Exploring Berlin's Buzzing Live Music Scene

From punk in grungy clubs or Irish folk in rowdy pubs to cutting-edge techno in repurposed industrial spaces and smooth jazz in intimate bars, live music lovers are spoiled for choice.  Find out how Berlin became a music epicentre, get to know a few legendary venues and check out where to experience unforgettable gigs during your stay in Berlin.

Berlin has long attracted adventurous artists and performers, drawn by an abundance of venues, a no-boundaries creative scene and relaxed regulation. 

In the wild years of the 1920s Weimar Republic, the nation shook off the after-effects of an authoritarian monarchy and the traumas of World War I and gave birth to Kabarett, with outrageously (un)clad performers in Berlin restaurants and nightclubs presenting daring shows focussed on themes of politics and sex, all in an atmosphere of hitherto unimaginable decadence. The era is superbly captured in Bob Fosse's 1972 film "Cabaret", starring Lisa Minelli in the role of singer Sally Bowles. One of our favourite spots for cabaret in Berlin is the Bar Jeder Vernunft, with glittering shows in a turn-of-the-century mirror tent. The feverish twenties climate also saw the rise of Berlin's earliest jazz clubs in sultry, smoke-filled bars.

In the 1970s and '80s, West Berlin became an island of rebellion, hedonism and unrestrained free expression between the staid post-war conservatism of West Germany and the authoritarian communism of East Germany. The radical scene that exploded in the squatted buildings of the Kreuzberg district birthed acts like electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream and industrial experimentalists Einstürzende Neubauten. It also attracted outsiders like David Bowie, Iggy Pop and later Nick Cave, Depeche Mode and U2. As well as producing seminal work for Iggy, Bowie recorded much of his late-70s "Berlin Trilogy" of albums at the legendary Hansa Studios, reputedly writing "Heroes" while looking out over the Berlin Wall. You can explore the haunts of these famous musical expats by taking part in one of the city's walking tours designed to immerse visitors in this vibrant music history.

When communism collapsed and the Wall came down in 1989, young bohemian artists found almost limitless abandoned space in the East Berlin neighbourhoods of Mitte, Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg just waiting to be put to creative use. Opening a bar or a club was as easy as setting up a sound system and selling drinks, and empty apartment blocks, factories, power stations or bunkers morphed overnight into pulsing nightclubs. The relentless 4/4 electronic beats of techno, imported from similarly decaying Detroit, provided the perfect soundtrack to all-night raves celebrating the new, unregulated freedom in this post-industrial urban landscape. A new generation of young DJs sprang up, joined by international luminaries, among them Jeff Mills and Blake Baxter, drawn to Berlin's booming, anything-goes scene.

Nowadays, even in the face of hurdles like gentrification, noise regulations and, more recently, the Covid pandemic, Berlin is still a musical magnet, with aspiring acts from around the globe moving there to be part of a buoyant, nurturing community, visitors drawn by the still-unparalleled techno scene and international bands who love playing to the city's knowledgable audiences in its fabled venues.

Berlin boasts a host of legendary music venues that are stars in their own right, imbued with stories and offering an atmosphere seldom found elsewhere.

With its roots in the anarchist squat scene of the '70s, the gritty SO36 on Oranienstrasse in Kreuzberg has provided a stage for punk legends from the Dead Kennedys and the Damned to the Offspring and Bad Religion, and was a favourite hangout for people like Bowie. Often compared to New York's CBGB, it's still fiercely anti-authoritarian, and you can catch punk acts as well as hip-hop, techno and indie, part of an eclectic schedule that also includes gay and lesbian parties and regular roller disco nights.

Oranienstraße 190, 10999 Berlin. U-Bahn Kottbusser Tor or Görlitzer Bahnhof.

©SO36

Most of the improvised clubs from Berlin's early-90s techno heyday have long closed, but Berghain (along with the famed Tresor) is a direct descendant, and can justifiably lay claim to being one of the world's most influential nightclubs. Occupying an immense converted power station in the Friedrichshain neighbourhood, its mind-melting sound and light systems and the sex- and drug-fuelled excess of its dance floors are the stuff of legend. Parties featuring some of the world's most respected techno DJs usually start late Friday nights and run through to Monday morning. Unfortunately, we can't offer any tips on how to get past the notoriously fickle bouncers on the door, although some claim that they're most relaxed on Sunday afternoons.

Am Wriezener Bhf, 10243 Berlin. U- & S-Bahn Warschauer Strasse or S-Bahn Ostbahnhof.

Once repair workshops for East German locomotives, the edgy RAW cultural complex in hip Friedrichshain is famed for its street art murals, and hosts galleries, workshops and a flea market, as well as an array of bars and clubs. Astra Kulturhaus, exuding '60s Ostblock charm, is one of the best locations for live indie rock music in Berlin, and has hosted everyone from George Clinton to the Leningrad Cowboys. Meanwhile, the Badehaus provides a stage for an extremely diverse array of styles including jazz, world, punk and folk – as they say, from "Japanese psychedelic blues to Kazakh hip-hop". Head to Cassiopeia for indie and hip-hop, alongside themed parties.

Revaler Str. 99, 10245 Berlin. U- and S-Bahn Warschauer Strasse.

Certainly one of the world's most idyllic stages, the Waldbühne sits, as the name suggests, shrouded in forest, not far from the Olympiastadion. The amphitheatre was, like the stadium, built for the 1936 Olympics, and has hosted countless big names from Prince, Bob Marley and Bruce Springsteen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. At the Rolling Stones' infamous 1965 gig, pitched battles between fans and the police led to the venue being closed for seven years afterwards. On warm nights during the season from May to September, you'll find it a magical setting for concerts in any genre. 

Glockenturmstrasse 1, 14053 Berlin. S-Bahn Pichelsberg or U-BahnOlympiastadion.

Given the number of concerts and parties in Berlin on any given night, gig guides like tip-berlin.de, musikexpress.de or the city tourism authority visitberlin.de will give you some much-needed guidance.

Lovers of jazz and blues have an abundance of riches, with a thriving scene and sessions every night of the week. Live music restaurants and bars in Berlin Mitte include b flat, Zosch and the Jazzclub-Kunstfabrik Schlot, also renowned for its basement literary events. Its walls covered in photos of jazz greats, the Yorckschlösschen in Kreuzberg is also famed for its beer garden, while Quasimodo's dusky cellar has hosted luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie and Chet Baker during its long life. A-Trane is especially intimate, but we recommend booking ahead at all venues. Fans from far and wide converge on the city for the Jazzfest Berlin in early November.

Beside SO36 and the RAW Gelände venues mentioned, Berlin's music scene offers a host of gritty, graffiti-daubed bars hosting indie outfits. Kreuzberg is the perfect location for gig-hopping, with the Lido, Privatclub, in a former post office, Wild at Heart, and the opulent Festsaal Kreuzberg, to name just a few. (And a stylish hotel nearby is a great option if you're coming home late.) The premises' former incarnation as a chocolate factory gave the cosy Schokoladen in Mitte its name. Roadrunner's Paradise in nearby Prenzlauer Berg leans toward rockabilly and goth. 

The Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg is a cultural complex in a 19th-century brewery saved from demolition after German reunification – in its Kesselhaus and Maschinenhaus halls you can expect anything from Balkan folk to desert rock from Mali. Prachtwerk, Bar BoBu and the Little Stage are popular locations for singer-songwriters, as are living room concerts – keep an eye on performers' social media profiles for details. Berlin has almost too many Irish pubs with live music from Monday to Sunday to count, but a few of the most popular are the Kilkenny and Murphy's in Mitte, the Irish Pub in Charlottenburg's Europa Center, or the Celtic Cottage in Steglitz.

... A Berlin institution where almost anyone can be the star. Every Sunday from April to September, weather permitting, Bearpit Karaoke at the Mauerpark flea market in Prenzlauer Berg draws hundreds of spectators to impromptu performances by amateur singers. And they can be sure of rapturous cheers even if their performance is, erm, less than perfect...