Gigs From Abroad Part 26 – Berlin

In April 2024 we decided to have a sojourn to the intriguing vibrant city of Berlin, which arguably has a more varied yet brutal history than any other European city. Berlin was originally founded in the 12th century and over the years there was the bubonic plague, involvement in the Thirty Years War which destroyed a third of the city, a thwarted revolution and horrendous sanitary conditions in the late 19th century, all fairly standard stuff!  

Hitler was appointed the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and used the Berlin Olympic games in 1936 as a Nazi showpiece. I won’t belabour the barbaric activities in the city during World War 2 but will move onto the 36 consecutive nights of bombing undertaken by the RAF in March 1945 that dropped around 80,000 tons of bombs on Berlin. A month later Hitler committed suicide and Berlin capitulated to the Allied Forces.  

Post war it was divided into four quarters with American, British, French and Soviet sectors and that infernal wall was built in 1961 before it later fell in 1989 and a year later both sides of Berlin were finally reunited. John F Kennedy visited in 1963 and made his solidarity speech with the famous line ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ translating as ‘I am a Berliner’.

Many movies have used the city as a backdrop including ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp’, ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ and ‘Bridge of Spies’. Famous Berliners are the actresses Marlene Dietrich and Nastassja Kinski, composer Andre Previn (Preview!) and Olympic ice skater Katarina Witt.

Nina Hagen. Image Credit vintag.es

On the musical spectrum it has three major opera houses, six symphony orchestras, MTV Europe’s base and ‘The Godmother of German Punk’ Nina Hagen was born there. Between 1976 and 1979 David Bowie and Iggy Pop decamped there together to seek solace and recover from their drug addictions. Iggy released his first solo record and Bowie recorded his Berlin album trilogy of ‘Low’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lodger’.

We landed there on a Wednesday evening and managed to locate our compact rented apartment in the Rosenthalerplatz suburb of the city. We spent the duration of our stay on the eastern side of the city, and I liked the grittiness and durability of those areas. On our first evening we pottered out locally and in our debut bar they only accepted cash and I admired that healthy disregard for the new order.  We found a fine Italian restaurant which had made good use of the grand old building and had grandiose lavatories. We also visited the 100 Gramm Bar near to the subway station.

Over the next two days we trogged many miles and visited all the tourist attractions including Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and the remnants of the wall. The most impressive and heart wrenching was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe monument with the different size of statues to resemble the fallen. It encompasses a gigantic area of nineteen thousand square metres, and you could literally lose yourself in that vast maze!

Memorial of the Murdered Jews in Europe monument. Image Credit TripSavvy

We also headed into the impressive cathedral (Berliner Dom) and I surprised myself by heading up the winding stairs to the top, though couldn’t then wait to head back down as I now really struggle with heights. My vertigo affliction being such a significant sea change from the 14 year old Jimmy who trotted all the way up the Eiffel Tower without a care in the world! We sallied over to the bohemian East Kreuzberg but unfortunately did not have opportunity to visit the Ramones Museum, the area itself reminding me of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

One of Gill’s long standing aspirations has been to actively head to a European city for a gig, therefore naturally her wish was my command. We first chose a band and then proceeded to check Jesus and Mary Chain’s roster and targeted a show at Berlin Huxleys in the Neukolln suburb of the city.

There was from the early 20th century a concert hall called Neue Welt which contained two halls, with capacities respectively of 1500 and 3000. Hitler spoke there in 1930 and in 1960 it evolved into a rock venue before closing in 1982. Acts to play there included Jimi Hendrix, Dio, Whitesnake and The Clash. It swiftly reopened as Huxleys with one singular 1600 capacity hall which has also staged boxing matches, fashion shows and tattoo festivals.

The location was thankfully only a short commute of about five metro stops from our digs, so we circled past to check the show times and then went to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for some tea and a couple of pre-gig bevies.   

It was a terrific venue despite one obstreperous numpty positioned near the bar and Mary Chain were in fine form. Whilst we were scouring the city earlier that day, I was opining that it would be great if they played ‘Reverence’ and they met that wish by playing a full length version in the encore. It was the 10th time I had witnessed them and was one of my favourite performances of theirs and was also Gill and I’s 400th gig together.   

Huxleys. Image Credit neuwelt-berlin.de

The following evening, we visited the busy Berlin Hackescher Market where we saw a local performer called Jurgen and also Berlin Hackescher Parist where we viewed an act called Bonnie and Clyde. We flew home on Saturday lunchtime, which was also Grand National day, and managed to finally obtain a signal to lay a bet near to the airport. We watched the race on the train home from Manchester airport and straight after wished that the bets had been prevented by the European restrictions!

Manchester Venues 199 to 200

In the year 2000 (could be a song lyric there!) a bar opened on New Wakefield Street adjacent to Manchester Oxford Road train station. It was called the Font Bar, and the split-level site was a no frills establishment and became eternally popular with the University students due its cheap drinks. 

Font Bar. Image Credit manchesterbynight.com

For around a decade from 2004 the area was the location for an annual festival called Eurocultured where three local streets were closed and there were over two hundred artists playing over three stages, one being positioned under the arches near to the Gorilla venue, and the residual artwork from that festival remains on the walls today. The festival was initially founded because of that year’s enlargement of the European Union, though those events sound like they from another era considering what has happened since!  

They utilised other nearby bars and venues including Revolution, the Blackdog Ballroom and the much missed Sound Control and it was an event I had never heard of until researching it for this very article. The ethos of the gathering was to embrace and celebrate the European cultural heritage and created eclectic rosters and a sample of this from 2013 included three French electronic music composers who collaborated to form a gypsy jazz trio called Caravan Palace.  

There was also Swordfishtrombones from the Czech Republic, dub step from The Correspondents, Irish dance from the Japanese Popstars and some Ukranian folk dancing with the Orlyk Dance Ensemble to jig along to whilst becoming suitably merry if you imbibed the Swedish cider Rekordelig. Additionally, there was Datarock, labelled as the Norwegian version of ‘Happy Mondays’, who were known for wearing red jumpsuits, though for an unknown reason in 2018 their sartorial choice shifted to all-black versions!  The performers on the acoustic stage were covered live on the then local TV Channel M.

Datarock during their ‘Red’ phase. Image Credit lifeinnorway.net

The Font Bar survived the covid period and even added outdoor seating for the first time prior to the bar closing unexpectedly in January 2023. Their Fallowfield outlet had previously shut in 2018, but their Chorlton branch remains. It was not a bar I visited regularly but had sporadic forays with my last being in September 2022 when Paul, Marcus and I imbibed far too much after a Ducks Ltd show at the nearby Yes venue.  

After a fallow eighteen months, Mother Marys took over the reins and opened in June 2024 with the new venture headed up by nightlife gurus Joseph Finegan, Greg Dwyer and Chris Sharp. The first named had hosted many events at the nearby Gorilla and the Deaf Institute venues and the latter named brought with him the pedigree of also owning the renowned music venue The Fleece in Bristol. They devised a weekly event schedule of an open stage on a Monday, stand-up comedians and regular live bands and DJs across the two gig spaces on other nights.  

They invested in a bespoke KV2 sound system and a state of the art lighting system.  Food was also served with all-day breakfasts and in a homage to the previous history of the building a £2 cocktail called ‘The Font’ was also available. It then suddenly closed in November 2025 due to financial pressures, which was hugely unfortunate as they had at that stage been listed as a shortlisted nominee in the This Is Manchester Awards.

As you enter the bar, Manchester Mother Marys Upstairs Stage was directly facing you in an alcove above the stairwell. I first visited in August 2024 and saw a local singer called Damon playing there.  My next attendance was on 07/12/24 as part of the Year End Festival, where this was being utilised as the base and the ticket collection point.

Mother Marys. Image Credit secretmanchester.com

When I was collecting my wristband there was a local chap called Elijah Jenkins playing. Elijah is a soul singer who initially had a solo support slot with Reverend and the Makers before evolving into a four-piece band. I then headed out in the monsoon conditions to meet Paul in another venue before later returning to base camp. On the second pass we saw Patrick Saint James, a Derry born now Manchester based performer who has been on the support roster for Kate Nash.

When I first moved over to Manchester nine years ago, I was at that stage positioned on a total of 76 venues in the city, and I very quickly achieved my century. The new sites then kept being ticked off enabling me to record Manchester Mother Marys Downstairs Stage as my 200th different Manchester venue. The band to commemorate this milestone was a Rochdale female led combo called Foxglove who provided some soothing dream pop.