What makes one of the world's most famous clubs tick? In an excerpt from the English translation of Lost and Sound, Tobias Rapp spends a long night in Berlin's Berghain to find out.

very good article!

i read this in german already and i must say it is just 1 out of 2 chapter about the berghain. the other is more about the music and the djs. whats the difference for the djs, the dancer and the whole night when u have a dj playing 3 -6 hour sets instead of 1-2 hour sets. stuff like this. so it is actually a good read.

good to see that innervisions is releasing this in english now. simply because most of my friends here in berlin dont even speak german!

good read !

great to see an english translation on the way - nice1 innervisions!

Will be making a second attempt to enter in January.. All about having a backup plan

not been yet.. but have every intention to go.. although the door policy sounds quite scary.. a bit like when you were under age trying to get into clubs.. great article.. sounds like an amazing experience!

Most likely Tresor

I need to make at least an attempt at gettin in though!

Ha ha, the paragraph about the queue summed it up perfectly! Butterflies all the way.

The rest of the article brought back some fuzzy nostalgia - although I think it was 'slightly less gay' upstairs...

Good read!

...this is the most accurate depiction of the club that i've read. The whole thing about hearsay, painting a picture of what you're missing out on if you've not been, and to which this article plays a part, is not something that i've considered fully before. I had for one read about the bouncer on the door with the tattooed face that resembled Blade far in advance of the first visit several years back and remember the feeling of dread then elation on gaining entry... a timeless place of clued up hedonism.

Brilliant.

I WANT TO GO BACK!!!!!

I think more needs to be made of Beghain being a gay club, as is Panorama, and its important that gay men feel comfortable with those who gain entry. Perhaps the reason for the tough door policy is so that we feel unashamed and uninhibited. I remember going with straight friends who went for a wander and were shocked to find some muscle marys having sex on the sofas downstairs where you gain entry altough don't think i'd be particularly comfortable either in that position... Maybe straight people find it all abit risque and alluring, nornally such happenings are out of bounds. Berhain is quite unique in that it has that sex club element but i think much of this is all a perpetrated myth as the article implies. There are nights in Berghain where it is a proper sex club and maybe Saturday is just a hangover in part from that...

was there in August. I will never forget it. one word. GO!

That's the point. As a frequent Berghain visitor and, by accident, gay man I love that club not only because of the music, dj's and soundsystem (though they're world class) but because of the atomsphere of totally freedom in every sense (apart from every form of violence). The vibe in the club is also a source of inspiration to dj's and producers like Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, Len Faki and the whole crew of Panoramabar residents, as they highlight in every personal conversation. That atmosphere ist described very well by Tobis Rapp in his book. And not to forget, for me Berghain is a place, whre I meet good friends and just party with them.

One should not forget that Berghain is the successor of Ostgut which was a gay club in the first place an then slowly opens to other people who love techno or house music. Some friends of mine think that Berghain isn't "gay" enough anymore and that all these "tourists" as they call them, destroy the atmosphere of the place. I can understand them in part and I think, that's why they have such an strict door policy. Just to preserve that atmosphere. And it's getting harder as the hype around Berghain grows and more and more people want to share this unique experience. But personally I love Berghain / Panoramabar like it is at the moment. The bouncer do a very, very good job. There always a good mix in the crowd. Hope that Berghain can keep on this vibe for many more years.

Love the excerpt! It is indeed a really accurate description of the club, the sensation and feeling...

Only little remark is that you DON'T have to queue up when you have guestlist there... You can skip the queue without a problem...

kaninchen is right, nowadays u can skip the queue but if i remember right then it wasnt always like this. and keep in mind this book was written in early 2008 and release late 2008 in germany....

Or if you're there so often, that you know the bouncers and they know you Then you can skip the queue as well...

am going in feburary hopefully

cannot wait

Not picking on any race of people but this is what has knocked the vibe of Fabric in my opinion, never been to Berghain (will be in Jan next year) but i imagine it has THE club vibe, dark and edgy as opposed to Fabric's now annoying vibe.

I have been there a handful of times and have always listened to the best music and seen some of my favourite Djs play some of the most epic sets… BUT the stories that everyone comes back home with add to its mystique and the taboos that are so readily excepted between these walls breed stories like rabbits on Viagra, I will share one with you….

It was 11am in Panorama Bar and after seeing Len Faki destroy Berghain I was ready to leave for something altogether more housey. Leaving the turbine room a parting image of 3 sweaty men dilligently exploring each others colons confirmed my decision to take ‘refuge’ upstairs. Pano is comparative normality but still is populated with some of the most brilliantly colourful people I have encountered…. Cassy was drilling into a Sontag Set and I was lapping it up. One of my friends wandered off for a sit down leaving his cardigan on the radiators that are next to the shutters, after an hour or so I presumed he had gone home, and as there were quite a few of us still going strong waiting for Prosumer to come and and get old school…. Hours later after a glut of music I was ready to leave and grabbed my friends cardigan ready to head down the gravel path back into humanity… as I put it on my friend came back with his cardigan on… I then realised the garment I had put on in fact was not his…. as I turned my colleagues noticed why it had been discarded. The shoulders were absolutely covered in lashings crusty jizz. I have never taken off a piece of clothing quicker… in a moment of disgust I threw the offending garment across the dancefloor, my friends were in hysterics, and it was a living reminder of the Berlin mecca’s hedonism. Putting off the desire to go home Tobi Neumann saw the night away and as my friends left Pano, one felt something underfoot… grimy cardigan, well trodden and stuck to the floor, a visual reminder of this place…

hahaha! . great story!

Not even in Russia, huh? Seems the author hasn't been to Russia for a waaaaay too long time !

Panorama Bar will be close for a while in the beginning of January? Is it true? Someone told me that...

Sounds like a pretty amazing place (...if you can get in!!). Will have to go sometime

The same actually happened to me one time but I was able to pull away early enough. I was just thinking, WTF is this guy trying to do. Hahaha, now I understand what the guy's intention was.

In my eyes the article perfectly describes the scene at Berghain. After going to clubs for over 15 years I was blown away when I entered Berghain the first time two years ago. I couldn't believe that there was still a club around that had an energy level like in techno's early days.

Very well put... this needed to be said. Hopefully people will understand better why the door policy is so harsh and necessary.

brilliant piece. So true the part about the que. cant wait to when i go back in december.

Awesome reading! Looking forward to venturing there and keeping an open mind.

Can't wait to go at some point! Great read....looking forward to the English translation.

for me, quite simply the greatest place on earth.
perhaps i need to expand my horizons but as a straight (unfortunately!) up raver it is amazing to be able to experience a club that will be remembered as one of the absolute greatest.

i'll drink to that!

the only place i want to be on a Sunday afternoon...

white russians for breakfast in panorama!

as there are no words to describe a Sunday afternoon at Panorama bar that will do:

(there is always someone playing a Moodyman track) (that's because it's finished...)

Jules: [Laughing] I'm going, that's all there is too it, I'm fucking going
Vincent: Yeah baby, you'd dig it the most.

so when is this book available in english?
...got chills reading the excerpt, looking forward to it.

how is one "accidentally gay"? not trying to start shit, but that comment just struck me as odd.

can't say enough good things about the place, always have the best experiences, the vibe is incredible, the mix of people amazing and the music, well....sublime.

@ cloutier - i took the 'by accident' remark as a joke....

it is not announce on the innervisions website yet so i guess it will not be available before december.

Just don't take it to serious... But I apologize for my bad english. Although it's the worlds language not everyone can speak or write it like native speakers. For sure I'm definitly not a native english speaker but I do my best.

this is a good article but i feel too much shit is being talked. bit cringy in parts aswell

"You nod goodbye to the doormen—not that you know them, but because you feel in some way indebted to them."

c'mon now. anyways still a good read into the insight of berghain

@cloutier - i think he just means that his going to berghain doesn't have anything to do with his being gay, though perhaps not

anyway, great read. never been myself and thoroughly gutted by it. one of these days though...