Come Saturday night, I meant to have a short nap and head to the Laden again with my flatmates, aiming to be there around midnight. Instead, I woke up at 5am (feeling fresh) - a good time to check out Berghain and catch some of Steve Rachmad's set.
Knowing his sound from a few productions and remixes of his, plus his recently re-released "Secret Life of Machines" LP, I was expecting some melody. His set was pretty heavy, not as heavily-percussive as Blake Baxter and the support crew from the night before, but not as melodic as I expected. Got the impression that the Berghain floor is for serious grooves, while Panorama bar - upstairs - is of the more tech-house & disco-esque vibe.
After a short and sober stint, I left Berghain around 10am to head back to the flat to work on something... (as I'm trying to remain productive, amongst the distractions and 'research' - as Gian-Paolo & I have taken to calling it, meaning any social event that beckons you to go out and leave your work-in-progress... hopefully leading to the soaking-up of ideas and some further inspiration, or at least some reflection on how the piece is going... or to get generally wasted... it's like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, except it's your life, rather than a Goosebumps book).
By 4pm Sunday - having been productive, rested and eaten - I was back at Berghain (once your inked, you can enter/exit across the weekend). This time I met-up with a friend from Melbourne beforehand - she just happens to be a 'Bergs' devotee.
Such an intense place... Like an industrial playground. An ideal venue for dirty, dark techno... Four massive stacks of Funktion Ones make-up the Berghain room, plus two angled horn-and-mid-satellites face the crowd from in-front and behind... a good system for surround-sound-ish gigs?
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| a weekend in ink |
In terms of sound, it's loud but clear (you can talk to your fellow oonce-devotees). The system seems to be pegged at 100dBSPL in both bars (I measured it - just out of curiosity). For those that are soft - or cautious, as I see it - with their ears, the cloak-room downstairs has earplugs (cut a cm off the end of them if Frankenstein isn't the look you're going for). 'Haben Sie Ohrstöpsel?' - 'have you got earplugs?'.
Visually, Berghain has got plenty to offer. While you can't take your camera in the venue (instead checking it at the door), there's plenty to see and capture in your mind's-eye instead. Whether it be the labyrinth of small dark rooms, the outlandish outfits of those around you or the variety of people in the crowd, there's something to look at.
From memory, the Berghain closed-up at around 10pm (with an epic, 5-minute breakdown courtesy of Patrick Gräser). Shortly after this Steffi took over the reins upstairs in Panorama and rode it out till dawn.
Panorama's system isn't as massive as the downstairs room, but it's still huge. Consisting of four suspended stacks of mids/high boxes (can't remember the manufacturer) - with the subs to one side of the room.
In terms of design, the space has been well-conceived. When you enter Panorama, the floor is directly in front of you, with the bar at the back of the room. But if you take a sharp-right, there's a walkway all the way to the back of the room and back to the bar. Essentially, it works as a pathway that can take you across the room without having to push through the throng of people on the floor. Clever management of foot-traffic... and you'll appreciated it doubly-so when you're tearing up the floorboards and not as many people are bustling passed.
They closed-up Panoramama sometime after dawn, Monday morning. Wandered out into a grey-sky feeling pretty good... Must have spent about 20 hours of the weekend in that epic hunk of concrete, steel and glass... what a wholesome way to start the week ;)
Will definitely be back there soon. Over the next few weeks alone, Carl Craig, Phonique, Trentemoller, Dinky, Dominik Eulberg and Extrawelt will be at either Berghain or Panormama. So another visit is inevitable.
In the meantime, I'm still to check out Watergate, KaterHolzig and Club Der Visionaere (each have been recommended).
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