00:00Places like this one have turned Berlin into Europe's clubbing capital.
00:04But now a lot of venues are struggling.
00:07Two of the city's most famous techno-clubs, Watergate and Renate, announced last year
00:12they would be closing.
00:14And Berlin's oldest gay club, Schwutz, just declared bankruptcy.
00:18What we made in money beforehand was just fine for the cost structure that we had, but
00:23this doesn't anymore align.
00:25There's even a German word for what's going on, Klubsterben, which translates to the death
00:30of clubs.
00:32And Klubsterben isn't just fatal for the venues themselves.
00:36For Berlin, it's putting at risk a key source of income and the city's identity.
00:45I think Berlin without a party scene isn't Berlin anymore.
00:49One reason clubs are struggling to make ends meet is that Berlin is changing.
00:55The city's underground club scene began booming in the 1990s.
00:59After a reunification, Berlin was struggling financially and many of its residents had left.
01:05What seemed like a wasteland to some, became a blank canvas for Berlin's music pioneers.
01:12At the beginning, all you had to do was go into a building, put a lock on the door and it was
01:20yours because nobody knew, you know, who was the owner.
01:24I used to walk up and down here and there were old factory buildings that we would go into
01:29where the doors were open and you could just do a party.
01:34That's how one of Berlin's oldest techno clubs, Tresor, was founded in the bank vault of an empty
01:40department store.
01:42Entrance was free back then.
01:45Daniel de Picciotto was working at Berlin's first techno venues at the time.
01:49People would go into the clubs in Berlin bringing something, participating, being part of the crowd.
01:55And people, for instance, would bring things to decorate the club, like they would bring trees
02:01or they would bring golden frames and then take pictures of themselves wearing crazy costumes.
02:08Or they would bring paintings or they would actively participate in making the club the most interesting place in the world.
02:18But in recent years, Berlin has undergone significant gentrification and Berlin is no longer free or even affordable.
02:26It becomes really tough for those clubs who have usually a non-commercial look out to sustain in a city where everything is just getting way more expensive.
02:38Renate, for example, will close its doors at the end of this year because the techno club's landlord didn't renew the lease.
02:45The spaces where Berlin's clubs could once flourish are diminishing.
02:54For another popular techno club, about blank, the city's changing landscape is causing anxiety.
03:00Berlin's Senate just approved the construction of a hotel next door.
03:04We feel like we're being pushed out because of all the new buildings going up.
03:11And we're inevitably going to get more and more noise complaints.
03:17Staying located in the heart of the city has become an ongoing battle for clubs like about blank.
03:22Another problem is that a lot of Berlin's clubs are staying empty.
03:29Inflation and the higher cost of living are making club visits harder to afford for many.
03:36According to Berlin's club commission, more than half of all clubs saw a decrease in visitors last year.
03:41Basically, it's that less people come every week.
03:46So we have people that used to come basically Friday and Saturday or maybe one Saturday, but every week.
03:53And today it's rather that people come once a month when maybe sometimes not even.
03:59On top of that, the club owners we spoke to say that Gen Z are partying less than other generations.
04:06The number of young people who regularly consume alcohol is also decreasing.
04:11Katja Jäger says Schwutz is trying to adapt.
04:14And I think what's important is not to just say the young people need to come back to nightclubs,
04:19but basically as a nightclub look into what can I offer, say is it a sober party in the night or is it maybe a day event.
04:26To stay open despite fewer ticket sales, About Blank started a crowdfunding initiative earlier this year.
04:33But with almost half of Berlin's clubs considering closing their doors,
04:38many are also calling on outside support, like better tenant protection.
04:43A lot of theatres and other cultural institutions receive federal funding.
04:49I'd like to see that for clubs as well.
04:53For Berlin's longtime club supporters like Daniel, it's also on the people themselves to help keep the party alive.
05:02Now maybe it's also the responsibility of the people that go to clubs to become part of it again,
05:10and not only expect the clubs to take care of all the problems.
05:13Maybe to go back to that atmosphere that we had in the 80s is that we all do it together.
05:23Once again, the largest city of the city of Israel has outlawed the field.
05:27The point of the city of Israel has been about to help build terror,
05:30and that's why we all do it together, but we all do it together.
05:32We all do it together.
05:33We have to let the gate face all three, and that's why we are in the 80s.
05:34We're in the 80s.
05:36We all do it together.
05:38We're there.
05:39We're talking to some people who do it.
05:40We're at the beginning of our church.
05:42We all do something together.
05:43We'll do it together.
05:44We're in the 90s.
05:45We're here.
05:46We're doing all the new people that are going to the city of Israel.
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