Music Archives - Secret Berlin

Culture Music

In 1983, Udo Lindenberg angered the GDR leadership with his song “Sonderzug nach Pankow”; before the fall of the Berlin Wall, they allowed him only a single 15-minute performance—one year later, his entire GDR tour was banned

Berlin has always been a stage for music history. While David Bowie made history with his music and his legendary concert at the Berlin Wall in 1987, Bruce Springsteen thrilled hundreds of thousands of pe...

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From Schönefeld Airport to the old Friedrichstadt-Palast: How jazz legend Louis Armstrong sold 18,000 tickets in the GDR in a single day in 1965

In 1965, Berlin had long been divided by a wall, and American music was often met with suspicion in the GDR. This makes what happened in the eastern part of the city in March of that year all the more as...

Culture Music

In 1988, Bruce Springsteen sang about a world without walls to a crowd of up to 300,000 people in East Berlin—38 years later, his legendary concert is considered a symbol of freedom

Berlin has always been a stage for the world’s greatest music legends. But during the division of Germany, concerts took on a significance that went far beyond music. When David Bowie performed in front o...

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In 1966, the Beatles wanted to perform in Berlin, but the concert never took place—exactly 60 years later, their global hits are now coming to the Meistersaal for a breathtaking tribute show

The Beatles are among the most successful bands of all time and sparked a worldwide wave of enthusiasm in the 1960s. Berlin, too, was swept up in Beatlemania—but even though the Fab Four had actually pla...

Culture Music

In 1987, David Bowie sang in front of the Reichstag in Berlin, while thousands of young people in East Berlin listened from behind the Wall—39 years later, his performance is regarded as a symbol of the division of Germany

David Bowie and Berlin share an extraordinary history: In the 1970s, the British global superstar lived in an unassuming apartment in an old building in Schöneberg, where he created some of his most signi...

Music

In 1988, Michael Jackson put the Stasi on high alert with his first concert in Germany, held in Berlin—that same evening, the GDR organized a counter-concert featuring Bryan Adams

Michael Jackson didn’t just make global headlines in Berlin in 2002 when he held his young son over the balcony railing of the luxury Adlon Hotel. Fourteen years earlier, the King of Pop had already sent...

Culture Music

1965, a Rolling Stones concert turned Berlin’s Waldbühne into a field of rubble, causing over 100,000 Deutschmarks in damage—61 years later, it is one of Europe’s most famous open-air venues

Over the decades, Berlin has welcomed numerous music legends who have left their mark on the capital. While Elvis Presley thrilled an entire generation with his rock ’n’ roll as early as the 1950s and Mic...

Culture Music

In 2002, Michael Jackson made headlines around the world on the balcony of the Hotel Adlon—20 years later, the hotel manager explains how one of the King of Pop’s biggest scandals contributed to the hotel’s fame

From Nena’s global hit “99 Luftballons” to David Hasselhoff’s legendary appearance at the Berlin Wall to Michael Jackson’s scandalous balcony moment: Berlin has made music history time and again. In Novem...

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In 1960, West Berlin radio stations removed an Elvis hit from their programming for being “too sentimental”; 66 years later, the Meistersaal honors the King of Rock ’n’ Roll with a tribute concert

Elvis Presley revolutionized the music world with his unmistakable sound and legendary hip swing. In Germany, too, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll captivated countless fans—and his music lives on to this day, a...

Culture Music

In 1989, David Hasselhoff became the number-one star in Germany with “Looking for Freedom”—and just a few months later, his performance high above the Berlin Wall created one of the most iconic moments of the reunification era

Berlin has made music history and produced songs that became famous far beyond Germany’s borders. While Nena scored an international hit with “99 Luftballons” in 1983, an American actor created another un...

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