Berlin is famous as a club city. What gets less attention is the live music programme operating under and alongside the club scene. The jazz clubs in Charlottenburg, A-Trane and Quasimodo and Mojo, have been running for decades without fanfare. B-flat in Mitte refuses to amplify its performers and as a result has developed an audience that travels specifically to hear unamplified acoustic jazz in a city of 140-decibel clubs.
Kreuzberg's approach is different: Wild at Heart and Monarch operate on almost no budget and programme music seven nights a week. The booking is eclectic and occasionally inspired. Our editors have seen musicians at Monarch who were playing major European festivals the following year. The live music bar category in Berlin is broader than it appears in most cities. Several of the cocktail bars on our Berlin cocktail list, including Tausend, have strong live programmes. The distinction between bar, venue, and club in Berlin is often deliberately blurred. If Scandinavia is on your itinerary, the live music bars of Copenhagen offer a compelling contrast: intimate jazz cellars in Nørrebro, the legendary Vega complex, and a roots-music underground that punches well above its geographic weight.
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