Move your ass and your mind will follow
Top 5 Clubs
By Mike Riemel
The time of the famous illegal clubs in Berlin _ like Blumenladen, Montagsbar, I.M.Eimer and the Rafgier crew (maybe) parties are over. Neighborhoods are too posh and the authorities check every basement too hard. Only in the summer, crews like barfuss, KlubGarnitur or Wir Sind Park take the risk of putting sound systems in parks. On weekend afternoons, you can still find a hundred to 300 people raving at places you wouldn't expect them. It's peer-to-peer propaganda, mail and sms-based to find out.
But Music City Berlin is still vibrant and burning. Not only because of the return of the big clubs, Cookies and Tresor. Some did the job well over the last three years: Panoramabar-Berghain, Bar 25, Maria am Ostbahnhof, Watergate, 103, Weekend and Rio. Most are located in the Spree night ghetto, close to the river, between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. You can shuttle between them with the 3 euro kurzstrecke (short fare), the cost of a special short-distance taxi ride covering two kilometers (ask the driver or he won't automatically give it to you and it only works on Taxis driving by, not at the stands).
Then there are the grassroot local initiatives for each kiez (neighborhoods), especially in Friedrichshain. Clubs like Lovelite, Rosie's, K-17, Ministerium fuer Entspannung, Hangar and Supamolli around Ostkreuz (around S-Bahn Ostkreuz)--places that aren't posh, where rock&roll is still dirty and the beer and drugs are cheaper.
When it comes to strict international electronic flavor of dance entertainment (apart from White Trash), you would want to go to some of the top 5:
Panoramabar-Berghain
The former Ostgut guys moved across the railroad tracks into an old electricity relay station to show the world what a super-club is. Entering the 18-meter high venue after queuing for half-an-hour, and dropping your cameras at the door, you enter a radical safe zone, where techno and house survived the 90s.
A high percentage of gay audience (like many good clubs), excellent booking and sound system, fair prices once you are in (10 euros entrance Saturday, 8 on Fridays), tasteful artwork (Wolfgang Tillmans photography). Try to expect not to leave before noon. Located at Am Wrienzer bahnhof (near Ostbahnhof).
Weekend
In the 12th floor above Alexanderplatz, the view is the key. Electronic music in a minimal black environment surrounded by pretty young stylers. It's strange to use the elevators and enter the sometimes very sweaty main floor. Open on Thurs (5 euro entrance), Fri and Saturday (8 euros). Coming back down on a Friday morning is literally coming back down, when you meet the people going to work in the building (which is the former travel agency of the GDR, the former Easht Germany called it Haus des Reisens). Sometimes the Sternradio, in the basement, might be an alternative. Alexanderplatz 5.
White Trash
On their third location, they went global. Way bigger with a stage downstairs makes it a full-fledged venue now. So if you want to eat excellent burgers or chili while looking at weird-ass country punks getting naked, you are in the right place. Permanent performance seems to be the motto of even the guests hanging out at the long bar. Run by Americans, all the waiters seem to be foreign tattoed people. Lately, downstairs even electronic music could happen _ the last taboo is broken. The attitude is still punk rock, though, and if you feel underdressed, go to the tattoo parlor next door. Schoenhauser Allee No. 6-7.
Maria am Ostbahnhof
Their second venue seems dull on the first look: once called the Deli, it got bigger than their first place, bigger and more variable. So one night you might find top concerts there and the next day massive raves. You better check the program. Since four years, they host the 10-day Club Transmediale in January, a massive highlight in the Berlin schedule. They also opened a smaller club next door called Josef for more intimate electronic events. Entrance prices vary, but not the door people. Normal club prices for drinks. Stralauer Platz 33-34, An der Schillingbruecke.
The Bar 25
It would be top of the list if the statistics weren't so bad _ due to being only open in summer. If you make it through the door, a big playground for urban freaks opens up right on the river. Basically from Thursday to Tuesday, its an ongoing afterhour including everything hallucinogenic and uplifting you ever read about. Don't expect loud noise as the dance floor is in a shabby shack and the police would really like to end it. They have an excellent restaurant for early night--you really have to reserve a table though. You can even spend a night in a few rent-a-shacks. For the soccer World Cup, they opened a beautiful second floor where you can find inflatable pool, if you are lucky, and a stage open for total off-beatheads being booked there by the Goldmund crew, on Sunday nights mostly. Cheap entrance (around 4 euros last summer), but the thing is to get in as it is crowded and you have to have the right level of attitude. Berlin Holzmarktstr. 25, S-Bahn Ostbahnhof or Jannowitzbruecke.
Mike Riemel is the founder of Klubradio, the Author of the Flyer Soziotope Book and known as a genrebending DJ Aussenborder. He also runs the night gallery Foto-Shop.
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