Location: Berlin, Germany
Capacity: 1,500
It’s widely considered to be the epicentre for underground electronic dance music. A place where artists are discovered, careers are made, and the Saturday Klubnacht night parties often last until Monday morning. It’s also one of the hardest clubs to get into. But its infamous door policy (and no photo policy) ensure it remains a pinnacle for club culture, where people from nearly every walk of life feel free to be themselves and behave with respectful abandon. The vibe is like no other, and the DJs who are lucky enough to play there know it.
Those include world-famous residents like Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann, who regularly play the techno-centric Berghain floor; Steffi, Nick Höppner and Tama Sumo, who’ve resided over the upstairs house-heavy Panorama Bar floor for years; and a regular cast of guests that in 2018 included The Black Madonna, Ben UFO, DJ Nobu, Leon Vynehall, Craig Richards, Jennifer Cardini, Dasha Rush, and Dixon, along with exciting up-and-comers like Perel, Man Power, and Upsammy. Meanwhile, the newer Säule floor constantly brings boundary-pushing names in experimental music — including a takeover by Клуб, one of Russia’s wildest clubs — every Thursday.
As long as Berghain stands, it’s hard to imagine anything better.