Clubs without Dancing: What Berlin’s Clubs are Doing Without Raves

Clubs without Dancing: What Berlin’s Clubs are Doing Without Raves

Halle, photo: Roman März.

There are many other reasons to come to Berlin apart from the clubs but they are definitely among the most popular ones. Techno has its roots in Detroit and the Afrofuturism movement but both the name and the current widespread popularity have to do with what it evolved into in Berlin.

While these parties are still relatively underground in many cities, Berlin has embraced rave culture and built a special relationship with its clubs and their audience. Berghain has already secured legal status as a cultural institution, and other clubs are fighting for the same. Club tourists are also valued by the city’s government as a major contribution to the economy.

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These Berlin Clubs Re-Opened from Lockdown with New Concepts

These Berlin Clubs Re-Opened from Lockdown with New Concepts

photo: Birgit & Bier. 

Our fingers are itching. After months of staring at the woodchip wallpaper of our Berlin flats, we have “BOCK” as we like to say in German (which means to be very much in the mood for something). Bock, to go out again. Bock to sway to smooth electronic or raging techno beats while moving our bodies, sipping on a cold beer. Normally the Berlin crowd is used to completely different circumstances at the start of the summer party season when the painful question is, what party to attend, instead of none at all. 

This year everything is different. Or least we thought so. After Berlin’s motivated party crowd heavy heartedly accepted the no-clubbing-corona-rules for 2020, there now appears to be hope. Little by little the bigger clubs with an outside area are opening their gardens! At first only for gastronomy purposes with strict “no dancing” rules, but that’s enough to give our grieving party community a glimmer of hope.

Note: Please consult the corresponding social media pages of each club for any changes in regards to their opening times. These might change according to the weather and the current situation.

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The 5 Stages of Club Rejection Grief

The 5 Stages of Club Rejection Grief

photos: Finding Berlin

There is a good reason why people from all over the world travel to Berlin just for the nightlife. On pretty much every night of the week, you can find a plethora of clubs to satisfy your dancing fix. The only thing standing in between you and the wildest night of your life is the stone-faced bouncer perched ominously in front of the door (also known as “the gatekeeper of your happiness”.) No matter how much black you’re wearing, how many people are in your group, or how expressionless you manage to hold your face for 45 minutes while standing in line— a pesky fly could zoom by the bouncer’s face at the exact same second you come forward, and then… well… you might then hear them say something like this: “Vergiss es. Nicht heute.” (Forget it, not today)

On one hand I completely understand their discretion. The bouncers (at least I’d like to hope) want to make sure that all who enters their magical wonderland is there to have fun and revel in the splendor that surrounds them, not just take selfies, hit on chicks, or gawk at “freaks.” While this process of elimination does *usually* succeed at keeping these awful kinds of people away, they also end up turning away plenty of fun, happy, freaks who just want to shimmy (like, um, I don’t know…me?)

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The Weekly Event Guide

The Weekly Event Guide

Chalet

After such a busy week such as the last one I actually feel like not doing anything for the next 7 days. But of course leaving you without my weekly list of event  recommendations would not be fair. As I have so many photo sets still to prepare for the next days I will have to keep myself short this week.

On Tuesday bloggette and DJane Oh-Sophia is hosting a special (free) dinner at Merkezi. Salon der Alchemisten is a new party with live music taking place this Wednesday at Chalet, the new club inside former Heinz Minki that is now owned by the former Bar25 owners. On Thursday the HBC opens the big group exhibition Do It Again. Also, Stevie Hanley is having a book launch with an exhibition and live concert by Alexander Geist. On Friday the LEAP is opening their 4th edition of performance night Body Controlled. If you didn’t dare to take your crazy outfit out for fashion week, then maybe do it at the Blitz party. On Saturday London-based queer party Gutterslut is coming back to Berlin to haunt the Sisyphos with their big trannies.

This week is also the best time to visit the design schools here in Berlin, as they are all having an open house where they present the work of their students. UdK is open from Thursday to Sunday. The HTW is having their Werkschau from Friday to Saturday. And the Weißensee School is celebrating the opening of their exhibition of students work on Friday evening. The exhibition will continue until July 29th. Read on…

Carneval!

Jessica 6

It’s carneval weekend, so let’s all get on the street to celebrate! If you can stand spending the day between wasted youngsters, families with children and a watching crowd you will surely have a good time. For the others I advice the parties around the carneval, pretty much focused on Sunday since Monday is off. Parties after the jump:

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Traveling frees your Sunday mind

Even with a storm-warning we love open airs on Sundays so much that we didn’t care and took a little trip to Kraftwerk Rummeslburg to the Reisen macht den Kopf frei- Festival. What we found was a nice party oasis of bassy music and lovely people. And my company wasn’t bad eather. So it’s true traveling frees your mind at least on a hot Sunday like it was today. Enjoy some impressions after the jump.

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Reisen macht den Kopf frei

Soukie & Windish

With the amazing Immergut festival on the last weekend, the festival season in Germany finally started. I have to admit that I am not really a festival guy: freedom, independence, campfires, vodka, canned raviolis – that’s all great, but being on a festival also means camping and using dixie toilets. And I absolutely hate both.

For all of you who are just as snobbish as I am, that there are also some festivals in Berlin: the Berlin Festival in September and Reisen macht den Kopf frei (“Traveling frees your mind”) on this weekend. More about the later after the jump.

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Sisyphos Festival Berlin – Dancing Open Air

Sisyphos Festival Berlin

When you read our Berlin blog you may think that this city has so many hidden secrets. And so many times we become a target for criticism because we reveal those secrets to people who are not as well informed as others. But the truth is: there is no real secret in Berlin. There are just different groups of interests and different communication networks. Not every information is passed in every network and some human networks think if they just pass their information in their inner circle that the information is safe. Some people are afraid when they see that we don’t have problems to share any kind of information we help the wrong people to find out about the good stuff. But I am asking myself who are these wrong people out there? And what will they do when they are reading about the secret stuff? Will they start a witch Sabbath and try to put a bad spell on it? Or will they come like hungry insects and devour the hidden Shangri-La? I think that the wrong people probably just don’t care about your secrets. Try to go out on the streets and tell people that you have an alien baby in your stomach. They probably won’t even care. And that’s the same with these supposedly hidden places like Sisyphos. Enjoy the pictures from last Sunday’s Sisyphos Festival, but don’t try to share them with anybody. Because they are absolutely secret.

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