Review: Hed Kandi, 18th August

Es Paradis remains one of the most stylishly and creatively designed club interiors I’ve come across – its white, winding staircases, ivy covered balconies and multi-levelled main dance floor combine as the perfect habitat for the chic Hed Kandi brand to make its own. Since Es Paradis is also the most well lit club on the island, it’s a very different clubbing experience to most. No hiding in dark corners or swaying disoriented during a strobe… at Hed Kandi it’s about smiling, dancing, meeting new people and wearing gorgeous outfits that are simply meant to be seen.

A sizeable chunk of Hed Kandi’s usually swollen crowd had been borrowed, last night, by the free party for Sant Bartomeu festival only metres away on San An beach. Fair play to Hed Kandi for drawing what crowd they did – it’s very hard to compete with free. Having a little extra space actually made it easier and more enjoyable to flit around the many different spaces of Es Paradis, and there was a friendly, communal atmosphere amongst those present.

Hed Kandi DJs Andy Daniels, Steven Quarre and Ben Santiago provided upbeat House classics, with the balaeric and disco infusion that Hed Kandi are known for. Tasty though the mixes were, what set this night apart was its live component. The Drum Warrior clanged away on his drum pads, last night, clad in the Daft Punk-esque LED robot suit that has somehow become a fixture of this entertaining tradition. The highlight, as ever, was the aptly named Lovely Laura, who hung playfully above our heads blowing sweet notes into her saxophone, jazzing away with the DJ to several songs, most notably the classic Mark Knight and Funkagenda remix of Laurent Garnier’s Man With The Red Face. Man, will ya dig those cats!

Once Lovely Laura retired and I got over my Beatnik moment, the bass really kicked in and our collective arms started to grope for the sky. Some beach party dropouts filtered through to bulk out the dance floor and the night really became all about the dancing. Hed Kandi have fine-tuned their accessible - but not always commercial - house sound, and it was very well received last night. This is a party with its own distinct flavour which is just too sweet to resist.