Primary Colours' True Colours
entrance to zitadelle spandau
The Zitadelle Spandau hosted an electro party this weekend. How many of us knew about it was clear from the turn out. Although perhaps it was because of the lost presence of a supposed party bus which was meant to pick us up at 1730 from Ostbahnhof.
by Beatriz Gamboa
As we finally made our way to the outskirts of the city we regretted not having bought a bottle of wine to ease the trip and get ready for what promised to be a night of hard partying. But when we arrived at around 1830 we could only be patient about the fact that there were no more than 150 people at the Zitadelle (including the guards, who made up an impressive part of the people there), “It’s early, they’ll show up later.”
So we took beer to a corner with some sunshine and tried to catch the last rays.
The fortress was built in 1594 and according to my Lonely Planet is one of the best conserved and most important in the WHOLE world (only because the Great Wall of China is not a fortress). The citadel itself is on the river Havel and protected by a relatively large mote, the views from the surrounding towers, which make the shape of an arrow (apparently), are meant to be very beautiful, but this could not be tried first hand on Saturday, for the fortress was being securely protected by today’s equivalent of SS guards: those muscular, shaven-headed gorillas who defend entries to clubs, parties and such other “could be dangerous” venues who would not even allow us to sit on some patches of grass which were too high up on the wall of the fortress- god forbid we would try to escape the citadel- but then, that may have been one way of forcing the people to stay and have fun.
The other, perhaps more peaceful tactic, was the token yellow tinted glasses which came with every two beers of Corona you bought. Yellow, not rose, because it gave the effect of a sunny 9pm.
In effect, the people there were cool house-electro goers who were able to keep their spirits up and incite the rest of us to the dance floors. The stages, one big and one small, had been prepared for the visit of a thousand guests at least, but essentially we could have, should have fit them all onto the smaller dance floor to give the impression of being in one of those stuck-in-the-mud festivals, concentrate the force and rock it.
But let’s not ignore or forget those truly excellent moments of psychedelic dancing, seeing through yellow tinted glasses, kissing when the guards weren’t looking and counting shooting stars. Well, hopefully next year Primary Colours will be made more public and... yes, show its true colours.
