Support for the London club Fabric, which recently had its licence revoked, has come from far and wide. Many different groups, from Crystal Palace fans to music producers, have voiced their dismay at the closure. One thing’s for sure: this is about more than just a club in north London. Its demise has acted as a trigger for one of those periodic outbreaks of omphaloskepsis about the present and future of clubland.
Fabric is not the only club in the news this month. There’s also the legendary Ibiza haunt Pacha, which is apparently up for sale and seeking €500 million for its various venues and international franchises.
It’s unlikely the club will do a cash deal, given that it was one of dozens on the island which reportedly saw millions in cash seized in police raids over the summer as part of a tax fraud investigation.
That Pacha founder Ricardo Urgell is said to be heading for the exit after almost 50 years in business is a telling indicator of the current ebb and flow of clubland economics.
While Pacha has turned its hippie philosophy into a lucrative international brand, with outlets in various cities worldwide, the winds of change are blowing back on the island and the current flowering of club culture there may be nearing an end.
Clubbing in Ibiza has always been a pricey ticket, but the rise of more commercially driven operations such as Ushuaïa has accelerated this aspect. The fact that more clubs are going after monied clubbers by offering various VIP experiences has meant the island's traditional approach to clubbing and dance music has been superseded. Superclubs Ushuaïa is owned by the well-connected Matutes family, who have the money from banking, shipping and hotels to be able to afford to expand. They've recently purchased the island's renowned Space nightclub to add to their portfolio, which already includes Privilege, and they're now in a very strong position to influence the direction of Ibiza's nightlife.
If you want to see where this may lead, look to the United States. While EDM has taken up the bulk of the clubbing headlines there in the past few years, the superclub trend in Las Vegas has highlighted the fact that there’s a lot of money to be made by hawking VIP trappings to your audience. Some people are prepared to pay big bucks for all that palaver, money which in turn goes to pay the ludicrous fees demanded by the caste of superstar DJs jetting from club to club.
It’s a far cry from Fabric, which is where we came in. One thing that routinely comes up in considerations of the London club’s success is that it survived and thrived because it put the emphasis on the music.
An oral history of the club on residentadvisor.net made the point that Fabric opened in 1999 around the same time a superclub called Home opened for business on London’s Leicester Square with an emphasis on gloss and glitz. Like many others, Home didn’t last.
Nightclubs may be about many things, from freedom of expression to hedonism to a gathering space for like-minded souls, but the music is more or less the guiding light. When you move away from that and get into a situation where the selling point is having someone serve you in your exclusive, reserved-seating area , everything changes – and not for the best.
How the tug-of- war between the new and the old will play out in Ibiza will be fascinating to watch.
