Lightning Strikes Berghain
Lightning struck legendary Berlin nightclub Berghain over the weekend, triggering a series of technical failures, according to various reports (via Resident Advisor). Barker, whose duo Barker & Baumecker is signed to Berghain’s in-house label Ostgut Ton, tweeted that “blinding bright emergency lighting” came on for three hours but “nobody left the dancefloor, it just felt like a never ending breakdown.” DJ T., who was playing upstairs at the Panorama Bar, wrote on Facebook that “the sound went off for minutes, the air condition shut down completely, as almost all lights at the bar did. People took off their clothes because the place became a sauna, never saw so many topless girls and boys in a club.” Dax J and Pär Grindvik, who played downstairs, have also written about the night. See some social media accounts of the event below.
In a statement to Pitchfork, Pär Grindvik said:
I was pretty emotional after my set to say the least! Maybe 10 minutes before my set, while I was getting ready to play, there was a short glitch in the light and sound system. The glitch was so short that nothing really rebooted, the music and lights kept on for a while but then suddenly the club’s panic lights came on. The reaction from the crowd including Dax and myself in the DJ both was that we thought it was a new light feature, but the lights stayed on while I took over the booth and were on for almost my whole set of four hours. Apparently the air conditioning also went off, so the club was extremely hot and humid, meaning the already lightly dressed crowd disrobed more and more as I played. From what I heard they had to get the fire department down to be able to turn the lights off again, which happened when I had just a few more tunes to play. I’ve experienced so many amazing nights playing in that club before, but this one was most defiantly one for the books.
Berghain got struck by lightning last night, which blew the aircon and switched the blinding bright emergency lighting on for 3 hours..
— Barker (@samvoltek) August 29, 2016
was like a sauna / solarium.. but nobody left the dancefloor, it just felt like a never ending breakdown.. everyone waiting for the drop..
— Barker (@samvoltek) August 29, 2016
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