Nightlife
Yann Pissenem reveals how he got the party re-started in Ibiza
With his daytime parties, the founder of Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel and Hï Ibiza has reignited the island's club scene. Find out how he became a nightlife mogul here.
If you were one of the 3m tourists who holidayed in Ibiza last summer, chances are you paid a visit to one of the clubs run by Yann Pissenem. For the last decade, the 44-year-old French nightlife entrepreneur has been revitalising the island’s party scene, creating daytime open-air events which have triggered a global trend.
In 2008, he set up Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Club in Playa d’en Bossa with this new afternoon-partying concept in mind. Its closing party in 2010 drew 14,000 revellers. The following year, Pissenem opened the 4,500-capacity Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel, which he describes as “an amusement park for adults”, and where, during the day, the party flows from the poolside to the main stage until midnight.
In 2017, the same team launched Hï Ibiza, a transformation of one of the island’s most cherished clubs – Space – into one of its most lavish and technologically advanced nightlife experiences.
Pissenem has come a long way since his first teenage job at McDonald’s in north-east France. “I cooked a lot of burgers and burned my hands a lot,” he says from his Ibiza office, where he’s putting the finishing touches to this season’s schedules. Last year, the line-up of resident DJs included some of the world’s biggest names, from David Guetta to Martin Garrix and Kygo.
What’s crucial to his success is a strong sense of control, Pissenem says. He oversees every aspect of the 250-plus shows his nightlife and entertainment company, The Night League, produce at their various venues, through which some 1.5m people will pass during the summer season.
We created something that would unite two generations of clubbers
Pissenem turned the old Space club into Hï Ibiza
© Roberto Castano
“If I’m not on top of the details, I get nervous,” says Pissenem, who trained as a lawyer before cutting his teeth in the hospitality industry during Barcelona’s mid-1990s boom.
Pissenem is a techno fan at heart. “We would drive to Belgium to rave in forests,” he recalls of his youthful adventures. “I used to listen to Nirvana and U2, too, but electronic music has always been my life.”
Continue reading to learn how Pissenem’s passion drove him to the top of Ibiza's nightlife scene.
What led you to Playa d’en Bossa?
I first came to Ibiza in 1994 to party and see the island. I returned in 2008 with my brother, and we discovered that everything was different: no more after-parties, nobody dancing beneath the sun. I saw a gap in the market and started looking for a beach club. One of my friends said there was an opportunity to buy a venue in Playa d’en Bossa, which at that point felt like the end of the world, because it was an empty beach. I came up with the name Ushuaïa, after the southernmost city in Patagonia, which is known as “the end of the world”.
What did that motivate you to do?
I decided to create something during the daytime, in the afternoon, which enabled us to unite two generations of clubbers. The young get the opportunity to party in the sunshine; the older crowd don’t need to wait for the 5am headliner to play.
Rumour has it that after Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Club’s first season in 2008, you still slept in the bar with your dog.
Yes. I came to the island for the summer, so I had no winter house. As I had all my equipment in the beach club, I decided to stay there with my dog, with no light or electricity. I slept on the floor for four months.
Many nightlife entrepreneurs seek success in Ibiza, but most fail. What’s your secret?
You have to control all aspects of the process and be on top of your game from the first draft of an idea until the clients are leaving your venue. Any mistake can destroy the whole experience. We talk about every detail of every event in terms of creation, marketing, development and operation.
Surely you can’t control every aspect of the 250-plus shows you put on each year?
I’m lucky to have the support of a great team, which includes my brother, who's a production genius. He’s the closest person I have in my life, and he turns my ideas into reality. We discuss concepts for shows, then he comes back with 3D plans.
What life lesson has had the biggest impact on your career?
My mum’s an English teacher with a huge knowledge of art, so my parents took me to the theatre once a week and the opera once a month. They taught me the value of culture and continuous learning.
What else do you think you still need to learn?
I must stay engaged with the tastes of the younger generation – especially in my business. I follow all the new talents and try to figure out who's pushing the limits of dance music.
What’s a typical day for you during party season?
I’ll wake at midday. Then I’ll have to read and reply to all of the emails and the messages I’ve received while asleep. Then I’ll have a shower and rush to Ushuaïa. When I get there, I’ll speak to the team.
The event then starts between 5pm and midnight. Next, I’ll cross the road to Hï Ibiza and stay until 8 or 9am. I’ll get home, feed my dogs, then relax for 20 minutes – I can’t get to sleep straight away – and I’ll see my wife and my baby. Then repeat for 120 days straight.