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Take Stage in an Ex-Brothel: Open Mic L. J. Fox

By Kevin Arbinger . August 29, 2018

Besides many other things, this city is a stage. Make it yours at Madame Claude’s Sunday Open Mic Sessions.

The rules are simple: play two songs or whatever you perform, no covers, no competition, and make yourself heard by one of the best audiences in Berlin.

What makes Madame Claude different.

By now, many small clubs and bars in Berlin offer open stages at one or another point in their programmes. Yet, few are able to create the atmosphere you can dive into like at Madame Claude.

This is mostly owed to the fact that the stage is in its own room. Here, the performers do not have to compete with the regular bar noise. Also, it makes sure the audience consist purely of people who really want to listen.

Open Mic L. J. Fox
Madame Claude’s reversed interior

Another big plus is that, as the event is hosted weekly, the locals have welcomed it as part of their Sunday routine. If not as performers, at least as attentive and open-minded listeners.

The performers and their performances make the biggest difference. They range from songwriting, spoken word or poetry, to instrumental pieces. Every performer gets a drink on the house for performing and is freed from paying the marginal donation of 1-3€ for the session.

Faded red light.

The setting could hardly be better. Madame Claude welcomes you with a mixture of grit and warmth, deep down in the contorted guts of the rooms and hallways of an ex-brothel. A place that hits you like a salty kiss. Starting from the old school box office that’s just begging to flash across a screen, you follow a winding staircase down to the bar. These narrow steps also indicate (with methodical precision) if you’ve had too much to drink. Sometimes you cannot make it back up.

Huey-Walker-at-Madame-Claude-Experimontag-Photo-by-Kevin-Neitzel-04 Open Mic L. J. Fox
Every Sunday night the stage is yours

Underground, the layout of rooms looks like someone’s continually crafted extensions to a cigar box. With everything below street level, it makes you forget the hours going by, almost as fast as you forget the way back out.

Open stage – open audience.

If you are an upcoming artist, a traveller, a storyteller, or if you just have something that has to get out of you, this is the place to vent it. Madame Claude does not only give you an open stage, it gives you an open audience, and that is far more important.

A full programme of events.

Besides the Sunday Open Mic L. J. Fox Sessions, Madame Claude also offers a wide range of parties and concerts. Make sure to check out their calendar for a full listing.

The acts are not confined to a certain genre and can range into even experimental performances. They also host a Music Quiz on Wednesdays, where you have to guess certain songs to win points, and eventually take home a prize.

Madame Claude
Lübbener Str. 19,
10997 Berlin

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