Last updated on 10/26/2026
Rock 'n' roll is more than music, it is an attitude to life with a backbeat and a gravelly voice. In Berlin, rockabillies and friends of honest sound have their firm addresses. Wild at Heart opposite Görlitzer Park puts two or three bands on stage one after another several times a week, from rockabilly through surf to ska. SO36 on Oranienstraße has been the city's best known punk address for decades and is run by an association. Roadrunner's Paradise sits in the old boiler house of the Königstadt brewery and ties rock to motor culture. At Silverwings inside the former Tempelhof Airport, American soldiers were already dancing in the days of the Berlin Airlift. Where would you want to hear the first chord?
Yulia Veksler
I like it when the bass thumps in my chest and the hairstyle matches the music. At the Wild at Heart I danced to good rock, at the Bassy Cowboy Club I met big-city cowboys. For this list I went where Berlin still rocks. These ten clubs won over my dancing feet.
Since 1995, the city's most consistent rock 'n' roll club has been located opposite Görlitzer Park. Several times a week, two to three bands play back-to-back, followed by a DJ set. The spectrum ranges from rockabilly and psychobilly to punk and surf, and ska. A dedicated series introduces newcomer bands with free admission.
At Heinrichplatz stands the city's most famous punk address, named after the old postal district Suedost 36. The venue is run by an association, and the programme ranges from hard concerts to the queer series Gayhane and the Roller Disco. The club explicitly takes action against sexist, racist and homophobic behaviour.
Despite its name, the largest concert club on this list sits in Alt - Treptow, on the Arena grounds by the Flutgraben canal. Six areas from ninety to eleven hundred places run from the main hall with eight metres of ceiling height to the fireplace room and the beer garden with its BBQ smoker. All entrances are barrier free.
In the listed boiler house of the Old Königstadt Brewery, automotive and motorcycle memorabilia hang alongside antiques. Celtic punk, rock, blues, and rockabilly play on the twenty-two square meter stage, while outside there's a beer garden and a heated royal tent. For bookers, it's also known as Roadrunners Rock & Motor Club.
On Skalitzer Straße, behind a brick door with a glowing 'P', a concert club is located in an old post office building. The program alternates between concerts and its own party series, ranging from indie rock and post-punk to darkwave and synth-pop, soul, and reggae. There is a separate ramp entrance for wheelchair users.
Inside the old Tempelhof Airport building sits one of the oldest clubs still running in the city. Opened by the Americans over seventy years ago, it carried its name as a US Air Force NCO club back in the days of the Berlin Airlift. Today two floors host Rock'n'Roll, Rockabilly, Independent and Punk, with a large bar in the middle.
A staple of Berlin's heavy metal scene has stood on Mainzer Straße since 1991. Amidst neon lights, posters, chains, and skulls, they host release parties, unplugged concerts, and music video nights. Fourteen beers are on tap, plus billiards, darts, foosball, and a pinball machine. The heated terrace offers forty-eight seats.
In the Reichenberger Kiez, there's a bar that's also a record store: records are for sale in the back room, drinks are served at the front, and a framed photo of Iggy Pop hangs on the wall. The atmosphere is deliberately relaxed, rock 'n' roll plays without pretense. For a quick meal, there's a pizzeria directly opposite, and an afternoon is enough for browsing.
On Frank-Zappa-Straße in Marzahn stands an industrial building from the seventies, where bands rehearse around the clock on approximately 2,500 square meters. The building is run by an association that owns it. Concerts and workshops take place on the ground floor, and the street bears its name at the musicians' insistence.
In the Boxhagener quarter sits a small Rock'n'Roll bar whose name points to the English Teddy Boys of the fifties and sixties. Inside there are formica tables under retro lamps, vinyl decor on the walls and a DJ spinning records in the evening. The beer comes from the tap, there are seats outside, and smoking is allowed indoors.
