Satori Monday at Amnesia! Satori is the Japanese Buddhist term for awakening, understanding and commonly translated as "enlightenment". Ibiza and some of its nights do have this impact on open visitors, eager to learn to understand themselves. This Monday's satori-moment was brought to you by the techno monk Sven Väth, who once again proved in his Cocoon set that this man doesn't play house or techno, he plays magic.
At one point, about halfway into his almost 5 hours set, Sven dropped the Koze remix of island favourite "Bad Kingdom" by Moderat to an appreciative crowd. The track itself is a pure gem already, handcrafted for an Ibizan dancefloor with its ethereal and yearning vocals clashing against a dark and merciless electro-bassline. And combined with the CO2 cannon going off for the first time this night in exact unison with the track`s break was pure magic. There: Satori! Looking into Väth`s laughing face and at the people around me I knew that a lot of them had had their Ibiza moment right there, the one dancefloor experience that they will tell their friends back home about. It is moments like these that Cocoon never fails to provide, creating the calming feeling of being at the right place at just the right time. Or as the Zen Buddhists describe the satori as "seeing your self-nature".
Väth this Monday played the opening set, warming up for Matthias Kaden, the German hotshot playing prominent Cocoon slots this year. And rightly so, he seamlessly took over from Sven and entertained a steady crowd even while superstar Luciano was playing on the terrace. For his "Origins" night there, the Swiss DJ had invited Cesar Merveille b2b with Mirko Loko and Ovum label-honcho Josh Wink. But from 3.30 it was all about Luciano and his trademark sound to which he clapped along furiously. Amnesia's terrace was full, the atmosphere great and so it's no surprise shenanigans continued way past the 7 o´clock mark.
Cocoon is having a great summer so far, celebrating its impressive 15th season in style and with three more dates to go. Especially Luciano's back 2 back set with Ricardo Villalobos on September 15th we will definitely check out. And see you at the closing when there will be one more chance to witness Matthias Kaden and Sven Väth doing their Buddhist missionary work.
Satori in Zen is seen as a first step towards nirvana, the mythical goal and liberation. If every step along the way is as pleasant as this Monday at Cocoon I am not in a hurry to arrive.
Photos: PHRANK.NET