After an exceptionally poor 2009 lineup El Divino finally announced what many had predicted that the club would not be opening under current management in 2010. In a slightly less predictable move though a couple of weeks ago Ibiza Spotlight reported that the El Divino venue would be taken over by Pacha in 2010 and, presumably, continue functioning as a club. This is a turnaround from earlier reports that the pier was going to be ripped down in the winter to make way for a new development in the marina.
El Divino has been going downhill not so steadily since losing Hed Kandi (its only real international night in 2008) to Space last summer. Pacha stepping in and taking over El Divino probably means the clubs survival is guaranteed for 2010 which can only be a good thing for the Ibiza club scene although obviously having a superbrand like Pacha running 2 venues in Ibiza is going to raise concerns with some about diversity in the scene.
Personally I think El Divino could be a great venue, and I've heard people say it was once although I've never seen evidence of that TBH, so if the rumors are true I'd be excited to see if Pacha can turn El Divino around. They've certainly got the budget and a great team in Ibiza already so there's no reason this shouldn't be a success, on paper at least.
However...! Without a significant redevelopment of the venue (which seems unlikely/ technically impossible) El Divino, or whatever it gets rebranded as is still going to suffer from the same issue as it always has, not enough capacity to attract and justify the expense of big name DJ's.
The party scene in Ibiza is more crowded than ever and as nights become more commercial its going to get progressively harder for breakthrough nights to make a splash on the island in the way Defected and, in a different way, Hed Kandi did, moving up from venues like El Divino to the likes of Pacha and Space. As far as I can see promoters are going to continue to look towards booking big names rather than taking a punt on smaller nights with smaller names.
Anyway we'll be watching this one closely for an official announcement (which I don't think has come yet) from either side.
What do you think, could Pacha transform El Divino's fortunes?
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