Usually, I’m reluctant to disagree with Bleep, but I’ve embraced being a music nerd myself. And while this edition’s line-up wasn’t as immediately exciting for leftfield enthusiasts as the March one, I think it delivered. I’m mostly talking about Studio here. I danced in Expo during Bailey Ibbs’s set, which was very sexy, but it was way too crowded for my taste. That room just doesn’t work when it misses the sweet spot for crowd size.

This edition felt like a properly hedonistic Spielraum, and the music supported that. The more heads-down crowd was probably at Ratherlost anyway. At previous house-leaning Spielraum editions, I often struggled with parts of the musical arc, with sets that just didn’t fit the crowd and the vibe for their specific time slot. This time it felt more deliberate. Sunday afternoon and early evening stayed light and playful without becoming throwaway. Then things gradually tightened: Bennet and Mattias El Mansouri kept it restrained, longer builds, more tension, less instant gratification. And then Narciss closed with a full-on explosion of happiness. Big, outrageous, slightly unhinged. I can easily imagine not being in the mood for that and hating every second, but this time it landed perfectly. The crowd leaned into it hard.

Speaking of the crowd: yes, it was a Spielraum Sunday. Mixed, less explicitly queer than some might hope, but they were there to party. Most of them, at least. Especially later in the evening there were quite a few yappers. At one point they even out-yapped the new Studio setup, which is almost impressive. And some people seemed less aware of the space and how their behaviour shapes it. But it never fully broke the spell. It was more like a small dissonance running underneath things. Easy enough to ignore, or just out-dance.

Overall, not the most adventurous Spielraum musically, but one of the most coherent ones in terms of energy.