SuperMartxe – Sunday Night Mega-Club

Intrepid journalist Risks Life and Limb Among Gold Thongs and Bold Make Up to Deliver the Story!

La Riviera is a huge concert venue, and during the summer it’s used once a month to host a party for those considerate people who, for whatever reason, think Sunday has been cruelly overlooked by partiers around the world, and is probably feeling somewhat left-out.

Walking in from the lazy spring afternoon into the enormous, dark, frenetic, complex, with techno pounding and thousands of people dancing below you is a bizarre experience – one which even a full weekend of partying won’t prepare you for. However, the excitement in the air (and the alcohol in my drink) helped this intrepid reporter rise to the occasion.

The size of the main dance floor is impressive, and more impressive is how packed it gets regardless. The crowd is relatively mixed, but is dominated by a particular group: pristine homosexual men, wearing eye-wateringly stylish clothes, some of them with muscles bigger than anything I’ve seen in comic books. Most of the latter were topless (who needs oil when you have so much sweat?). There were a few women as well, equally impressively attired in designer gowns and bold make-up.

On the stage you could feast your eyes on various dancers, from the Adonis-in-gold-thong variety to nipple-tasselled ladies, and several variations in-between.

If this part of the venue turns out to be a bit much, there’s a smaller area up some stairs where you will find seating and another DJ, also playing techno, but with perhaps a bit more grit in it. Here, I came across a different kind of night creature: sleepy-looking teenagers disaffectedly two-stepping to the music as they limply passed a joint around. It provided a good counter-point to the intensiveness downstairs.

A good place to go for people who don’t work on Monday.

SuperMartxe (Sunday nights)

Venue: La Riviera

Paseo bajo de la Virgen del Puerto, 3

913 652 415

Metro: Piramides, Puerta del Angel, Puerta de Toledo

Entrance: 15 Euros (free before 20:00 with a flyer)

Drink average: 9 Euros per cocktail

To go to the main Music Venues and Clubs page click here

Michael Beeson