I was planning to go out tonight, and on my way out, my eyes fell on a headline: "Romanian nightclub blast kills 25". By the time I looked it up online, the casualties had gone to 26. And memories of a few nights in Bucharest came back.

Amazingly, the club’s website is still up, and I thought I translate the About page (which ends with “Soon in english”) to make benefit great nation.

Colectiv is that place where you always live something else. Where you stand, not because there are no chairs, but because euphoria tickles your every pore. Where opulence does a roundabout at the entrance. Where chandeliers do not hang from the ceiling, only sunshine. Where memories give birth to nostalgia. Where we dance or no matter what.
Animated with rebel spirit, vibrating on various alternative music sheets, Colectiv is the perfect host. We collect sounds from around the world and spread them on your soul frequency. Arouse passions and let the world dream beautifully. We have ambitions, plans and ideas, but "we assumum pitongs as well", quoting the unpaired lyricist. We are imperfect, but that makes us strong.
Because when we all gather here, then (#suntemcolectiv) #wearecolectiv!
Soon in english!

Supposedly, the fireworks shown below reached to the foam of the opposite pillar (also visible in the photo above), which lacked fire retardant and caught fire, which then rapidly and violently spread to the ceiling sound-proof isolation, also supposedly lacking fire retardant (see my article on the pitfalls of over-regulation for why I question that point of view).

Apparently, there were 400 people in that basement, before the pyrotechnics malfunctioned, and now 180 are in hospital. Here’s what Google shows for the outside:

The more recent reviews are all 1-star, but the old ones added up to a 4.3/5 out of 15 reviews, such as this one by Anastasescu Alin from 2 years ago (translated from Romanian):

“Colectiv” is the freshest space from Bucharest, endowed with the determination [sic!] to align Romanian nightlife to the standards of the main urban hubs in Europe.

The old Romanian obsession of “entering Europe” is kept alive by the Schengen refusal/exclusion.

There’s a world of difference between nightclubs in Toronto and those in Bucharest.

For one thing, Toronto’s nightclubs have the last call for alcohol at 2am and most of them close shortly thereafter. Occasionally, some are allowed to go until 4am. Some of us know our way around to “after hours” clubs ran by biker gangs and others like them, where smoking cigarettes is not allowed, but weed, crack and the likes are sold and encouraged.

The biggest difference however is probably in the way fire prevention is dealt with in North America vs Europe, but I’ll address that separately.

My “made in Romania” memories are mostly good and very good, but some are ugly.

I went to a number of clubs when traveling to Romania, but I don’t think Colectiv was one of those.

What bugs me is that whenever I am asked about Romania, I always mention nightlife as a plus, followed by how cheap everything is. I hope nobody followed my advice in traveling to Bucharest for fun that night, and if they did, they weren’t there.

The other thing, I’ve recently re-watched Ship of Fools and now I see it everywhere and in everything, including the #suntemcolectiv / #wearecolectiv tag. For what is worth, it’s Plato’s allegory for democracy – a ship going nowhere, everyone dissing the only person who can steer it, i.e., the philosopher; see also Socrates’ trial.

Fire, don’t walk with me. I’m hoping that the sad count freezes at 26.

I could still go out, even though I cancelled. I probably won’t.

Sources / More info: colectiv