Stay informed with free updates
Just enter the The travel and leisure industry myFT Digest — delivered straight to your inbox.
New Year's Eve revelers welcoming 2025 in a 35-hour event will be the last to grace the dance floor of the Watergate club, a famous Berlin venue that has become the latest victim death club – the death of the club.
“The days when Berlin was filled with clubbing visitors are over,” said the venue's management in a farewell statement. The Watergate co-owner blames cost pressures, declining tourism, declining interest in Generation Z and the rise of music festivals for its closure.
The pressure that led to the demise of Watergate is behind the way of changing the capitals of night life from Berlin to Barcelona and Melbourne to New York: despite the popularity of dance music, clubs end their nights earlier.
The average number of club nights that go on past 3am has fallen in 12 of 15 cities worldwide between 2014 and 2024, according to a Financial Times analysis of events on the Resident Advisor website.
“People can only go out for so many hours,” says Lutz Leichsenring, co-founder of international nightlife consultancy VibeLab. “There is a lot of competition between the night and day events.”
Leichsenring said bar owners often close their doors early to save on costs, as revenue from drink sales tends to drop in the morning.
It is more strict licensing rules post-Covid-19 has become an issue for clubs and promoters in cities around the world. While cities have elected night mayors and adopted “24-hour city” policies in recent years, increased oversight of the night-time economy since the pandemic has led to stricter night-time policing, Leichsenring added.
The increasing popularity of daytime events and festivals is another. Mike Vosters, whose company Matinee Social Club organizes evening parties in New York, said that while the 5-10pm events were aimed at millennials who no longer wanted to participate in the small hours, they had received “a ton of interest” from them. parties in their 20s.
According to Vosters, the shift away from “bottle service” club culture and a new generational emphasis on healthy living have been the main drivers behind the waning interest in dancing.
Citizens Advice data showed an increase in daytime parties, with many major cities showing an increase in events ending at 10pm.
Melbourne lays claim to being the music capital of the world and 20 years ago boasted a vibrant nightclub scene. However, the sector has declined significantly in the city as consumer habits have changed and the cost of events has increased, especially after the pandemic.
One executive in the entertainment industry said young people were less inclined to go out and play until 6 a.m. as they were more health-conscious and less wealthy than previous generations. This is reflected in the closure of Melbourne's nightclubs – more than 100 have closed in recent years – and the few clubs that remain open all night.
In Dublin, campaigners are fighting to change restrictive licensing laws that require clubs to pay €410 a night to stay open between 12.30am and 2.30am.
Sunil Sharpe, DJ and organizer of Give Us the Night, said the suspension of the proposed law that will extend the closing time to 6am has left the industry in limbo, with drivers afraid to invest in new areas.
He estimates there are about 20 to 25 clubs left in the city and surrounding areas, which have a population of 1.3mn. “It is very expensive to open a place now. . . or open your doors overnight,” he added.
But there are signs of hope for dance music. A learn released by the International Music Summit, an annual conference held in Ibiza, found that the electronic music industry will grow by 17 percent in 2023, reaching an annual revenue of 11.8bn.
Across the 15 cities analyzed by the FT using Resident Advisor event data, areas listing more than five events increased by 60 percent in 2024 compared to the previous decade. More than 35,000 artists have been booked to play in those cities since 2014 – a 90 percent increase over that time.
“People still yearn for humanity. “People still want to get out,” Vosters said. “It hasn't been reduced and music is still the best way to do that.”