Visit Date: April 2015
TOUR DETAILS: Berlin Music Tours
WEBSITE: musictours-berlin.com
DATES: Sundays - extra dates and times possible on request
TIME: 12.00 Midday
COST: £12.00 (approx)
DURATION: 3 hours
CONTACT: +49 (0)30 3087 5633
It is suggested that the three albums (Low, Heroes, Lodger - although technically Lodger was recorded in Switzerland) David Bowie wished to write and record, along with Brian Eno in Berlin are his most creative. It was a period in his life whereby he was totally absorbed by his cocaine habit while living in LA and therefore he decided that it was make or break time. After a lack of success to convince Konrad 'Conny' Plank (music producer who has worked with the likes of Kraftwerk, Ultravox, DAF, Neu, amongst others and lived in Dusseldorf) to produce his new albums that, he looked further a field, and found that the Hansa Studios in West Berlin was an ideal location to help him redefine his life and career.
We have visited Berlin on numerous occasions but always seem to run out of time. On this trip we were determined to book onto the Bowie Berlin Walk once and for all. From the moment we organised the tickets with Thilo to the time we arrived to meet Phillppe, the whole process was friendly, helpful and extremely informative.
Once we arrived at our meeting point, from the word go, Phillppe's passion for both the city and Bowie was evident. Starting outside the Martin-Gropius-Bau we discovered the location of some scenes from the 'Where Are We Now' video. The first part of the tour was spent recreating the reason for Bowie's choice of Berlin, what the lifestyle was like, the political landscape and the surrounding influences that Bowie experienced in this strange isloated city (due to the wall surrounding western Berlin). Moving on, Phillppe recounted the story of 'Heroes', and the real inspiration behind Bowie's all time favourite track. From the outside of the famous Hansa Studio, (which is still in use, - only recently The Manic Street Preachers completed Futurology,) we were shown how it nestled close to the wall and was surrounded by derlict buildings back in the day.
Famed by the single Where Are We Now? from the Next Day album
one of the gateway stations to the old East Berlin
The tour is well constructed and thought through, at intervals a few well chosen lyrics would be dropped into the presentation which kept our party on our toes. Nothing was rushed or dismissed, Phillppe was extremely inclusive considerate and professional. The ancodes never stopped, and the wealth of 'inside information' from one of the music engineers that worked on the 'Heroes' album with Bowie, were both funny and insightful. Throughout the talk we were shown imagery pertaining to the various stop points, along with both continued political and historical references to further understand the time of Bowie's stay while in Berlin.
The tour concluded (unfortunately) far too quickly, with a rather 'refreshing' surprise ( you will have to go on the tour to see what that is..) Regrettably we missed out on the Hansa studio tour ( which was on our day of departure) but would love to do that next time.
The famous Hansa Studios
Entrance panel to Hansa Studios
I would throughly recommend the tour, and if like me, you grew up listening to the Berlin trilogy religiously then this is a tour not to be missed. Great insight chaps, keep up the good work.
Bowie and Iggy's flat today in Kleistpark area in Schöneberg - Hauptstrasse 155
