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Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

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Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#112

You also have tik tok ravers. A generation which built their own culture in isolation in the pandemic now flooding the dance floors not knowing anything about techno culture. For me it's a big part of not wanting to go anywhere anymore. Before, your outfit didn't matter, phones, photos and videos were discouraged. Nowadays these kids dress to impress and point there phones everywhere. They consume the techno culture…

This rings of "get off m'lawn" vibes. As a gen Z myself, I question what's wrong with "tiktok ravers" wanting to dress up and enjoy music? The whole genre will fade away if it doesn't curate to the next generation, as the originals get too creaky to dance.

I’m not that much older, but it adds to the “barrier to entries to have fun”. If a place perceived as “wear whatever, do whatever” turns into “look good in specific type of outfit”, it just loses potential customers. I’ve been around, including some of the aforementioned clubs, and at least for me that has been the case. Now I just avoid specific places in the world as I can’t be bothered to “fit in”.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like those kind of partying as well from time to time, but treating an average rave as a dress up dancing is way too much work for me. Also underground scene pretty much everywhere in the world is extremely alive and doing well, but became so much more protective of itself for the same reason. Why would you go somewhere at 2am with a chance of overcrowding and being filmed, when you can go somewhere where you can dance till 6am, albeit only 60% of the fun?

Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#113
post #35
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. The whole of SV has crazy empty commercial space, and it will only get worse. And SF is in way worse shape.

Come to think of it, I've personally seen what SF looks like after the money goes away--and this time it seems to be going a lot faster and to a much bigger degree.

When are you referring to?

Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#114
post #107
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phones and photography are banned in many Berlin clubs - they either lock your phone away at the entrance or put a sticker on the camera. That's why you barely see any footage from inside Berghain anywhere...

Thing with sticker is that usually you go to the toilet and walls are covered in those stickers people removed from their devices as soon as they got away from the bouncers.

The point is that the sticker would have to be taken off deliberately. If you are caught taking a photo, you can't claim you just forgot about the rules. You broke the rules on purpose and depending on the club they either get very angry with you or kick you out without warning.

The stickers you see on the walls could have accumulated over month. The system usually works fine and you rarely see anyone taking photos. Certainly way less than in clubs without those stickers.

Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#115

You also have tik tok ravers. A generation which built their own culture in isolation in the pandemic now flooding the dance floors not knowing anything about techno culture. For me it's a big part of not wanting to go anywhere anymore. Before, your outfit didn't matter, phones, photos and videos were discouraged. Nowadays these kids dress to impress and point there phones everywhere. They consume the techno culture…

I've been going to raves and festivals since the 90s and the current culture is great! I mean yeah it's different but still pretty much the same. Reading some of the anecdotes here I can't help but think that people are glossing over the same issues in the past. And yeah it is true that DJs have become a centerpiece rather than someone behind the scenes... but the experience itself has evolved with amazing visual performance art, especially with all the LED stuff and lasers and etc that are so prolific now. I've seen people treated terribly 25 years ago and today; at the same time I've seen people being generous and caring as well. There is a huge difference as well for lgbtq people at these places, the inclusivity has dramatically improved.

Just saying, destroyed? Come on.

Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For many older people it died in the 90s. When people stopped dancing and treated the DJ like it was a concert I felt it had changed into something else. I watch some of the old VHS I took and people are crowding the speakers and the floor is alive, while nowadays so much of what I see is people all facing a DJ lit up by a spotlight and just standing their bobbing their head.

"it wasn't better back then, you were just younger" - unknown internet pundit

They actually were better back then which is what drives people crazy. I think it’s because the older generations (us) didn’t put any value in tradition, so we weren’t able to preserve ours.

Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#118

You also have tik tok ravers. A generation which built their own culture in isolation in the pandemic now flooding the dance floors not knowing anything about techno culture. For me it's a big part of not wanting to go anywhere anymore. Before, your outfit didn't matter, phones, photos and videos were discouraged. Nowadays these kids dress to impress and point there phones everywhere. They consume the techno culture…

I feel like this could have been written over a decade ago during the rise of instagram.

TikTok is fairly bit different as the algo can promote any random video to everyone in the world. A decade ago instagram was more of a “one-to-your-followers”. So you get these potential views from everywhere. It also promotes novelty and ever-changing trends, so it’s hard to put a finger where is positive and negative impact.

But yeah, we definitely complained about instagram a decade ago as well. Maybe we are getting old!

Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#119
post #89

I think the closing point is pretty good: these businesses are complaining about declining revenues... but also turning people away? If that's how the nightclub business works, it's better for the government to stay away from subsidizing them. Let them run their business in their own way - but without taxpayer funding.

If Berghain let in even 50% of the people who try to go to Berghain, the party would be terrible and repulsive every night. I’ve been there a million times and even one person who doesn’t know techno and the way our scene works can ruin a few dozen square meters of dancefloor with boorish leering. If you want to party in a sea of drunken tourists because they let everyone in, there are plenty of other clubs that aren…

I agree, and I don’t get why the whole conversation is framed around Berghain. The other clubs are losing customers as well, and many of them don’t have very strict bouncers. That’s a bigger problem imo.

Re: Berlin's famed nightclubs, losing customers, face an uncertain future

#120

You also have tik tok ravers. A generation which built their own culture in isolation in the pandemic now flooding the dance floors not knowing anything about techno culture. For me it's a big part of not wanting to go anywhere anymore. Before, your outfit didn't matter, phones, photos and videos were discouraged. Nowadays these kids dress to impress and point there phones everywhere. They consume the techno culture…

For many older people it died in the 90s. When people stopped dancing and treated the DJ like it was a concert I felt it had changed into something else. I watch some of the old VHS I took and people are crowding the speakers and the floor is alive, while nowadays so much of what I see is people all facing a DJ lit up by a spotlight and just standing their bobbing their head.

Those places very much still exist. I've been to plenty this year. They are just not very well represented on social media, surprise.
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