The Blitz Club is a

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

in the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

district of

Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt (Central Bavarian: ''Ludwigsvorstod-Isarvorstod'') is one of the boroughs of Munich, Germany. It consists of the districts Ludwigsvorstadt, located south of Munich Hauptbahnhof and east of the Theresienwiese, and I ...

History and description

The club is located in the former congress hall of the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

, completed in 1935 at the location of Munich's

Museumsinsel The Museum Island (german: Museumsinsel) is a museum complex on the northern part of the Spree Island in the historic heart of Berlin. It is one of the most visited sights of Germany's capital and one of the most important museum sites in Euro ...

1. Until 1985, the building housed Munich's largest concert hall and a planetarium, and later an

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

cinema. After that, the congress hall stood empty for seven years, until in 2016 the current operators of the Blitz Club asked for a possible use of the building. After months of planning and conversion work, which had to take into account the difficult static conditions on the Museumsinsel island, the club opened on 22 April 2017. The nightclub offers two separate dance floors, two bars, several chill-out areas and a smoking room. In total, the club can accommodate up to 800 guests. The Blitz Club also has a vegetarian restaurant with beer garden, which is run independently of the club.

Sound and club architecture

The sound architecture is the main feature of the club, and has been discussed repeatedly by music magazines and architecture journals. Unlike former Munich techno clubs like

Ultraschall Ultraschall (German: Ultrasound, ) was a nightclub in Munich, Germany from 1994 to 2003. The techno club belonged, besides the '' Tresor'' and '' E-Werk'' in Berlin, the ''Dorian Gray'' and ''Omen'' in Frankfurt, and the Munich-based clubs ', ''N ...

, or , the Blitz Club is not located in a former industrial setting, but was built into the congress hall according to a room-in-room concept in order to offer the best possible sound experience in accordance with the guiding principle

form follows function Form follows function is a principle of design associated with late 19th and early 20th century architecture and industrial design in general, which states that the shape of a building or object should primarily relate to its intended function ...

. The rooms were optimized for the acoustic experience together with sound engineers, architects and acousticians. In order to achieve optimal

room acoustics Room acoustics is a subfield of acoustics dealing with the behaviour of sound in enclosed or partially-enclosed spaces. The architectural details of a room influences the behaviour of sound waves within it, with the effects varying by frequency. ...

, there are hardly any right angles in the club, but specially shaped panels made of beech wood and perforated sheet that were developed according to the specifications of an acoustician. In order to gently scatter the sound waves, a seemingly chaotic honeycomb structure, which was modelled after the

swarm behaviour Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving ''en masse'' or migrating in some direction. ...

of fish, birds and insects and calculated by a specially developed computer algorithm in a week, is milled into the surfaces of these wall panels. The club uses a custom-made

PA system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

by VOID, which is arranged as a four-point system so that there is a PA tower in each corner around the dance floor, as well as 360-degree tweeters hanging from the ceiling named "Blitz horn" that were specially designed for the club and allow the DJ to create three-dimensional sound effects. Instead of concentrating the attention on the DJ and placing him on a raised

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

, the main floor and the sound system were designed to set the focus on the dance floor and the dancers. All in all, the puristic club design is optimized for the sound and dance experience, while oversized branding is avoided. The visual appearance of the club was designed by British musician Trevor Jackson.

DJs, music and scene

The operators of the club consist of former crew members of the clubs , ''Charlie'', ''Registratur'', ''King'' and . Head of the musical program is DJ David Muallem, further

resident DJs A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

are the ''Zenker Brothers'' ''Skee Mask'', ''Stenny'', ''Sascha Sibler'', ''Julietta'', ''Glaskin'' and ''La Staab''. Blitz Club has featured appearances by DJs and live acts such as

Jeff Mills Jeff Mills (born June 18, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American DJ, record producer, and composer. Thanks to his technical abilities as a DJ, Mills became known as ''The Wizard'' in the early to mid 1980s. In the late 1980s Mills founded ...

Richie Hawtin Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...

Carl Craig Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980s ...

, Ben Sims,

Seth Troxler Seth Troxler is an American DJ and record producer from Lake Orion, Michigan. His DJ work focuses on house and techno, while he has produced on the Wolf + Lamb, Crosstown Rebels and Circus Company labels, collaborating with artists Art Departmen ...

I-F I-f (also Interr-Ference) is the stage name of Ferenc E. van der Sluijs, a Dutch producer and DJ based in The Hague. He is a former member of the Dutch techno-pioneers Unit Moebius. Overview In 1997 he produced the track "Space Invaders Are Sm ...

Miss Kittin Caroline Hervé (born 1973), known professionally as Miss Kittin, is a French electronic music producer, DJ, singer, and songwriter. Since rising to prominence in 1998 for her singles " 1982" and "Frank Sinatra" with The Hacker, she has worked ...

Surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

Luke Slater Luke Slater (born 12 June 1968, Reading, Berkshire, England) is an English electronic musician, DJ and record producer, who has concentrated on techno since the beginning of the 1990s. He achieved break through commercial success with his tra ...

Laurent Garnier Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums. Early influ ...

Nina Kraviz Nina Kraviz (russian: Нина Кравиц, Nina Kravits) is a Russian DJ, music producer and singer. Early life and career Kraviz was born and raised in Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia. She moved to Moscow to study dentistry where she later gained h ...

DJ Hell Helmut Josef Geier (born 6 September 1962), known professionally as DJ Hell, is a German DJ. Biography 1970s and 1980s DJ Hell described his musical beginnings in an interview with '' The European'', telling them “I was socialized with ...

Sven Väth Sven Väth (born 26 October 1964) is a German DJ and electronic music producer. He is a three-time DJ Awards winner, and his career in electronic music spans over 30 years. The single "Electrica Salsa" with OFF launched his career in 1986. Referr ...

Chris Liebing Chris Liebing (born Christopher Liebing on 11 December 1968) is a German techno DJ, music producer and radio host and the founder of the record label CLR. Liebing was born in Gießen, Hesse. In the early 1990s, he became active on the Frankfur ...

, Monika Kruse,

Ellen Allien Ellen Fraatz, known professionally as Ellen Allien, is a German electronic musician, music producer, and the founder of BPitch Control music label. Her album ''Stadtkind'' was dedicated to the city of Berlin, and she cites the culture of reunif ...

Boys Noize Alexander Ridha (born 22 August 1982), better known by his stage name Boys Noize, is a Berlin-based German-Iraqi electronic music record producer, songwriter, and DJ. It is similar to the name of Ridha's label, Boysnoize Records, which he estab ...

, Marcel Dettmann,

Ben Klock Ben Klock (born 1972) is a German techno artist, DJ, and record label owner. He is resident at Berghain, a techno club in Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area an ...

, Len Faki, ''Steve Bug'',

Modeselektor Modeselektor is a German electronic music duo consisting of Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary. History The group members met in 1992 in Berlin with group member Szary performing live acid house music at illegal underground parties, under t ...

, Michael Mayer, ''Roman Flügel'' and

Âme Âme is a German house/techno duo consisting of Kristian Beyer and . The duo started making tracks in 2001. Beyer and Wiedemann first met in 2000 in Beyer's record shop in their hometown of Karlsruhe. As they both liked Chicago house and Detroi ...

. The Blitz Club was also a venue for the Germany-wide Telekom Electronic Beats Clubnight series. The club also offers a series of events for the gay fetish scene called ''Cruise''.

Entry criteria

The club has a strict ban on photography and filming to ensure that guests can concentrate fully on dancing. According to the operators, however, the club also wants to be a place of inclusion without a strict door policy. In July 2017, the curfew for the Blitz Club was lifted, so that the club is allowed to be open until the morning since then.

Fire brigade and police operations on the opening day

The club's opening event on 22 April 2017 made headlines throughout Germany. In the weeks before the opening, extensive coverage by the mediaMedia that had reported on the club in advance include
''Focus''''Süddeutsche Zeitung''''DJ Mag''''Mixmag''

''Fact''''Resident Advisor''

''Vice''

''Electronic Beats''Groove
and
''FazeMag''
had created a hype, which led to a huge rush of people on the Museumsinsel island on the opening day. Instead of the permitted maximum of 800 guests, the club was quickly overcrowded with 1500 people. When the further influx of visitors did not stop and the waiting crowd began to block access roads, emergency exits and escape routes and to press against the

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

tracks, the fire brigade arrived and called the police for assistance. In order to defuse the situation, about 30 police officers blocked the Rosenheimer Strasse arterial road, cleared the forecourt and sent hundreds of waiting people home. Numerous guests who were not able to enter the club later criticized the organization of the opening event.

Blitz Restaurant

In addition to the techno club, Blitz also has a vegetarian restaurant with Mexican-Central American cuisine and a beer garden on an outdoor terrace that is located on the banks of the

Isar The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria, and Bavaria, Germany, which is not navigable for watercraft above raft size. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald and flows through Bad Tölz, Munic ...

river. Head of the restaurant is Sandra Forster, who had operated several other gastronomy projects in Munich before. Unlike in the club, there is no photo ban in the restaurant. The restaurant, its interior design and the culinary offer were repeatedly the target of reporting in daily newspapers and gastronomy magazines.

Recognition

The Blitz Club has been regularly featured in national and international daily newspapers and news magazines, specialist magazines for electronic music and club culture, as well as journals for architecture and sound architecture. In the ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...

'' ranking the nightclub is rated as one of the most popular clubs in Munich (2nd place, as of October 2019). '' Mixmag Asia'' rated the club as one of "10 of the best new clubs on the planet to go raving at" in 2017. In the annual readers' poll of ''Faze Magazine'', the club was voted one of the best of the year 2017 (3rd place), in the reader voting for the year 2019 the club achieved the fourth place. In the annual reader poll of ''Groove'' magazine, the club was also voted one of the best in 2017 (4th place).

References

External links

* *
Electronic Beats feature on the Blitz Club
(2017)
Mixmag interview with David Muallem on the club design
(2018)
Groove feature on the Blitz Club
(2017, in German) {{Coord, 48, 7, 53, N, 11, 35, 8.2, E, region: DE-BY_type:landmark, display=title Electronic dance music venues Nightclubs in Munich Buildings and structures in Munich Music venues in Munich Culture in Munich