Blitz Club is a

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

in the

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

district of

Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt (Central Bavarian: ''Ludwigsvorstod-Isarvorstod'') is one of the boroughs of Munich, Germany. It consists of the districts Ludwigsvorstadt, located south of Munich Hauptbahnhof and east of the Theresienwiese, and Is ...

History and description

The club is located in the former congress hall of the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...

, completed in 1935 at the location of Munich's Museumsinsel 1 (''"museum island''".) The building housed Munich's largest concert hall and a planetarium until 1985, after which it became an

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

cinema. The congress hall then stood empty for seven years, until the club's operators applied for permission to transform it into a club in 2016. The resulting conversion work required meticulous planning and took several months to complete. This was due to the numerous structural challenges posed by the building being located on a

river island River Island (stylised as RiverIsland and abbreviated as RI) is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis (entrepreneur), Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores ...

. The club eventually opened on 22 April 2022. The nightclub offers two separate dance floors, two bars, several chill-out areas and a smoking room. In total, the club can accommodate up to 800 guests. Blitz Club also hosts an independently-run vegetarian restaurant.

Sound and club architecture

The sound architecture is the main feature of the club, and has been discussed repeatedly by music magazines and architecture journals. Unlike former Munich techno clubs like

Ultraschall Ultraschall (German language, German: Ultrasound, ) was a nightclub in Munich, Germany from 1994 to 2003. The techno club belonged, besides the ''Tresor (club), Tresor'' and ''E-Werk (Berlin), E-Werk'' in Berlin, the ''Dorian Gray (club), Dorian ...

, or , the Blitz Club is not located in a former industrial setting, but was built into the congress hall according to a room-in-room concept in order to offer the best possible sound experience in accordance with the guiding principle

form follows function Form follows function is a principle of design associated with late 19th- and early 20th-century architecture and industrial design in general, which states that the appearance and structure of a building or object ( architectural form) should p ...

. The rooms were optimized for the acoustic experience together with sound engineers, architects and acousticians. In order to achieve optimal

room acoustics Room acoustics is a subfield of acoustics dealing with the behaviour of sound in enclosed or partially-enclosed spaces. The architectural details of a room influences the behaviour of sound waves within it, with the effects varying by frequency ...

, there are hardly any right angles in the club, but specially shaped panels made of beech wood and perforated sheet that were developed according to the specifications of an acoustician. In order to gently scatter the sound waves, a seemingly chaotic honeycomb structure, which was modelled after the

swarm behaviour Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving ''en masse'' or migrating in some direction. ...

of fish, birds and insects and calculated by a specially developed computer algorithm in a week, is milled into the surfaces of these wall panels. The club uses a custom-made

PA system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

by VOID, which is arranged as a four-point system, so that there is a PA tower in each corner around the dance floor, as well as 360-degree tweeters hanging from the ceiling named "Blitz horn", that were specially designed for the club, and allow the DJ to create three-dimensional sound effects. Instead of concentrating the attention on the DJ and placing them on a raised

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

, the main floor and the sound system were designed to set the focus on the dance floor and the dancers. All in all, the puristic club design is optimized for the sound and dance experience, while oversized branding is avoided. The visual appearance of the club was designed by British musician Trevor Jackson.

DJs, music and scene

The operators of the club consist of former crew members of the clubs , ''Charlie'', ''Registratur'', ''King'', and . Head of the musical program is DJ David Muallem; further resident DJs are the ''Zenker Brothers'', '' Skee Mask'', ''Stenny'', ''Sascha Sibler'', ''Julietta'', ''Glaskin'', and ''La Staab''. Blitz Club has featured appearances by DJs and live acts such as

Jeff Mills Jeff Mills (born June 18, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan), also known as "the Wizard", is an American DJ, record producer, and composer. In the late 1980s Mills founded the techno collective Underground Resistance with fellow Detroit techno pro ...

Richie Hawtin Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...

Carl Craig Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980 ...

, Ben Sims, Seth Troxler, I-F,

Miss Kittin Caroline Hervé (born 15 July 1973), known professionally as Kittin, is a French electronic music producer, DJ, singer, and songwriter. Since rising to prominence in 1998 for her singles "1982" and "Frank Sinatra" with The Hacker, she has worke ...

Surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

, Luke Slater,

Laurent Garnier Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums. Early influe ...

, Nina Kraviz,

DJ Hell Helmut Josef Geier (born 6 September 1962), known professionally as DJ Hell, is a German DJ. Biography 1970s and 1980s DJ Hell described his musical beginnings in an interview with '' The European'', telling them “I was socialized with Ge ...

Sven Väth Sven Väth (born 26 October 1964) is a German DJ and electronic music producer. He is a three-time DJ Awards winner, with a career in electronic music spanning over 30 years. The release of the single " Electrica Salsa" with OFF in 1986 launched ...

, Chris Liebing, Monika Kruse,

Ellen Allien Ellen Fraatz, known professionally as Ellen Allien, is a Berlin-based German electronic musician, music producer, and the founder of BPitch Control music label. Her album '' Stadtkind'' was dedicated to the city of Berlin, and she cites the cu ...

Boys Noize Alexander Ridha (born 22 August 1982), better known by his stage name Boys Noize, is a German-Iraqi electronic music record producer, songwriter and DJ known for collaborations with artists including A$AP Rocky, Tommy Cash, and Frank Ocean (for ...

, Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, Len Faki, ''Steve Bug'',

Modeselektor Modeselektor is a German electronic music duo consisting of Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary. History The group members met in 1992 in Berlin with group member Szary performing live acid house music at illegal underground parties, under th ...

, Michael Mayer, ''Roman Flügel'', and Âme. The Blitz Club was also a venue for the Germany-wide Telekom Electronic Beats Clubnight series. The club also offers a series of events for the gay fetish scene called ''Cruise''.

Entry criteria

The club has a strict ban on photography and filming to ensure that guests can concentrate fully on dancing. According to the operators, however, the club also wants to be a place of inclusion without a strict door policy. Since the club's curfew was lifted in July 2017, it is now allowed to remain open until the morning hours.

Fire brigade and police operations on the opening day

The club's opening event on 22 April 2017 made headlines throughout Germany. In the weeks leading up to the opening event, extensive media coverageMedia that had reported on the club in advance include
''Focus''''Süddeutsche Zeitung''''DJ Mag''''Mixmag''

''Fact''''Resident Advisor''

''Vice''

''Electronic Beats''Groove
and
''FazeMag''
had generated significant hype for the opening night and resulted in large crowds turning up at Museumsinsel. Instead of the permitted maximum of 800 guests, the club was quickly overcrowded with 1,500 people. The situation escalated as crowds began to spill onto access roads, emergency exits, escape routes and nearby

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

tracks. This resulted in a major fire brigade and police intervention to defuse the situation. Police and fire services blocked a nearby major arterial road, cleared the venue's front terrace and sent hundreds of people home. Numerous disappointed guests later criticized the event's poor planning and management.

Blitz Restaurant

In addition to being a techno club, Blitz also hosts a vegetarian Mexican & Central American restaurant on the same site, which is run separately and independently by Sandra Forster, a prominent name in the Munich gastronomy scene. It has received significant attention from newspapers and gastronomy magazines for its outstanding menu and unique interior design. Its outdoor terrace hosts a beer garden on the

Isar The Isar () is a river in Austria and in Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel mountain range of the Alps. The Isar river enters Germany near Mittenwald and flows through Krün, Wallgau, Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reaching ...

's riverbank. In contrast to the club, the restaurant does not operate a photo ban.

Recognition

Blitz Club is regularly featured in national and international daily newspapers and news magazines, specialist magazines for electronic music and club culture, as well as journals for architecture and sound architecture. On ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

'', the nightclub is rated as one of the most popular clubs in Munich (2nd place, as of October 2019). '' Mixmag Asia'' ranked the club as one of "10 of the best new clubs on the planet to go raving at" in 2017. In the annual readers' poll of ''Faze Magazine'', the club was voted third best in 2017, and fourth best in 2019. In the annual reader poll of ''Groove'' magazine, the club was also voted one of the best in 2017 (4th place).

Awards

* APPLAUS 2023 – Award for Best Live Music Venue

References

External links

* *
Electronic Beats feature on the Blitz Club
(2017)
Mixmag interview with David Muallem on the club design
(2018)
Groove feature on the Blitz Club
(2017, in German) {{Coord, 48, 7, 53, N, 11, 35, 8.2, E, region: DE-BY_type:landmark, display=title Electronic dance music venues Nightclubs in Munich Buildings and structures in Munich Music venues in Munich Culture in Munich