Berlin Techno and Clubbing Examined in New Book, 'Berghain Nights'

Berghain Nights is a collection of stories from attendees of Berghain, Tresor, and other Berlin nightlife destinations.

Much has been written about Berlin’s world-famous nightlife community. Come 2025, another resource will hit the market. Irish writer and musicologist Liam Cagney‘s upcoming book, Berghain Nights: A Journey Through Techno And Berlin Club Culture, will be published via Reaktion Books at an as-yet-unspecified date.

The book will consist of personal anecdotes from Berlin clubbers. As its title suggests, the iconic techno club Berghain is a focal point — but it also explores other well-known spaces throughout the city. “From kinky parties in the labyrinthine KitKatClub to the gloom of Tresor‘s basement, from the verdant garden of Buttons to the psychedelic lab of Cocktail d’Amore, ‘Berghain Nights’ not only captures the excitement of Berlin club culture; it asks how techno in a club context allows people to strip away layers of inherited hang-ups to access a realer self,” reads the book’s synopsis.

“I wrote ‘Berghain Nights’ to make sense of my club experiences, and to show the cultural value of techno clubs like Berghain,” said Cagney of the book. “Reaktion right away got what I’m doing. They’re a fantastic home for music books and I couldn’t be prouder to join their distinguished list.“

Nightlife — and especially techno — is held in high regard in Berlin. Shortly after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, clubs like Tresor became symbolic of Germany’s reunification. Berghain arrived much later. It was opened in 2004 by Norbert Thormann and Michael Teufele, who had launched a male-only fetish night called Snax more than a decade prior.

Liam Cagney is a PhD in musicology and recently won Arts Council England‘s Emerging Writer award. He also has a book titled Gérard Grisey and Spectral Music: Composition in the Information Age due to be published on Cambridge University Press in November.

A publication date and additional information will be available on the Reaktion Books website.