Jonty Skrufff's Blog

Chicks On Speed, Al Doyle from Hot Chip, Discobelle and Londoner Niyi have been confirmed as headliners at next weekend’s 72 hour Mid Sommar Festival, which this year takes place in the centre of Berlin on the banks of the river Spree.

The massively popular annual all night event started life at a former Soviet airbase outside the city, though this year takes places several hundreds metres away from the city’s geographical centre of Alexander Platz, said event organiser Bjorn.

“We’ve found a super-nice directly opposite the Chinese Embassy in the middle of Berlin, next to the River Spree,” he told Skrufff.

“It’s near where the tourist charter boats stop, the river is a little wider there and there are lots of trees, it’s a lovely location. Plus we’re creating a beach underneath the bridge. The area stretches for about 200 metres next to the river, plus we have access to an old rock club there that’s not been used for techno parties before,” he enthused.

The fully licensed party is being hosted by Bjorn’s Schwedenparty crew, the Hoervergnuegen collective and Awesome Agency (renowned for hosting Berlin’s underground Mecca Villa) and features five stages, indoors and outdoors,” said Bjorn. Though music on some stages will be running for 72 hours, site facilities will be minimal, he said.

“Nobody sleeps on site because we’re so close to everything. It’s one station away from Alexander Platz so people can go home, take a shower, have a sleep then come back,” he pointed out.

“We won’t even have much catering either,” he added, “because the nearest donner kebab shop is three minutes walk away.”

Additional DJs and performers include CLP, Fidelity Kastrow, Franco Bianco from Dilek/Darek, Jake The Rapper, Joel Alter and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs with the music policy firmly focusing on Berlin’s newer sounds rather than the minimal techno beats that dominated the city for so long.

“People have been looking for new music for the last two years and it’s actually really rare you hear pure minimal these days. It’s getting more house, more bassline, more bumpy and groovy than it used to be,” he explained.

“Nobody I talk to has a name for this music, I call it ‘current Berlin club music’ and
I couldn’t give you a tag. No-one can. But it’s post minimal.”

Mid Sommar Festival takes places between July 3 and 5 at Spreeufer Jannowitzbrücke (S and U-Bhf.) Tickets costing between 10 euros and 15 euros (for the entire weekend). For more information, click below.

Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)

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