- One of the world's biggest techno DJs headlines Smolna.
- Catering to electronic, alternative and experimental music fans with lineups that regularly feature the world's biggest DJs, Warsaw's Smolna has all the ingredients of a European super club. But it also reflects its unique location in the centre of the Polish capital. Opened in 2016, the 900-capacity venue is housed within a 1903 tenement whose walls bear the munitions markings from the Warsaw Uprising, the single largest military effort by any European resistance movement during WW2.
Comprising two dance floors, a chill-out room, three bars and an outside area that doubles up as a third dance floor, Smolna is both a stark and cosy labyrinth, where botanical glasshouse styling suddenly leads to communist-era décor with old-school TVs, retro sofas and aged movie posters. The soft furnishings, dimly glowing light bulbs and corrugated iron flourishes in the corridors give it an air of David Lynch's Paris nightclub Silencio. At times it was so dark, I had to hold my friend's hand to ensure we didn't lose each other.
While Isaiah Martin cultivated a chilled atmosphere in the upstairs bar, more energetic tech house played on the outside patio. The nucleus of the venue was reserved for unrelenting techno. Due to popular demand, the night's headliner, Amelie Lens, played earlier at the nearby venue Stodoła, which meant she arrived at Smolna just in time for her 3 AM set. Greeted by rapturous applause from the packed crowd of black-clad ravers, she got straight down to business, as if picking up where she'd left off. Early musical highlights included Escape To Mars's "Moment In Space," Klaudia Gawlas' "The Siren" and "Requiem For Insomnia" by Marla Singer.
As 5AM neared, it looked like Lens might have the stamina to carry on for longer, but then she signalled the beginning of the end with her own track "Basiel," released earlier this year. The climax took another turn with the euphoric "The Same Error" by Alignment. For the crowd, though, this still wasn't enough. Whistling, clapping and chanting her name, it took everyone several minutes to accept that the set was finally over.