The wonderful world of WooMoon

In case you’ve been living under a rock the size of Es Vedra, in summer 2016 there’s a new ‘it’ party in town. Well, technically it’s not in town – it’s in the hills of San Jose – and it’s not a party in the sense of an Ibiza superclub style rave. But it’s the party that’s got the entire island talking due to its weirdness, its wildness, its absolute wonderment and its wow factor. Dearest readers, I’m talking about the wonderful world of WooMoon. WooMoon is a new party concept presented by Storytellers Ibiza – who I’m going to admit I’ve never heard any stories about prior to this event – in the weirdly wonderful surrounds of the Amnesia-owned Cova Santa restaurant. The venue itself lends itself to amazing open-air parties, as many a clubber has learned at after parties over the years, but let’s get one thing clear. WooMoon is no after party. WooMoon is a conceptual event, starting from 6pm and continuing through until 6am, celebrating what they call ‘nomadic sounds and artists’, art, nature, food, drink, nourishing, nurturing, performances…

But let’s hold up a minute. You can read all of that info in the press release or on the website. I want to share part of my real life WooMoon experience. I had some of my very best friends visiting from a faraway land – let’s call them Mr and Mrs C – who’d been to Ibiza before and wanted to try something a little more underground, a little more authentic, and a little less crowded than other open-air clubs on the island. They wanted to experience ‘the real Ibiza’. I’d never been to WooMoon but the one thing I had been hearing from people (I trust!) all summer is ‘you’ve got to go to WooMoon, WooMoon is amazing, WooMoon is like nothing else on the island, WooMoon is the new Acid Sundays, WooMoon is Ibiza’s mini Burning Man’ and so I decided that particular Wednesday would become Woomoonday for our little gang. Especially since another friend (let’s call him Mr L) had assured me if there was one DJ performance you did not want to miss this season, it was DJ N U at WooMoon. So we got our feathers on (if you’d watched videos of the party before, you just knew feathers were part of the dress code – think slightly understated Burners and you’ll get the picture) and grabbed a cab to Cova Santa. First of all, I was shocked by the sheer flocks of feathered people and endless stream of cars on the winding back road that is normally such a peaceful and quiet drive. The traffic was backed up so we decided to follow everyone else’s lead, jump out of our cab and walk the rest of the way, eager to get inside and see what the fuss was all about.

Arriving at WooMoon feels a little like Dorothy must have felt as she stepped out of her Kansas house into the technicolour land of Oz. One minute, you’re in the peaceful, lush green San Jose hills, and the next, you’re confronted with trippy trance music, hula hoopers, a rainbow made entirely of balloons and enormous dream catchers with scantily clad girls climbing into them like glamorous spiders in mystical webs… and that was just the kids’ club! Yes, seriously – WooMoon is for all ages, and you’ll see little ones inside dancing amongst people of all ages, but there’s also a crèche outside for the mamas and papas who want to get their groove on minus the mini-mes for a few hours. Like any undeground Ibiza party, actually getting in wasn’t the easiest of processes (don’t they know who I am? Errr… as an anonymous blogger, NO!), with multiple confusing queues and a few hundred people insisting on NOT forming orderly queues – clearly this was not a British crowd! Ultimately, we made it past the dream catchers and into the venue, and it was like stepping into a new-bohemian festival. Market stalls, organic cuisine, smoothies, Mezcal concoctions, healing areas and therapies, body painting, adornment… you name it, it was there. Quirky illustrated maps outlined the different areas of the venue, and (once we’d identified where the bar was of course) we made a beeline for the Dance Temple because DJ N U was already doing his hypnotic, rhythmic thing, the sun was starting to set and we wanted to find a good vantage point. Climbing to the highest point of Cova Santa, we discovered a daybed within a pergola. “Well, that’s obviously for VIPs,” I declared, being a veteran of Ibiza clubbing and general know-it-all. No – we were welcomed in with open arms by a group of French strangers… this magical daybed almost in the sky was free to one and all.

As the sun went down, the forest surrounding us was lit up with soft pink lights, and the stars started to twinkle over the hills, creating a real-life fairytale effect. More and more people flooded in – the Burning Man fashion inspiration starting to become more and more apparent after dark – and though I barely heard a word spoken in English all night, there was a feeling of unity, of warmth, of oneness. Smiles were LITERALLY on every face (plus the obligatory face paint, glitter and bindis) and it felt like everyone were old friends. It sounds cliché or contrived, but I swear to you there was a collective energy. They call it the WooMoon tribe, and unless you’ve experienced it… well, let me just say this. Go. Just go. Go to WooMoon soon. Experience it for yourself. As I write this… I kind of want to tell you NOT to go. I want to keep WooMoon to myself. I don’t want it to get overexposed. Of course, I wish them every success in the world but… I want it to keep its magic. But seriously… go. Performance art was a major part of the night, with the most incredible costumes and artists ranging from space-age mystical Maleficents made of reflective silver floating through the crowd with maids in waiting performing birthing rituals with crystal balls (or something equally as ritualistic and kind of difficult to decipher) to Cirque de Soleil style acrobatics high above the dance floor. I am still blown away by one in particular, a man in a loincloth spinning up and down and around at the speed of light suspended by nothing but a hook and a rope connected to his man bun! If there were smoke and mirrors behind that trick, I couldn’t spot them…

Behind the beautiful DJ booth, decked in gorgeous golden mandalas, were the who’s who of Burning Man: Behrouz hugging N U, Audiofly hanging with Bedouin, and all of their neo-bohemian pals along for the ride. I understand the obvious Burning Man association – a collective, a celebration of life, self-expression, communal art and nourishing the soul… but this is Ibiza. The Playa it is not. WooMoon is its own movement, here on the island, and a very welcome change (in my humble opinion) to the way the island has been changing over the past few years. Don’t get me wrong – there are still roped off sections with VIP tables at Cova Santa, but to be honest, they were mostly empty as everyone came together on the dancefloor, on the stairs or down in the subterranean cave club. For me, the most powerful part of my WooMoon experience was the music. It’s the kind of music that permeates your dreams; the kind of music you weren’t quite sure existed but had been searching for your whole life; it was pure magic. A natural state of euphoria, hands-in-the-air dreamily swaying like a Bedouin belly dancer beneath the stars and the moonlit Ibiza sky, listening to a tiny little man with a feather on his head who could have easily played a quirky part in a Disney movie, yet couldn’t be less commercial in reality, create his musical masterpiece. Since I got home from WooMoon, I have had their Soundcloud account on repeat – music really does conjure up memories and these are ones I want to cherish forever. WooMoon’s tagline is ‘The magic exists’ and I have to say I couldn’t agree more… Now I really believe in magic, even more than I ever did before!