Immediate, intense, and intimate, all words that could be used to describe last weekend’s collaboration event with the good people of Death of Glitter and Bathouse at the mecca of safe queer spaces, Evol To celebrate the 8th birthday of D.O.G. Even though I’m no stranger to the Evol and its more closed-off personal take on the nightclub setting, this event felt like something completely alien to what I am used to from the venue. The event somehow managed to fit everyone I couldn’t even fathom attending, from cashiers I’ve shared greetings with to old friends I’ve shared drinks with, evoking the feeling of community that I am certain this event was aimed at providing.

When I first entered the event, I experienced what it must feel like to have an M84 flashbang thrown in next to you as the strobing white lights of the Bathhouse section of the event met my peripheral vision. The lights summoned me to the dance floor, and I heeded the call as the sets from Hertix, Ale, and Tactix left me in a dazed Indie Dance-infused trance. The lights were hypnotic, the music was mesmerising, and the smoke machine had created an atmosphere that filled the room with an eerie yet lively glow.

I walked up those iconic Evol steps into a world similar but somewhat alien to the one downstairs, as the Death of Glitter section’s red lights made the room feel like the first scene in the movie Blade, the iconic blood-soaked dance floor. The music from Dragmother, Phijos, their B2B as Mom & Dad, and Lightbeams provided a much-appreciated mix of everything that complemented the dancefloor’s more crowded and intimate feeling, with barely any space to move, but that added to the atmosphere that I feel was meant to be created. Everything was happening upstairs, from custom T-shirts being made to people playing pool and socialising; the community aspect of the function, I felt, was the most prevalent upstairs.

As sexy, steamy, and loud as this event might’ve been, I feel that the moments of downtime, where you could just interact with other people, were what I appreciated the most. In an era when trans humanist techno-maximalism is looking more and more like a reality, a space where people can socialise, not just that, but be themselves, with BDSM gear and shirtless people all around, which made me in my leather jacket feel starkly overdressed. For that, I applaud the people of Death of Glitter and Bathhouse for creating a space where people are given freedom to express themselves in whatever way they feel.