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NOCTURNA, THE PLACE FOR NIGHT CATS
NOCTURNA, THE PLACE FOR NIGHT CATS
A first season underground, intimate and unapologetically focused on music
By Laura Martínez
After a summer of packed dance floors, carefully curated residencies and some of the island’s most distinctive underground nights, Nocturna is entering the final stretch of its first season with a clear identity — and a community that has quickly made the club its own.
Tucked beneath Los Felices Hotel in Cala de Bou, Nocturna arrived this summer with a simple but increasingly rare proposition: a club where the music comes first. Now, several months and countless nights into its inaugural season, that idea has moved beyond the concept stage. It has become a way of doing things.
Created by Concept Hotel Group and Tokyo Industries, Nocturna was designed as an intimate alternative to Ibiza’s larger clubs, with room for 380 people and an emphasis on sound, atmosphere and connection. Its high-fidelity sound system, underground setting and no-mobile policy have shaped an experience that feels deliberately removed from the usual rhythms of club culture. No screens, no constant documentation, no distractions — just the music, the people around you and whatever happens next.
And if the first season has proved anything, it is that there is an appetite for exactly that.
One of the strongest examples has been OpenLab + Friends, the Friday night residency that has brought together some of the most forward-thinking names in underground house and electronic music. Week after week, the series has developed a remarkably loyal following, turning Fridays at Nocturna into a regular meeting point for DJs, dancers and music lovers looking for something beyond the obvious.
The residency continues into the final weeks of the season with a series of particularly strong collaborations. Yoyaku joins OpenLab on September 18, followed by Milan’s Rollover, with special guest Paula Tape, on October 2. On October 9, Roots x Save The Rave brings together Janeret, Tania Vulcano and Cumhur Jay for another meeting of different generations and corners of the underground.
Residencies have been another defining part of Nocturna’s first summer. Among its Artists in Residence, Nightmares on Wax still has two dates to come, on September 19 and October 10, while Marlie’s Motel heads towards its closing party on September 26 with special guest Mella Dee.
Together, these nights have helped establish something that cannot really be designed or programmed into existence: a sense of community. The idea was always one of Nocturna’s four central pillars — alongside sound, service and design — but after a full season, it is perhaps the one that feels most tangible.
The club’s physical identity has played its part, too. Designed by Soo Wilkinson in collaboration with Dukant Atelier, Nocturna’s interiors combine texture, atmosphere and a distinctly timeless quality.
Andrew Livesey’s music direction and curation has shaped a programme with a strong point of view, while the visual identity by Pascal Moscheni and Daniel Sansavini gives the club a world of its own.
But ultimately, Nocturna’s first season has not been about creating another place to go out in Ibiza. It has been about creating a place people want to return to.
As summer gives way to autumn, the club is heading towards its final weeks of the season with the same philosophy with which it opened: music at the centre, an intimate dance floor and a crowd that understands that sometimes the best nights are the ones you never take your phone out for.
The season will culminate in Nocturna’s closing weekend on October 16 and 17, with extended events bringing together a selection of its residents and very special guests for two final nights that promise to reflect the eclectic spirit of the club’s first chapter.
One summer in, Nocturna has already found its rhythm. Now comes the final dance.