About a decade ago, a summer evening out clubbing in "tourist resort" Europe invariably involved groups of pot-bellied Neanderthals in Union Jack shorts staggering about to the strains of Black Lace. DJ, music and venue were rendered academic by the blinkered pursuit of alcohol and sex. And that was just the girls. With the notable exception of the voluntary Alcatraz of Ibiza, where recalcitrant youngsters went to let off steam, European clubbing was about as cool as a Saturday night in watching television with the folks.
But the interim period has witnessed a perceptible change in the clubbing landscape. As the DJ has slowly achieved pop star status, and as dance music culture has shifted irrevocably to the mainstream, European resorts have begun to offer a more respectable clubbing experience, a vibrant, integrated culture that relies on the quality of the music, the instincts of the DJ and the awareness and inclusiveness of the crowd. The result is a clubbing boom, with more European clubbers expected to flock to the dancefloors of the Continent's leading venues this summer than ever before.
Taking Ibiza as inspiration, resorts in Majorca, Cyprus, Corfu, Kos, Turkey, Crete, Rhodes and even the much-maligned Costa Brava have been working hard to develop the clubbing infrastructure required to attract leading DJs and club promotions. Who can blame them when the profits on offer are so generous? Manumission, for example, the notorious Monday night Ibiza club held at the 8,000-capacity Privilege, is crammed full every week despite an admission cost of £30. Little wonder the Manumission team are reputed to make profits of over £1m for a 14-date season.
No surprise also that the people behind the cavernous, hi-tech venues of tourist resort Europe are wising up to the need to offer more than just two tequilas for the price of one. Nowadays, the diary of a successful European DJ is as likely to include dates at BCM in Majorca, Future in Corfu or M&M's in Turkey as it is Pacha or Amnesia in Ibiza, even if you're far less likely to hear the DJ bragging about them.
"I think it's fair to say the market is growing," says highly influential Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong. "More and more DJs are travelling to different places, and the venues at the other end of the market are starting to get their act together more. They've certainly smartened themselves up a little, and the punters are aspiring to more than they were before."
Still leading the way are established club brands such as Ministry of Sound and Cream, both of them expanding across Europe at a rate that would have impressed Napoleon. Last year Liverpool-based Cream put on regular events in mainland Spain, Majorca, Ibiza, Ayia Napa, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, whereas James Palumbo's clubbing empire The Ministry of Sound, almost expected to have a presence on the moon before long, has seen fit to enter the clubbing holiday market.
"Clubbing has gone from being a minority interest into a lifestyle pursuit," explains Kevin Currie, head of Clubbers Guide... Holidays, the Ministry of Sound's newly-launched travel holiday wing. "People are putting off getting married and having kids, so there's now an older age group as well who want to have fun but don't want to stay in naff hotels and drink tequila all day."
Such increased interest in clubbing is far from simply a British phenomenon. Dutch, Italian and German promotions are cropping up with alacrity around Europe's resorts, populated by their own as well as a host of Scandanavians and, naturally, the ubiquitous British. El Divino's in Ibiza even welcomes a new Russian club night, Moscow's Club 13, into the fray this summer, which should at least do wonders for vodka sales.
Ah yes, Ibiza. Of course, everything still revolves around the remarkable little Balearic jewel, patiently transformed into a clubbing wonderland for a third of every year. With 30 years' experience of clubbing (Pacha opened there way back in 1967), and an effortless ability to attract glamour, Ibiza can boast a reputation and cachet that few, if any, of its imitators will ever match, despite the much-publicised efforts of a boisterous minority to turn San Antonio into an Ibizan Blackpool.
If anywhere best illustrates the desire of other European resorts to take a share of Ibiza's lucrative clubbing trade, it's Ayia Napa, the small, sleepy, Cypriot fishing village recently adopted by the thriving UK garage community as their spiritual summer home, not because of any obvious symbiotic UK garage/Cypriot tradition, but because it's warm and picturesque.
It's another example of a resort beginning to come to terms with the mechanics and machinations of European club culture, and further proof, were it needed, that Europe's clubbers are becoming spoiled. Much more of this global warming, and we might see a burgeoning Czech techno scene developing on the Isle of Wight.
