In the wine regions of Buscastell and Sant Mateu, the excellent Can Maymo and other popular small vineyards are at harvest. They’ve been making wine here since the Carthaginians introduced it in the 7th century B.C, and the Can Maymo tinto tradicion is my favourite of all Spanish wines. Filtered through frigola (bunches of thyme) it is the most excellent companion to any winter meal. The harvest is one of the special parts of summer’s end in this region; an agricultural island hotspot, with rich fields and vines spread across the fertile soils just inland from the northwest coast. Fields, one or two charming country restaurants, farmers cycling or on tractor. Fincas, hundreds of years old, dotted on hillsides. Rare birds. Citrus terraces built by the Romans. And, with a view over the Buscastell harvest, the legendary Pike’s Hotel.
Tony Pike on Freddie, George, Joan et al
Early November. Tony Pike is entertained by the new puppy who is the current welcoming face of the hotel; Marley bounds around the car park greeting the few friends, select guests and family entourage who are still around after summer has waned. Tony is in fine form, despite a long and, as ever, rousing season. Now in his seventies, Tony is sparkling and full of adventure. He has seen more than anyone’s fair share of it too. Everyone has a Pike’s story. This is the place Freddie Mercury had his 41st birthday party, would be mine.
“How I met Freddie I honestly have no idea! He just sort of evolved and became a part of my life. But this little hotel is like that. I mean it’s not really a hotel, it’s a little resort, and people come here and they fall in love with it. Sometimes when they fall in love with it, they fall in love with me. So I’ve used that to gain their confidence, their allegiance. And I do need their support. I never came here to make money, Helen. I came here to create a lifestyle. And I did. Some of the world’s most famous people: Julio [Iglesias], George Michael, Bon Jovi, all saying ‘Pikey, you have got a fantastic lifestyle!’. Well, that’s why I’ve done it.”
One of the most endearing qualities of the place is that it is has a pervasive atmosphere of fun with not a smidgeon of pomp. It feels cosy and very lived in. The rooms are all unique, and filled with character. It is a great place for a party. And you can feel Pike’s piquant presence in every corner.
“Freddie was such an impressive person. He wanted 500 guests for his birthday party: 200 guests to dine and then for me to provide tapas for the rest. Well, we ended up seating 400 in the back terrace alone. I had three days in which to get the party together. They asked for the best private party they’d ever seen. I’ve got a very good friend here called Pino Sagliocco, actually they’ve just made him an ambassador for Ibiza, wonderful man. He started as a promoter when he was very young, grew a beard to make himself look older. My daughter’s five months younger than his. Anyway, I could not have done Freddie’s party without him. He was a very worldly young boy, having come here from Naples, and he learned Spanish immediately. He became so popular he had all the top stars here wanting him to be their sole agent. He first came here with Spandau Ballet.”
Sagliocco is the man behind the Ibiza 92 festival which ran over a few years and involved international star performances at Privilege (then called Ku), the island’s theatrical cathedral of performance, an alter to the rock ‘n roll heritage which brought so many people here in the 1970s and 1980s. You can still feel it inside the club. The energy dancing with operatic ghosts. Icons like Grace Jones, Joan Baez, James Brown, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Suzanne Vega and of course Freddie and Montserrat, for the Olympic games, all graced this stage.
“I had a bit of a mental thing with Joan,” continues Pike. “She said she wanted to sing me a love song, and she did. With fifty people watching. They loved it, all applauding. Then she got up and danced like Zorba the Greek. Everyone was dancing with her round the pool. She made me fall in love with her. I took her to lunch in Formentera. It was lovely. She’s a very interesting person. Wonderful. She did a drawing, a caricature of me sailing her back from Formentera. She was terrified of sailing. I convinced her to hold tight and trust me.”
“Grace Jones was such a wild person . . .” Pike recalls, twinkling. They have often spoken of each other with great affection. “All the stars that Pino brought in, this is where they stayed. Tony Curtis was here. And Wham was a total bit of luck. Some guy was looking out for a locale and he saw me. I was here working on the place and he asked me if I’d like to do a video here. I said no, I’m not ready for it, but he talked me into it. So out they came. Anyway, funny story, on the plane over George [Michael] was talking to the director and the guy realised he’d left all the cameras at Heathrow! It cost three and a half grand for a private jet to bring all the photographic equipment out, and they’re doing it on a shoestring budget. Twenty five thou for the whole deal. Well, George took over the direction and it got Best Video at one of the Awards. It also made me.” We’re talking of course about the immortal Club Tropicana video, filmed in Pike’s pool, and a bestselling single for Wham at the time. Pike is also in the video, all moustache and maracas.
Today the pool has hardly changed, the ambience as real as ever. Relaxed and self-confident, like Pike, like his hotel. I’ve heard enough stories to fill a book, but I will let Pike tell them himself in his forthcoming autobiography. Wild caribbean drug orgies. Sailing adventures with various wives, celebrities and titled friends that took him all over the world. He’s been in and out of one type of trouble or another several times over. One of his guests upsetting hotel regular Prince von Bismarck because of a party. The many women (his current wife is a practising Muslim). Busts. Jail on Ibiza. “It was like Midnight Express in there”. Gypsies catapulting hashish into the prison yard in Dalt Vila so the inmates could have a party. Prince Hanover and his then wife Chantal Hochuli getting “caught red-handed” by Pike’s benighted receptionist because he innocently raided the pool bar fridge late at night with the munchies. Connections, connections . . . Here’s to his promising autobiography then.
Meanwhile, in the quiet morning which has turned into mid-afternoon following our extensive on and off the record chat, I drive back via Privilege. It is now all closed up for the season, basking in the aftermath of its hugely popular closing party, and for which the management asked their summer sensation SuperMartXé to take over. The party went on till the following afternoon. I was sorry now to be missing their much-awaited London premiere a few weeks later at the Coronet, and remembered the Privilege opening back in June when we were all floored by the instant magical alchemy that filled those Friday nights. I was even sorrier when the reports came back in, “this is just what London’s been waiting for!”, “Best party of the year!” and dozens of other fan messages flooded their Facebook site the next day.
The Privilege closing party here almost ran into the great end of season party itself, the Space Closing Party, which as ever brought the summer season to an almighty climax. The line-up included Deadmau5, Danny Tenaglia, Fedde le Grand, Pete Tong, Groove Armada, David Guetta, John Digweed, Steve Lawler and Wally Lopez, as well as over a dozen local luminaries. The fallout could be felt for days afterwards. In other words silence, tranquility, the now familiar slide into party hibernation.
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