Fabric The old meat refrigerator turned into the best nightclub in the world
The Haçienda Flooded toilets, waste and acid house
Amnesia From the lysergic paradise of Escohotado to the ecstasy of Ibiza
Paradise Garage A cauldron to sweat, a dance cathedral and a quaaludes and cocaine pharmacy
The Loft The first great nightclub in history: juices, LSD and a mirror ball
There is an already famous phrase, originally enunciated by the British DJ Ewan Pearson in a documentary entitled
Feiern
(
Party
, in German), that perfectly describes the spirit - very Sodom and Gomorrah, in his words too - of the techno night of Berlin: "don't forget to come home." The advice is timely because the Teutonic capital has been characterized for decades by a lax schedule that made the most destitute sector of the young population
start going out on a Wednesday and normally did not reappear at home until Monday at noon
. The most surprising thing is that no one died.
To be partying for several days in a row it is necessary that there be a route -as there was in Valencia in the 80s-, and in Berlin at the beginning of the 21st century what existed was the so-called
golden mile of clubbing
, a route that skirted the river Spree between the neighborhoods of Mitte, Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, and which allowed technical stops at gambling dens such as Bar25, Maria & Joseph or Watergate -located just below the emblematic Oberbaum Bridge-, and which always culminated in the jewel in the crown, an old power station electricity converted into
a dark fortress
and whose name is already a legend: Berghain.
In keeping with tradition, journalist Alexis Waltz - editor of
Groove
magazine
, Germany's dean of electronic music - referred to Berghain as "the center of the world" in an essay, describing the club as "a techno cathedral it rises on the new route of the clubs ». If in ancient times all roads led to Rome, in the era of low cost tourism all roads lead to Berghain - not long ago it was a waste to go to Berlin on an Easyjet flight, save yourself the hotel because you weren't sleeping, and go back to home, on Pearson's advice.
Its rough and brutal façade
is already iconic, and the experiences that have been told about its parties have added to urban folklore with all kinds of ecstatic sensations.
Berghain is the most important club of the 21st century because in its brief history - its inauguration was in 2004; Previously, its founder, Michael Teufele, had run a gay club called Ostgut - he has managed to combine legend, hyperbole and mystery. It has never been an exclusive venue, but it is not distinguished either by being a space for everyone: its maximum capacity is 1,500 people adding up its three main spaces -the techno floor, which is Berghain itself; the upper club, Panoramabar, and the lower labyrinth of corridors and cubicles where the club transforms into
a gay dungeon, darkroom and all
- and that capacity restriction has led to a severe access control at the door.
For this reason, more than its resident DJs or its theme nights,
Berghain's most famous asset has been its doorman
, a classic Berlin
fetish character.
, tattooed up to the palate, which goes by the name of Sven Marquardt. Many clubbers have dumped on Sven and his gorilla team the accumulated frustration of trying to cap off a night in Berghain and being repeatedly rejected at the door - for many people, Sven is the biggest killjoy ever. Actually, there is a lot of black legend: Marquardt had the function of selecting whoever was likely to bring good vibes, and rejecting noisy groups, overt drunks, solitary with bad appearance and people without a particular touch of charm, surely following the foot of the lyrics the instruction Steve Rubell, one of the founders of Studio 54, gave to its doormen: "Never let anyone who looks like me pass by."
The biggest draw to Berghain, however, is not how hard it is to get in, but how hard it is to get out. For many years it benefited from a benign municipal law that allowed it to
operate 24 hours a day on weekends
, and it was customary for it to open doors on Friday at sundown, and not close until late Sunday morning. This allowed for a continuous change of environment, moods and movement of personnel, although there were two moments especially sought after -those that caused the queues and the rigor in the access-: the dawn of Saturday and the afternoon of Sunday.
Berghain's center court is a fish-black grotto, but the upper deck has windows, which are closed at night, intermittently opening at the first rays of the sun to create a euphoric effect. Sunrise at Panoramabar thus became
a rite of passage into European nomadic clubbing
: it was like a christening, entry into a higher plane of pleasure.
The same happened on Sundays: noon and afternoon became long and relaxed cycles, where the party was divided between the fierce interior and the placid exterior of the summer days. Berghain has never been a meeting place for celebrities - if they did not have an outlet, there were orders to reject them at the door - but someone sneaked in and explained their experience. Actress
Claire Danes
, who was filming the fifth season of the
Homeland
series in Berlin
in 2015, went to Berghain every Sunday, and on her way back to the United States explained to Ellen DeGeneres that it was "the best place on the face of the earth." .
That paradise, logically, is now closed.
During the pandemic, Berghain has been converted into an art gallery - the management has been able to afford it because it has full ownership of the building - and counts the weeks to return to activity.
And when he returns, he will surely do so with his mystique intact.
The night will change, but there
will
always
be an Eden to return to
.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Germany
music
Electronic music
culture
Mythical nightclubs (V) Fabric, an old meat refrigerator turned into the best nightclub in the world
Mythical Discotheques (II) Paradise Garage: a cauldron to sweat, a cathedral of dance and a pharmacy of quaaludes and cocaine
Mythical Nightclubs (I) The Loft, the first great nightclub in history: juices, LSD and a mirror ball
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