r/skrillex • u/PlatonSeinVater • 22h ago
Discussion My experience of Contra Berlin
Hey friends, i wanted to share my experience of Contra with you. And maybe you can share yours as well if you feel like.
Like a lot of you i’ve been a huge Skrillex fan since my teenage years. I’m from Germany and saw him twice before. (Cologne in 2012 und Amsterdam in 2014). When i heard what Contra is and that it’s in my homecountry, I was really exciting. I was pretty unsure of going because Berlin is still 6-7 Hours of drive from me and I had no one to go with. But after 2 days of thinking I couldn't let such an opportunity slip away. To see my childhood hero and so many other great artists. So I booked a ticket and hotel room immediately and have no regrets. Going on your own is a great experience too :)
I entered just on time to see flowdan and the energy was there right away. You felt everyone was hyped and everyone was ready for bass music. The crowd was wild right from the beginning and even did some moshpits at dnb songs. Flowdan’s classic reloads of some tracks heated up the audience even more. When he screams “relock dat, relock dat!!” and you hear the scratches from the DJ Controller, that's when you fire up the people and i loved every single piece of it!
Then came isoknock’s set which i also was really excited about. They started of with a more techno vibe and not directly with the trap style i expected it to but i think it fit pretty well into Berlin, the overall location and vibe. Then continued with really hard in your face drops and the crowd loved it. I attended some moshpits as well as it was too nice not to do so. For me personally they destroyed it. few meters beside me where some asian dudes that also brought such a good vibe and energy. The jumped around and hyped others up. That was really really nice to see.
Blawan really surprised me, i knew he was leaned more towards techno and some progressional genres but didn’t expect what i heard from him at all. I just remember him as the guy who posted “for f***s sake” or something like that on twitter after hearing the “under my garage” bootleg of Skrillex in the BBC mix. I was really dried out so i went to the bar to get some energy and water as he started his set. But went straight back to the dancefloor as i heard what he was playing. I feel like it’s hard to describe, but it was some really nasty bass music with techno influenced. The lights, the vibe, the location of the old industry hall. It fitted so well into the music and was really a vibe i was hugely enjoying. So i think i will deep more into Blawan after this. But i’m happy i stayed.
15 minutes prior to sonny’s set i went deeper into the crowd as i wanted to absorb the whole energy. Then the lights went out, some technical dudes switched devices at the stage and then it started. What should i say, he started of with a recent classic and we were all hyped right there. Behind me was a girl screaming so loud out of joy and i loved it. I didn’t had that much space around me like on the sets before, but this was not a problem :D i still was able to freak out so much that my phone dropped out of my pocket. I didn’t noticed it at first but then a guy tabbed me a asked if it was mine. I was surprised and thanked him a lot. So if you’re reading this: You’re a real “Ehrenmann” :D
He continued to play bangers after bangers. A lot of drops i didn’t knew and i had straight on bass faces there as well. The things i most remember where:
- The energy i had when he played needle guy
- The emotions on that children mix with the latino vocals
- The gratitude i felt when he played scary monsters and nice sprites
- The bass intense first third with so many new drops
In the middle it had a big share of techno but again, i think it fitted very well into the scenery of Berlin and the Industry Hall. I also have friends who really adore techno and took me to some clubs as well. So i can get something out of this music as well. Its less energetic but more flowing i would say. All in all i had a great experience with nice people.
During all of his set i tried to see him but it was pretty dark, foggy and i wasn’t too close to the front. i stepped on my tippy toes to see him. But the whole time i wasn’t sure about if i saw him, the camera man or someone who was behind him (some people were standing behind him as well). So maybe is saw him, maybe not. Which was a bit upsetting but didn’t affect the experience at all.
He definitely brought energy, flow and some emotional vibes. When he played SMNS i knew he did it for us. For the old head fans that grew up with that melody.
After Skrillex, i wanted to see Hamdi before i left. He played on a different stage at the Ohm. I asked some people where it is and always got told they don’t know or that they’re searching themselves :D But after some searching and going through a labyrinth of tunnels i found the stage. Hamdis set was nasty as well. Also really matched my tasted most of the time.
The set was over and people where heading towards exit. I waited a bit for the first wave to go out and then decided to leave as well. I was rights around exit on the stairs when i looked up and probably 6-8 meters from me i noticed a familiar face. I saw sonny some stairs upwards and for a split second was shocked. i mean it makes sense. He was probably enjoying hamdis set as well or visited. I didn’t approached him but i also did not felt like i need to. I wanted him to enjoy everything as freely as he can and to be honest i didn’t know what i should ‘ve said then other than maybe “thank you”. But the moment was perfectly as it was and it rounded up the night for me.
In conclusion i had a great experience despite going by myself. Unfortunately i just later read about the subreddit meetup. Would’ve been very interesting so meet some of you guys :)
Some “complain” about how much techno influence there was in the sets. And i understand this. But this was to be expected at a show in Berlin and to be honest i didn’t mind that much. It fit pretty well and created a whole different experience for itself. It was still special.
I just sometimes had issues with the sound i felt like and im curious what those who went there as well would say about this. I sometimes had difficulties hearing melody or mids. I don’t know why. Not like when you EQ mids out but when higher tones are just more quiet. Maybe it was my positioning in the hall. Maybe because the sound system is more tailored to techno and its spectrum, maybe it was because i wasn’t wearing earplugs despite having some with me. One guy said the boxes are hanging too low. But to be honest I don't know. I will try earplugs in the future to see if i hear the details better. As far as i know in the previous shows the sound was crystal clear. Especially in E-Werk Cologne. But this is also more than a decade ago and i was some years younger.
The phone was a nophone party and that made a huge difference in my opinion. Before entering we were handed stickers to cover up out cameras and everybody did so. For all of the show there were no phones in the air and that was so nice. I myself felt sometimes the wish to record that moment now, but we were forces to enjoy the moment and that was perfect. Sure some recorded voicemails for friends or with the apps to grab some memories from that night but in my opinion this is fully ok :) And the end of Skrillex set i saw 3-4 ones who removed their stickers and recorded a video, but mostly everyone was accepting the rule and that was such a good thing. Felt more freely, more intimate somehow and more in the moment. Definitely support this!
That’s it guys. I would be very curious about you experiences on contra to those who also went. If you don’t want to make it public, you could also DM me.
Thanks for everything and thanks for a great night i won’t forget!
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u/Large-Monk4910 21h ago
Sounds like you had a great night! Im also from Germany and went to Stuttgart 2012 and Amsterdam 2014, also saw Jack Ü around 2017 or something. Couldn make contra because Saturday was my birthday and I had another trip planned long before - maybe next time 😄
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u/PlatonSeinVater 12h ago
Hope you get he opportunity to see him again. Maybe contra will be an annual thing :)
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u/michelangelomk 🤲🏽💨2️⃣➡️ 21h ago
Thanks for this good reading and sharing 🙏🏽 going by yourself sometimes it turns to be the best thing and you always met some nice people :) i've met one of my best mates (who lives many many miles away from me) at an IMANU show that i've went by myself.
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u/PlatonSeinVater 13h ago
In the end you are with a bunch of people that like the same thing as you and that strongly connects :)
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u/Cosmo-Sanchez 20h ago
My partner and I went only Saturday as well. I was hoping the techno wouldn't dominate as much as it did. It was our first time seeing Skrillex live ("seeing" is funny because we didn't see Sonny at all) and while I loved that he played some of my faves and we were overall very happy with the entire experience, we were pretty disappointed in him not saying anything at all. I don't know if this is an entitled thing to say but every other act we saw before him (we went upstairs around 8:15pm so we arrived for the end of Nai Barghoutis set and only went to grab some hydration during Blawans set) addressed the crowd in some sort of way. I personally would've appreciated if he at least said goodbye or something, no other animation or interaction needed. Like I said I don't wanna come off rude or entitled or something, it was just kind of sad. It felt like he didn't care to be there or didn't care for the crowd and I'm NOT saying that this is the case at all, it just came off that way to us two personally. I'm aware that people will disagree or ridicule us for being bummed about this but I can't help but feel sad about him not saying a single word. That's really the only criticism that I got, other than our personal wish he wouldn't have played THIS much techno (because we really don't care for techno). Sound was peak, light and atmosphere was amazing, everyone did a really good job! It still was a blast.
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u/Due-Result-2934 18h ago
The whole idea was to focus on all the different types of music that Contra represents, its not the typical shout-into-the-mic festival vibe. And if you explored arround you wouldve seen the man himself (Sonny) enjoying the dancefloor at another stage after Kraftwerk closed on Saturday. One of the rare moments where milions off ppl wont harras him with a phone due to the policy, so he enjoyed the music with the rest of us. Huge respect to him for that.
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u/Cosmo-Sanchez 13h ago
Like I said, I wasn't expecting festival vibes or hyping up the crowd or anything, just like a simple goodbye or thanks would've sufficed. Again, people are allowed to disagree with me on that. I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't expecting shouting into the mic or even lots of words at all. It would make it feel less cold and more personal in my opinion. I think it's great if you didn't need that :) really not trying to argue my point or something. I loved that it was phone free, I never use my phone at events anyway. I'm glad he enjoyed the music with the rest of us and wasn't harassed.
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u/conebone69696969 12h ago
In the few shows I’ve seen he doesn’t really talk that much. It’s usually “turn on the lights and we’re in the biggest party in the world right now” and maybe a couple of lines here and there so I’m not surprised. Was the set more techno heavy than his usual sets?;
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u/Cosmo-Sanchez 11h ago
it's fine he doesn't have to be a talkative guy :) his music speaks for itself and he doesn't owe me or anyone a "conversation" of sorts so yea...I was still a little bummed about it is all.
yes, techno heavy, but I figured it would be since it was in Berlin and it's famous for being the world's capitol of techno I guess. I just hoped it wouldn't be as big of a chunk as it turned out to be, but that's really just personal preference :)
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u/eliaslxx 19h ago
went on sunday bc i am a huge ecco and bladee fan
their set was great and skrillex after that was just insane
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u/Felixca1100 21h ago
sounds awesome, i’m currently travelling europe with my partner (from new zealand) we were in berlin when it was announced so i was gutted to miss it
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u/JonathanRaue 21h ago
Regarding the techno part: as someone from Berlin, no, we didn’t expect it at all that ISOKNOCK would play a 90% techno set. You can hear the exact techno they’ve played in 8 different clubs in Berlin every weekend.
We went to Contra for Trap and Bass music. As a Berlin native it’s really annoying how our city is always only musically associated with techno and only techno. I personally can’t stand techno at all anymore because it’s like 95% of the Berlin club scene and it’s soooo boring and oversaturated.
And you could feel it. The energy of the crowd was soo off during the techno parts of ISOKNOCKs set.
Skrillex at least incorporated his techno parts pretty good into his set, with a lot of variation as well. I actually enjoyed that part a lot. The first 30 minutes of ISOKNOCK were straight up Berghain Techno with almost identical kicks through every track.
Berlin is not techno.
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u/marcopolo22 Worldwide Broadcast 20h ago
This is good insight, thank you for sharing! I imagine it's a tricky balance for DJs. Is it their job to bring their sound to a city, or to blend with a city's vibe? Ideally, they can do both in a set, but focus on their own sound.
For example, whenever DJ Seinfeld plays at SmartBar in Chicago, he plays a remix of a classic Chicago house track, but mostly sticks to his own sound otherwise. I think that's perfect.
I think the difference is when there's a festival with a declared genre theme, like when Skrillex played at Movement Detroit and focused on techno since that's explicitly a techno festival.
Either way, as an American who has not been to Berlin, I would definitely confirm that I believed in the stereotype of Berlin's scene being industrial techno in gritty, brutalist warehouses.
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u/wednesdayOG 6h ago
Oh shit, I was in the front row and wasn’t expecting the crowd to vibe so hard with the techno during ISOKNOCK’s set, so I thought the vibes was there
I get that they’re known for their trap music, which was also what I was hoping to hear more of. But at least the closing part of the set was a banger. I got to experience some of their biggest tracks like Smack Talk and Dashstar live, which was awesome.
That said, I probably wouldn’t go to this event again if I’m specifically looking for dubstep.
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u/JonathanRaue 5h ago
The last part of ISOKNOCKs set was insane! I just wish their whole set would’ve been like this…
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u/No_Fault_8572 19h ago
I gave up on getting to Ohm for Hamdi's gig. The queue was too big and I was too tired. Were there any more entrances? Because you described a maze of tunnels, but I remember only going through lockers and down the stairs for Bill Kouligas' set :D
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u/PlatonSeinVater 13h ago
I went through one of many side doors and then a few long tunnels down. I passed a very hidden bar and ended up right at the right side of the „cage“ where Hamid was mixing in. When I left I found the exit quicker. I can’t recall where i went through the first time to be honest :D guess I was kinda lucky. But missed the first 20 minutes too
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u/nils-on1 18h ago
this just reads like my experience of contra which I loved and told to my friends who where not able to join me unfortunately. But I don’t regret at all going by myself, just like you. And if I knew that before, we could have met haha - I was also in the very front to soak up the energy, had some asian dudes being hyped next to me and also grabbed some water right after ISOxo 😁
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u/CrypticCAE 18h ago
Also just went saturday but heard the set from Sunday which I personally would have liked more, met sonny and flowdawn in the crowd randomly during ISOxo b2b Knock2 on the left platform, been totally in shock and wanted to give him space till he got noticed couple of min later by others.. then I thanked him too and was allowed to hug him.. he stayed for some more minutes afterwards.
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u/PlatonSeinVater 12h ago
Wow I’m glad you found the right moment for a small interaction! And this stays forever :)
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u/wednesdayOG 6h ago
This was my first time seeing Skrillex live. I’m Asian, so seeing Skrillex perform in my country is basically impossible.
For someone who used to hate techno, I never expected to enjoy the genre this much. I think the live concert experience and the sound system completely changed my perspective. I went to Contra expecting Skrillex to play something closer to what he did at Lollapalooza.
I also wasn’t expecting ISOKNOCK to lean so heavily into techno. Maybe it’s because it was Berlin and they adjusted their sets to the local crowd. Either way, it was a really fun experience. I never imagined I could vibe with techno for most of the night, but the atmosphere was incredible and everyone was bringing such great energy.
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u/cabalus Find me on Broadway 22h ago
Amazed you managed to get in to Hamdi after not finding Ohm straight away 😂
That place had a gigantic queue every time I passed it
I also couldnt find it for ages, that place is a proper maze 🤣
I had no issues with the sound I thought it slapped but I wasn't really in the main crowd much I was at the sides mostly