Anselm Reuter at Watergate

The label does not usually review its own nights. This is an account of Friday.

Watergate closes at the end of the year. It opened in 2002 by the Oberbaumbrücke, and the owners said in September they would not renew the lease, giving costs and rent as the reason. Downstairs is the Waterfloor, with windows at the level of the Spree. Lena Vogt got Anselm Reuter a slot there.

I flew in on Friday afternoon. It was two degrees and sleeting when I walked from Schlesisches Tor.

He played a little over five hours, long and slow, with a lot from "Heizkraftwerk" and much I did not recognise. It was a full room, and many of the people had clearly been coming for twenty years. Nobody made a fuss of it. A woman near me stayed by the window with her back to the booth for what must have been two hours.

There is not much sunrise at this time of year. Around half seven the black went to grey and you could make out the river, the sleet going into it and the bridge. Anselm had a long fade running by then, the kind where you are not sure it is still there. He had his eyes shut and was doing nothing with his hands.

I stayed until ten, found a bakery and got the wrong bus.

His track on Round 5 is called "Waterfloor". He changed the title in September, the week the news came out, and Jonas Weber reset the label to match. It is out on 6 December.