Inside Ibiza’s wildest nightclub with sex shows & bouncer ‘Johnny the Dwarf’ as it’s to reopen for ‘hedonistic weekend’

MAGIC, drag queens, sex shows, and dwarfs – Ibiza’s naughtiest nightclub night Manumission dominated the party scene in the nineties. Three decades later, it’s coming back. Thousands trooped into the hedonistic club night Manumission during its heyday Credit: Alamy The night at Privilege was one of the wildest places in Ibiza in the 1990s Credit: Getty Manumission did not need superstar DJs to draw in huge crowds like other clubs Credit: Alamy The owners of the club often joined in with professional performers for a sex show Credit: Rex Features The infamous drug and sex-fuelled club night made its way from small beginnings in Manchester’s gay village to take over the biggest club in Ibiza, Privilege. Celebrities flocked to Privilege, which closed in 2019, with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Freddie Mercury, Madonna and Tina Turner all making the pilgrimage to party at the famous club. Sign up for the Fabulous newsletter Thank you! But it was the Manumission nights which were to make it infamous, change the face of clubbing and earn Privilege its legendary place in nightclub history. It wasn’t just a club night, but a defining, wild beat of 1990s and 2000s Ibiza hedonism. Manumission’s aim was to create a space where people could party and be as wild as they wanted Credit: Getty Founders Claire and Mike Manumission would take part in the sex shows Credit: Getty The iconic night – launched in 1994 – was the brainchild of brothers Mike and Andy McKay and their partners Claire Davies and Dawn Hindle. The ethos behind ‘Manumission’ – which means ‘freedom from slavery’ – was simple; everyone was welcome to come and do anything and everything. The night launched on Monday nights in Privilege’s Coco Loco bar, or Ku as it was known then. What started as a few hundred clubbers soon spread to thousands as the legendary tales spread. Most read in Fabulous The club had fire dancing, great music and even a floor that converted into a swimming pool Credit: Shutterstock Manumission was considered one of the craziest parties in the world Credit: Shutterstock Before long, the night took over the entire club. Part of the appeal was that the night didn’t need a famous DJ to lure crowds, as the theatrical show they put on was more than enough. As guests arrived, they saw a huge swimming pool in the centre, with a DJ box, acrobats, pyrotechnics and trapeze artists above. But what became truly iconic were Manumission’s infamous sex shows, starring founders Mike and Claire. The owners of Manumission bought a disused brothel and turned it into a motel Credit: Alamy Part of the appeal was that the night didn’t need a famous DJ to lure crowds Credit: Getty Joining professional performers flown in from Amsterdam, the couple would take to the stage to join in with their X-rated performance. Author Irvine Welsh, who DJ-ed at Manumission, told the Observer: “I thought: ‘This is great, you’ve got 10,000 people here.’ But nobody’s watching the DJ box. “And I realise it’s because, looking down, I can see Mike and Claire shagging on one stage and [well-hung contortionist performer] Fernando [Leone] sucking his own cock on the other stage. “I’m thinking: ‘Well, I can’t really compete with that!’” Scantly clad partygoers would troop into the club for a ‘surreal’ experience Credit: Rex Performers were flown over for Amsterdam for shows on the stage Credit: Getty Co-founder Dawn, who was involved with the business side of the club, told Loaded: “The Independent said it was ‘surreal clubbing for the previously disenchanted’. “And it really was. Mike and Claire were very much into the big statement, girls and sex, but me and Andy did the rest of the entertainment. “We’d do things like putting name badges on people, contacting people like Kellogg’s cornflakes and saying ‘can we give everyone cornflakes for breakfast at the end of the night?” Former pyrotechnic troubleshooter and ops manager Elliot Cox gave an insight into some of the antics that went on in the club. He shared: “In the early days the entertainers used to get body painted like green elves; some would go round shining shoes. “One I loved was we’d get people dressed up like some random mystical, mythical character, and they would grab people who were off their heads and give them a key and say ‘here is the key to the special door. “If you can find the door, behind the door is a special VIP lounge with free drinks and free food. We got the keys in a local DIY store – they didn’t fit anything. “By the end of the night we’d given out hundreds of keys to a hundred w***ered tourists who were going round trying to open every single door. The night launched on Monday nights in Privilege’s Coco Loco bar, or Ku as it was known then Credit: Rex Mike and Claire were heavily involved in the performance aspect of the club’s operations Credit: Getty “There was a guy who used to dress up as a television set and another guy who dressed up as a suitcase. He fell in the swimming pool once and nearly drowned.” While the club night gained notoriety, the founders decided to expand their venture further by opening a motel in 1998 to keep the hedonistic party ticking around the clock. They bought a disused brothel at the edge of Ibiza Town for their “house of hedonism”, and opted to keep the waterbeds inside. According to the Observer, Mike said: “It was for the Hemingways and Picassos and Fitzgeralds of our time. “That was the idea. I was always a huge fan of Paris in the 1920s. So I was like: why can’t we make a place where those equivalent people of our times can hang out together?” They hired a team of New York strippers as residents, and stationed a dwarf on the door. Drug smuggler Howard Marks, Jade Jagger and Shaun Ryder were regulars, while Kate Moss, Zoe Ball and Fat Boy Slim all partied there. Radio One DJ Lisa I’Anson famously missed her breakfast show after joining the party. Although the owners tried to move the party to another club, the success could not be repeated Credit: Getty The creators pulled out all the stops for their hedonistic events Credit: Alamy With celebrity guests flocking and people clamouring to get in, security had to be tight, and that was the realm of Johnny the Dwarf. Claire Davies told DJ magazine: “Johnny The Dwarf’ was the doorman.“He’s Irish, he’d grown up in the East End [of London], and he’s really tough. He’d taken a lot of s***, and as a result he wouldn’t take any. “One of my favourite stories about Johnny was that he turned the Hells Angels away, literally hardcore, mean Hells Angels. Johnny just wasn’t letting them in. “The funny thing is that there was a rumour on the island that Johnny had a sawn-off shotgun behind the door, was a kung-fu expert and some kind of porn star. “Nothing of this [was true], but it was the legend that grew because nobody could understand how he could control the door so well.” After just six debauched months, the Motel shut its doors – and the demise of Manumission was to follow. A dispute with the owners of Privilege led to the club night being locked out of the premises on the night of a party in 2008. Manumission briefly moved to another nightclub, Amnesia, but closed its doors for good shortly afterwards. Manumission girls at the club’s 10-year anniversary in Ibiza Credit: Getty The drug and sex-fuelled club night made its way from small beginnings in Manchester’s gay village Credit: Getty Dawn Hindle and her ex-husband and business partner Andy went on to buy the iconic Pikes Hotel – the party palace where Wham! filmed their Club Tropicana video – as well as launching the Ibiza Rocks group. And they resurrected the Manumission nights at Pikes as a trip down memory lane for the middle-aged clubbers who remember its Privilege glory days. Mike and Claire moved just outside Barcelona, and raised their kids – now 21, 23 and 25 – on an “off-grid” farm. However, this party season, the iconic clubnight is coming back. After 18 years away, original founders Andy McKay, along with Mike and Claire Manumission, have reunited to resurrect the iconic 1990s hedonistic spectacle in an event they’ve dubbed Manumission ’26 or Le Weekend Manumission. For one night only, 528 Ibiza will be “transformed into a living recreation of one of the most magical summers in Ibiza history.” Featuring five immersive worlds, participants can expect “music, performance, art, drag queens, dancers, beautiful mischief and the unexpected around every corner.” The event has used expertise from creative directors behind Glastonbury Festival’s own late-night “naughty corner”. Claire said of the nostalgic upcoming weekend taking place on September 26: “I thought it’d be easier, because it’s only one event. “Then we remembered: you have to do the same work for one event as you do for the whole season, because everyone expects the most from Manumission. It’s a massive production.” Comment now