Upon emerging from the airlock entrance into the club, we are treated to a sight we thought would only exist in our wildest imaginings of what Reno’s burner party scene could be like.  The silver leotarded zero-g performers of Dragonfly Aerials maneuver across the rafters in cargo nets while rocking three other aerial rigs simultaneously above a packed house of space-themed costume wearing burners bouncing to the electro beats of an alien DJ in a king’s robe and giant eyeball mask spinning amongst the decaying gray skyscraper facade of a dystopian future.

The crowd was dressed better than any we’ve yet experienced here in Reno (or anywhere really, except maybe BRC).  More than half wore full on space costumes complete with makeup and hair done to match the theme.  Everyone had on at least one spacey item and the vibe was positively cosmic.  Zentai outfits were significantly en vogue as were hoops of every kind especially the LED variety.  Metallic fabrics, ray-guns, mildly erotic 70s Star Wars-esque ensembles, helmets, and, of course, antennae were all around as were neon wigs, bug-eyed glasses, foil tape, glitter, and EL wire.   It all hints at the powerful notion that Reno has significantly more burners dressing up per capita than just about anywhere else.

Extravaganz kosmich is not nearly superlative enough (or Duetsch enough) to describe the space-cadet conflagration the verkers of Ein Hammer Krew put on for us.  With raffles, set design, multiple areas to rage or chill in, interactive art occupying every spare parsec, a cosmic coat check (it was pretty cold out that night), and a midnight stage show that was absolutely mind-blowing, every species represented was  able to get their genetic programming fulfilled with enough spacey goodness to last them a light-year!

The midnight stage show deserves a special mention.  The theme of this year’s Yuri’s Night Pre-Compression party was “Metropolis In Space”.  Drawing heavily from Fritz Lang’s 1920s German-expressionist Metropolis film with a subtitled silent Rotwang and three metallic hooping robots, the midnight show crescendo-ed in a reverse meteor shower of heavenly glory as all the stars in the audience boosted up onto the stage and blasted off with the beat of Infected Mushroom’s “Cities of the Future” driving their engines.

For many of us, this Metropolis party was our first chance to play with this year’s Burning Man theme.  Our first opportunity to really feel at home in a bustling city of futuristic freaks.  Triumphantly, we were able to transcend our archaic roles of thinker or worker to join together as fellow citizens and bring all we could home from the heart of our city of the future.