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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

#211

Post by DoingIsLearning »

flkenosad wrote: post #208
xfeeefeee wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 per…

Yeah but like we used to come for the sound, not a light show.

The whole concept around Thunderdome was as much visual as it was auditory, and the first Thunderdome was in 1992, none of it is new.

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

#212

Post by paganel »

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.

"Se non è vero è ben trovato" but this reddit post [1] does a decent enough job of explaining what's happening there (or what cool people think it might be happening in there). Slightly NSFW text post:

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/11nll0r/my_gir...

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

#213

Post by flaviolivolsi »

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…

Fortunately a 40 euro entrance fee is something you don't see yet in Berlin

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

#214

Post by morelisp »

ben_w wrote: post #101
totetsu wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard phones were putting a dampener on the lakeside sunbathing too

Unless a wild boar steals your bag while you're sunbathing, then the phones with cameras absolutely liven things up, though mainly for everyone else: https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/naked-german-man-chase...

This seems like something that is just as funny but much less embarrassing without the pictures; ultimately a good argument for why there shouldn't be cameras there...

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

#215

Post by vidarh »

kristopolous wrote: post #178
tern wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here just to share that I think "segregated" night clubs are essential for creating a publicly accessible and safe + positive vibe club experience. Your other options are (a) let anyone in and you get a**** and total dilution of cultural values (quick death of the institution) or (b) it's a private party and you're not invited. For accessible and good, you can stay on your toes and find new, smaller clubs and scenes…

Counterpoint: Hacker News, CDMX EBM scene, goth scene, LA underground art scene, SF renegade rave scene, Latin bars, gay clubs like the EndUp, which have been open and welcoming since 1971, gay black scene, free software movement, gay Asian scene in any city, bear bars, salsa clubs, martial arts clubs, drag bars, anime scene, furry scene, hiking groups, Trekkies, adventurer clubs, punk scene, bicycle riders groups, a…

> Hacker News

Pay attention to the downvotes, and browse HN with "showdead" turned on, and you'll see that HN stays the way it is in large part due to aggressive exclusion of those who can't stick to society norms up to an including the metaphorical "door guy" (bans).

Self-filtering is a start. But pretty much all cliques and scenes also have lines you will get ostracised if you go past. The extent of their reaction if you will vary, and sure, there's a difference between proactively judging you based on appearance and retroactively judging you by actions, but in some scenes your appearance is part of the game. That sucks if you don't fit in, but it also sucks for those who want something specific if you're that one person who can't self filter and insist on ruing the experience for everyone else.

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

#216

Post by Animats »

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

Well, yes.

SF had many more fun venues when SOMA was underutilized industrial real estate available to promoters and artists. A counterculture needs cheap space.

A promoter friend told me after the first dot-com crash that half the twentysomethings had left SF and the other half were working their butts off to survive.

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

#217

Post by vidarh »

flkenosad wrote: post #208
xfeeefeee wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 per…

Yeah but like we used to come for the sound, not a light show.

Maybe you did. When I used to go to raves in the 90's, where I went it was all heavy on the light shows and people painted in fluorescent colours in response to it. The sound was part of it, but I could listen to music at home.

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

#218

Post by throwaway019254 »

55555 wrote: post #209
pdntspa wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most likely reason is that you give off tourist vibes. My Berliner friend told me as such when I came to visit, we hit up some thrift shops so I could get some local threads and 'blend in' In fact, when I got in one club a very cute german girl tried to talk to me on the dancefloor. But I didn't speak any German and she got angry, shouting "aaauuggh!! tourists!!!" Also, for the clubs that forbid alcohol (hard dru…

There are clubs that forbid alcohol? That’s wild.

There are a lot of clubs that forbid alcohol in the US and Canada too.

Some of them are open for example only between 2am and 8am with a nice variety of other drugs available.

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

#219

Post by Beijinger »

kristopolous wrote: post #178
tern wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here just to share that I think "segregated" night clubs are essential for creating a publicly accessible and safe + positive vibe club experience. Your other options are (a) let anyone in and you get a**** and total dilution of cultural values (quick death of the institution) or (b) it's a private party and you're not invited. For accessible and good, you can stay on your toes and find new, smaller clubs and scenes…

Counterpoint: Hacker News, CDMX EBM scene, goth scene, LA underground art scene, SF renegade rave scene, Latin bars, gay clubs like the EndUp, which have been open and welcoming since 1971, gay black scene, free software movement, gay Asian scene in any city, bear bars, salsa clubs, martial arts clubs, drag bars, anime scene, furry scene, hiking groups, Trekkies, adventurer clubs, punk scene, bicycle riders groups, a…

"I'd argue the majority of cliques and scenes are extremely accepting and people self filter. Having a discriminating door guy is just being an asshole."

Yes and it is a pretty good description of most Berliners. As a capital, that has mainly lived the last 30 years by sucking tremendous money out of the other federal states, as a city that has little industry and businesses left, as a place which administration has become dysfunctional, it gives the stupid arrogant little Berliner a feeling or superiority if he gets into a club but others must stay outside.

And before you donwvote me, for many years I loved this city. I caught a last glimpse of the post reunification Berlin, when basically all the good clubs had no license or whatever. Bars and clubs at the craziest places. Took the police years to close this down. And today, if you walk through Prenzlauer Berg or Oranienburger str. OMG.

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

#220

Post by hashmal »

"Berlin clubs are closing soon!" has been, for a long time, a staple of journalists desperate to get some views. They just play on readers' emotions.

For a while the pretext was "neighbors are complaining about noise", but that got yanked by new regulations (i.e. making clubs "places of high culture" so they can't be attacked easily).

Now it's about declining revenue, yet clubs are still full. What will be next?

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