In continuation of my reviews of the best summer places by the river for 2014, I'd like to take a…read morelook at the Kolor Niebieski/Barka complex.
Kolor Niebieski is the bar/dancefloor that sits just above Barka overlooking the river near Most Świętokrzyski. What is shocking is that there are no photos or reviews here yet. Especially since this year, Kolor Niebieski definitely stood out as a place apart from Barka with it's own personality and finesse. In 2013, this place (I don't even know if it had its own name then) was just another dance floor with no particular personality. This year, it was an entity that established itself in the consciousness of the Warsaw summer river scene. (In my humble opinion at least).
There were three major differences that made Kolor an actual venue this year. First, was the construction of the bar on the dance floor. BIG difference. If one is standing/dancing/twerking/having a seizure whatever on the dance floor, looking directly at the DJ, then the bar is located to the right. It stands directly on the dance floor, and for those looking to stand in the middle of things but still out of the way, the bar allows for the perfect vantage point. I spent several evenings with an elbow propped on the wooden surface, drinking and smoking casually, scanning the crowd and people watching. Something I like better than dancing in most cases. -- They also accepted cards this year, which was also a big convienient advantage over the pervious season.
Yet, I did like dancing at Kolor this summer. Here is my confession: I only like to dance to heavily manufactured pop and aggressive rap music. I don't like rock, I don't like ambient stuff, I hate metal and country. I don't always get techno - it bores me at times. Sometimes I can get behind house and this Wixapol gabbagabba bangarang jumpupanddown all crazy music. Yet, when I hear pop or rap, I want to dance - and that is about the only time I don't need copious amounts of alcohol to deaden the irritation that rears up when i'm jostled and bumped in a crowd of likewise druken gyrating people. Kolor always had a DJ who played this sort of music, and despite the tiny dance floor and pushy crowd there were moments were I was able to actually dance this summer.
Major difference number two: the name in blue neon - Kolor Niebieski was scrawled above the bar in twisted blue neon, giving the bar its own identity, separate from Barka. Major difference number three: the addition of a giant silver disco ball over the crowd, that was pointed out to me by the designer as a special touch added in order to give the place a classy luster. There had also been trees planted in tubs with lights, and gravel added around the dance floor - just a few nice touches that made the place look nicer this year.
Overall I liked the feeling of the place much better than the year before. All I remember about the place prior was that there had been a foam machine that had left me wet and angry after it had gone off in the crowd without warning - I"m a bit of a grumpy cat about such things. Also, they had housed Pan Burger while still in its cutlet mielony adolescent phase.
Of couse once I got bored with whatever was happening in the immidiate Kolor domain, I could wander off into the blackness of the buffer land between Kolor and Barka, i.e. the stairs where everyone sits with bottles of something or other smoking cigarettes and chatting in the darkness. Here you can't see who anyone is. Just well dressed shadows moving about - laughing, crying, arguing, talking in earnest. Go all the way down and I could board the slippery/sticky white deck of Barka and dance to a different kind of music, or look out over the river at the water, or order a drink at their bar. I liked the variety of choice.
Parties here lasted until 5 or 6 am on the weekends, and for those that stayed long enough they were rewarded with a sunrise over the water, however the scene was pretty desperate at that point. Most everyone with better things to do had gone home much earlier and everyone left was squinting and reeling with the telltale signs of a hideous hangover to come later in the day. Still not a bad place for an all night dance party.
