By Grant Bailey (@GrantDBailey)
Earlier this year I was tasked with breaching the walls of Berlins’ most exclusive techno club, the Berghain. Notorious for its secretive door policy, the club turns away thousands of visitors every year for not meeting their stringent and elusive entry criteria.
Needless to say, my efforts to get in were in vain.
Now, the Netherland’s Beyond Festival are saving punters the price of a plane ticket by bringing the authentic Berghain experience to them in their pop-up venue, the Berghenk. Now, free of charge, Berghain fans can queue up in front of an appropriation of the famous industrial club, only to be turned away at the door.
The Berghenk, in a move to out-do its larger concrete brother, has a 100% turn-down policy, making it surely the most exclusive venue in the world. It is also a good-natured send-up of the way the Berghain’s mystery and inaccessibility is fetishised by the dance music community.