I was pretty excited to head to the premiere of F1-6. I’ve always thought Fotografiska to be an interesting building in the city and the perfect place to have a kick-ass party. The location is a bit isolated which makes it more of a thrilling place to spend the night. It gives off that old warehouse feel, but WAY nicer than any old warehouse you’ll find, so you get the best of both worlds.
The entrance is grander than other clubs we’re used to here, thanks to the buildings architectural features. The bouncers are nice too, which gave me a great feeling before going in. Sometimes they can be real jerks. I often wonder why clubs allow the people who give the first impression to act so rudely. There has to be a happy medium, where they give off a sense of authority but still are able to do it without an attitude. I think F1-6 achieved that. I wasn’t sure where to go and the bouncer helped me without the ‘tude.
I loved the front décor right away – A large block F hung in front of the entrance. Then came the absolute mayhem – the coat check. It’s rare to find a place that provides a free coat check and although it’s an absolutely amazing amenity the organization needs to be rethought. There were people shoving, blocking the walkway, and rudely cutting (because let’s be honest who wants to waste an hour of their partying time waiting to check their coat). The commotion wasn’t for lack of coat check workers because there were about 4 or 5, which should be enough. I’m not sure what to recommend doing there – all I know is there has to be an easier way.
After surviving the deadly coat check line I was finally able to check out the club. The space is great from entrance all the way to the main back room. It’s plain but the building already provides a pretty awesome backdrop for a club. It’s also a very unique space – you can’t find anything with a similar feel in Stockholm. It seems like an international club was picked up and placed on our doorstep, filling the missing gap in our nightlife.
The bars were packed and like any new club, a bit frazzled. The drink choices are few and just as pricey as any other club in Stockholm, which is a bit of a bummer but expected I guess! The music vibes were great, especially coming from Metro Area (Live) and Genius of Time in the main room but Josh Wink was meek in comparison. At that point we decided to check out the smaller room and was thoroughly impressed. The lights are awesome, the mood was awesome, but it was so damn hot in there! If only there was some kind of ventilation I could have stayed there all night. I was also able to have my own space without being repeatedly hit by other people.
Another reason the small room appealed to me so much – people really seemed to be actually enjoying and loving the music, not just drunk idiots happy to have found another club to dance in – the main room was full of those. It isn’t really a fault of F1-6 because there’s not much you can do to prevent that. We wouldn’t want the place to turn into all the other stuffy clubs in the city that throw you out because you “shouted too loud.” I’d rather it stay more of an easy-going place. I just hope the crowd attraction aims more to those who can appreciate the talent that is shown there and the work that is gone into making it a great club.
One thing I did notice that was something I haven’t found at many other places before was a table with pitchers of water. Such a simple idea but so genius! Water is pretty essential when people are drinking and dancing in sweaty rooms all night. Instead of having the already very busy bartenders attend to hundreds of annoying water requests why not just provide an area where it’s readily available. It’s not just a small pump where people have to wait in line to get it – there was actually 10 pitchers of water that were refilled pretty regularly. I was very impressed with such a small touch!
Lastly, the bathrooms. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl that the bathrooms even matter to me but it really bothers me when the bathrooms seem like I’m peeing next to other peoples’ garbage and vomit. The bathroom area was clean and nice. There was a seating area for the guys that have to wait for girls forced to wait on the obnoxious line that always lines up out of the ladies’ room. I even saw a woman in there cleaning. Nice touch and always more pleasant to feel clean using the bathroom.
Again on the way out the coat check was madness. People climbing over each other like it’s the last rations of food. I made it out alive, thank god. On my way out I had a very pleasant goodbye from the girl who was at the ticket table right inside the front entrance. She gave us a really friendly smile and said “thank you, have a nice night.” People wouldn’t think anything of it because it should be normal, but in my experience in Sweden it’s rare to get someone so warm and friendly at four in the morning bidding people adieu. She was able to lessen my annoyance about the stampede at that the coat check and left me with a good feeling leaving F1-6.
Words & Photos by Angela Markovic
F1-6 will be holding 5 more club nights before April 2014 at Fotografiska.
The next night is set for December 28th – get more info here.
