> >>>>>>>come in agent wooof>>>>>>>are you there>>>>? > > how was berlin? > > last weekend of tresor?
Wasn't the last weekend - I think the last night is on 16/4/05 but I thought that might be not as easy to get in to, this past weekend has been the 14th (?) anniversary and the line up was fine so off we (my friend Phil who is not a 313 head and I) went: 2½ hour flight delay has us land in B Thurs tea time to discover it's -5ºC. After few problems with the ticket machine at the train station we get to the Circus Hostel to find it sweet as promised. Our roomie is a friendly Irish guy who travels to Berlin to see the Philharmonic Orch and other such commendable things, lots of good musical chat ensues, his opinion of us may have taken a knocking when, after night 1 in Tresor, Phil wanders the room in a sleep / alcohol befuddled trance and tries to climb into bed with him and after night 2 I leave him a drug befuddled note about Richard Strauss. After a brief visit to Hardwax and food we chill and head out, seems dead near the hostel. This is because 11 is too early to go out, we don't realise this and so leave a good area and think we'll head down near Tresor. After some subway confusion (not us, the fact the train keeps changing direction confuses everyone) we get a taxi with a mad Chinese guy who is convinced we are looking for sex. Having got to Tresor we go for a drink first only to find no decent bars round there and so go in there at 12 when it's still quiet. Nevertheless it's brilliant, great sound up and down, house sounds and lots of nice girls upstairs, very heavy and an impenetrable mix of blackness and strobe in the vault. Also a funny little bar in the back where a tran is playing Madonna. We have a great time, it fills a bit, drink lots of 'Desperado' (beer tequila mix), get a bit silly, Phil stays upstairs dancing with the girls, I check out Surgeon and DJ Pete downstairs, both excellent but Surgeon suffers a bit in my mind as I'm a luddite. I wonder if it's not laptops vs. vinyl as such I object to but just that using them seems to remove people's animation? When I've seen people rocking over laptops it's been OK but mostly, somehow, that little bit less movement of using the keyboard / controller / whatever over picking 12s up, spinning them etc. seems to induce a whole body stillness and lack of expression in DJs (PCJs?) which I find off putting. Several hours (6am) later I have to prise Phil from the club reminding him we have another night to go. Spend Friday sightseeing the city which is fine apart from the weather which starts OK by snowing and making things look nice but turns to cold rain. This means we're not up for queuing for the Reichstag etc. but wander the streets, taking in monuments and lots of crazy back street art in the Mitte district. There's no queue for the TV tower so we go up and mighty impressive it is. Phil goes to the hostel to rest and I spend 4 hours and 100 Euros in Hardwax. I meet 313ers Toby and Dan, Technotourists Hans and John text to say they're still in transit and we'll meet later. In the madness that followed this never happened - sorry guys, I was on another planet. This time we go out about 12 and stay local for some drinks with much better results. One word of warning for greehorns like us - few cash points and few places that take cards - not just bars but restaurants and our hostel. We get to Tresor after 1 to find Rhythm and Sound (Moritz VO, Mark E and about 6 MCs) in full session upstairs, my resistance to taking drugs instantly crumbles and I take an industrial strength blue pill that blows my head off. Phil and I corrupt Dan with Desperado and worse. After R&S it's Francois K but I'm not too into him so I go to the vault where I spend the next few hours having the time of my life while damaging my hearing. Around 8 (details unclear) Toby or Dan suggest Panorama club where we go but lose them. This doesn't matter as we find mad girls who chase us round the club (in my case) or who lie down and we stand on (Phil). It's all a bit surreal as it's on about the 4th floor of a high rise in an industrial area which, while it seems to have a normal bar and toilets just has a huge open plan area to dance in with no covering on the windows so it's broad daylight, 11 o'clock on Saturday morning and full of people getting down or being bonkers. The DJ was great (I think). After 12 we realise it's less than 2 hours to our flight (Phil wants to just forget about it and stay) and we get a taxi to stop outside out hostel as we pick our bags up and then take us to the airport. Validating our boarding passes proves challenging as do security procedures but we're let on the plane despite my mock PA announcements and leave feeling melancholy and wondering how 2 days passed so quickly.
