Written by Colin Butts 1959 - 2018
The Legend that is... TRU’S DO’S PARTIES
Wheel clamps, Microsoft Word, Chicken MaCnuggets… not things you’d immediately associate with Tru’s Do’s Parties. Yet all of these started the same year legendary party promoter Tony Truman first dipped his toe in the promoter’s pool: 1983.
A lot’s changed since the days when nobody had a cellular phone. Tony’s done his Barnet, Chelsea are Champions of Europe rather than languishing in Division 2 and we now know that when George Michael sang Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, he wasn’t asking Pepsi or Shirley.
On the subject of George Michael, 1983 was also the year that Wham! Recorded their Club Tropicana video at the Legendary Pike’s Hotel in Ibiza. Little did the young, mullet sporting Tony Truman know back then that one day the island would play such an important part in his own life.
He’s the founding partner of the now globally renowned O Beach Ibiza Beach Club as well as one the world’s most Instagrammable Hotels The Wi-Ki-Woo as well as being instrumental in bringing Lineker’s to Ibiza, opening Kiss My Fairy Ibiza first ever body painting shop, as well as the driving force behind Ibiza’s very latest supercool venue Bam Bu Ku.
The foundation of everything though is the Tru’s Do’s Parties. Since that first, sold out party on a riverboat disco on the Thames, through to having 1500 people attending a Tru’s Do’s party at the Exclusive Playboy Mansion in Puerto Banus, Tony’s Tru’s Do’s have set the benchmark for exclusive parties.
The one thing that hasn’t changed in 37 years is the fantastic vibe at a Tru’s Do’s. From the mid-80’s right through to the present day, soulful, uplifting vocal house has provided the soundtrack, with the emphasis on celebrating rather than educating. What’s mattered has always been responding to the needs of the loyal crowd and creating a buzz at the parties, rather than worrying about creating a buzz in momentarily fashionable, transient magazines.
Whereas many promoters would have had to rely on masses of PR and advertising to hold successful parties of this grandeur, Tony has done so pretty much exclusively through word of mouth. For many, a Tru’s Do’s is like attending the party of an extended family and almost everyone feels as though they’re part of something special as they look around at the glitz and glamour that has become synonymous with the brand.
Over the last decade or so, the club scene has changed enormously. The success and longevity of the Tru’s Do’s is mainly down to its ability to evolve. There are only a few of the original promoters who have survived the trials and tribulations club land has thrown at them. Nights like Tru’s Do’s have become a rarity; small pearls of quality in an ocean of mediocrity. They should be treasured accordingly.
