Bootshaus

Location: Cologne, Germany
Capacity: 1,800

bootshaus.tv

Having knocked Berghain off the highest German club spot in last year’s poll, Cologne’s Bootshaus takes the crown again in 2020 and moves up another two places to land just outside the top five. Situated in a former boat house — part of the industrial legacy of the River Rhine — the space was home to an underground techno venue that called Sven Väth resident before becoming Bootshaus over 15 years ago.

Since then the music on offer has diversified, and the venue has been fitted out with signature features that have made it a true destination club. The main room (known as Mainfloor) brings an indoor festival feel, with ceiling-mounted flamethrowers, CO2 and a Funktion-One impressing the 1,200 ravers who fill it on the regular. Room two (BLCKBX) is recognisable for the backlit fans which spin above its 400-capacity, Martin Audio-powered dancefloor. Dreherei presents itself as a 200-cap industrial sweatbox packing more Funktion-One sound. And Bootshaus also boasts a substantial outdoor space for partying under the sun and stars.

Of course, a club is nothing without DJs to play the tunes, and Bootshaus has those by the bucketload. Steve Aoki, Charlotte de Witte, DJ Snake, Oliver Heldens, Hardwell, Don Diablo and FISHER were just some of the 500-plus acts booked throughout 2019, while a team of 11 dedicated residents held it down week in week out.

The biggest achievement for the Bootshaus team last year, though, was the launch of two festivals. Nibirii Festival brought Goa trance, drum & bass, techno and 20,000 revellers to Dürener Badesee — a swimming lake just outside of Cologne — while the 7,500-cap Blacklist Festival focused on trap, dubstep and bass house up north at the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen.

Location: Cologne, Germany

Capacity: 1,600

bootshaus.tv

2019 is going to go down as a landmark year for Cologne’s favourite club, Bootshaus. Not only is the venue celebrating 15 years since it was converted from an old boat house (the direct translation of its name), into a party haven, but this year the club has finally broken into the top 10. Since first slamming into the poll at number 48 back in 2013, Bootshaus has consistently climbed, and the past few years in particular have seen it fighting to overtake Berlin institution Berghain to become the highest charting German club, which it finally has this year.

“Our community is growing and growing. We sell out nearly every show,” a spokesperson for the club tells DJ Mag. “Compared to three/four years ago, there is a much bigger diversity of styles and genres, which we really like!”

This means the roster of acts over the past year sees hardstyle heads like Angerfirst alongside the rolling techno of Amelie Lens; trap don Carnage popping up next to psytrance legends Infected Mushroom; oodles of trance, EDM and dance-pop crossovers from Armin van Buuren, Lost Frequencies, W&W and Tiësto; and a long list of residents covering everything from dubstep to tech-house.

Bootshaus’ three rooms have already become legendary in their own right: the main floor is built for big hitters, coming complete with a ceiling mounted flamethrower; room two, otherwise known as BLCKBX features 32 backlit ceiling fans; and the third space is a raw, industrial sweatbox, smaller than the others but still Funktion-One’d up to the teeth.

With plans in place to host two festivals (Blacklist in Essen and Nibirii in Düren) later this year, Bootshaus has thrusters fully engaged. “2019 will be really important for us,” we’re told. They’re not wrong.

Whether it's EDM, trance or house blasting from the Funktion One systems, it seems the one rule of Boothaus is party hard. Boosted to up the league tables by the legendary Loonyland events — founded by promoters U Lee and Sascha as way to escape the techno obsession that dominates most of Germany — the Cologne club has become a veritable bastion of all things big, loud and stupefying.

Boothaus regularly plays host to an impressive assortment of the world's biggest DJs, with the likes of Oliver Heldens, Paul van Dyke, Yellow Claw, Borgore and Axwell Λ Ingrosso all gracing the decks in the last year alone.

The club is split over three rooms: an amphitheatre-like main room complete with flamethrowers and robots (yes robots!), a second room known as BLCKBX — lit by LED lights hidden behind huge fans for that warehouse vibe — and DREHEREI, a smaller, industrial space.

A new open-air area has also been added recently, making Boothaus the complete package. With yet more gargantuan names such as Dannic and his countryman, the Dutch don Tiësto, booked in for the coming months, it looks like business as usual for Boothaus in 2016.