Skip to main content

Distributed for Reaktion Books

Berghain Nights

A Journey through Techno and Berlin Club Culture

A pulsing, personal, and fabulous ride through the music and culture of an iconic nightclub scene.
 
Fascinated by Berlin nightclub Berghain’s strange techno and stranger goings-on, Liam Cagney journeys through techno’s history, from Detroit to Tokyo, and explores Berlin club culture in all its color and intensity. Berghain Nights is the result. From kinky parties in the labyrinthine KitKat Club to the smoky gloom of Tresor’s repurposed bank vault, to the psychedelic lab of Cocktail d’Amore, Berghain Nights not only captures the excitement of Berlin club culture but also asks how techno in a queer club context can help people strip away their inherited hang-ups to find a truer self.
 
Berghain Nights is about spiritual frenzy and soulful music, countercultural urgency, and capitalistic cash-ins. It’s a story of the most notorious club in the world and of a scene that, enthralling thousands every weekend, feeds billions annually into Berlin’s economy. In the midst of it all is the story of a person who, having gone through life feeling like an alien, finds himself in the most alien place imaginable—and feels at home there.

304 pages | 26 halftones | 5.43 x 8.5 | © 2025


Reaktion Books image

View all books from Reaktion Books

Table of Contents

TechNoWhere Your Roots Are Fabulous Rave New World The Art of the Dancefloor Biomorphism Party Like it’s 1999 bce Club Oblivion In Praise of Filth The Future Becomes You Love’s Secret Domain Fabulations Note on the Text Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press