Has Coronavirus killed the nightclub?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 21 September 2020
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nightclubs around the world are struggling to survive with social distancing guidelines. The social effect is palpable, especially for the younger generation who have grown up with club culture. BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Jamz Supernova tells Ed Butler about everything she's missing from the club scene. Meanwhile, the Night-time Industries Association's Michael Kill says they and club owners are working to convince the government to help them open up. But how would that work? Lutz Leichsenring, an advocate for Berlin nightlife says any way forward will be difficult, but this crisis should be a wake up call for cities to value their nightlife more.
(Picture: A Berlin nightclub. Picture credit: Getty Images.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello there, I'm Ed Butler. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Coming up, the death of the nightclub |
| 0:09.1 | amidst COVID-19. Some people are in mourning. It's been boring, to be honest. I've missed that weekend coming |
| 0:16.4 | around and there is a human nature to want to be out in large groups, experiencing something at the same time. |
| 0:22.2 | And I think you can't stop that. |
| 0:23.6 | But it's not just a social cost. |
| 0:25.8 | A cummance starting to realise the cash value of the nighttime economy. |
| 0:30.4 | If you talk about what is a cool urban city and how can you feel it and experience it, it comes down to nighttime. |
| 0:36.2 | It's not coming through shopping malls or other experiences. |
| 0:39.9 | That's all to come in Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:51.3 | I think it's a lot to do with the unity. |
| 0:53.9 | Everybody in that room or on that dance floor is experiencing a feeling or an emotion at the same time in reaction to the music. And you know, you have to be really present in a club. It's not like you can kind of be on your phone sitting on a table or standing at the back. To go clubbing is to kind of |
| 1:11.0 | leave your worries at the front of the door and then to go in and for the next couple of hours |
| 1:16.3 | you're just there and you're present and you're enjoying the music and you're meeting new people, |
| 1:20.2 | light-minded people, how it brings people together. It's just priceless and that's what I love about it. |
| 1:25.4 | That's the voice of JAMS Supernova, not her given name, I think. |
| 1:30.2 | She's a DJ and as you can hear, a passionate club devotee, feeling deprived by COVID-19 closures. |
| 1:38.7 | It's been boring, to be honest. Like, I've missed that weekend coming around and do you know what I miss |
| 1:43.8 | actually? |
| 1:44.4 | I really miss meeting other girls in the toilets. |
| 1:47.9 | It's something really special. |
| 1:49.1 | You probably wouldn't know it because you haven't been in the girls' toilet in the club, |
| 1:51.8 | I hope. |
... |
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