After a long night and day, I eventually plucked up the courage to skulk out the doors. Muscles that had gone stiff from long months of home office were forced to flex.Įveryone around me agreed it was incredible, everything I had hoped for, for so very, very long. The crowd was ecstatic as thunderous bass swelled through the very core of my being. My first night back to nightlife proper was liberating. They say time heals all wounds, and the appetite for clubbing has not been dulled by dodgy parties during the extended break.
That was a frankly awful experience, which felt neither safe, nor fun.
It’s in sharp contrast to my last clubbing experience, a mask-on open-air at Else in the brief, but dangerous, interregnum of lockdowns in 2020. Two thousand five hundred guests, havoc in the bathrooms, few clothes and absolutely no masks. Other than an airport-style check-in and check-out system, very little appears to have changed once inside. It’s all a bit too familiar, especially given that the world-renowned nightclub is about to open its hallowed doors for the first time in 18 months.Īlongside Tresor, the techno monolith was the last of the big clubs to reopen. There’s the same nervous laughter, terse patter and chain-smoking anxiety that has always met the first few hundred guests kicking up dust as they wait in the Berghain queue. It’s almost midnight at Am Wriezener Bahnhof on October 2.
Clubs are open again (for now), but what's changed? Our music editor reflects on a surreal time for Berlin's nightlight institutions.