Hawtin lays into Berghain

After getting kicked out of Berghain on Saturday night, Richie Hawtin has some choice words for the club on his Facebook page. More ›


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Some context: I didn't see what happened exactly, but I have it from reliable sources that there was a large group of people that came with Hawtin to the club on Saturday night, and they were all in the small back room behind the DJ booth. At some point, the curtain separating this room came down and a lot of people were thrown out of the club. Hawtin included.

Dubfire, via twitter, says that " I have to say that the bouncers were TOTAL pricks though and roughed up alot of our crew:-(."

I was watching Serge play upstairs at the time, so all I can really confirm is that when I went down to Berghain the curtain separating the back room and DJ was gone. (The first time I've ever seen it not there.) Maybe Richie or others can confirm/deny exactly what happened in the thread here?

Was Stephen Gately in there with him?

What chance do the rest of us normal looking individuals have of getting in if Hawtin got kicked out?!

Great news! This is the evidence the everybody will be treated in the same way! If you behave like an idiot behind the dj-booth were people are paying to see a dj perform it's logical that you behave normal. You cannot throw a private party there with some groupies and besides no groups are allowed! the whole world knows that it's a rule stick to it!

"the curtain separating this room came down and a lot of people were thrown out of the club."

the overemphasized hawtin, cohort techno anthem thrower dubfire and there posse should learn to behave themselves ffs. good they got the treatment. bouncers should of packed them all up outside. no one man is more equal then others in the best underground techno club in the world. nice one

Ohhhh to know the real story behind it all...

Yea being honest I don't really see the problem. If you come into a club with a large group and then someone is acting the dick you should be thrown out. Berghain does have pretty strict rules but's that also why it keeps it's place as one of the best clubs in the world.

Obviously not seeing the event or knowing the context I can't make a judgement but it's good to see all things are equal in Berghain no matter who you are.

Considering the sort of antics that goes on in that club him and his gang must have been acting the complete bollix to get kicked out, so he should shut up whinging.

Hawtin not acting gay enough?! DOUBTFUL

haha was it the Contakt curtain which fell down, as used at the Sand in Amsterdam?

made my day

damn !! lol =]

^^ LOL flynn

This myth that it's "ridiculously hard" to get into Berghain are only perpetuated by the loud-mouths that get singled out of the line and rejected. Seriously, I've never had a problem getting in the place, not because i think im cool or anything, but i keep to myself and respect others in line who are patiently waiting with me. If you're going to act like a total douche with your posse outside or inside of the club, then don't be surprised if you find yourself rejected or flat out flung out the door.

i hope the security cut his hair while kickin him out

I don't see the point of going to a club with a such door policy. I have heard stories of french people going especially to Berlin, and being refused just because they did not fit and were not agreed by bouncers.
I prefer to go to Fabric where, whatever you wear, whatever you look like, you will be allowed to get in.

I attempted to goto the Watergate and they also had a very strict door policy. Group of 4 reasonably respectable guys went all the way to berlin to see some techno and couldn't get in. Disapointing.

the fact they have a door policy is what goes someway to making it such an incredible environment... where as you go to fabric before 4 and your left wishing they had a door policy that didn't let in half the dicks that are in there.

Thats exactly the fucking problem at Fabric, I live in london and go to Fabric frequently enough but it's always filled with assholes on a Saturday night. They let absolutely anyone in and the place is so full it's difficult to move most weekends., not to mention the guys who harass any girls in their proximity. Berghain could easily fill the club twice over on any given night but they don't because they care about maintaining a special atmosphere and a crowd that cares about the music being played.

Personally I absolutely adore the Berghain. I went to Berlin last year and had a pretty horrible experience at an underground club but had heard how amazing the Berghain was. I went on the Friday night and got let straight through to the Panorama bar, and then went back the next night to the Berghain / Panorama bar.

I've been to some pretty outrageous clubs and bars throughout Europe, Asia and Australia, but I saw things at the Berghain that I'd never seen before.

Top night, with a pretty laid back crowd. Not sure what people are doing wrong to be not let in / kicked out - but would tit put a smile on my face to hear that even Hawtin didn't live up to it. Loves it!!!

funny

Its true that the Berghain bouncers are wankers. They should visit sub club for some lessons on door policy!

Guess we'll never know what realy went down there..

But how did this curtain even came down? I think its the club fault to make this curtain to easy to pull down. Somebody probably tripped over something because of the low visibility

some comments here are identifying the strict door policy of Berghain as a reason why its good to be inside - and alternatively Fabric's door policy is less strict but you do get a few wnkers in there... it is possible to have affable staff and a great atmosphere.

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1/3 online RA users are reading this thread. amazing.

Agree with most of the posts here about not really being able to comment as we don't know the full story... but good to hear that everyone is treated the same if you act like a d*ck. However I fully agree with the comments about the bouncers being out of order. A friend and I made a trip over to Berlin recently specifically to go there and even booked into a hostel about 200 yards away only to be refused entry 4 times on the Fri and Sat nights! This at numerous points in the evening / next morning whilst also being courteous / keeping ourselves to ourselves and naming everyone who we wanted to see. At one point the bouncer pointed at my Sonic Youth t-shirt, made a comment and sad I wasn't "right" to gain entry. I agree with not letting the whole world into a confined space but to not let true music fans come and see what they have specifically made a visit for (on the whim of two bouncers) is a bit pathetic I feel. I hear the owner says "never give up" when trying to get in there; sadly I disagree.

as soon as you get into berghain you wouldn't even know there's security in there, your just left to your own devices and everyone just gets on with having an amazing time. i would take a rude grumpy bouncer for that any day.

Not sure that they would have deserved to have been thrown out - just seems like Berghain see this as a good opp to flex some muscle and act arrogant and surprise surprise, everyone starts discussing the magical club that has a fairly hardcore door policy which in turn gives the club an untouchable, legendary status. This world wide rep works in the clubs favour.

I love Berghain - think it is super special and propbably the most 'serious' club around, alot of this is to do with the door policy. I hope that they didn't see this as an opportune moment to create hype and further their repuation... Would they have chucked out any gays getting up to all sorts if the curtains had fallen down around the dark room? It's a club, not school, and these guys have helped shape the scene for a long time, I couldn't care less what they got upto.

but that never happend in 5 years... !?

thanks berghain ,5 points extra for trowing out this extra obercoolish fools...

RA users = Gossip Girls.

What I don`t understand is why the let Dubfire in there.
And most important, why did they let him play his shit music on Saturday.

Being there myself last Saturday, I have really felt that it was, musically, one of the most ridiculous moments ever experienced in Berghain.
Finn Johannsen`s also managed to clear Panorama Bars dancefloor in only 30 minutes.
A retro EBM set right after a disco/house DJ (Hunne) doesn`t sound like a wise progretion in a club night.
And it just didn`t work.
Who planned this line-up, anyway?

The funny thing is I went there mostly to meet a couple of friends, only to find out inside they were refused entry (after waiting for one hour in the german winter!!!).
How stupid is that?

well... that´s not necessarily true, last time I tried going was during the last Dial night... I was in Berlin for the weekend and wanted to see Lawrence et al. I went with a friend who came over from the States for a few days and they told us ¨we´ve decided you two will not come in tonight¨

we were completely sober and quiet....

needless to say I was very pissed off when I got turned away.

I suppose there was a good reason for throwing them out and then it doens´t matter if you are Richie or not. Good to hear they treat everybody in the same way.
Yet I am very curious what exact happened.

And since august the policy is even better(harder)so if you are travelling there always keep in mind that there is a chance you will return empty handed! But....if you do get in the euphoria is even bigger the whole night...The bouncers ARE the masters of ceremony!

hello world, the problem wasn´t that he not come in, he had to go out.

hawtin and his posse (and also dubfire´s people) came with private bootles of champagne, let more than 20 people behind the dj, destroyed something (hawtin destroyed a curtain) and nobody of the groupie-crowd have taken notice, if the boss and bouncers comes and want to talk. dubfire was even more engaged to handle this magnum bottles of champaign. mixes sometime broken, blalabla.
mister hawtin didn´t take notice of anything.
if someone of the crowd wanted to repair something, nobody had help, but make party.

all people are welcome in berlin, but berlin is not the wonderland of alice, not a zoo and the clubs are not your private room. we have also the same problems with policy and so on, but at this time you are flying home.

dubfire´s sound was good, but sometimes unconcentrated and world star orientated, sorry, but we want to hear a good worker for the crowd, not a good worker for the groupies. good bye!

Everything that is wrong with going out in the current climate.

Being a straight, English, 35 year old father of one, with a fashion sense that increasingly veers more towards "classic" rather than ubercoolische, I had a rather dim view of my chances at getting in to Berghain. To my surpise and delight I waltzed straight in. It must be my winning smile... .

it seems to me that the door policy is completely random at best

Unconcentrated is a very good expression for Dubfire's performance on saturday night. Occasionally he managed to kill the music for some seconds. Perhaps he had some problems with all these controllers and buttons Haven't seen Berghain and Panoramabar that empty at all as it was between 6 and 11 am. But that got better when Nick Hoeppner and Boris (both Residents) played Panoramabar and Berghain.

Unfortunatly I missed the whole Hawtin-Thing. I just noticed many more people in the DJ-booth as usual. But I'm very happy with the reaction of the Berghain-crew cause it shows that all guests are the equal at Berghain. And that's one big thing I love about this club.