This summer, Tomorrowland and Ushuaia Ibiza teamed up to create the Garden Of Madness, a summer-long residency headlined by the poster boys of Tomorrowland, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.
The residency ended up lasting 10 weeks, throughout July and August and closing on the first Tuesday of September, just a couple weeks ago. For the special event, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike invited us out to witness the spectacle of the show and experience all that Ibiza has to offer. My first piece of advice if you’re going to Ibiza for the first time… you’re not ready. You might think you are. You’re not.
Think of Ibiza as all of the clubs in Las Vegas transplanted to a tropical island paradise off the coast of Spain. There are girls, beaches, plenty of dudes on the beach trying to sell you drugs, and some of the top clubs the world has to offer, including Ushuaia Ibiza.
Ushuaia in particular was founded in 2011 and is currently ranked as the #6 club in the world by DJ Mag. David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, Axwell, Ingrosso, Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Oliver Heldens along with many other DJs have performed in the venue. Avicii performed his final live show there. To say that it has some history would be an understatement.
But for my experience at the venue, it was all about the former #1 DJs in the world, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. And though we’ve admittedly not always been their biggest fans, hearts and minds change and there’s nothing like seeing an artist live to finally push you over the edge.
I got to the beach hotel and club at around 9pm on Tuesday, September 5 where I was escorted into the green room to hang out with friends and family while everyone waited for Dimitri and Mike to show up. It was Dimitri’s wedding the following Thursday, so their guest list was already a bit out of control with friends who had shown up a couple days early.
While I was waiting, I had the opportunity to speak to many of their friends and it was clear that Dimitri and Mike had established their own history on the island. I spoke with them about Ibiza in their tell-all interview on our site from last year, as well, and how Dimitri moved to work in Ibiza when he was 17, around 1999. Mike followed a year later.
Now as kings of Tomorrowland and two-time #1 DJs in the world, nothing could stop them.