COCKS OUT IN THE CAUCASUS
It seems like all the best techno clubs in Europe these days are run by sexy Georgians, so we knew something must be up in Tbilisi. Makuna Berkatsashvili has worked as a booker for some of the city’s biggest clubs, but most nights she’s usually on the dancefloor, sweating it out with the gays. She and her friend Mimi Abintra sent us a blow-by-blow of their night out from disco-and-drag dive Success Bar to Eau De Cologne, Tbilisi’s ripe-and-ready queer rave. Despite Georgia’s homophobic government, which has just passed a Putin-inspired law banning “same-sex propaganda”, they say the early morning hours get hot and faggy. Talk about a “gay agenda”...
Saturday, 11PM – I’m stepping into Space One, a newly opened bar, bookshop, and record store nestled within Tbilisi’s Left Bank club. The space is packed, and Giorgi, known as Booster Dona, is spinning Miami bass beats. He tells me his dark and draggy outfit, a black duct tape catsuit inspired by Kim Kardashian’s Balenciaga look, is pulling at his leg hair due to the sheer tights he’s wearing.
After Giorgi’s set, we catch up outside next to a ping-pong table. He’s been up since the night before, still riding high from his set at Slut Union, a party at Tes Club next door. Apparently, the party featured a jacuzzi. Giorgi tells me he took a dip before his set, only to find that his clothes had vanished into thin air! Thankfully, the quick-witted club staff fished out a bright orange apron from somewhere, and Giorgi shows me videos of him at the decks, flashing lights painting the orange fabric – and his ass, exposed from the back – with a psychedelic glow.
1AM – I find myself back inside, sipping gin with friends. We love coming to Left Bank for its versatility — you can dance, eat, browse books or records, even play chess. Space One serves as a hub for in-store sessions and pre-parties before the main club night at Space Two kicks off.
Soon, we head to Success Bar. Georgia’s first and longest running gay bar, it’s festooned with disco balls and sculptures, including my favorite—a male torso mannequin with a glittery penis by Nia Gvatua, the bar’s owner. Over the years, Success Bar has been attacked by far-right homophobes, been flooded, and nearly gone broke – but the queers have kept coming back for drinks and drag.
2AM – My friend Mio, freshly arrived from Copenhagen, joins us topless in a vintage cowhide coat, flared jeans, and boots, topped off with gloves and a giant cross that glimmer like a shattered disco ball. “Babe, it’s giving ‘70s heroin glam,” they tease. Pictures taken, and we head to Eau De Cologne, a queer party series at Bassiani, the largest techno club in Georgia. Eau De Cologne’s doors are open to anyone, but the dress code is strict and sexual – Kinky, Fetish, Harness, Leather, Latex, PVC, Rubber, Jockstrap, Chain, Drag… At the door, co-host Dato Koridze is in a fierce leather vest. He’s clear no one makes it in if their look isn’t giving.
Located beneath Georgia’s national stadium, Bassiani’s main dance floor used to be a massive swimming pool during the Soviet era, and it’s big enough to fit 1200 dancers. Eau de Cologne takes place upstairs in part of the fitness complex. Although the upstairs space, Horoom, looks nothing like a gym now, it feels and smells a little like one – packed, gay, and sweaty. Even at gay parties, it’s rare in Georgia to see so many club-goers in full fetish gear, and more than a few ravers are completely naked.
Cormac is playing an italodisco set. Through the crowd, we notice that the back of the dancefloor has been curtained off for a darkroom. A video screens on a nearby partition in which the artist David Apakidze sits in the room in a pair of white briefs, slowly savoring an apple, while subtitles address the stigma faced by sex workers.
“Eau De Cologne parties are the best,” a friend tells me later in the dressing room. “Remember my finance-bro crush who swore he was straight? Turns out, suits by day, latex by night. I spotted him at the previous party kneeling in the darkroom, living his best life. Talk about a glow-up! So, yeah, I joined the line…”
7AM – Tired, I decide to head home, but the party is still running hot…
