The LiveTrigger guide to Berlin by Radio Dead Ones
Berlin. All the roads we drive with our vans lead to Berlin.
Berlin is always in the show list of every tour and generally, it’s always a super gig.
Berlin is simply one of the best cities in the world. Period.
I have a lot of friends there, but I thought the best one for this guide was Bev, a natural born punk rocker, frontman of the Radio Dead Ones and recently singing and playing the guitars in the amazing Berlin Blackouts.
He’s the Genuine European version Duane Peters, but younger, more gentle and of course way way way cooler.
He’s totally the write guy to write this Berlin Travel Guide, with no doubts.
There’s no better guy to drive you around this city: Bev is what Rock’n’Roll in Berlin is, so get ready to take notes and start booking your next show in Berlin 🙂
BEV: Berlin is one of the cheapest capital cities in Europe, even you can’t make good money and the rent for flats is kind of exploding.
There’s a lot of history, because of being divided for more than 3 decades and the traces are still there (like the remains of the wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate and so on …
You also have tons of clubs with any kind of music.
There’s almost every day at least one punkrock show. In the summer you have about a dozen lakes at the edge of the city and parks in the inner city where you can play loud music, get drunk and smoke weed.
Venues
Wild At Heart in the middle of Kreuzberg is my personal living room 😉
I’ve seen my first shows there when I visited Berlin at the age of 14. The staff behind the bar and the DJs are great. Lea and Uli who are running the place are real punkrock legends. Right next door is the TikiHeart where you can get burgers and nice cocktails. They’re open every night with about 5-6 shows per week.
The Clash, also located in Kreuzberg is a very nice venue. It’s a few people running the club, they’re political and not about money in the first place. Very nice beer-garden outside, they offer tasty food and it’s cool shows happening there.
SO36 in Kreuzberg; a bit bigger, about 700 people. It’s one of the oldest PunkClubs in whole Germany. Since the mid 70’s, even Iggy Pop played his first Berlin show there.
Bands
There’s a lot bands with great people. But there’s not so much going on with old-school music. All the bands are too modern for my taste. But one band really rules Gang Zero … heavy shit.
Bands I also like Baretta Love or The Black Tales (from Sulmona/Italy, they all moved to Berlin)…
or Gray City Passengers (also originally from Italy).
People
Robin from the Clash bar is a really active person, I think.
Or Lea and Uli from Wild At Heart.
But there are actually so many people … that would break the limits of this interview.
Food
In Friedrichshain is a Pizza place called Zeus they have any Pizza normal and vegan. The same for Calzone and even more. Also kind of cheap, but really tasty. There are about a dozen Asian restaurants in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, which offer all there menus for vegans as well.
It’s kind impossible not to find tasty stuff.
Record Stores
Vopo Records in Prenzl-Berg, Coretex Records in Kreuzberg, Spacehall in Kreuzberg, but just google it and you can find about 15 more places.
Also on the regular flea markets on Sunday, you have great stands with a massive amount of records.
Berlin is making you poor when you’re a record collector.