freshmelk
London

fabriknos
Berlin Vs. London, who is the winnar??

AEK
Was this your first trip to Berlin frankie?

tom
I've had some great times in London too, but it's more exciting when you're abroad

mayday
Nothing wrong with the food here!

djfrankiebones
. I know it was never safe walking around Hackney and Brixton but all the pirate radio stations seemed to be in some rough estates just south of the Thames.

djfrankiebones
This one cube per serving sh*t never sat right with me.

mayday
Nothing wrong with the food here!
You can find pretty much anything

truly-madly
Brixton and Hackney are fine

TEKNONUTTER
much worse places in London if you ask me

TEKNONUTTER
Exactly! That's because it's all originated from abroad lol ;D

TEKNONUTTER
Have to agree there, much worse places in London if you ask me ;)

djfrankiebones
Luton.

tom
The Berlin Oggers at the Ankerlause

I lived in Homerton (in Hackney) which had its characters, but I lived on the north side of the tracks towards Clapton. Walking through the estates on the south side of the tracks, one did tend to be more alert to one's surroundings

Dusty
Off to Berlin in a few weeks, keep dropping names of places to go people - very handy.

djfrankiebones
I have been sworn to not speak about Berghain outside of Berghain.

mayday
on a school history trip.

TIM
Mnml!!

Barry_Crumbcheeks
we went to a concentration camp + holocaust musueum

gmos
Berlin is very much a techno city

freshmelk
Berlin is mostly focussed on Techno

Deep_Frequency
What is it that makes London clubbing special in comparison to other cities? London often gets associated with fashionista type music scenes but clearly there is a richer underground musical culture going on behind this facade.

I think, it would be a bit unfair to say that London is particularly more special in terms of clubbing than any other city in the UK or any city in the world for that matter. The UK most probably has one of the biggest clubbing industries in the world, but I think that as soon as I mention the word “industry” then things suddenly don’t have the same ring to them, do they? It becomes more about business, about making money than about a music scene really. Wherever you are in the world, I think that with the appropriate local knowledge and by going through the right channels you’d probably come across some really thriving underground music scenes and they might even turn out to be healthier than in London. Here in the UK, it’s like everyone and their nan go out clubbing at the week-end, it doesn’t seem to be so much because they’re into it but because it’s basically what everyone else does. At home in France, the club scene is microscopic compared to the UK’s, but often I think the people you come across when going out are there for the right reasons, but so it’s clear I am really not saying there aren’t any places like that in London but you have to admit there’s a majority of places where sadly music is the very last thing on people’s mind. Also fashionista type people can sometimes be a good thing, if a party attracts a good mix of people, a real crossover crowd and become some sort of creative hub then this can lead to some very exciting things I think, but of course the balance must be right, I think that ideally anyone should feel welcome at your party. Anyway back to the point, I think that in recent years the money driven industry has more or less pushed the music heads out of the clubs and that’s why we’ve witnessed a real return to the underground. Basement parties are flourishing everywhere, sound systems are popping up… so I think you’re right there is a richer underground musical culture happening right now behind all that fluffy stuff. We’ve almost gone full circle it seems: from the free parties and the warehouses to the big clubs and now out of the clubs back to the warehouses, studios, workshops, basements… there are lot of good things happening in terms of underground parties at the moment, it’s really interesting and it might hopefully rejuvenate the whole scene and give it back that edge it seems to have lost in the past few years.
London to me, still remains quite special; it’s a very cosmopolitan city where a lot of different musical styles meet and every now then all those musical influences collide to give birth to a new child, it’s basically what happened with things like 2 Step, Drum & Bass and more recently Dub Step & Grime: another child which popped out of London’s dirty, dark urban guts, I think this is something that is still very exciting about London.

In addition to that, I’d say that whatever you’re into, if you’re passionate enough, willing to work hard, you’ll always be able to find in London like-minded people to associate with and develop and push your own thing and really make it happen. I think that’s why London remains quite attractive to a lot of people but I guess that’s also valid for a lot of big cities but certainly more so in London where there is a very strong and well developed music scene and where generally people seem to be a little bit more open-minded.

cthulhu303
Good quote.

abracadabra-1
Btw, I thought most people on here didn't give a toss what DJ magazine voted best in any category?

djfrankiebones
The reason you cannot compare anything to Berlin is because they have no laws against serving alcohol.

Surt
And fortunately, an absence of 'lager lout' culture...

abracadabra-1
A superbly designed two-room club and arts venue that captures the feeling of an illegal party in a squatted industrial space - while still being clean, well-organised and close to central London. There's absolutely no passing trade here (it's pretty hard to find, in fact), so if you want to be sure of a night where everyone is there for the music, this is the place to go. Corsica Studios is home to many of London's oddest and most daring clubbing experiences, with a consistent focus on the cutting edge of electronic and indie experimentation, all played out on two Funktion 1 sound-systems. The opposite of the bland superclub experience available across the road at Ministry of shite.

djfrankiebones
Now all you would have to do is take that element and sound system, stick it in Ministry Of Sound

gmos
ugh!

fabriknos
very jealous. i wasn't able to visit Berlin when i was in Germany a couple years ago and i really regret it. i did get to experience Frankfurt clubs, but that left a lot to be desired (lots of young people standing around and not dancing, basic sounding minimal tech house, expensive drinks). Berlin is definitely top on the list for my return trip.

Anita_Schmetterling
Sorry I missed ya Frankie. I heard it was a really fun and good night. I fucking had pink eye, among other things.

truly-madly
As a comparison to Berghain though? I haven't been to Berlin but seems like it's comparing apples with chalk.