Unscene Berlin

Photograph by Sebastien Oppetit April has been a weird month for parties. On the one hand, longer daylight hours have taken the shine off the idea of partying inside of clubs.  On the other hand, the ever-encroaching rain clouds and chilly winds have dampened any attempts at outdoor raving.  Like the good weather, Berlin's party spirit seems to have been on holiday leave since Easter, leaving people like me free to catch up on their reading, to see their friends, to see exhibitions... anything and everything except for 'avin it large in the mud (or sand or whatever).  No one seems to mind; there will be plenty of time for rabble-rousing starting on the first of May, after all.  Ah, the first of May.  I can clearly remember cycling through the city just before dawn on the second of May last year.  Except for the odd late-night party, Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg were utterly silent, stunned by the explosion of sound and action that had just hit them. The streets were co

The cold weather this last weekend definitely put a freeze on my plans for openair exploring but it did not stop me from going out entirely. I dropped into pretty decent happenings in Prenzlauerberg and Wedding as well. Last weekend's snow flurries sent the Easter bunny scampering back to his burrow, but the rest of Berlin's party menagerie chose to take refuge in an altogether different sort of underground: a place as full of talking animals and sideshow acts as the flipside of the looking glass. On Friday, I spotted a lady in a Raggedy-Ann style wig waving midget-sized parasols among the tipsy-turvy masses at a chilly openair in the Wuhleheide side of town. Stumbling hungover to work the next night, I found myself chatting up a charming stilt-walker outside of Dazzle Club before he got sick of me and swept me down the stairs into the vault with his comedy umbrella. The cave-like, subterranean venue was packed with fans of some experimental s

This weekend, there will be loads of unofficial and openair party activity around so why not let Club Alien be your eyes and (bunny) ears? I'll be checking out a plethora of tips that I've plucked from Berlin's online orchards up like so many Easter eggs. Since it's both complicated and unwise to post such information online ahead of time, I will not be doing my usual weekly preview. (I should have plenty of photos and stories for this blog by Tuesday though!) In the meantime, if you're after a blow-by-blow account of what parties are on or off, do check out @UnsceneBerlin on Twitter between Saturday and Monday. This free party chick will be tweeting all about all the underground sights (sites) and sounds that are keeping the Easter bunny bouncing. Happy Ostara!