Feetback Party in Cologne

It's long been an ambition to get to Cologne and visit the Feetback party that is organised there. The opportunity arose when Stainless noticed that the next Feetback Party coincided with CSD - the German Gay Pride festival, so tickets and hotel were booked, and off we went to Cologne for the weekend. Feetback doesn't have a website of its own, as it is largely promoted on GayRomeo which is best described as the a continental version of Gaydar. Feetback is one of the many clubs on GayRomeo and use the website to publicise and announce their events. Feetback meets at the Midnight Sonne, which is easy to find and near to other gay places in the western part of town. The club has a small bar and a smoking room with seating that seems designed for foot/sneaker worship. Stainless spent most of the time on the floor, as per usual. There is a playspace behind the bar which was well lit and well suited to foot-activity. There is a further darker space in the basement with slings and stuff which was more popular with the fuck-and-suck guys rather than the foot and footwear fetishists. The place was decorated with lots of old sneakers hung from every available point - I was surprised that any didn't go missing as there were some very nice Shox and TNs among them. The crowd was a mix of ages from 20's to 40's and everyone was friendly. There were a lot of guys who seemed to be there to chat or "be seen" rather than engage in play. There was plenty of activity to keep us happy :-) The evening ended at midnight and we headed back East on the Tram a couple of stops to take in Boners and Station2b on the way back to our hotel. I'd definitely go again - and now you can catch the EuroStar to Cologne it might be on the cards again soon...

Reminder: Feet on Friday Socks Party

Hi Guys

Just a reminder that the next Feet on Friday is on Friday April 20th.

This month our theme is Socks - and you should find something to amuse yourself whatever style of socks you like, and whether you prefer them clean or sweaty... As usual there is no dresscode.

We open at 7pm and finish just before midnight - although you can stay on in the club for the disco that starts at midnight and runs until 4am. Entry is £6 and that includes a coat/bag check.

Feet on Friday meets in The Underground Club, beneath Central Station bar at 37 Wharfdale Road, London N1 - a short walk from Kings Cross and St Pancras stations.

Finally, a gentle reminder - please do not take glasses or bottles into the two play areas. We ask this for two reasons: one is that there is a risk someone might break a glass or bottle and we don't want shards of broken glass on the mats in the play areas. The other reason is that drinks often get put down, knocked and spilled. This makes the mats wet and unpleasant to play on for others.

See you Friday!

Andy & Stainless

Berlin Review: Laboratory Athletes Sportswear & Sneaker

I've been to a Laboratory Athletes Sportswear & Sneaker party twice before - this time there are a few things that were a bit different - maybe because it is Easter weekend, and maybe it's just progress.

For those that don't know Laboratory, it is set in the basement of an old power station. It's huge and labyrinth like. Just to walk around all the areas takes a good twenty minutes to half an hour and I kept finding bits I hadn't yet explored throughout the night. Since I was there last it seems to have doubled it size  and the newer half features another bar area, a zone with a sand covered floor, more mazes and a scaffold structure with ladders and platforms (reminiscent of Chuckie Egg) as well as a mezzanine floor and more slings and paraphernalia than you can imagine under one roof.

The upstairs is divided into two and houses the Berghain night club, and a concert hall is being constructed in the other half.

I arrived early at about ten past four and was number 53 - we saw numbers going up to 480ish so I guess there were just shy of 500 guys there.

The crowd was a little different to what I have seen there in previous times - I was expecting guys in serious sports gear, like ice hockey, american football, motocross gear etc. This time there was none of that - it was mostly topless guys in shorts and trainers. A few were dressed in footy kit or 'scally' gear but probably less than 50%.  One of my friends from Berlin says that its always the same people that go to Laboratory - just in different costumes depending on the night. I think he's right.

Having been to the previous sneaker and sports parties in the week, it was possible to recognise faces in the crowd and target like-minded individuals as most guys were interested in fucking and that's all.

The 2-4-1 drinks offer was a good thing. I was offered a number of free drinks buy guys who were given two beers and didn't want to carry the free one around. The whole night cost me 13.00 euros for drinks plus 8 euros entry - a bargain considering how much beer and Jagermeiser was consumed!

Berlin Review: Boese Buben Sneaker party

This party, I am told is a one-off event for the Easter weekend. That's a bit of a shame because it means I will have to wait until next Easter to go again!

First a little about the venue: Boese Buben is normally known for hosting spanking and CP parties. It is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers. The building is well hidden behind some garages in a residential area and has four floors. The entrance was via a marquee tent which had patio heaters and plenty of space for getting changed into your sports gear. Inside the building there was a bar and lounge areas on the ground floor, which operated the usual German pay-as-you-leave ticket scheme. The next floor up had three play spaces each decorated differently - one with a giant bed, and the others with various pieces of play furniture, bondage and SM equipment. The third floor was similar, but featured two larger rooms and a bathroom. One of the playrooms on the third floor was decorated as a 'medical room' with various examination chairs, tables, lamps and other medical equipment. There was another floor but this was closed. All the play spaces were well lit and had dimmer switches so you could control the light. The brightest room was the medical one, which also seemed the most popular.

The crowd was more a mix of ages than the other sneakers and sports parties and although there were a number of familiar faces, there were also a lot of new faces too. There seemed to me to be a much more relaxed and less frenetic atmosphere which lead to there being a lot more going on. I think this is the closest thing I have found to Feet on Friday and certainly the best of the sneakers/sports parties this week by far.

Berlin Review: Stompmania at Puff Bar

Stompmania was held in a small bar near Scheune called Puff Bar. I'd never heard of it before and it took a little hunting to find. It wasn't the kind of place I'd expect to be hosting such a party, with it's clean white leather furnishings, trendy decor and twinky bar staff. The bathrooms are quite something - black porcelain with gold decoration. As it is a long thin venue, any stomping or trampling play that took place blocked the main corridor through the venue and forced a crowd to gather.

The event started off with mainly a lot of younger faces that had been at Sneakfreaxx the night before, who were keen to be the centre of attention, but as the night wore on, some of the BLF crowd arrived - mostly in sneakers (worn with leather trousers?). I was talking to an Irish skinhead who was disappointed to be the only guy there in boots - but I think it worked to his advantage as he wasn't short of interested takers.

On the whole this was a good night, although I'd say it might benefit from a venue with more floor space - although the sparkling cleanliness of the venue was appreciated.

Around midnight the bar staff cleared everything up and it was back to normal again.

Berlin Review: Sneakfreaxx at Stahlrohr

Sneakfreaxx was one of the main reasons for coming to Berlin this week... I have heard a lot of good things about this party and I was hoping it would live up to the hype.

Whether it was planned or not, the date and time of this party coincided with the Recon organised sportswear party at Reizbar, but since that's part of BLF, I figured that it would be full of leather guys in shorts and not really full-on sportswear enthusiasts.

So I caught the u-Bahn to Schonhauser-Allee and bumped into Laurent and his partner on the train, who run the French Sneakersgate website and a number of parties, particularly the Antwerp Fenix Sports and Sneakers party in the Oink Oink bar.

Stahlrohr was well organised with lockers in the basement to change clothing and a ticket system to pay for drinks when you leave. Entry was 8 Euros and drinks were reasonably priced. There's a bar area for socialising and a darker area for cruising and play.

I met several people I know there - Thorsten who runs Shoot! in London and also a couple of guys who are regulars at Feet on Friday.

So what was it like? Awesome. Loads of guys from all over Europe as well as local lads from Berlin. The average age was quite low, and it made me wish I was 25 again! All the guys were so well dressed in their sports gear, sneakers and scaly-street wear it was brilliant. There was only one I spotted who hadn't really made an effort.

Here all the scally boys go mad over a type of Jeans called Picaldi... and you can see why: the leg is shaped to narrow at the bottom which shows off your sneakers and makes it easy to tuck the bottom of the jeans into your socks. The backside is very reminiscent of the classic Levi 501 which is known to make the best of anyone's backside.

People were very friendly and when it got crowded enough to inhibit walking around inside the venue it never felt intimidating - and I tend to get a bit claustrophobic in crowded places. The guy on the door reckoned they had maybe 250 guys at the party, which I reckon is about right.

On the night, they announced plans to make Sneakfreaxx a monthly party and hold it at Stahlrohr regularly. I really hope this doesn't dilute what is an occasional party but one that is worth travelling across the EU for.

As for playing - well if you're young and good looking then you get the pick. If not then it's a case of enjoy the scenery...

Berlin Review: Bull Bar "sneakers and boots"

Bull bar is one of my favourite places - not because the bar is especially nice, but I like the eclectic mix of people who go there, and there is always something interesting to see.

This is Berlin, so at the advertised start time of 9pm the place was pretty empty and didn't get cooking until later on, after 11pm. People seemed to come and go, so there was a constant ebb and flow of new faces.

The night was advertised in one place as a "boots and sneakers" night and elsewhere as "all fetish". This meant that there was a mix of sportswear, motorbike gear, army gear, leather, rubber and casual dress.  It made it quite difficult to ascertain who might be into boots and sneakers, and the only way was to ask and the fail rate was pretty high.

That is, until a very good looking skinhead dressed in skintight Dainese leathers and white Alpinestars Tech 8 motocross boots stole the show as he treated one lucky individual to a good trampling and boot worship session that lasted half the evening - studying the onlookers made it easy to see who was 'interested' and who wasn't so there were a few more sneaker/sock/foot scenes to be had, but it was very hard work.

Being the first evening of the BLF weekend most of the leather crowd stayed away and packed out New Action next door.

Highlight of my evening was a pair of French TNs and football socks :-)