been hosting his free-entry party, RUMORS, for four seasons now which makes him a total legend.
Occupying a more intimate booth at the back of Destino, his vision sees the venue transformed with vibrant, bazaar-like décor. Bill Patrick returns for his fifth RUMORS appearance of the summer, and we're also expecting a special guest.
Zoo Evolution / Benimussa Park / Tuesday 17 October
As a little bonus, we're chucking in Zoo Evolution, as the promoter's new daytime addition to 2017 re-opened mid-September with five extra dates. So, just when you thought it was time to store away those pots of glitter, you ain't done yet.
Stretching the season out even further, we've got this bad boy landing on 17 October, which gives you good cause to get your arses out here for one last hedonistic blowout. The line-up has Stephane Ghenacia and Thomas Roland in the Treehouse with special guest tINI, as well as Federico Grazzini and Jean Cedric in the Living Room. For all ecstatic dance, hippy vibes and relaxation, the Mandala Garden will take care of all.
PHOTOGRAPHY l Marc de Groot
