Groove Column: On Gathering Ye Rosebuds While Ye May... (October 2007)

A note on this one; when it was comissioned it looked as though Bar 25 in Berlin was to close at the end of the season in 2007, to make way for the re-development of the last bit of land bordering the Spree that's not currently occupied by flats and offices. It has since been given a reprieve of at least one year, but the overall sentiment of the piece ("grab it while you can, folks") is still pertinent.

ewan
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On gathering ye rosebuds, while ye may.

Soon Berlin's Bar 25 closes its anonymous little door for the last time. "So what?" you may shrug. In a city which boasts so many clubs, so many options, there is always another party.

Yes, but. In blessed but blasé Berlin it’s important to acknowledge the loss of something really special. For those of us with an unreasonable love for house and techno Bar 25 has become a second home. Wooden cabins nestling in trees overlooking the Spree, crammed with people dancing to amazing sets from local heroes or unannounced superstars: clubbing doesn’t get much more homely. Before you know it Sunday has given way to Monday or Tuesday.

As frequent-flying Auslanders like me know all too well, Berlin’s dance freaks are the luckiest in the world. Places like 25 and Club Des Visionaires are unheard of elsewhere. Relaxed attitudes to licensing and opportunities for around-the-clock clubbing aren't shared by any other city I’ve visited. DJing last week in Belfast the bar shut at half 1 and the place started to empty. I was told it was a great night, but that’s just how it is.

And things are getting tougher. There’s been a clampdown in Spain this year, and the ultra-strict enforcement of New York’s cabaret laws mean that if you dance in a bar that plays music you’ll be asked to leave. Whilst clubbing is more and more popular throughout the world, the opportunities for spontaneous or extended fun outside regular hours have never been fewer. Which makes the closure of somewhere like Bar 25 all the sadder.

Not long after I moved here, and in pretend shock and amusement at a culture that was so shameless about not knowing when to stop, I made a flippant comment on film that has followed me round ever since. I'm taking it back.

Forget home. Stay out for as long as you can, while you can. Do it, before you can't do it any more. Before it becomes inappropriate. Before the demands of family or work become too pressing (because, necessarily, they will). And most importantly, before the powers that be decide that you should be doing something quieter and more healthy, preferably where they can see you. Before all the spaces like 25 are bought up, sold off, closed down, removed for ever and this city becomes just like every other.

For it'll all be gone sooner than you think, and you not so long after.

(published October 2007)