Carl Cox OBE: His 10 Greatest Moments at [UNVRS]

The Prince’s Trust is now called The King’s Trust, and in May 2026 it celebrated its 50th anniversary at Buckingham Palace. Carl was among the guests. “I chose the music, and that was that... the rest you know,” he wrote afterwards on social media. A month later, his name appeared on the King’s Birthday Honours list, which each year recognises people across the UK for their contribution to the country. Carl Cox was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, known as an OBE, for services to music. On 10 November, at Windsor Castle, the King’s son, Prince William, presented him with the medal, as Carl’s sisters watched on. “I’ve been thinking a lot about my mum and dad today,” Carl Cox said. “I know just how proud they would have been, and I wish they could have been here to share this moment with me.”

The demand of those early protests was simple. In Carl’s words, “We want to dance with a thousand people around us.” He has spent the last two summers doing exactly that, every Sunday night at [UNVRS]. Here are ten moments from those seasons, in the order they happened.

Carl has always celebrated his birthday behind the decks. On July 2025, two days before he turned 63, he played a birthday set that took the Main Room from midnight to sunrise.

Over seven hours, he moved through every style and era of techno. The tracklist included Modjo’s “Lady (Hear Me Tonight)” alongside records by Harry Romero, Adam Beyer, Loco Dice and Mochakk.

The set was recorded live, and in November it was released in Spatial Audio, one of 20 mixes recorded during the first year at [UNVRS].

When he announced his first season, Carl Cox promised his Sundays would bring “pioneers, trailblazers, and future stars”. Late in the summer, he delivered the pioneers. The Chemical Brothers played a rare DJ set, their first Ibiza appearance in two years, in the summer their debut album, “Exit Planet Dust”, turned 30. Anna Tur and Salomé Le Chat opened the night, the duo followed, and Carl closed it with an extended set.

Two weeks later, with Sven Väth on the bill, Carl played his whole set on vinyl. It was later broadcast on national radio in the UK, and he described it as “raw, real, and straight from the crate.” That summer, Paul Kalkbrenner also brought his live show to Carl Cox’s Sundays.

The second season at the hyperclub was longer, 16 Sundays, with Carl Cox having complete creative control over every night. He kept the opening and the closing for himself. On 21 June, while the Ibiza collective Melon Bomb played in Wild Comet, Carl played the Main Room all night long, alone in the booth from start to finish, and on 4 October he did the same to close the summer. These were the nights for digging across genres, eras and tempos, drawing on almost 50 years of records.

In between, he kept sharing the booth, going B2B with WhoMadeWho, CHRIS STASSY, Joseph Capriati, Dennis Cruz and Nicole Moudaber. When he played with Dennis Cruz on 20 September, one reviewer in the room watched him play “like a host rather than a headliner” under a booth washed in red light, giving Cruz room to steer. Before the season began he had warned everyone, “expect the unexpected, always.”

On 16 August, Robbie Williams posted a video announcing he would be at [UNVRS] that night. “I’ll see you there... Buzzing, mad fer it,” he signed off.

He kept his word. Toward the end of Miss Monique’s set, the Ukrainian DJ and producer who also held a residency at Hï Ibiza in 2026, Williams walked onto the stage and sang their collaboration, “Beauty In Us”, live for the first time. The three of them, Williams, Miss Monique and Carl Cox, also posed together backstage.

For Carl, the story had just begun. He took the track into the studio, and on 30 October he released his version, the [UNVRS] Rework. “It all started on that dancefloor, so it feels pretty special to bring it full circle,” he said.

Two records followed Carl Cox through the summer of 2026. “Legacy” by Vikthor & Pianoalani had already become a sunrise moment at his Sundays before he took it into the studio to remix. “The original already had a feeling that people connected with, particularly in those sunrise moments,” he said. “The challenge was keeping that emotion while giving the record enough power and movement to work in my own sets.” His remix came out in September.

“The Phantom” goes back to the early rave years. Carl Cox first heard the Renegade Soundwave track at a rave in Biggin Hill, played by DJ Frankie Valentine, and went straight out to find a copy. The Prodigy later sampled it on “Everybody In The Place”, and in April 2026 Carl opened their arena tour with three-deck vinyl sets. For his version, he kept the original breakbeat, sped it up, added a heavier bassline and new vocals from Barry Ashworth, and played it at [UNVRS] for months before it was released. “My rewire isn’t leaving my side,” he said.