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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

#141

Post by kodapoda »

jliptzin wrote: post #124
danielfoster wrote: post #10

I’m not sure what sort of decline the article is referring to. There’s not a single reference to revenues or guest count for any club in Berlin, nor mention of any specific club in danger of closing due to lack of patronage. These clubs were great while the city was struggling, but now that it’s not, I can see why people don’t wish to tolerate the negative externalities associated with them. Hopefully most clubs can…

Yea, 3 hour lines, and then they obnoxiously don’t let you in anyway, for no obvious reason. Not shedding any tears here.

This might be true for very few very selective clubs like Berghain, certainly not true for all Berlin clubs. In the case of Berghain, it obviously doesn't suffer from losing customers—your comment confirms this point.

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

#142

Post by GuB-42 »

nyokodo wrote: post #68

Europe in general, and Germany in particular is getting old. Clubbing is predominantly a young person’s pass time. All youth oriented activities will increasingly wither there as the years advance.

From the little I know, clubbing is losing to festivals in all age groups.

At least from my experience, they tend to be a lot more fun. Clubs tend to be too much about showing off to my taste.

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

#143

Post by projectazorian »

3seashells wrote: post #4
RamblingCTO wrote: post #2

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…

It's never over as long as there is a industrial ruin, a speaker and a glowstick. The rest is just the clubs that ate the raves. Nothing of value was lost.

Wow, a group of mostly privileged and well-off people squatting in a space that used to deliver prosperity and advancement across class lines, and appropriating it as a venue for narcissism and drug-taking.

Clearly a culture worth preserving!

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

#145

Post by projectazorian »

rchaud wrote: post #33
danielfoster wrote: post #10

I’m not sure what sort of decline the article is referring to. There’s not a single reference to revenues or guest count for any club in Berlin, nor mention of any specific club in danger of closing due to lack of patronage. These clubs were great while the city was struggling, but now that it’s not, I can see why people don’t wish to tolerate the negative externalities associated with them. Hopefully most clubs can…

The article definitely felt light on facts. For example, by how much did they increase the cover charge to deal with falling numbers? Also, didn't it occur to anyone that charging regulars more to offset loss of business from casuals would drive the regulars away as well?

Like Berghain has trouble filling the place. They keep the line artificially long to preserve a veneer of exclusivity. You don’t have to be a Berliner to know that trick, most clubs pull the same thing whenever possible.

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

#146

Post by lbotos »

xwdv wrote: post #128
RamblingCTO wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. Techno was a safe space and you could be as freaky as you want without fear of repercussions.

Can you give an example? It seems like being freaky just means dancing like a crazy person. Hardly much repercussion for that.

As another poster said heavy drug use, but also fetish sex.

I've been to parties that have had signs on the bathroom banning acts that would make a vanilla person blush.

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

#147

Post by shiroiuma »

kodapoda wrote: post #141
jliptzin wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, 3 hour lines, and then they obnoxiously don’t let you in anyway, for no obvious reason. Not shedding any tears here.

This might be true for very few very selective clubs like Berghain, certainly not true for all Berlin clubs. In the case of Berghain, it obviously doesn't suffer from losing customers—your comment confirms this point.

>This might be true for very few very selective clubs like Berghain, certainly not true for all Berlin clubs.

Perhaps, but it seems that those "selective" clubs have given a bad reputation to all clubs.

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

#148

Post by nyokodo »

capableweb wrote: post #83
nyokodo wrote: post #68

Europe in general, and Germany in particular is getting old. Clubbing is predominantly a young person’s pass time. All youth oriented activities will increasingly wither there as the years advance.

Clubbing might be a young persons pass time, but techno and dancing is not just young people's pass time.

> not just young people's pass time

I said “predominantly” it’s for the young, not “just” for the young. As people age they tend to have greater demands on their time, they have on-average lower energy levels, they’re more likely to have injuries or mobility problems, they trend away from pursuing instant gratification, they trend towards earlier bedtimes and earlier waking, etc. Not everyone follows all of those trends to the same degree or at the same ages but the trends are real and they systematically whittle away at the older crowd participation rates in active/sensual pursuits. Any such pursuits in a rapidly aging society will wither commensurately.

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

#149

Post by shiroiuma »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #94
makeitshine wrote: post #24

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

I really hate this meme. A lot of things really were better in the past. Website user interfaces are a big example here. Conversely, some other things are much better now; cigarette smoking rates are a big example.

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

#150

Post by totallywrong »

jliptzin wrote: post #124
danielfoster wrote: post #10

I’m not sure what sort of decline the article is referring to. There’s not a single reference to revenues or guest count for any club in Berlin, nor mention of any specific club in danger of closing due to lack of patronage. These clubs were great while the city was struggling, but now that it’s not, I can see why people don’t wish to tolerate the negative externalities associated with them. Hopefully most clubs can…

Yea, 3 hour lines, and then they obnoxiously don’t let you in anyway, for no obvious reason. Not shedding any tears here.

Berlin has got to be the most unfriendly city in Europe to rave in as a foreigner by far. I was into that scene back then and would much rather party in London or Amsterdam.
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