After a winter slumber, Ibiza's super-clubs are just starting to wake up. There's no dancing just yet, but we're in the thick of announcement season. Partying is not far away. In the meantime, the island's global influence continues elsewhere in the world.
During the low season, we bring you club reviews from Ibiza favourites at other party destinations from around the world as we build hype towards summer.
This is the road to Ibiza 2026.
First up, we are indoctrinated into the ways of Forward Motion, celebrating its third birthday before the party embarks on its first season on Ibiza with five dates at O Beach.
Forward Motion's 3rd Birthday | Studio 338
Saturday 31 January
Should you have the privilege of being old enough, cast your mind back to the years between 2012 and 2014.
Crosstown Rebels was the hottest imprint on the underground. One Jamie Jones was becoming a breakout star at DC10. His label, Hot Creations, was also coming to the fore. Ali Love was the voice of a generation of House music. The London party and after-hours scene was thriving.
Whether we were ignorant of it at the time or not, we were living through a golden age in clubland. A new era of Deep House was booming.
Around the same time, a plucky young promoter called Kai Cant was cutting his teeth with Fortay, while Steven Cee was tasting success with Wiley's club night Eskimo Dance. Eventually, their paths would intertwine.
Fast forward to today, and much has changed, but for the ones who partied through it, we'll always hold a candle for that era.
Celebrating its third birthday, Forward Motion, a collaboration between the aforementioned now-seasoned promoters, returned to its London home, Studio 338. By design, the party has sought to tap into the same zeitgeist of the 2012 to 2014 years.
At the start of the day, it hadn't even been on this clubber's agenda. City-bound for an evening at FOLD in nearby Canning Town. After some deliberation, activity in the group chat resulted in a last-minute detour. North Greenwich was our new destination. The stars had aligned for an unplanned reunion. Yours truly was prepared to be the fall guy if things didn't work out.
After starting our night in the garden and bumping into a few familiar faces, we eventually settled on the terrace, securing a prime piece of real estate on the outer edges of the dancefloor.
Unannounced guest George Smeddles was the next to assume his position in the booth.
Fur Coat and Cari Golden's cult classic You & I left us in no doubt as to what we should be reaching for next. A long-term after-party favourite, it was a rare delight to catch it out in the wild and we savoured the opportunity when presented.
Collectively, we all lost our minds when we recognised Jamie Jones' Tourist Trap remix coming in.
Overall, it's difficult to calculate the number of classics and forgotten gems that we were treated to over the course of the day.
Pirupa's Party Non-Stop, Danny Daze & Louisahhh's Your Everything, Richy Ahmed's The Drums and Claude VonStroke's Who's Afraid Of Detroit? all got plays, as we were enraptured by sets from Jnr Windross, Artikal, Larry Ababio, Lloyd Nwagboso and Steven Cee himself.
Before the end, there was still time to race back to the garden to catch one of our own, Holly Hutch, play the go-home set.
On a personal level, this felt like two worlds colliding. Two friendship circles thrust together for the first (and arguably long-overdue) time had the potential to go one of two ways. In the end, it couldn't have gone better, as one large, harmonious super-group was formed. My heart was full.
This was probably no fluke.
Everywhere you looked and everybody you bumped into, were all smiles, laughter and getting lost in the music. Uncompromised good vibes. So my trusted sources tell me, this was no exception, but rather the prevailing direction of travel Forward Motion has quickly established a name for.
The over-25s door policy obviously has a big impact on this, while the actual average age of attendees probably sits in the mid to late-30s range.
Aside from the wide variety of ages, it also had one of the most diverse ethnic makeups of any party we can recall attending.
Even a cloakroom in almost comedic disarray, threatened to dampen our mood, but couldn't. In the coming weeks, that end-of-night debacle will be forgotten. But memories of the music and the people - that will stay with us for a long time.
It might've only been my first Forward Motion, but it won't be my last. As for our last-minute change of plans? One of the best calls ever made. No regrets.
Thanks to Holly, Giles, Somerset, Goose, Olly, Lauren and birthday girl Kathryn for making it one to remember.
After one-offs in 2024 and 2025, Forward Motion has its first monthly residency on Ibiza to look forward to this summer.
You can relive the golden era of Deep House at O Beach Ibiza on the first Monday of every month from May to October.
Tickets for all six dates are on sale now and available to buy below.
PHOTOGRAPHY | by Vision Seven
