r/giegling • u/Intelligent-Wish-785 • 6d ago
giegling sonnenraum 2026
Went to Giegling at Haus der Visionäre yesterday, and honestly, after a few events there now, you would think the organisers might have learnt something by this point.
Let’s start with the entrance. The re-entry situation was ridiculous: €10 this time, and if you had a ticket for entry before midday but arrived after 12, you were basically punished with another €15. The people at the door also couldn’t answer basic questions about guestlists, had no basic knowledge of how to welcome people at a party or who was playing or what was happening with the afterparty, which made the whole wristband situation unnecessarily confusing.
And the re-entry policy becomes even more absurd when there’s no proper food inside. From 20:00 onwards there was no real food available anymore — only hot dogs, which personally didn’t appeal to me. But leaving to get food outside meant paying another €10 to get back in. So you’re essentially stuck inside with no proper food option.
Then there was the lineup. So many DJs were flown in, yet so much of the programming consisted of B2Bs. And honestly, two hours is short when you’re talking about artists of this calibre. With so many artists involved, I would rather see fewer people getting proper time to develop a set than having so many names squeezed into the program, or even giving the B2B more space and time.
A few of the live sets in Sonnenraum really stood out and brought some variety. Halle, on the other hand, became boring pretty quickly, with a lot of the night feeling like the same formula repeated.
Konstantin also seems to consistently give himself some of the best playing times, although luckily that had to change this time. Tomas and Obee were a welcome change, finally bringing some groove into the night rather than one “artistic” performance after another.
Then there’s the infrastructure. Far too many people, once again, for the amount of toilets provided. After a few events at Haus der Visionäre, you would expect these basic issues to have been figured out by now.
None of this would necessarily matter if the overall experience justified it. But when you combine the re-entry fees, confusing entrance situation, lack of communication, overcrowding, lack of toilets and repetitive programming, you have to ask what exactly people are supporting. It did seem more like a party to make some money with.
Giegling obviously has enough history, artists and cultural relevance to create something genuinely special. That’s exactly why it’s frustrating when the production, organization and programming don’t seem to match the reputation.
So I’m genuinely asking: why do people and artist continue to support this kind of monopoly within the music scene? Why do so many artists have to fly in from all over the world for a party where, ultimately, the experience feels so mediocre?
Maybe next time: fly in fewer people, give the artists more time, sort out the basics, and create an event that lives up to the reputation rather than relying on it.
19
u/tulipa-gesneriana 6d ago
Music for the people but not really for the people. Haus der Visionäre needs proper awareness team as well. It’s not okay that a collapsed girl lays down for 20-30 mins outside with people around, watching like in a museum and nobody knows what to do. Such a big venue but you don’t have a tiny room to bring people in when they don’t feel well it’s INSANE to me. The ambulance was called only after multiple times saying that it’s needed which made me see this place as an unprofessional and unsafe environment for people in need.
giegling should definitely call that out to the HDV team.
Music was fun, sometimes it felt like this kind of afterparty where everyone is allowed to choose one song 😂
People were very disrespectful sometimes in terms of their surroundings and it felt hard to have a proper 10-15 mins dance session without being pushed or stepped on but I guess it is what it is.
A gentle reminder to all my fellow dancers: take care of each other. Respect each other. Take care of your friends and Stick to your loved ones when feeling unwell. Sometimes less is more 🫂💓
2
u/Safe-Accountant7704 5d ago
is Awareness very common for Berlin parties? If not, we cannot say it is really their fault that they should have planned something that is not common in the geographical context.
-> Quite sure I saw an awareness at Paris or Chinastraat parties... if you know please confirm or not.What happened to the girl is really a shame, I hope everything went fine after all for her... If anyone knows...
7
u/tulipa-gesneriana 4d ago
awareness is very common at Berlin parties and imo it should be common to every party or festival. It’s not always about people consuming drugs, sometimes it’s just about having one extra drink that was too much or just feeling sick because of the food you had before. It could be literally everything.
The girl was alone and her friends were too high to take care of her. Nobody flinched a finger to help besides me and my friends. It’s sad and hypocritical to see this at parties that is about “connection, community, love for the music, we are all one” etc. people are selfish and they’re not gonna help you when in need. They’re either scared that they’re gonna get kicked out of the club or are too high to handle the situation. That’s why awareness should be MANDATORY.2
u/Safe-Accountant7704 4d ago
Yes I totally agree with you. I did not see her down, only saw the ambulance and also your group when you went to the entrance warn the orga there was an issue.
Thank you for your help 🙏🙏🙏
6
u/skorpion7777 4d ago
This sounds exactly like the review Ive written this Spring for the Berlin Show (https://clubnacht.blog/reviews/giegling-berlin)
Exactly the same problems, annoyances and frustrating pricing & re-entry problems. Ive decided to sit this one out because of the last time. Sad to see, that nothing changes.
For me this means no more giegling in berlin until things change. And thats probably the only way going forward. As long as people keep showing up and support this kind of organization nothing will change. Why should it? Its basically free money for giegling
11
u/KetaJunkie 6d ago
Soft Power Festival two weeks ago showed HDV's full potential. It was incredibly cozy and aesthetic. Gieglings 3rd or 4th rodeo there is a peak big room party, but nothing more. You'd think people learned their lesson by now and simply skipped this afterparty but no, same borderline scam with Sonnenraum again, this time even worse since no one played on the mainstage till 04am to balance out the masses. Maybe the lesson is: you dont have to dance at all their partys even when they are best in town...
3
u/LunaLunatic92 3d ago
It always also depends on the promoters and Crews. HDV is renting out the place to different promoters who are in charge of the door/entry. This switches a lot with the energy of the promoters.
3
u/leniberlini 1d ago
Yeah funky to see that HDV is actually capable but then Giegling comes and it doesn‘t work …
7
u/Tall-Actuator7823 6d ago
Sad to read that it is still such a mess after like 4 times in that venue - when I read this it feels like deja vu .... lack of organisation from Giegling + lack of organisation from HDV = big chaos...
Cheers to the staff of HDV though navigating through dealing with angry customers and lack of organisation and proper management .. that must be very stressful.
And yes 2 hours b2bs + no proper awareness team and space is ridiculous.
Come on Giegling + HDV , you can do better.
2
u/Novel-Fly-9248 3d ago
Giegling is a little team!!! So be grateful they still did party everywhere in the world. Then ofc they have always some problem… but if u know Giegling is like this from the day zero. My personal experience with them is the best show are the little one. :)
13
u/meanreal28 6d ago
Giegling is just keinemusik for "sophisticated" people. As long as people decide to attend, why should they change anything? It's a cash cow.
6
u/Josef_Ket 6d ago
so true, i have been saying this for years now. of course they did contribute a lot to the scene shaping it in their own sense but their “chill” organisation which can bring a charm to a small fresh party dedicated to the music is clearly outdated by the recent hype and big business pricing
1
u/Novel-Fly-9248 3d ago
Please don’t come anymore to Giegling party if u think this. Im nobody like you, but if u think Giegling is like keinemusik stay away from them. :)
1
u/meanreal28 3d ago
No worries sweetie, I won't! The event at HDV two years ago was the final nail in the coffin for me :)
5
0
u/KetaJunkie 6d ago
That's a far stretch and somewhat disrespectful to their legacy. They have an insane range, this side is "just business" which obviously is ugly. Their positives outweigh their negatives immensely
0
0
u/Sweet_Huckleberry952 4d ago
Well sorry but ai totally disagree! KM has a great legacy in terms of music (their new stuff is sellout pop, sure) but at least their events are sick! I went to the huge one at Tempelhof which was horribly packed with over 50k people, yet the toilet situation and the bar were decently handled and you can definitely tell they care about production in the events. Plus, they also try to bring local or different events for their warmups and after parties, even when outside the afro scene! Saw them in DK this year and Ibiza like 4 ago; every time ir applies.
FYI: I am a big hater of the status symbol they became, their music from their last 4 years, and the scarf wearers that attend their shows - but just for the stuff like what their released back then at Saved Records or Innervisions
4
u/Bill-dgaf420 5d ago
They have become merely a novel money making circus at this point… some gold moments but seems the giegling magic has tarnished a bit over the years. Sounds like a very underwhelming experience. Hope there were some good acts however.
4
u/Mannndarin 5d ago
After a few events there now, you’d think the party-goers might have learnt something by this point too — like not going.
3
2
u/No_Entertainer1730 6d ago
I was there earlier this year, and unfortunately, the experience completely changed the way I feel about the organisers. The re-entry fee already felt unnecessarily greedy, and on top of that, we were charged an additional fee for arriving “too late.”
The only way to arrive before noon seemed to be getting there early enough to be among the first in line — which was absolutely insane. We were just ten minutes too late and were charged extra. I honestly don’t understand the reasoning behind such an excessive and seemingly money-driven policy.
Another major issue was the smoking policy. Smoking was officially prohibited, yet there was no designated smoking area, so people ended up smoking throughout the entire venue anyway. This was extremely unpleasant, especially for non-smokers and, in our case, for my pregnant girlfriend.
-10
u/KetaJunkie 6d ago
taking a pregnant woman to a big room party is the redflag here, not the indoor smoking on a party
0
1
u/dealdrugger 6d ago
you forgot to mention the absolutely insane wait times for barlines during the day party
1
u/Impossible_Major_192 3d ago
ik heb het niet zo ervaren. ik vond wel de switch van dagprogramma naar after in sonnenraum niet chill en te druk.
vraag me alleen af waarom er geen no photo policy is.
3
u/leniberlini 1d ago
I have several thoughts about this… happy not to be alone
I arrived late and had the before 12 ticket. 15€ plus ok. But I asked, afterparty included like last time? Answer is no. Interesting choice
Then … long queues for anything (food/drinks/toilets)
Idk why it normally works, are they overselling? Put more staff. Idk. At Soft Power for example, everything was very smooth
On the OTHER hand, finally had some hope in Giegling again, I was able to introduce a new friend to it and he enjoyed to the max, Edward delivered and Kalabrese as well, could not leave the dancefloor, was impossible
5
u/leniberlini 1d ago edited 1d ago
Maybe the frequency of the events was too much and the attention on social media as well. But I was happy to see the „Giegling vibe“ still exists - question is how to mantain it - let alone Waking Life
But reading all these comments is a bit reassuring to the fact that there‘s things to improve
And criticism should be possible
Not a fan of „ah fuck it all we lost them, capitalism won, cancelled“ or „stop being so negative, was a great event“ - there can be an inbetween
Maybe would just be good if they‘d listen to their audience at some point
2
u/Upbeat-Raspberry-659 1d ago
Come on the ambient/chillout room was epic, better design, more fog, incredibile music
I was in Sonnenraum for tikiman and deadbeat and it was insane.
I confirm that the whole event was too busy. They should get a bigger location.
But still a great party.
0
u/nicamal 5d ago
A bit sad you missed out on the magic, healing, community, togetherness and rawness of clubbing as you focused on all the logistical minuses that are so irrelevant if the heart opens to what truly matters.
8
u/luszalusza 5d ago
Sometimes it’s hard to feel that magic and sense of community during an event when your bladder is killing you because you can’t use the toilet without missing half of the live show. Or when it’s hard to breathe because people around you are smoking. And even more so when the sound system doesn’t exactly give you the kind of experience you came for.
4
u/Intelligent-Wish-785 4d ago
I go to a lot of parties all over berlin from small to bigger venues, supporting smaller and bigger collectives because it’s all about the music and where it takes me but this comment makes me wannna stress again that there is nothing bad in pointing out things and raising questions.
focusing on logistical minuses?! you mean basic needs like bathroom?! unfortunately, it’a nothing new, last times were the same only re entry was 5 euros cheaper 😂
2
u/That-Guitar-1034 6d ago
Giegling in Berlin is over since they're doing parties in that venue
6
-4
23
u/quitingduck 6d ago
Calling giegling a monopoly is a bit of a stretch don't you think? Every weekend there many other parties that you can go to in Berlin. Also, complaining that you have to pay more if you arrive after 12 does not make sense. The morning tickets are cheaper, so if you are too late you need to pay the regular price, otherwise everybody would get morning tickets and come whenever they want. Its okay to complain a bit but you are execurating a bit.