Report from Tresor by Gary

"Good night Tresor!"

For years we’ve known that it was coming, but nobody really knew when.  We were plagued by news that in just a few weeks Tresor was closing, only for new delays to come from Berlin city council.  Then the date finally arrived, and it was April 16th.

For those who never went to Tresor, you will never understand the true meaning of the club, what it stood for, or how brilliant it felt to just be there.  It played host to the most famous DJs in the world, including Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, Juan Atkins, Blake Baxter, Richie Hawtin, Underground Resistance, Surgeon, the list is endless. 

I arrived in Berlin at around 4pm Saturday, and the first place I went was Leipziger Strasse to take a look at Tresor before the crowd got there.  I met up with a few friends, went for beer and dinner, before coming back at 8pm to see if there was a line-up for the closing party.  We managed to get a sneak peek at one before getting thrown out.  Outside Tresor, Richie Hawtin was busying himself, peddling back and forth on his bike.  He was an eager lad considering he wasn’t even playing ‘till 12pm Sunday afternoon!

A few hours later, joined by DJ Koenig and Junkmale, we managed to get in the club.  It was only shortly after opening time, 11pm, and already the club was rammed.  Irie Electric was playing some seriously funky tunes to open up the night in Globus.  His was probably the hardest set I heard in Globus that night, which was about right, considering the harder stuff usually got played downstairs…

I headed downstairs a little before midnight queued up to put my coat in the cloakroom.  I then headed into Tresor.  You can’t possibly begin to imagine how I felt standing by the Tresor bar, looking into what can only be described as a haze of smoke lit up by a red spot and flashing strobes, where I could barely see the occasional outline of a head or hands in the air.  All surrounded by the jail style bars of the former vault.  Pumping sounds of some amazing minimal techno was coming from that direction…that was where I went; the tingles in my spine became more predominant as I finally stepped onto the Tresor dance floor.

Troy McClure was banging out some seriously hard minimalist techno, the likes of which I have yet to hear in the Czech Republic.  If there is a promoter reading this report, here is some advice for you: get Troy McClure here!!!  This was some of the best techno I’d ever heard.  Full of surprising changes, many different sounds, everything you need to keep a crowd dancing non-stop for two whole hours.  The room was so packed that sweat was gathering on the ceiling and dripping down, the room was a sauna.  It was so dark I couldn’t see who was in front of me.  The only thing I could see was the DJ, who was lit up by one red spot.  It was perfect.  This is what techno is all about. 

After Troy McClure came Subtronic, who picked up from McClure very well, and got progressively harder.  He played out a wicked remix of Beltram’s Energy Flash.  At 3am, I went upstairs to Globus to hear DJ Hell. 

DJ Hell did nothing to impress me.  His music was very tame, and at times was as cheesy as the crap which Orbith plays.  Not impressed at all, so went back downstairs after half an hour to continue dancing. 

By 6:30 am, my legs needed a break.  I retired to the garden where I found a sofa to fall asleep on.  I was rudely awoken at 8 am by a group of my mates from the UK.  I went back downstairs again to dance to Tresor resident Baeks who was playing a little too hard for my taste, but he still had the room pumping and was surprised to still see it was full. 

All three stages, Tresor, Globus and the Tuna Bar were packed non-stop.  I left just as Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos came on to begin their five hour marathon.  Hawtin is not my style and I really didn’t want to hear him.  I also had a bus to catch.

The party went on till 6am Monday morning, and no doubt, enough people permitting, is probably still going strong right now. 

I look back at the many times in my life when I visited Tresor, be it for Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, British Murder Boys, or Juan Atkins, and I never once remember not having fun.  Tresor is the only club in the world which can produce the atmosphere it did.  If you were to stand everyone who was in the club last night next to each other, from the normal ravers to some of the total freaks of the night, you could say, “these are my friends,” even though you don’t know them.  Only I few times in my life have I felt we have all been gathered here for a reason, a purpose.  Summer of Love 2000 did that for me.  The occasional visit to the old TNT club in Ostrava did that for me.  But Tresor did that for me every time. 

Tresor will return, in a different venue.  But it’s the Leipziger Strasse address which will be missed most.  For me, it cannot be replaced. 

Good night Tresor, you will be sorely missed.