addicted to ibiza

win a holiday worth up to £2000 with bench and ibiza rocks!

Fancy checking out Dizzee Rascal at Ibiza Rocks this summer? We've stumbled across a competition from the guys at clothing label Bench that will not only get you VIP tickets to the Dizzee Rascal event, but also:

• flights for you and a friend to Ibiza
• 5 nights accommodation at the Ibiza Rocks hotel
• tickets to the afterparty at Eden
• free clothes to kit you out for your trip
• and your very own Gibson guitar to complete the Ibiza Rocks experience!

In total, the prize is worth around £2000! Click here for a chance to win.

Terms and conditions are on the Bench web site.

it's not too late - airlines slash ibiza fares

We've all heard the story countless times. The credit crunch means more people aren't going on holiday this summer and the expensive Euro is encouraging people outside of the eurozone to stay at home. But what does this actually mean for those of us who fancy a cheeky last-minute trip to Ibiza?

It's good news! Airline bookings are down, planes are flying half-empty and that can only mean one thing: cheap flights. Addicted has tracked down some fantastic deals for readers in the UK, France, Italy and Spain who are in the mood for some Balearic sun.

From the UK, if you're based in the north and fancy a quick tip next week, we found flights from Thomson for only £74 inc tax. That's leaving on 13th July and coming back on 16th July. Moreover, we found many flights with Monarch for £38 one way inc tax.

On the whole, London is a more expensive place to travel from due to exorbitant airport taxes, but there are still bargains to be had. Addicted found a return flight with Thomson for only £74 inc tax, flying out on 11th August and coming back two weeks later.

If you want to go to the closing parties then now is the time to book. Addicted found some bargain basement flights from London, flying out on Sat 12th September for just £15 inc tax and coming back a few days later for £30. When you deduct taxes from these fares, the flights are pretty much free.

Combining airlines can save money too. Addicted found an amazing closing party deal for our French readers. Flying from Paris on Monday 7th September on Vueling and returning on Saturday 12th September with Easyjet will only cost a combined total of €103. That's much cheaper than booking a round trip with either airline. In order to compare return deals flying with different airlines in either direction, use a flight comparison web site such as Skyscanner (In English) (En Español).

It's not too late to book a mid-season trip either. For our Italian readers, Addicted found one-way tickets from Milan to Ibiza with Easyjet on 19th August for €19 inc tax. Similar fares are available on a whole range of dates towards the end of August.

Our Spanish readers know that they are only a hop, skip and jump away from Ibiza. But have our readers from further afield considered a mini-break in Spain combined with a couple of cheeky days at the Ibiza closing parties? Why not go to Madrid, enjoy a few beautiful days eating tapas in the Spanish capital, then make the short flight to Ibiza. Easyjet currently have fares from Madrid to Ibiza for just €36 return inc taxes. That's flying out on Tuesday 1st September and coming back on Friday 4th September. Plenty of time to squeeze in a few parties and some beach hours.

Click here to see flight prices from your closest airport using Addicted to Ibiza's flight search tool.

bring ibiza to your bedroom

Can't afford a flight to Ibiza? Or perhaps you just can't wait until you get there? Here's the solution: don't go to Ibiza, bring Ibiza to you. That's the promise from a revolutionary new web music service called Awdio. To see if Awdio lives up to this promise, Addicted kicked back at home, turned the volume up, cracked open a bottle of Ibiza Ice and gave it a test drive.

Awdio isn't your average internet radio station. Instead, they broadcast live sets from DJs playing in the top clubs around the world in real time. So even if you are sitting on a remote island in Scotland, you can hear exactly whats going on at the main dance floor in Privilege or the poolside bar at Hotel Es Vive. Addicted reckons live streaming music could be a nice angle for an Ibiza house party!

Some big names are already signed up. Meganite, Supermartxe and Monza are all broadcast live from Privilege, while KM5, Hotel Es Vive, Kanya, Savannah and others all broadcast live music from their bars. If this concept takes off, we are sure more will follow.

Once we had hooked up the MacBook to some speakers, the quality was fantastic. It wasn't quite the same as being in Ibiza, but it was as close as we got on a rainy Monday evening in London.

Click here to check out Awdio and do let us know what you think.

top five ibiza compilations 2009 - reviewers sign up here

Every summer, every record label and clubbing brand worth their salt produce at least one Ibiza compilation mix. By the end of August, record stores will be stacked full of "Ibiza 2009" CDs. Most feature the same set of tunes, just mixed a bit differently. Which one do you pick? This year, Addicted aims to guide you through the clutter and help you select the Ibiza compilation that's right for you.

How are we going to do that? By recruiting your help! We're looking for five readers who are into house music to help us review five of this summer's top ibiza compilations. In return, we'll send you the five albums for free to keep! We'll just ask you to answer a few short questions about each compilation to feature on the site.

If you have opinions about dance music and are good at expressing them, we would love you to join the team. To be in with a chance, just e-mail reviews@addictedtoibiza.com with the answer to a simple question - what's your favourite Ibiza compilation mix CD of all time and why? If you have any friends who you think would be perfect for this, please e-mail them this page using the link on the right.

We will be posting the first review towards the end of the month - stay addicted!

addicted speaks to we love space

Clubbing in Ibiza is almost synonymous with Sundays on the terrace at Space. We Love Space is now in its’ eleventh year and once again the line-up reads like a “who’s who” of dance music. Addicted caught up with the man behind it all, Mark Broadbent, to talk about what's in store for 2009.

Addicted: Sundays at Space have become the ultimate Ibiza institution. Do you find it challenging to keep it fresh every year?

Mark: It’s a labour of love - challenging but great fun. Of late it has become easier due to our customers faith in what we do and the fantastic amount of talent available.

Addicted: What do you think sets We Love apart from other nights in Ibiza?

Mark: Daring programming. Musically, we bring something new to the table every year rather than sticking to a tried, tested and ultimately boring format that most club nights seem to stick to.

Addicted: One of this years headliners at We Love is Grace Jones. As an artist she is very different to the big name DJs that occupy the bulk of the line-up. Is this a change in direction for the club?

Mark: Not really, she would have been booked earlier if she had made herself available. With her new album out she has decided to tour again and we benefit from this. We love have always strived to showcase what we feel is hot at the moment and there is nobody even close to Grace Jones right now.

Addicted: There was a lot of concern last year that new laws restricting club opening hours were going to fundamentally change the Ibiza clubbing scene and as a former 22-hour party We Love was directly affected. How do you think the clubbing scene has changed since the new legislation? Do you think it has been good or bad for the island?

Mark: Ultimately it is a good thing for most of us who live here full time as there are plenty of cool after parties if you know where to look for them. It has changed the face of We Love... for the better as far as we are concerned. When we put a roof on the Space terrace five years ago that was the biggest change to the islands clubbing habits there has been so far and we have gone from strength to strength since then...change is good most of the time.

Addicted: 2009 is a year of great uncertainty - the credit crunch has hit Spain hard, the euro is expensive and the Ibiza government's tourist policy divisive and controversial. How do you see Ibiza changing over the next couple of years?

Mark: As it previous ‘down’ years, it will sort the wheat from the chaff – and end up strengthening what we all do here.

Addicted: As someone who knows Ibiza well, what's your favourite place on the island?

Mark: Sa Penya. It’s the "real" Ibiza.

Addicted: And finally, if you have one tip for people going to Ibiza this summer, what would it be?

Mark: Bring plenty of money, an open friendly outlook ...and lube!

Addicted to Ibiza can get you and a friend on the guestlist for We Love Space any Sunday this summer!

No trip to Ibiza is complete without a visit to Space on Sunday and Addicted can get you in for free. We have two sets of two tickets to give away for what is undoubtedly the premier party on the island. For a chance of winning, just send an e-mail with ‘WE LOVE’ in the subject line to competitions@addictedtoibiza.com before midnight on Friday 10th July. We’ll get touch with the winners to find out what Sunday you would like passes for.

To see the line-up for every weekend this summer, download some free podcasts and much more, check out the We Love website.

the return of the balearic anthem

Most years, a record emerges that becomes the defining 'Ibiza anthem' of the summer. We've been struggling to identify these over the last couple of years. In 2008 the only track Addicted came home humming was the In Petto remix of Toca's Miracle - and that record is over nine years old. But this year there are two tracks which we think could define summer 2009. They're already in the iTunes dance chart, take a listen and let us know what you think.

I'm Not Alone - Calvin Harris

Mylo's former protégé releases his first piece of new material since Dance Wiv Me, last year's collaboration with Dizzee Rascal that topped the charts for most of summer. I'm Not Alone is a very different beast. The chords are quintessentially Balearic and reminiscent of classics such as Out of the Blue by System F. We challenge you to keep this tune out of your head and your hands out of the air. The mixes by deadmau5 and Tiesto are worth checking out too.

Listen at iTunes

I Remember - deadmau5 and Kaskade

Canadian deadmau5 has been huge on the underground scene for the last couple of years, but this could be his breakthrough tune. The seductive vocals and beat make it equally at home in a club or on a chill-out compilation, and it's the sort of record that begs sea, sun, sand and a really good cocktail.

Listen at iTunes