When PanoramaBar stops delivering
In case all else fails and a Friday night arrives, the Panorama Bar at Berghain has always been a safe choice — but is that still the True?
It’s September 19, 2025. Longtime residents Lakuti & Tama Sumo are hosting their night “Your Love”. Both are known for their exquisite house music selection. Both have been in it for decades, and the excitement is high.
Arrival: 2 a.m. It’s suspiciously quiet in front of the monumental building. Barely any people, no line, but also no tedious wait. The mood at the door is good. Marcellus Pittman is playing funky disco as I walk up the stairs. There’s space to dance, and the drinks taste dangerously good again.
But as bright as it begins, the energy drains just as rapidly out of the room. Guests keep leaving. Almost no one comes in to replace them. Confusing. Because Panorama Bar has an advocate in me. I’ve often told friends to give Friday a chance and not just show up for Klubnacht. After so many visits, a note has been engraved in my head: Friday at Pano is a sure thing!
Tonight is different. Instead of an electrifying atmosphere, just after 5am, it already feels like a stalemate. The energy is low, with a not-ready-to-go-home-yet taste to it.
Next to me stands Raphael. Thirty-two years old, a teacher by day. We just met. He tells me an old DJ set from 2013 by Tama Sumo hooked him. Time to finally see her live. But she doesn’t start until 7 am, so we kill some time in the smoking area.
Back on the floor, the mood is still flat. Like a fish hauled ashore. Near death, still twitching. The gays stand brave at the edge of the floor, lips tightly pressed together. A fan snaps now and then. More lethargic than lively. No one really wants to go out of their way to push the energy. Or no longer can? Now I am curious to see the hope-child Tama Sumo show off her decades of Panorama Bar. Final slot. Can she pull everyone back on the floor? Turn the heat up, the way I'm used to it on Fridays?
Nothing happens. I look around. Raphael is probably the only true music fanatic in my field of view. Otherwise, my gaze hits a few regulars, friends of the promoters I chatted with earlier, and a surprisingly high share of tourists. Brits in Oakleys, Weekday trousers, Sambas. Not the typical look here. The type that always wanted to get into Berghain but didn’t realize Friday is the wrong day for that.
And the bouncers? Isn’t the selection always praised — fishing out exactly those tourists? Or was it on purpose? In the end, it is a business. One that has to turn a profit. The situation seems clear: mid-September, summer tourism tapering off, the Berlin Marathon calling for a healthy weekend, and no one is keen to pay 20€ for a lineup that feels more like 2015 instead of 2025 just to go to Berghain — sorry, Panorama Bar.
Tama Sumo makes another push to bring up the tempo. Different records get mixed into each other. The effort is obvious, but it doesn’t help. For me, there’s only the way home now. The night is over, and what remains is a weird aftertaste. Once, Panorama Bar — Berghain as a whole — was a guarantee for an excellent night. From now on, at least the Fridays will be marked with a question mark in my mind. What’s left is a beautiful light design, lovely art, a sound system that’s average at best, and a myth.
