Clubs were one of the first establishments to close when the coronavirus pandemic first hit. It’s therefore no surprise that they will most likely be the last to reopen. In the latest update regarding nightlife in Berlin, chairwoman of the Berlin Club Commission Pamela Schobeß suggested that the city’s club scene won’t go back to normal until the end of 2022.
“What we know and appreciate as a club culture depends on intensity, closeness, contact, intoxicating nights, sharing and exchange. As long as there is a risk of exponential infection and people die from Covid-19 every day, a return to the dance floor is not to be expected. The corona crisis intensifies capitalist injustices and worsens the social division; the economic conditions for carefree clubbing also deteriorate significantly. To what extent the Berlin party situation as we enjoyed before corona can be restored at all is not foreseeable.“
Schobeß also called for further support from the government, suggesting that owners will not be able to “go from 0 to 100” when the time comes. At the moment, the government has guaranteed financial support for affected establishments until June 2021.
There are some in the industry who remains more optimistic. Local German news outlet RBB24 reports that nightclub owner Dimitri Hegemann “[assumes] further aid programs and that the sun will shine again in July”.
Nevertheless, some music events for later this year have already been postponed. Earlier this month, organisers of Berlin’s Love Parade shifted the event from July 10 this year to July 9, 2022.