Pacha Sharm El Sheik, E
gypt
Marc Vedo’s h
AAA
omecoming
ACCESS
ALL
AREAS
Sheikh it baby
We venture to Pacha in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh for the club’s biggest
night on the calendar — New Year’s Eve
f you ever wanted proof that real thing than the middle-aged singer we afternoon in Blackpool. (electro-house remix of Flash Gordon
I
authenticity and globalisation just fi nd singing Bob Sinclar’s ‘World Hold On’ In fact, it terms of aesthetics the moonlit anyone?) but for the clubbing tourists it
don’t mix, then Egypt’s Sharm El to a wrinkly gaggle of jiving beach side setting eclipses the Ibiza template seems this is just the ticket.
Sheikh is surely it. Not more than a holiday-makers. altogether with a decorative pool, By the time Pacha Ibiza’s secret weapon
sleepy fi shing village some 20 years hanging glitterballs and draping masts Andy Baxter leads things down tough,
back, it has since developed into a Of course, to every rule there is an lending it a cinematic look halfway techier textures the sun’s rays are arcing
premier diving resort and a shrine of exception and stepping into Sharm’s between the set of Pirates Of The up over the stage and breaking us into a
global tourism as a result — awash with Pacha we think we might just have Caribbean and Aphrodite’s Palace. Even new year.
Big Macs, Bargain Buckets, Hyatts and uncovered it. Rather than a tepid, the VIP areas are layered tastefully around Pacha Sharm El Sheikh might not be the
Hiltons. tasteless imitation, Sharm’s Pacha is a the fl oor’s edges. original but in many ways it might just be
Indeed, Sharm’s well-packaged offer of consuming, exquisite reshaping of the the best. ALLAN MCGRATH
coral splendour and eternal sunshine original’s ingredients. Equalling the Ibiza Open a full 365 nights a year thanks to the
might reel in thousands of tourists each prototype in understated elegance, Pacha constant tourist infl ux, the Egyptian wing
year but you’re more likely to fi nd an Sharm somehow stretches out a single, is now leading the Pacha family in terms
authentic Egyptian meal in London’s central amphitheatre over three sprawling of activity too. Even by the globe-
Marble Arch than on Sharm’s Na’am Bay. fl oors without losing that cherished conquering standards of the Pacha
SHEIKH DOWN
And the cultural dilution works both ways. Pacha intimacy. empire, the Sharm El Sheikh venture has
For whilst Sharm’s menus boast laughably Looking closely up above, we soon realise success stamped all over it.
1. Pacha Sharm El Sheikh was opened
of ‘better stroganovs than in Russia’, the it’s also blessed with the open-air ceiling Their annual New Year’s Eve spectacular,
in April 2004 having previously run as
cuisine here — be it Russian, Chinese or that is only possible in an area where the tonight is the biggest party it will witness
the Bus Stop venue.
Italian — bears less resemblance to the annual rainfall is matched by a January for some 364 days too and with the clock
ticking towards midnight the place is
2. To cater for the global gathering,
shoulder packed with over 3,500
New Years’s Eve countdowns took
pan-global revellers.
place on the screens for England and
Looking down from the VIP areas, Russian
Italy.
playboys and Egyptian moneymen sip
champagne fl utes and nibble canapés but
3. Originally open six days a week,
on the fl oor the atmosphere is as volcanic
the venue has been open every day of
as the pyrotechnics that fl ame up when
the year since August 2007.
the clock fi nally hits midnight.
As local hero Ouzo takes his lush proggy
4. Pacha Sharm El Sheikh was the
journey into big room electro territory,
fi rst Pacha in the Africas and Middle
svelte Russian dancers are weaving
East, later followed by Pacha
balletic fi gures on the ropes above him
Marrakesh and Nigeria’s Pacha Lagos.
and Egyptians, Australians, Americans
and Europeans all mix in a whoop of
5. Danny Tenaglia, Steve Lawler,
TT
KA
universal cheers and screams.
Axwell, David Guetta and John
OC
The Pacha agency’s Spanish talent, Juan
Digweed are just some of the DJs that
Diaz then takes the reigns and steers
have played the venue.
things the wrong side of big room
BETH CR
pics:
050
www.djmag.com
DJ470.AAA_pasha.indd 50 19/1/09 14:25:06
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