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I partied at UK's biggest nightclubs in 80s & 90s…but, at 57, can I keep up with the ‘Gravers' at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot?

I partied at UK's biggest nightclubs in 80s & 90s…but, at 57, can I keep up with the ‘Gravers' at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot?

The Irish Sun15 hours ago
THE last easyJet flight of the night from Luton touched down in Ibiza to a round of applause and shouts of 'Oi Oi!'
It was 11.40pm, I was ready for a nice cup of chamomile tea and bed, but the two Essex ravers, who looked barely out of their teens, in the seats ahead had other ideas.
Advertisement
5
Oliver Harvey partied alongside the 'Gravers' at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot UNVRS
Credit: Louis Wood
5
Oliver partied at the UK's biggest nightclubs in the 80s and 90s
Credit: Louis Wood
5
The club's mammoth, red-glowing dome ­dominates the skyline like St Paul's Cathedral in London
Credit: Louis Wood
'We're going to Amnesia, mate' one gurned — that's a nightclub, not the condition experienced by some middle-aged folk like me.
While I was with the young ­clubbers in spirit, my 57-year-old dad bod said a firm no.
I was saving myself for the big one —
Pronounced 'universe,' it is
Advertisement
read more on ibiza
Its superstar DJs including
Footie ace Jude Bellingham was at the opening night last month.
So, staring down the barrel of 60, would I be able to cut it at clubland's hottest ticket?
Advertisement
Most read in Fabulous
Exclusive
And would I be the only relic from the halcyon days of Eighties and Nineties clubbing still trying to throw shapes?
Known as Gravers, I was interested to talk to survivors from the rave era for whom the party won't stop until the Grim Reaper calls.
I'm the UK's oldest clubber - I still wear a bikini at 86 & spent my summer partying with my granddaughter, I'm the last one standing at 3am
I haven't been to a nightclub for decades, but back in the day I graced London clubs
With Cardiff-born superstar DJ Jamie Jones on the UNVRS decks on Wednesday, I headed to this ­pinnacle of modern clubbing, hoping to rekindle the rave era spirit.
Advertisement
I bought an early-bird ticket for 55 euros, which means you must arrive at UNVRS before midnight.
VIP tickets go for £425-plus.
As you journey inland towards San Rafael de la Cruz, the club's mammoth, red-glowing dome ­dominates the skyline like St Paul's Cathedral in London.
I joined the queue with thousands of women in barely there skirts and boob tubes and well-honed guys in shorts and tees.
Advertisement
Most looked young enough to be my grandchildren.
Security thoroughly patted me down, then I entered another world.
Intense white light cascaded from a mirror ball into my eyes as the unrelenting bass seemed to rattle my chest bone.
This being Gen Z clubbing, there was an immediate opportunity to update your socials at the transparent selfie booth.
Advertisement
A sweeping staircase leads to a huge dance floor with a raised DJ booth at the far end, and it was soon a swarming mass.
Just like the old days, the hands are in the air when the music reaches a crescendo, but now thousands of phones are held aloft, recording every beep and thud for posterity . . . and Instagram.
UNVRS began life as Club San Rafael in the 1970s, later changing its name to KU Club and then ­Privilege.
'DON'T EVER CHANGE DAD'
Celebs who once partied there include Bowie, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Tina Turner.
Advertisement
In the 1990s, it hosted the ­infamous Manumission night, which featured live sex acts on stage.
UNVRS is less decadent for a ­different age, drawing a very glam and British — crowd.
With my back aching from too much standing, it was time for a beer and a sit down at the cavernous Dome Bar. I wince at the price list.
A 33cl bottle of Heinken? That's £15, guv.
Advertisement
A bottle of water is nearly £13 and a vodka- redbull around £23.
Also catching some air were clubbers approaching my own age.
Department store manager Jose Antonio, 55, his wife Maria, 56, and their son Alonso, 21, were on ­holiday from Marbella in Spain.
Asking Jose what brought them to the hyper club, he revealed: 'We like electronic music and know Jamie Jones and, of course, we are going to dance and will stay for two or three hours.'
Advertisement
Student Alonso, meanwhile, points out a decent advantage to going clubbing with your parents, revealing: 'They paid!'
But Andrew Killin, 56, from North London, who has been to Ibiza ten times over the years, said he wasn't impressed by the sprawling size of the club, finding it a little 'soulless'.
5
DJ Chinny reckons you are never too old to rave
Credit: Louis Wood
5
Jose Antonio, 55, his wife Maria, 56, and their son Alonso, 21, all partied together
Credit: Louis Wood
Advertisement
In the main room I spot a greying figure with large specs nodding his head as if entranced by the beat.
Skegness dad-of-four Matthew O'Connor, 57, tells me he's been 'havin' it' since 1988.
I'd found a bone-fide Graver.
'I couldn't be on the island, in light of all the hype, and not come to UNVRS,' he told me.
Advertisement
'I wanted to see it and I'm quite wowed.'
So are his kids embarrassed that he is still raving as he approaches his seventh decade?
'Quite the opposite,' he insists.
'They tell me, 'Don't ever f***ing change, Dad'.'
Advertisement
Matthew — aka DJ Chinny — turns out to be a great raconteur who still 'loves' this party island.
'I came out here in 1988 raving then in 1989 went to Tenerife where things also f***ing exploded,' he revealed. '
Since then I haven't been to Ibiza every year, but it's a love affair that's lasted.'
'IF IT'S IN YOU, IT'S IN YOU'
He's still DJ-ing while running a ­decorating business, and I ask if his clubbing was ever fuelled by drugs?
Advertisement
'I've experimented over the years,' he added.
'It was all about ecstasy and LSD.
'That's back in the day.
'I'm proud now that my weapon of choice is alcohol.
Advertisement
'I'm of the age now where I really need to slow down!'
Finally, I asked this fellow 57-year-old if we are too old to rave?
'I'm the same age as the parents of some of the guys I travelled out here with. I'm like the old fossil,' he reveals.
'If it's in you, it's in you.'
Advertisement
With Matthew's assurance ringing in my ears I head back to the dance floor and throw my arms in the air to the pumping music.
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Horror films killing it at the box office, say analysts
Horror films killing it at the box office, say analysts

RTÉ News​

time3 hours ago

  • RTÉ News​

Horror films killing it at the box office, say analysts

Vampires, zombies, and the Grim Reaper are killing it at the box office. At a time when superheroes, sequels, and reboots have grown stale among audiences, horror has emerged as an unlikely saviour, entertainment industry veterans say. This year, scary movies account for 17% of the North American ticket purchases, up from 11% in 2024 and 4% a decade ago, according to Comscore data compiled exclusively for Reuters. Thanks to the box office performance of Sinners and Final Destination: Bloodlines, and new installments of popular horror films arriving later this year, including The Conjuring: Last Rites and Five Nights at Freddy's 2, cinema owners have reason to celebrate. "We have identified horror as really one of the primary film genres that we are targeting to grow," said Brandt Gully, owner of the Springs Cinema & Taphouse in Sandy Springs, Georgia. "It can really fill a void when you need it." Producers, studio executives, and cinema owners say horror has historically provided a safe outlet to cope with contemporary anxieties. And there is no lack of material to choose from: the aftershocks of a global pandemic, artificial intelligence paranoia, the loss of control over one's body, and resurgent racism. "It's cathartic, it's emotional, and it comes with an ending," said film data analyst Stephen Follows, author of the Horror Movie Report, which offers detailed insights into the genre. "Horror movies give space to process things that are harder to face in everyday life." The often low-budget productions allow for greater risk-taking than would be possible with high-cost, high-stakes productions like Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. The creative freedom has attracted such acclaimed directors as Ryan Coogler, Jordan Peele, Danny Boyle, and Guillermo del Toro. Watch: Danny Boyle discusses 28 Years Later with RTÉ Entertainment 's Alan Corr "Horror movies are an accountant's dream," said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore Senior Media Analyst. "If you're going to make a science-fiction outer-space extravaganza, you can't do that on the cheap. "With horror films, a modest-budget movie like Weapons can be scary as hell." Audiences are responding. Ryan Coogler's Sinners, an original story about Mississippi vampires starring Michael B Jordan, was the year's third highest-grossing film in the US and Canada to date, according to Comscore. Cinemas are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic that broke the cinema-going habit and increased viewing in the home. Mike De Luca, Co-Chair and Co-CEO of Warner Bros Motion Picture Group, which released Sinner s, said horror was a genre that manages to get people out of the house. "It's a rising tide that lifts all boats," he said. "You know, we're trying to get people back in the habit of going to the theatres." Fear knows no geographical bounds. Half of all horror films released by major US distributors last year made 50% or more of their worldwide box office gross outside the US, according to London-based researcher Ampere Analysis. The breakout international hit The Substance, for example, grossed over $77 million worldwide - with around 80% of that from outside the US. Streamers also are similarly capitalising on the appeal of the genre. AMC's post-apocalyptic horror drama series The Walking Dead became one of the most popular series when it was added to Netflix in 2023, amassing 1.3 billion hours viewed, according to Netflix's Engagement Report. Director Guillermo del Toro's film adaptation of Mary Shelley's gothic novel Frankenstein is set to debut in November. Date night Horror films are ideally suited to watching in cinemas, where the environment heightens the experience. 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Announcements of new horror films from US producers have risen each year for the last three years, including in 2023, when the Hollywood strikes significantly impacted production, according to Ampere Analysis. The number of US horror films that went into production last year was up 21% over 2023, Ampere found. "While more arthouse fare and even some tentpole superhero franchises have had mixed fortunes at the global box office in the wake of the pandemic, horror remains one of the key genres that audiences still make a point of seeing in the theatres," wrote researcher Alice Thorpe in a report for Ampere's clients that she shared with Reuters. The researcher's own consumer surveys revealed horror is the favourite genre among two-thirds of cinema-goers, ages 18 to 24. "Any time a teenager graduates to wanting to take a date to the movies, horror gets popular really fast," said Warner Bros' Mike De Luca. 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'Don't go in there!'" said Screen Gems President Ashley Brucks, who has worked on such films as Sony's upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer as well as A Quiet Place and Scream.

Singing surgeon's Cork family home in rude good health
Singing surgeon's Cork family home in rude good health

Irish Examiner

time15 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Singing surgeon's Cork family home in rude good health

A MEDICAL career that moved around Ireland and the UK ended up with a return to Cork and a medic's local reputation as the Singing Surgeon as only part of the story of 1 The Grove. 1 The Grove The substantial detached family home was bought brand new back around 2004 by Dick (Richard) and Sheila Creedon after they returned from Manchester. Having started a family of three youngsters, they flitted from Drogheda and London also: sons Oliver and Richard and daughter Sinéad only slowly warmed to the notion of rural life back in Ireland, first in Innishannon and then here, closer to Cork City at Crossbarry. The couple met when Inchigeela native and orthopaedic surgeon Dick Creedon met Navan woman Sheila (nee Roberts), a nurse, back in the 1990s. Their careers followed medical postings that eventually saw the Bon Secours (and, later the Mater Private) lure them home. Homecoming A love of sport helped their children settle in and make new friends after uprooting from Manchester, and sport also rears its head in that No 1 The Grove was built by the highly regarded local builder Fachtna Crowley, father of Munster and Ireland professional rugby player Jack Crowley. On the ball No 1 is in the front row of six houses in The Grove, home to a mix of families of several ages and it was a perfect place to grow up, with rural freedoms, yet local conveniences and easy proximity to the city, says son Oliver. The blues He and brother Richard trained as engineers, sister Sinéad is a writer and works in publishing (she co-produces the literary and creative writing magazine Sonder). Oliver admits that it was their father Dick who got the reputation as a bit of a rocker, singing and performing in bars including regular gigs at local Barrett's Bar in nearby Killeady, playing a mix from Neil Young to country and the likes of Glen Campbell and John Denver. Case notes The Singing Surgeon's many, many guitars, amps and the odd banjo still adorn rooms at No 1, now for sale after the passing of the Inchigeela-born man in 2017, predeceased by his wife Sheila in 2013. Tasked with the sale is estate agent Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald, listing it at €695,000 and expecting interest from trade-up and relocating families. It's spacious, with four first floor bedrooms of which two are en suite with walk-in robes, and there's a second floor with two more rooms, one used as a home office up to now with adjoining bathroom. Ms Healy there's scope for two more bedrooms here, subject to planning. At ground level is a good floorplan, with reception rooms left and right of a central hallway, each with bay windows (finished externally in brick), with a wider kitchen/dining room behind, linking to a sun room, also has a utility and guest WC. There's also a large attached garage, and an overall good mature site with rear patio by the sunroom, and there's a C1 BER. Just in need of a décor update and possible change of wall colours now, No 1 The Grove's within a two minute walk of the local Crossbarry shop and filling station, with easy access to the N70 West Cork route as well as to Halfway, Killumney, Waterfall and Wilton/Bishopstown. VERDICT: Family home of 'the Singing Sawbones' has good bones itself.

I partied at UK's biggest nightclubs in 80s & 90s…but, at 57, can I keep up with the ‘Gravers' at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot?
I partied at UK's biggest nightclubs in 80s & 90s…but, at 57, can I keep up with the ‘Gravers' at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot?

The Irish Sun

time15 hours ago

  • The Irish Sun

I partied at UK's biggest nightclubs in 80s & 90s…but, at 57, can I keep up with the ‘Gravers' at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot?

THE last easyJet flight of the night from Luton touched down in Ibiza to a round of applause and shouts of 'Oi Oi!' It was 11.40pm, I was ready for a nice cup of chamomile tea and bed, but the two Essex ravers, who looked barely out of their teens, in the seats ahead had other ideas. Advertisement 5 Oliver Harvey partied alongside the 'Gravers' at Gen-Z Ibiza hotspot UNVRS Credit: Louis Wood 5 Oliver partied at the UK's biggest nightclubs in the 80s and 90s Credit: Louis Wood 5 The club's mammoth, red-glowing dome ­dominates the skyline like St Paul's Cathedral in London Credit: Louis Wood 'We're going to Amnesia, mate' one gurned — that's a nightclub, not the condition experienced by some middle-aged folk like me. While I was with the young ­clubbers in spirit, my 57-year-old dad bod said a firm no. I was saving myself for the big one — Pronounced 'universe,' it is Advertisement read more on ibiza Its superstar DJs including Footie ace Jude Bellingham was at the opening night last month. So, staring down the barrel of 60, would I be able to cut it at clubland's hottest ticket? Advertisement Most read in Fabulous Exclusive And would I be the only relic from the halcyon days of Eighties and Nineties clubbing still trying to throw shapes? Known as Gravers, I was interested to talk to survivors from the rave era for whom the party won't stop until the Grim Reaper calls. I'm the UK's oldest clubber - I still wear a bikini at 86 & spent my summer partying with my granddaughter, I'm the last one standing at 3am I haven't been to a nightclub for decades, but back in the day I graced London clubs With Cardiff-born superstar DJ Jamie Jones on the UNVRS decks on Wednesday, I headed to this ­pinnacle of modern clubbing, hoping to rekindle the rave era spirit. Advertisement I bought an early-bird ticket for 55 euros, which means you must arrive at UNVRS before midnight. VIP tickets go for £425-plus. As you journey inland towards San Rafael de la Cruz, the club's mammoth, red-glowing dome ­dominates the skyline like St Paul's Cathedral in London. I joined the queue with thousands of women in barely there skirts and boob tubes and well-honed guys in shorts and tees. Advertisement Most looked young enough to be my grandchildren. Security thoroughly patted me down, then I entered another world. Intense white light cascaded from a mirror ball into my eyes as the unrelenting bass seemed to rattle my chest bone. This being Gen Z clubbing, there was an immediate opportunity to update your socials at the transparent selfie booth. Advertisement A sweeping staircase leads to a huge dance floor with a raised DJ booth at the far end, and it was soon a swarming mass. Just like the old days, the hands are in the air when the music reaches a crescendo, but now thousands of phones are held aloft, recording every beep and thud for posterity . . . and Instagram. UNVRS began life as Club San Rafael in the 1970s, later changing its name to KU Club and then ­Privilege. 'DON'T EVER CHANGE DAD' Celebs who once partied there include Bowie, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Tina Turner. Advertisement In the 1990s, it hosted the ­infamous Manumission night, which featured live sex acts on stage. UNVRS is less decadent for a ­different age, drawing a very glam and British — crowd. With my back aching from too much standing, it was time for a beer and a sit down at the cavernous Dome Bar. I wince at the price list. A 33cl bottle of Heinken? That's £15, guv. Advertisement A bottle of water is nearly £13 and a vodka- redbull around £23. Also catching some air were clubbers approaching my own age. Department store manager Jose Antonio, 55, his wife Maria, 56, and their son Alonso, 21, were on ­holiday from Marbella in Spain. Asking Jose what brought them to the hyper club, he revealed: 'We like electronic music and know Jamie Jones and, of course, we are going to dance and will stay for two or three hours.' Advertisement Student Alonso, meanwhile, points out a decent advantage to going clubbing with your parents, revealing: 'They paid!' But Andrew Killin, 56, from North London, who has been to Ibiza ten times over the years, said he wasn't impressed by the sprawling size of the club, finding it a little 'soulless'. 5 DJ Chinny reckons you are never too old to rave Credit: Louis Wood 5 Jose Antonio, 55, his wife Maria, 56, and their son Alonso, 21, all partied together Credit: Louis Wood Advertisement In the main room I spot a greying figure with large specs nodding his head as if entranced by the beat. Skegness dad-of-four Matthew O'Connor, 57, tells me he's been 'havin' it' since 1988. I'd found a bone-fide Graver. 'I couldn't be on the island, in light of all the hype, and not come to UNVRS,' he told me. Advertisement 'I wanted to see it and I'm quite wowed.' So are his kids embarrassed that he is still raving as he approaches his seventh decade? 'Quite the opposite,' he insists. 'They tell me, 'Don't ever f***ing change, Dad'.' Advertisement Matthew — aka DJ Chinny — turns out to be a great raconteur who still 'loves' this party island. 'I came out here in 1988 raving then in 1989 went to Tenerife where things also f***ing exploded,' he revealed. ' Since then I haven't been to Ibiza every year, but it's a love affair that's lasted.' 'IF IT'S IN YOU, IT'S IN YOU' He's still DJ-ing while running a ­decorating business, and I ask if his clubbing was ever fuelled by drugs? Advertisement 'I've experimented over the years,' he added. 'It was all about ecstasy and LSD. 'That's back in the day. 'I'm proud now that my weapon of choice is alcohol. Advertisement 'I'm of the age now where I really need to slow down!' Finally, I asked this fellow 57-year-old if we are too old to rave? 'I'm the same age as the parents of some of the guys I travelled out here with. I'm like the old fossil,' he reveals. 'If it's in you, it's in you.' Advertisement With Matthew's assurance ringing in my ears I head back to the dance floor and throw my arms in the air to the pumping music. Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.

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