So just before New Years I was in Berlin visiting friends and digging into techno with a new found enthusiasm. Up until the start of the year I haven't really played it at all, I've played trance in the 90s and more recently Deep House and Tech House. Over Christmas and especially when I hit Berlin I wanted to really get to know Techno, so of course I aimed straight for Berghain, the Vatican of the Techno scene and famously hard to get into.
I spoke to a few people and read a bit on line, so I felt like I had an ok grip on the requirements. Mostly techno style cloths, largely black with a bit of kink and or street style, happy is ok but no acting excited like a puppy about to go for a walk. So I dressed in dark cloths a long jacket etc and off I went, on a Thursday two nights before New Years.
I arrived by train and walked to the imposing industrial building in the chill of a Berlin winter evening and found a line that wasn't too big, maybe a hundred or so people, and proceeded to join.
At this point I feel ok, I don't look out of place and I'm just chilling in line listening to music. When I finally arrive at the front I have my music playing until a guy from the door looks at me, I take out my earbuds and look at him with a question, "Am I ok to go in", the woman at the door say "No" and directs me out. Fail. So what did I do wrong, a couple of simple things, first, the guy I looked at wasn't running the door, the woman there was which should have been obvious if I'd been paying attention. Secondly I walked up with my ear buds in and missed the initial question I was asked. Two strikes and you are out my friend.
So I took my slap and headed off to see what else might be fun to do. I'll write about it in a separate post but suffice to say there is a lot of fun to be had in Berlin, so if you don't make it into Berghain, don't worry.
The next night was the night before New Years and a big night for Berghain because the band you get that night will get you entry for the whole weekend all the way up to Monday. I knew it would be packed so I upped the ante on cloths and got ready to give it another go with my new knowledge.
I thought the doors would open at 10 but as it turned out I arrived far too early at 7pm, not a soul around. I checked the site and actually that night it opened at 12. I decided to get some food and find a bar to hang out in for a while. That was another adventure that I'll relay another time, but as it panned out I arrived back to Berghain at 11:30 to find a massive line of maybe a thousand people. So much for getting there early.
I made a choice to be naughty and get into one of Berlins most finely tuned arts, queue jumping. I just aimed for the middle of the queue and immediately started a conversation with someone, all good, no one made a fuss or even seemed to care. Lots of people were coming and going from their friends, going to the toilet or getting food.
The line of course wasn't moving yet, the doors hadn't opened. I kept chatting to the woman in front of me and noticed that her friends were disappearing one by one, eventually she said "My friends up up at the front of the queue, I have to go" so I asked if I could join her and she readily agreed. So off we march to the front, just before the cattle race leading up to the door. It's about 12:15 by this stage and the line is moving at a reasonable pace. By 12:30 I'm back at the door, this time I've been attentive, no ear buds, and aware of who is making the decisions at the door, I've unbuttoned my jacket a little so they can see the outfit underneath. I look at the guy, he looks me up and down and says something to me in German. I say "Sorry mate, I'm and Aussie", a little raise of the eyebrows and he says "You been in before?", "No mate", "You know what goes on inside?, my reply "Yeah man". He smiles and nods me in. Woot! I have just gained entrance to techno heaven!
As I enter there is a pat down, as I found out, just for weapons, they really don't care what else you take in. And then into the space, which is incredible. The entryway has a massive cloak room where the guests transform from a generic coated mass to a gothic techno fetish scene from matrix. The staff and every element of the place are carefully curated to enhance the vision of the club as a house of techno fetish, post war Berlin driven by art and a finger to authority.
Inside the place opens up with massive industrial spaces connected by wide staircases and corridors that in some cases take you to other large spaces and bars like Panorama or in other cases rooms to chill or fuck depending on your mood.
I met a few interesting souls that night who were all lovely and helped me to find my way around. One lovely surprise happened when a lady I'd met came and found me. "I have something to show you, it opens at 2am, lets go". We headed off through the rabbit warren of passages and ended up at a little staircase that disappeared up into the ceiling. Up we went and arrived in the most industrial looking cold servery I can imagine, the walls were black with metallic dry brushing and rivets, the refrigerated display case was painted similarly and a slender pierced gothic woman behind the counter. I ordered some frozen yoghurt and it was the perfect thing at that moment. They really have thought of everything.
All in all, if you love techno you should go to Berghain at least once.
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