Defected at Club Chinois – Thursdays 2026

Defected at Club Chinois Ibiza, Thursdays 2026: House Music's Greatest Label Finds Its Perfect Home

There are record labels and then there are institutions. Defected Records belongs firmly to the second category: a London-born house music label and events brand founded in 1999 that has spent 27 years doing one thing with unwavering dedication, releasing, promoting, and celebrating house music in all its forms, from the deepest Chicago roots to the most contemporary vocal and soulful expressions of a genre that refuses to stop evolving.

Every summer since the early 2000s, Defected has planted its flag on the island of Ibiza, claiming a night, a room, and a dancefloor as its Balearic home for the season. The locations have shifted across the years, as Ibiza's nightlife landscape itself has shifted: from El Divino on the Marina to Eden to Space to Pacha to Hï Ibiza, seven different venues across a quarter century of island residencies, each representing both the brand's adaptability and its refusal to accept anything less than the right venue for the music it stands for.

In 2026, that search arrives at its most compelling destination yet. Defected has announced a 23-week Thursday night residency at Club Chinois, situated in the heart of Marina Ibiza (Marina Botafoc), running from Thursday, May 7 to Thursday, October 8, 2026: the longest Ibiza residency the label has ever held, in a venue that Ibiza Spotlight describes as the latest in a series of "coups" that have transformed Chinois from a new arrival into one of the most musically respected nightspots on the island.

And Ibiza Spotlight, who know this island's nightlife as well as anyone, added one more detail that gives the 2026 season a specific historical resonance: Defected started its Ibiza journey at the former El Divino, which stood just metres away in Ibiza Marina. Twenty-three years later, the label is back in the marina, in a venue a short walk from where it all began. For house music culture in Ibiza, that is not just a booking. It is a full circle.

The Defected story: 27 years of house music from London to the world

Defected Records was founded in 1999 by Simon Dunmore in London, at a time when the second wave of UK house music was recalibrating around soulful, vocal, and deep house sounds rather than the harder, more commercial direction the genre had been pulled in during the mid-1990s.

Dunmore's founding philosophy was straightforward: release records that are genuinely great, trust the audience to find them, and build a community around music rather than around celebrity. That philosophy made Defected one of the most consistently credible house labels of the 2000s and 2010s, releasing music by artists including Armand Van Helden, Dennis Ferrer, Kerri Chandler, Kevin Saunderson, Riva Starr, Sam Divine, and a roster of names that reads like a curriculum vitae of house music's finest practitioners across a full generation.

As the label's catalogue and reputation grew, the events arm of Defected became equally significant. The Defected In The House compilation series (which ran to over 30 volumes before evolving into the current Defected In Ibiza series) introduced the label's musical identity to enormous numbers of people who might never have heard the individual records, and the brand's annual Ibiza residency became one of the most anticipated events in the island's summer calendar, selling out consistently and building a community of dedicated followers who return summer after summer specifically for Defected.

In 2023, Wez Saunders succeeded Simon Dunmore as CEO of Defected, bringing a new generation of leadership while explicitly committing to the label's founding values. His statement on the Chinois 2026 announcement captures the philosophy precisely:

"Chinois is an incredible space, and this line-up reflects where Defected stands right now, honouring our roots while pushing the culture forward. It's about world-class DJs, genuine community and the energy you only get when the right crowd meets the right music."

Club Chinois: Ibiza's fastest-rising venue

Club Chinois opened in 2022 at Passeig Joan Carles I, 17, Eivissa in the Marina Ibiza area, taking over the space previously occupied by the legendary HEART club. The marina location, within easy walking distance of Ibiza Town's old city center and its famous Dalt Vila (the UNESCO-listed walled upper town), places Chinois at one of the most geographically central and scenically dramatic spots in all of Ibiza nightlife.

Magic Ibiza describes Chinois as "an elegant club situated in Marina Botafoc that will take you on a journey through space and time," noting its reputation for musical credibility, intimacy, and a dancefloor-first philosophy that distinguishes it from the island's larger superclubs. The venue's opening hours, 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM, place it in the traditional Ibiza late-night club format: beginning as the dinner tables are cleared and running through to a proper Ibiza dawn.

Since opening, Chinois has assembled one of the most artistically coherent weekly programs of any venue in Ibiza. Its willingness to attract events from the island's more established venues (both Claptone's Masquerade and Bedouin's SAGA moved to Chinois from Pacha ahead of the 2025 season) demonstrates a venue identity confident enough to compete with Ibiza's long-established institutions on quality rather than on scale.

The 2026 Chinois weekly schedule anchors this philosophy across three confirmed residencies:

• Thursdays: Defected (23 weeks, May 7 to October 8)
• Saturdays: Claptone's The Masquerade (the theatrical masked DJ's beloved house party)
• Sundays: Bedouin presents SAGA (the deep, cinematic sound of the Israeli duo's signature event)

Three nights, three completely distinct musical identities, all sharing a single philosophy: the music, the DJ, and the dancefloor come first.

The 2026 lineup: from Chicago origins to tomorrow's talent

The confirmed Defected Chinois Ibiza 2026 artist lineup is one of the most carefully balanced and historically comprehensive programs the brand has announced for any single Ibiza season. DVox Magazine describes it as bringing together "house music pioneers, global icons and a new generation of talent shaping the future of the genre."

The pioneers and founding generation

The lineup's most historically significant names represent the original wave of house music in all its founding city identities:

• Lil Louis: the Chicago producer whose "French Kiss" (1989) is one of the most important and most unmistakable house records ever made, a foundational figure in the genre's development
• Carl Craig: the Detroit techno legend whose work has crossed freely between techno and deep house throughout his career, one of the most critically revered figures in electronic music
• Kerri Chandler: a New Jersey house producer and DJ of immense reputation, known for some of the deepest and most soulful records in the house canon
• Kevin Saunderson: a founding Belleville Three member and Detroit techno/house originator, whose label Inner City produced the global hit "Big Fun" and whose DJ performances are among the most historically significant in electronic music
• Armand Van Helden: the Boston-born producer who defined the sound of deep house in the late 1990s and whose records including "You Don't Know Me," "Flower," "My My My," and "Duck Sauce's Barbra Streisand" have maintained a cross-generational impact across three decades

The contemporary headliners

The lineup's middle generation represents the artists who have been central to house music's commercial and creative story in the 2000s and 2010s:

• Dennis Ferrer: the New York producer and DJ whose "Hey Hey" is one of the most beloved house anthems of the 2000s, and whose DJ sets remain among the most consistent and deeply satisfying in the business
• Eats Everything: the Bristol-based DJ and producer Daniel Pearce, one of the most popular and consistently high-energy house DJs of the current generation
• Jayda G: the Canadian DJ and neuroscientist whose sets blend house, disco, and rare groove in a way that is both historically informed and genuinely contemporary
• Jonas Blue: the British producer whose viral acoustic remixes and original productions have brought house sensibility to enormous mainstream audiences
• HoneyLUV: the Chicago DJ whose Defected-aligned sound and rapid international rise make her one of the most exciting names on the current circuit

The Defected family

The label's own artist roster and residents form the third strand of the program:

• Sam Divine: Defected's longest-serving female DJ and resident, whose association with the label across over a decade has made her one of the most recognizable voices in the Defected community
• Monki: BBC Radio 1 alumni and deep house specialist whose Defected alignment spans multiple years of releases and residencies
• Melé: the Cardiff-born DJ whose genre-fluid style (house, breaks, garage, funk) has made him one of the most distinctive voices in the current Defected lineup
• Riva Starr: the Italian-British producer whose Defected catalogue is among the most consistently quality-assured in the label's history
• Deetron: Swiss-born DJ and producer Steph Laswaad, a deep house and techno crossover figure of significant repute
• Oden & Fatzo: the duo whose productions for Defected have built a growing fanbase across Europe
• Arielle Free: the DJ and broadcaster whose Defected connection has grown across recent seasons
• Shermanology: the Surinamese-Dutch trio known for their soulful, high-energy productions

The next generation

Completing the lineup's ambition to represent the full arc of house music:

• TSHA: the British DJ and producer whose melodic, textured productions have built significant critical acclaim
• Eliza Rose: whose "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)" became one of the biggest UK chart house hits in years
• Cinthie: the Berlin-based DJ whose deep house and disco sensibility has made her one of the most loved names on the European underground circuit
• KILIMANJARO: rising talent with growing Defected association
• Ella Knight: a new voice in house music's current wave

23 weeks at Marina Ibiza: the full Thursday schedule

Every Thursday from May 7 to October 8, 2026, across 23 consecutive weeks:

May: May 7, 14, 21, 28

June: June 4, 11, 18, 25

July: July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

August: August 6, 13, 20, 27

September: September 3, 10, 17, 24

October: October 1, 8

The May 7 opening night positions Defected at Chinois as one of the earliest significant Thursday residency launches of the 2026 Ibiza season, beginning three weeks before some of the island's larger club programs get fully underway. The October 8 closing night extends the residency into the island's closing season, when the crowds thin, the air cools slightly, and the parties that remain acquire a particular warmth and intensity that regulars consider the best of the year.

Try Ibiza, who published a comprehensive 2026 guide to the residency, notes that the May dates offer a particularly valuable experience for visitors who want Defected at Chinois without the peak summer intensity: "Tickets are easier to get, crowds are passionate Defected regulars rather than casual festival tourists, and the opening weeks of a season always carry their own specific energy."

The venue setting: Marina Ibiza and the island around it

Club Chinois sits in Marina Ibiza (also known as Marina Botafoc), the yacht harbor area immediately northeast of Ibiza Town. This location gives it one of the most scenically dramatic approaches of any Ibiza club: arriving by taxi or on foot along the marina promenade, with the lit masts of the moored yachts on one side and the illuminated walls of Dalt Vila (Ibiza's UNESCO-listed old walled city) rising on the hillside ahead, is an arrival experience that the enclosed clubs of San Antonio cannot replicate.

Dalt Vila itself, the ancient walled city at the heart of Ibiza Town, is one of the Mediterranean's finest historic sites: a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, its fortification walls date from the 16th century and its highest point is crowned by the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Snows, visible from far out at sea. The contrast between the 500-year-old stone above and the contemporary club below is quintessentially Ibizan: an island that has been simultaneously ancient and utterly present for as long as anyone has been visiting.

The marina area is also home to some of Ibiza's finest restaurants, including La Scala and the celebrated El Chiringuito on nearby Es Cavallet beach, making the Club Chinois neighborhood an ideal destination for dinner before a Thursday Defected night rather than a taxi ride from a distant hotel strip.

Practical guide to attending Defected at Club Chinois 2026

Getting there

Club Chinois is located at Passeig Joan Carles I, 17, 07800 Eivissa, in Marina Ibiza. The venue is approximately a 15 to 20 minute walk from the center of Ibiza Town, or a short taxi ride from anywhere in the town. Ibiza Airport (IBZ) is approximately 6 to 7 kilometers from the marina, a 10 to 15 minute taxi journey.

Tickets and pricing

Official tickets are available through:

• chinois.com (official venue website, primary source)
• ibiza-spotlight.com (confirmed official ticketing partner)
• dice.fm (also confirmed; tickets from approximately €30 to €45 depending on the date and artist billing)
• tryibiza.com

The early bird launch price of €30 was available until January 6, 2026. Ticket prices for peak summer dates (July and August) will be at the higher end of the range; May and October dates will generally be more accessible.

Hours

11:00 PM to 6:00 AM every Thursday.

Club Chinois full 2026 weekly program

• Thursdays: Defected (May 7 to October 8)
• Saturdays: Claptone's The Masquerade
• Sundays: Bedouin presents SAGA

Verified Information at a glance

Item: Confirmed details

Event name: Defected at Club Chinois Ibiza 2026

Event category: 23-week weekly DJ residency; house music (deep house, soulful house, vocal house, classic and contemporary)

Day of week: Every Thursday

Full season dates: May 7, 14, 21, 28 / June 4, 11, 18, 25 / July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 / August 6, 13, 20, 27 / September 3, 10, 17, 24 / October 1, 8, 2026

Total shows: 23 consecutive Thursday nights

Venue: Club Chinois, Passeig Joan Carles I, 17, 07800 Eivissa (Marina Ibiza), Ibiza, Spain

Club hours: 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM

Key confirmed artists: Lil