Germany Turn Up In Numbers For Boiler Room’s Sold Out Berlin Festival

Currently embarking on an International tour around the world, the last two weekends have seen Boiler Room take the stage in Europe for their eagerly anticipated events in Berlin and Amsterdam – both sold out in a short amount of time. Catching a flight out on the Thursday, here at Mixtape Madness we took the overseas trip to Germany to experience the Berlin leg of the festival, and here’s what went down inside.

With our publication typically focusing on rap and R&B genres, the rise of electronic, techno and house music is completely undeniable. The hybridisation and fusion of the genres together is reflection of the direction the International music scene is going in; complimentary and elevating, the genres go hand in hand. The festival spanned across 3 days – Thursday to Saturday – and was met with fully sold out days for raves differentiating in finishing times, with Thursday ending around the 2am mark and Friday and Saturday closing off in the very early hours of the following mornings. With the first Thursday night being a night of exploration and discovery, my in-depth stance for the event came from the Friday night, where I was able to navigate the venue and cherry pick my set attendance for the evening.

Hosted at the Belgienhalle and with a line-up consisting of artists spanning across many different countries, Saturday saw more than 20 artists take to the typical Boiler Room stage – interactive and 360 degrees. With my Friday night consisting of salute, Lady Shaka and Interplanetary Criminal – it would be wrong to start in any other place than salute’s set.

Hailing from Vienna in Austria, salute has fast become one of the biggest rising names in the electronic and dance music scene. With more than 650,000 monthly listeners, the talent has gained traction from some of his biggest tracks ‘Joy’, ‘Wait For It’, ‘Peach’ and notably his latest remix of Disclosure’s hit track ‘Looking For Love’. Mixing a set of his own tracks, my favourite moment came from a mellowed down remix of Burial’s ‘Archangel’, which in contrast to the rest of his set, felt like a peak atmospheric moment. The vocal sample was met with reinvented drums and bass lines and was definitely one of my favourite tracks of the night, albeit not the most lively joint in the evening. Playing some of his newer tracks as well, salute visibly charged up the crowd with newest remix ‘Looking For Love’, alongside other similar genre-infused tracks. Placed perfectly behind the decks, the set was intimate and crisp – the perfect start to the evening.

Following salute’s set, transitioning smoothly into the next set was Lady Shaka, who certainly didn’t come to play any games. A charged up set combining dance, garage and electronic with nostalgic, old-school reminiscent tracks resonated excellently with the Belgienhalle audience. Again, placed excellently behind the decks, the atmosphere and electric feeling within the festival was vivid and having spoken to people around the venue, many people had travelled overseas to congregate in Berlin.

Closing the evening (for me) was a highly anticipated set from Interplanetary Criminal B2B Main Phase, two of the main names that were on the Berlin billing. With Interplanetary Criminal being a proud owner of 3.5 million monthly listeners, virtually everyone in the room was excited for him to take over the room with Main Phase. Showcasing a set list of more tele-tech and techno infused tracks, the duo lit up the audience, kept them captivated and energised throughout the whole set.

In true Boiler Room fashion, the majority of sets were filmed and are scheduled to be broadcast within the coming weeks. Keeping up the reputation of throwing the best raves in the scene, Berlin was certainly no exception and it’s safe to say if you ever get the opportunity to go to a Boiler Room event, take it.