New Year’s Eve revellers welcoming 2025 at a 35-hour-long event will be the last to grace the dance floor at the Watergate club, an iconic Berlin venue that has become the latest victim of clubsterben — club death.
“The days when Berlin was flooded with club-loving visitors are over,” the venue’s management said in a farewell statement. Watergate’s co-owner blamed cost pressures, declining tourism, waning enthusiasm from Generation Z and the rise of music festivals for its closure.
The pressures that led to Watergate’s demise are behind a trend transforming nightlife capitals from Berlin to Barcelona and Melbourne to New York: despite the soaring popularity of dance music, clubbers are ending their nights earlier.