Clr Berlin – A Reflection

Finding you're not on the guest list – when you very much definitely are meant to be on the guestlist – is the worst. Especially when you're in Berlin. And you can't speak German. And you just witnessed someone get turned away because they were dressed a bit like a chav. You can’t help but feel like you’re in the wrong (or maybe that’s just me…) After a brief phone call and a chit chat with the outfit-ist bouncer we were in the door and past the glowing triangle that was the only thing that differentiated Arena from the rest of the disused warehouses in the complex.

Once we were in, we were faced with 4 different dark corridors, a heavy, constant thud emanating from somewhere deep inside the building and a steady flow of black and grey bodies moving between each. We followed the music down one of the corridors and were brought out to the main room, the ceiling pulsing with light and Monoloc getting the writhing bodies on the dancefloor warmed up for Chris Liebing’s mammoth set later on in the night.

The clock past 2, and with the main room reaching soaring temperatures, we were let loose into the rest of the warehouse to try and find the Waterfloor. Overlooking the River Spree, DJ Emerson was giving the spacious, cooling crowd an uplifting alternative to Room 1’s driving techno with some refreshing, lively house, feeding us tracks such as Green Velvet & Harvard Bass’ Laser Beams.

Needing a break from the dancing, we went exploring through the heart of Arena. Climbing some stairs, we were introduced to a smokey haven of sofas nestled among old machinery, giving us a hint of the industrial, and probably just as rhythmical, past of the warehouse.

After a brief rest amongst the machinery in the rafters of the warehouse, we headed back down into the dark to see what Chris Liebing had in store for the enthusiastic German crowd. Full, but not too full to dance, the main room was simmering with energy, the crowd getting lost in Leibing’s dark and rhythmic build-ups. Flowing effortlessly into the early hours, Liebings set caused a constant emotional flux of anticipation and basking in the reward that was to follow; deep flowing rhythms leading into into heavy basslines and rolling drums.

After leaning out the windows of Waterfloor to watch the sun rise over the Spree with more aural pleasures from Monoloc & DJ Emerson filling our ears, we decided to call it a night and leave Liebing to continue his journey further into Sunday.

Jake Davis