12 May 2012
Dancefloor. Photo by Francesco Photography.
This was a realllllllly bad time to throw warehouse parties in Brunswick. Thanks to someone over-advertising a warehouse party on Ovens St, that resulted in hundreds of people on the streets, and cars damaged, the council was cracking down hard. When you called Moreland council the automated message literally said ‘if you would like to report an illegal warehouse party, please press 3’.
So, we went incognito. We played on the fact that it was the leaseholdes birthday, and when security asked what you were there for, only those who replied ‘Rob’s Birthday’ were allowed in.
As you entered the space there was a bright room sectioned by a giant inflatable wall. It was appealing to innocence and was full of balloons, streamers and tacky happy birthday banners. You had to go right down to the end and squeeze around a little corridor to then see hundreds of people going wild in the main space.
Just as the first guest arrived a police car pulled up and we thought we were done, but then they headed over the road to the Railway Hotel. There were actually police right next-door in the carpark most of the night, dealing with some Africans causing a scene. With all this commotion, we seemed to go under the radar. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe its white privilege.
We were collecting money on the door in a shoebox and after the last door-shift we completely forgot to grab it . It sat there with thousands of dollars inside for hours, yet no one took it.
The awesome creative space was recently knocked down to build another beautiful, inspiring set of apartments. R.I.P Playspace.
