Berlin: a view from the TV tower
World Wide · 27.12.2007
By Грете Ребсток
To begin with — the main rule of being in Berlin. As long as you can see the TV tower on Alexanderplatz, everything's fine. Go up it and you'll see a city frozen in bewilderment, having never worked out who or what it is. And then it stopped caring about that altogether, and it simply savours every moment of its life. It suggests its guests do the same.
Weekend→ (Alexander str. 7, admission: 6–10 euros).
Right next to the TV tower you can see a building with a glowing Sharp sign. This is where the club Weekend is located, comparable in the decadence of its atmosphere, perhaps, only to the video for Pass this on by The Knife. On the twelfth and sixteenth floors plays that very, at times pleasant, musical blend that it's now customary to call minimal tech-house. Going up to the roof, you can discover a pleasant surprise in the person of, say, Richie Hawtin playing at dawn. If he's not there, there's sure to be someone else, for example Tiefschwarz, Sascha Funke or Tobi Neumann.
You can start Weekend with the club Picknick too. It's located, like a certain now-closed Moscow establishment, near the American embassy. Once darkness falls, fans of nu-rave and electro gather at the entrance in outfits à la the '80s. On the small dance floor Shaggy, the Beastie Boys and other hits of the '90s play nostalgically.
Tape→ (Heide str. 14, admission: 6 euros).
The club Tape fully lives up to its name. The cosy little dance floor is a reminder of magnetic cassettes once recorded for friends and lost.
On the big dance floor more "serious" music plays: Peaches, Sonar Kollektiv, Whitest Boy Alive.
Tresor→ (Kopenicker str. 57-73).
Having relocated to a former power station, the club has kept its industrial charm. Unfortunately, the classic techno atmosphere at times attracts too many sleepless people from the outskirts, who, both in their dancing and in general, look rather dispiriting. But it's definitely worth coming to the big events featuring the stars of Pokerflat and Tresor.
Cookies→ (Friedrichstrasse, 158-164).
The club, located next to the French Institute, used to be illegal. Now Cookies has the reputation of a fashionable club that draws crowds of people on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On weekends the club is closed. Among the club's merits one can also count such magnificent inventions as toilet parties with champagne and an increased entry fee for students.
The best time for excursions around club Berlin is summer. Bass sounds from practically around every corner, and you simply forget how to breathe slowly and evenly. It's precisely in summer that you can spend all your days and nights on the embankment of the river Spree, where quite a few worthy establishments are located.
Bar 25→ (Holzmarktstr. 25).
Unfortunately, it closes for the winter. But in summer it's the most fitting place for lovers of calm afterhour events. "Minimal techno" plays and usually not loudly. At the turntables Dj Koze and his other comrades often appear. On the other side of Bar 25 is Kiki Blofeld, where patrons of the club Tresor sip cola lying on a big beach.
Not far from Bar 25 are two clubs, Maria and Josef, which host live performances by such artists as, for example, 2 Many DJs, International Pony. Parties from the labels Bpitch Control, Shitkatapult also happen. The entry prices are quite high, but it's worth it. From here you can get across to the two other clubs on the other side of the Spree by boat.
Watergate→ (Falckensteinstr.49).
If you travel along the river when the sun is already up, the light may seem like too much. That's exactly when you can appreciate the curtains of the hospitable Watergate. Though, besides the curtains, there's something to appreciate here: the laconic interior, the light installations and the stunning view of the river. The music program is dotted with names from Freude am Tanzen, Playhouse and Get Physical.
103→ (Falckenstein str. 47).
The next club is located literally next door. Mostly DJs play here, but one of the two dance floors is sometimes blown up by such characters as Kid Alex or Lexy. The club is also famous for being one of the few places where you can buy the Polish vodka "Grasovka."
Berghain→ and Panoramabar→ (Am Wriezener Bahnhof).
And finally, the most interesting part. Two clubs located on different floors of a huge industrial building behind the Ostbahnhof station, Panoramabar and Berghain, are the acknowledged trendsetters of the German capital. A two-hour queue at the entrance in the morning is a normal thing here. People come from all over Germany to spend a single night in this place. It's recommended to take care of your entry in advance and get your stamp back at midnight. But turning up toward morning as a drunken party of ten is unlikely to help.
Inside is the most impressive venue in the city, where the best sound system is installed. The reinforced-concrete interiors of Berghain give way, upstairs in Panoramabar, to the work of the well-known photographer Wolfgang Tillmans and to big floor-to-ceiling windows.
The music policy of the clubs is divided fairly simply: while in Panoramabar you can hear house music, in the lower Berghain only uncompromising techno plays. So uncompromising that at times a visit to the club becomes like an extreme sport.
Of course, these aren't all the places one could list. Doing so is hard, if only because many open for just one night and then vanish into one big whirlpool of events, people and the most varied music. The only way to know it all is to plunge in headfirst yourself.
