Blitz Club

The Blitz Club is a techno nightclub in the Munich district of Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt.

Blitz Club
Blitz Club (2019)
AddressMuseumsinsel 1
LocationLudwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt, Munich, Germany
Coordinates48°7′53″N 11°35′8.2″E
TypeNightclub
Genre(s)Techno
Construction
Built1935
Opened22 April 2017
Website
Blitz Club

History and description

The club is located in the former congress hall of the Deutsches Museum, completed in 1935 at the location of Munich's Museumsinsel 1. Until 1985, the building housed Munich's largest concert hall and a planetarium, and later an IMAX cinema. After that, the congress hall stood empty for seven years, until in 2016 the current operators of the Blitz Club asked for a possible use of the building.[1] After months of planning and conversion work, which had to take into account the difficult static conditions on the Museumsinsel island, the club opened on 22 April 2017.[2][3] The nightclub offers two separate dance floors, two bars, several chill-out areas and a smoking room. In total, the club can accommodate up to 800 guests.[4][5] The Blitz Club also has a vegetarian restaurant with beer garden, which is run independently of the club.[6]

Sound and club architecture

The sound architecture is the main feature of the club, and has been discussed repeatedly by music magazines[7][8][9] and architecture journals.[10][11] Unlike former Munich techno clubs like Ultraschall, KW – Das Heizkraftwerk or MMA Club, the Blitz Club is not located in a former industrial setting, but was built into the congress hall according to a room-in-room concept in order to offer the best possible sound experience in accordance with the guiding principle form follows function.[1][10][3] The rooms were optimized for the acoustic experience together with sound engineers, architects and acousticians.[7][8] In order to achieve optimal room acoustics, there are hardly any right angles in the club, but specially shaped panels made of beech wood and perforated sheet that were developed according to the specifications of an acoustician.[12][11] In order to gently scatter the sound waves, a seemingly chaotic honeycomb structure, which was modelled after the swarm behaviour of fish, birds and insects and calculated by a specially developed computer algorithm in a week, is milled into the surfaces of these wall panels.[7][10][11][13] The club uses a custom-made PA system by VOID, which is arranged as a four-point system so that there is a PA tower in each corner around the dance floor,[2][14] as well as 360-degree tweeters hanging from the ceiling named "Blitz horn" that were specially designed for the club and allow the DJ to create three-dimensional sound effects.[7][8][15]

Instead of concentrating the attention on the DJ and placing him on a raised stage, the main floor and the sound system were designed to set the focus on the dance floor and the dancers.[3][9] All in all, the puristic club design is optimized for the sound and dance experience, while oversized branding is avoided.[7] The visual appearance of the club was designed by British musician Trevor Jackson.[16][12][17]

DJs, music and scene
Waiting line in front of the Blitz Club (2018)

The operators of the club consist of former crew members of the clubs Bob Beaman, Charlie, Registratur, King and Kong Club.[18][19] Head of the musical program is DJ David Muallem,[12][3][20] further resident DJs are the Zenker Brothers[21][22][15] Skee Mask,[2][23][15] Stenny,[23][15] Sascha Sibler,[7][12][15] Julietta,[24][15] Glaskin and La Staab.[25] Blitz Club has featured appearances by DJs and live acts such as Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin, Carl Craig, Ben Sims, Seth Troxler, I-F, Miss Kittin, Surgeon, Luke Slater, Laurent Garnier, Nina Kraviz, DJ Hell, Sven Väth, Chris Liebing, Monika Kruse, Ellen Allien, Boys Noize, Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, Len Faki, Steve Bug, Modeselektor, Michael Mayer, Roman Flügel and Âme.[26] The Blitz Club was also a venue for the Germany-wide Telekom Electronic Beats Clubnight series.[27][28] The club also offers a series of events for the gay fetish scene called Cruise.[29][2]

Entry criteria

The club has a strict ban on photography and filming to ensure that guests can concentrate fully on dancing.[30][31] According to the operators, however, the club also wants to be a place of inclusion without a strict door policy.[16][2][32] In July 2017, the curfew for the Blitz Club was lifted, so that the club is allowed to be open until the morning since then.[33][34]

Fire brigade and police operations on the opening day

The club's opening event on 22 April 2017 made headlines throughout Germany.[35][36][37] In the weeks before the opening, extensive coverage by the media[38] had created a hype, which led to a huge rush of people on the Museumsinsel island on the opening day.[39] Instead of the permitted maximum of 800 guests, the club was quickly overcrowded with 1500 people.[35] When the further influx of visitors did not stop and the waiting crowd began to block access roads, emergency exits and escape routes and to press against the tram tracks, the fire brigade arrived and called the police for assistance. In order to defuse the situation, about 30 police officers blocked the Rosenheimer Strasse arterial road, cleared the forecourt and sent hundreds of waiting people home.[40] Numerous guests who were not able to enter the club later criticized the organization of the opening event.[41][42]

Blitz Restaurant

In addition to the techno club, Blitz also has a vegetarian restaurant with Mexican-Central American cuisine and a beer garden on an outdoor terrace that is located on the banks of the Isar river.[6] Head of the restaurant is Sandra Forster, who had operated several other gastronomy projects in Munich before.[43][44] Unlike in the club, there is no photo ban in the restaurant.[45] The restaurant, its interior design and the culinary offer were repeatedly the target of reporting in daily newspapers and gastronomy magazines.[45][46][47][48]

Recognition

The Blitz Club has been regularly featured in national and international daily newspapers and news magazines, specialist magazines for electronic music and club culture, as well as journals for architecture and sound architecture. In the Resident Advisor ranking the nightclub is rated as one of the most popular clubs in Munich (2nd place, as of October 2019).[49] Mixmag Asia rated the club as one of "10 of the best new clubs on the planet to go raving at" in 2017.[50] In the annual readers' poll of Faze Magazine, the club was voted one of the best of the year 2017 (3rd place),[51] in the reader voting for the year 2019 the club achieved the fourth place.[52] In the annual reader poll of Groove magazine, the club was also voted one of the best in 2017 (4th place).[53]

See also
  • Media related to Blitz Club at Wikimedia Commons
  • List of electronic dance music venues

References
  1. Markus Sebek (22 April 2017). ""Blitz"-Club in München Club wirbt mit einzigartigem Sound und Handyverbot: "Blitz" eröffnet am Samstag" ["Blitz"-Club in Munich Club entices with unique sound and mobile phone ban: "Blitz" opens on Saturday]. Focus. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  2. "Blitz: How Munich's Newest Club Will Advance Dance Music Culture". Electronic Beats. 14 September 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  3. "Listen To Our New Podcast With David Muallem, Laurin Schafhausen and Perel". Electronic Beats. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  4. "Blitz – Neuer Club in München" [Blitz – New club in Munich]. Faze Magazine. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  5. Lennart Bernsdorff (12 May 2017). "Kann Wiens Technoszene etwas von München lernen?" [Can Vienna's techno scene learn something from Munich?]. Vice Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  6. Laura Kaufmann (28 February 2017). "Neuer Club: Ein Blitz soll einschlagen im Münchner Nachtleben" [New club: lightning is to strike in Munich's nightlife]. Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  7. Felix Denk (26 September 2017). "Feature: Blitz Club: Die Anlage ist der Star" [Feature: Blitz Club: The sound system is the star]. Groove Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  8. Felix Denk (26 September 2017). "Feature: Blitz Club: Die dachten, wir hätten einen an der Waffel" [Feature: Blitz Club: They thought we had a loose nut]. Groove Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  9. Duncan Dick (31 August 2018). "The art of club design: The brains behind Printworks, AHM and Blitz Club explore the art form". Mixmag. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  10. "Blitz Club in München: Ausgeklügelte Raum-in-Raum-Lösung" [Blitz Club in Munich: Sophisticated room-in-room solution]. Baunetz Wissen. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  11. Roland Pawlitschko (26 April 2018). "Soundproof surfaces: Blitz Electronic Music Club in Munich". Detail. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  12. Heiko Hoffmann (22 March 2017). "Blitz: Neuer Club in München" [Blitz: New club in Munich]. Groove Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  13. "Blitz Music Club by Studio Knack & Simon Vorhammer, Munich – Germany". Retail Design Blog. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  14. "Venue: Blitz Location: Munich, Germany". Void Acoustics. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  15. Matt Unicomb (22 March 2017). "Zenker Brothers residents at new Munich club, Blitz". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  16. Scott Wilson (22 March 2017). "New techno club Blitz to open in Munich museum". Fact Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  17. "Read An Interview With Blitz Club Graphic Designer Trevor Jackson". Electronic Beats. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  18. "München bekommt einen neuen Club" [Munich is getting a new club]. Musikexpress. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  19. Philipp Kutter (1 March 2017). "München bekommt einen neuen Club für elektronische Musik" [Munich is getting a new club for electronic music]. Vice Magazin. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  20. Paul Dakeyne (10 November 2018). "Blitz Club Music Vionary – David Muallem". Denon DJ Blog. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  21. Sonja Steppan (21 April 2017). "Platten-Blind-Date: "München? Eine Homebase ist uns wichtiger als die Szene" – die Zenkers dahoam" [Record blind date: "Munich? A homebase is more important to us than the scene" - the Zenkers at home]. Vice Magazin. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  22. THUMP Staff (23 March 2017). "Die Zenker Brothers werden Residents in Münchens neuem Club für elektronische Musik" [The Zenker Brothers become residents in Munich's new club for electronic music]. Vice Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  23. Patrick Hinton (22 March 2017). "New techno club Blitz to open in Munich museum". Mixmag. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  24. Kristoffer Cornils (2 August 2019). "Julietta (Blitz) – Groove Resident Podcast 4". Groove Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  25. "Munich's Techno Scene Is On The Rise—Locals Glaskin And La Staab Explain Why". Electronic Beats. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  26. "Resident Advisor: Blitz Club". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  27. "Prepare For Our Clubnight At Blitz With This Techno Mix By Molten Moods' Jonas Yamer". Electronic Beats. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  28. "7 Tracks That Defined Telekom Electronic Beats Clubnight Clubs In 2018". Electronic Beats. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  29. Peter Panzer (22 January 2018). "Undercover auf der Cruise-Party im "BLITZ"" [Undercover at the cruise party at "BLITZ"]. VOISZ. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  30. "Munich's New Techno Club Is Banning Cell Phones". Electronic Beats. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  31. Manuel Nieberle (26 April 2017). "Braucht München das Smartphone-Verbot in Clubs?" [Does Munich need the smartphone ban in clubs?]. Vice Magazin. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  32. "A techno club is set to open in Munich museum". DJ Mag. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  33. "Sperrstunde aufgehoben: "Blitz"-Club darf länger geöffnet bleiben" [Curfew lifted: "Blitz" club may stay open longer]. Abendzeitung. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  34. Bettina Ullrichs (12 February 2017). "Feiern bis in die Morgenstunden: So lange darf der Blitz Club künftig geöffnet haben" [Celebrating into the morning hours: This is how long the Blitz Club is allowed to be open in the future]. tz. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  35. "Polizeieinsatz bei Blitz-Club-Neueröffnung in München". Faze Magazine. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  36. Philipp Kutter (24 April 2017). "Das Interesse für den neuen Münchener Club Blitz war so groß, dass die Polizei anrückte" [The interest in the new Munich club Blitz was so great that the police approached]. Vice Magazin. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  37. "Polizeieinsatz in München: Neueröffnung des "Blitz" läuft aus dem Ruder" [Police operation in Munich: Opening of the "Blitz" gets out of hand]. Focus. 23 April 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  38. Media that had reported on the club in advance include Focus, Süddeutsche Zeitung, DJ Mag, Mixmag, Fact, Resident Advisor, Vice, Electronic Beats, Groove and FazeMag.
  39. Bastian Karl (23 April 2017). "Polizei muss Gäste vor Blitz-Club abwimmeln" [Police must turn away guests from the Blitz-Club]. Bildzeitung. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  40. Laura Kaufmann (23 April 2017). "Polizeieinsatz: Blitz-Club zieht zu viele Gäste an" [Police action: Blitz-Club attracts too many guests]. Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  41. Stefanie Wegele (25 April 2017). "Beschwerden nach Polizeieinsatz: „Blitz"-Eröffnung ufert aus: „Betreiber müssen noch viel lernen"" [Complaints after police intervention: "Blitz" opening gets out of hand: "Operators still have a lot to learn"]. tz. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  42. "Andrang zu groß - Polizei muss "Blitz"-Tür schließen" [Crush too great - police has to close the door of "Blitz"]. Abendzeitung. 23 April 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  43. Karl Forster (14 April 2017). "Sandra Forster: "Ich denke halt drüber nach: Was braucht die Stadt?"". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  44. Alex Wulkow (10 September 2016). "Party im altehrwürdigen Gemäuern: Frischer Wind für das Deutsche Museum" [Party within ancient walls: Fresh wind for the Deutsches Museum]. tz. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  45. Laura Kaufmann (29 April 2017). "Der "Blitz" weiß jetzt, wie er einschlagen muss" [The "Blitz" now knows how to strike]. Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  46. Juniper Rocket (23 October 2017). "Restaurant Blitz: Morbides an der Wand und Südamerikanisches auf den Tellern" [Restaurant Blitz: Morbid things on the wall and South American things on the plates]. Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  47. Verena Borell (12 May 2017). "Das Blitz in München: Zwischen Bass und Día de los Muertos" [The Blitz in Munich: Between bass and Día de los Muertos]. Mixology. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017.
  48. Rainer Germann (22 October 2018). "Blitz Restaurant: Cavaleras und Fajitas" [Blitz Restaurant: Cavaleras and Fajitas]. InMagazin. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  49. "Resident Advisor: Top Munich clubs". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  50. Ben Jolley (31 October 2017). "10 of the best new clubs on the planet to go raving at". Mixmag. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  51. "FAZEmag Jahrespoll 2017: Club" [FAZEmag Annual Poll 2017: Club]. Faze Magazine. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  52. "FAZEmag Jahrespoll 2019: Club" [FAZEmag Annual Poll 2019: Club]. Faze Magazine. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  53. "GROOVE-Leserpoll 2017: Club des Jahres" [GROOVE Reader's Poll 2017: Club of the Year]. Groove Magazine. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.