Andrew Gets Powdered! Talk about an EXPERIENCE!

Last Saturday night I, along with a couple of hundred other people, had the rather dubious pleasure of attending a Secret ‘Powder’ Party hosted by Whereis.com.  While that might sound like the kind of thing you’d hear going on down some back street in Amsterdam, it’s probably not quite what you’re thinking.  This was the second ‘secret’ party Whereis.com has put on and they’re building quite a name for themselves, mainly because they’re the messiest parties in town! 

Their first party, which took place at the start of the year, turned out to be one huge paint fight in a warehouse conveniently located a suitable distance from anywhere (which was easily found by all party goers using the provided whereis.com link - ahh, there’s the hook). 

So, not wanting to be seen to be going soft second time around, the organisers once again kept invitees on the hook until 24 hours out, when we all received a mail with the location of the party.  The theme for this event was simply called ‘A Space Party’ and on the Facebook page we were helpfully informed to wear all black and leave your best Gucci kit at home.

Good advice.

Finding the venue was easy (thanks again to the helpful link).  Getting in, a little more difficult (being asked to sign off a waver before entry certainly added to the hightened curiosity).  I scribbled something barely legible and headed on in.  Sales of black bin liners must have spiked that week as the venue was cloaked floor to ceiling in them.  Black bandana too, as each and every person was handed a set along with a pair of stylish Bole goggles.

Certainly I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but I was starting to think something fishy was going on here.

About an hour later, several drinks down and suitably swaying to the party beats being provided by DJ Minx, a host jumped on the mic and let us know we had 5 minutes to cover up and get ready.  I was torn between finishing my drink and getting my bandana across my head and face.  The sight of one of the bar staff arriving from a side door holding a crate full of plastic bowls of coloured powdered dye certainly helped speed up my decision - drink was downed…quickly.

The next 30 minutes or so can only be described as shear pandemonium as everybody reached for the dye and like a pack of demented ninjas just went for it. A technicolour dust storm of craziness!  Nobody was spared.  Bar staff, the security guys, the DJ; I saw one of the hired cameramen being spun on the floor by powder-crazed maniacs.  As it went on more colours emerged from the side doors.  Pink, green, yellow. Yellow was a good one - I seemed to manage to initiate a game of ‘let me see if I can make a yellow hand print on your behind’ with a rather nice girl standing next to me - an instant classic, which despite multiple attempts I just couldn’t get quite right.  She declined trying on me.

The rest of the night was literally a blur - my goggles broke.  Probably not a bad thing as I did manage to see through the haze a few people running around in their underwear, clearly enjoying the powder a bit too much. Not everybody was having the time of their life. A helpless boyfriend was on double make-up duty with his lady after he managed to clock her in the eye from point blank range. It looked like it was going to be a long night for that guy.

Time sped by as it always does on a good night out. Before we knew it the music had stopped and we were being ushured to the door looking like a bewildered bunch of rainbow coloured Bangarra dancers.  The fresh air was bliss.

Thankfully while my mind considered more, my body took the initiative… ‘I ain’t taking you anywhere buddy but home’.  The ride home brought a few strange looks from passers by, but we didn’t really look too out of the ordinary heading through some of the edgier areas of town that time of night.  The long shower at home was the perfect way to finish.

So overall a great concept, a great experience and hats off to Whereis.com for pulling it off so well.  What’s next then? Foam’s my guess! 

Party on. Andrew.

Video by SydAlterEgo