MCQP - It's a Circus!

So MCQP was on Saturday, and I am a little worse for wear now as a result, which is why I am blogging and not working - shhhh, don't tell anyone! It seems that getting older does not take away your urge to party, or even your ability to party, it just increases the damage and recovery time to be endured afterwards! ARRRGH :/

So this year the theme was 'It's a Circus'. Last year's event was a little dissappointing as it was cold and very WINDY. So this year the whole event was revamped and transformed and the result was waaay more polished, organised and slick than before. Yes, it was a bit more comercialized and not quite as quaint and intimate as before, so perhaps it's a little more main-stream now, but I think it was necessary for it's survival, so it's not a bad thing... In fact with far more attention and work this year the event was pretty damn impressive actually!

We went as Knife Throwers. Again we didn't want complicated and restrictive costumes, as we just wanna let loose and have fun once there and not have to worry about large, and elaborate accessories, so our outfits were pretty simple, but they were comfortable and I think they worked out really well. Richard seemed to enjoy my skanky hooker look ;)

We went off for a pre-party drink at Manattan's (a gay bar in Greenpoint) which was one of the meeting points and near to where a bus service would be running. There weren't many people there, and even fewer were in costume, so I felt a bit like a cheap prostitute - but a Tequila took care of that ;) We met up with 3 tourists (Swedish, American, and Dutch - weird combination) and offered them a lift. We set off to Ratanga - where the party was held this year. I had never been there before. It was spectacular!

We arrived over the bridge into Ratanga, where there was a polite and efficient security service - they were hassling someone for not being dressed up enough! LOL. And arrived at the opening of the arrival tent, to make our grand entrance. Every year their is an arrival area where you walk up strike a pose for the cameras and audience and then proceed in to the party. This year there was a man hanging on a trapese thingy announcing the arrival of each group, 'Heeere come the knife throwers!', 'Look here are a group of Lion Tamers' etc. He was very funny because he kept changing position, but was quite awkward and not very good at it, which made it all the more entertaining.

The venue was really FAB. I think it's the best venue they have had so far actually. It was very interesting and varied and fun to explore. It is very well suited to the event and has a good mix of shelter, fresh air, good toilets and plenty of seating, and bars, and food areas. We like to travel light so didn't take much more than a bottle of water *wink* with us, so no pics of the night itself, but I will trawl for photos and post them if I find some.

We decided to explore the party and get into the swing of things straight away, we moved around between the outdoor jungle-drum-and-bass area, the more high energy and high-heat house area, and the fun and frivolous 70s/80s area, and circulated between those 3 as the mood took us. It's also great to wander around and look at all the costumes and characters who are there.

The 70/80s room was playing all those songs from your old schools days that you wanna dance like a hooligan to, but could not admit to liking anymore. It was really fun!

The main arean had circus acts on display but we chose to dance instead. We also walked around the carnival area where the carnival games were open. The weirdest and funniest things we saw was on one floating pontoon in the middle of the river area there was a guy dressed in a Captain's outfit, and he was just like that old Screensaver (Scrantic Island or something), whenever you looked over he would be doing something different, gazing into the distance, fishing, smoking, having a drink etc, it was hilarious.

Then in another area was the most freakish thing, a woman dressed as a hunched over witch with a big gnarled head. But her head was actually inside a cage on the witch's back and the whole witch's head was a prosthetic costume attachment coming up off her chest in front of her. It was so weird - I wish I had a picture! She was stooping around the raft with the woman's head 'trapped' on her back.

We eventually found the Lush room on one of the circuits, which although was billed as a women's only area was letting non-threatening men in, there was a really sexy female DJ playing some very cool music so we stayed there for quite a while until there was a DJ change and we got tired...

At about 2:30am we were starting to get a little tired and thought we'd take a last walk around before heading home.

As we were wandering around the main arena Roger Goode started his set. As far as I know he is SA's most succesful DJ. We had seen a guy earlier in the evening in the HOT venue which we thought was Roger Goode and he was very unimpressive. He seemed to think he was very good, but killed a crowd that had been raging just minutes before... So I was not expecting much...

Well Roger Goode ROCKS. He is really good at what he does and just watching him at work is amazing, he plays his DJ equipment like a musical instrument and makes quick, coordinated and finely tuned movements. The music was awesome too and even though my back, legs, feet and knees were aching from all the dancing we had already done, I couldn't help dancing for another full hour at least. Unfortunately we didn't make it all the way to the end, and left at about 3:45am.

Once again it was the party of the year! If you have an open mind and like a good party, you should make a plan to go next time, you won't be dissappointed.

I spent Sunday, sleeping, reading and relaxing and trying to remeber why we do this to ourselves... will we do it again next year? Abso-bloody-lutely! :)