Timo Maas at Tresor Berlin
Hannover based techno heavy weight Timo Maas is an always welcome guest in Berlin. His set played in April 2003 at Maria am Ufer or his gig in June 2005, when he set the WMF Sommerlager on fire, are still unforgotten. And it has been the memorability of Timo’s DJ sets that braought Mr. Maas a residency a recently reopened Berlin Tresor. Timo and his down-to-earth and fundamentally grooving sound drove the people over the dance floor for lucious 4,5 hours.
When playing in capricious Berlin and being able to fill up a dance floor and keep it boiling, to boot all this before the magic 2:00 o’clock mark, then you really have to pay tribute to somebody’s DJ skills. Timo digged deeply in his record box to dish up throbber after throbber. It seemed as if he wanted to test the bass abilities and pressure of Tresor’s sound system as that night there has been everything in his repertoire, from dark and grooving tribal peppered with rolling techno to squiggled house, showcasing acid influences and uplifting elements. Until the early morning hours he made it to turn the Batterieraum dance floor into a bubbling cauldron.
Tresor – like its predecessor the new club has lots of winding aisles and a same style techno floor strutted by bars. Visuals and sound system has not been shortened compared to the old dwelling at Leipziger Strasse. From Batterieraum dance floor you can see the giant hall whose photographs made its rounds through the media before the club became reopened; the Chill Floor even offers access to the hall as there’s a kind of balcony.
The concrete pillar construction is illuminated with mystic red light. Shadowy figures give it a spooky touch and form an interesting visual counterpart to the flashing lights of the two dance floors. Also the famous plasma ball from the former Globus found a new home and flickers again to the rhythm of the basses.
Tresor – despite many innovations some already established things remained unaffected. At least the security’s friendliness is still on the well-known very same bad level. A curious glance can be enough to get a less sympathy expressing Prussian statement snapped at you. Recently a big Berlin daily newspaper described Tresor’s current audience as a “accumulation of bald suburban Nazis, which is fortunately broken up by normal clubbers, music lovers and tourists.” Having that certain night in mind the newspaper’s impression can’t be fully denied. Unfortunately the cold concrete interior of the new Tresor is not able to be a serious competition to the vintage basement at Leipziger Strasse. Any historic atmosphere was sacrificed for refaceable things like cable ducts, tinny ventilation shafts and fairfaced concrete. Nevertheless both dance floors are no uninteresting playground where DJ as well as clubber can face their fates.
A malus is definitely the new bottle and glass deposit regulation as at least an additional Euro is collected; times like “I just park my beer here” are over now. The annoyance about a just disappeared drink now is literally more expensive. To boot refunding the deposit money gums up the already busy bar area. Of course that means an additional extra income for the club when people forget about that deposit regulation. Is saving the costs for two students collecting empty bottels worth that new hassle?
Another bad point is the scenario taking place at usually tranquil Köpenicker Strasse, the road in front of the club. Normally at night there are only some louder voices around Sage Club but Tresor’s presence crucially changed that picture. Trouble is bound to occur already as things like massive breach of peace or urinating and puking in bushes and even adjoining entrances are symbolising a more or less tensed nightlife scenario, meaning confrontation, not coexistence.
The upshot: the new (old?) Tresor has a big potential, including improvements which should be regarded as imperative to be put into practice. The Tresor brand might be back in the premier league of clubbing, but it doesn’t play a major role among the top teams yet. By individual performances of likeable and energetic characters like Timo Maas the club will make its come back though. Old times will live up soon.
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