Rumors about the well-known Berlin techno club Berghain occupied the club scene on Friday. Referring to an unnamed insider, “Faze Magazine” had reported that the club would close by the end of the year. The message was picked up by various media, including MUSIKEXPRESS. Now the source of the rumors wants it to mean something completely different.
The insider is apparently the journalist Jürgen Laarmann. In a non-public Facebook post, he wrote that his own research had revealed that the club should close: “Berghain is closing forever! The final end will come this year! ” […]if that’s true, it’s really a tremor for the Berlin night.
Laarmann was apparently surprised that the media took up his post. In another post, he rowed back on Friday evening – he had only reproduced the speculation that was circulating. “I admittedly posted the rumor about the closure, with a big question mark and the final question: does anyone know anything more specific?” Laarmann wrote on Facebook. “Then there were a few calls from people who knew more about it and I corrected the whole thing a few hours later.”
Laarmann accused the reporting media of not having contacted him directly. “It is interesting that Faze Magazin then reports this and the Berliner Zeitung, which referred to Faze Magazin, has spoken to me.” said it was false info.
Laarmann was once the publisher of the scene magazine “Frontpage” and organizer of events such as the Love Parade and the Mayday in Dortmund. He is considered to be well connected in the scene. Even if the Berghain operators hardly give any public statements about the club, it was therefore not implausible that Laarmann could have more detailed information. It had previously become known that the Berghain booking agency, Ostgut Booking, would actually be closed by the end of the year.