Not If You Were the last club on Earth : Robert Johnson, Frankfurt
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Forget about Sven and his uber club across the river, Frankfurt's true ace in the hole is a converted rowing club stuck out in a corner of possibly the most unexciting part of a not especially exciting
Robert Johnson is the baby of DJ and label-owner - Playhouse - Ata, a small room to be found literally at the arse end of the Frankfurt suburb, Offenbach. Unless you get a cab to the venue, you are looking at a good 15 minute walk from the nearest train station, a walk past rows of office blocks and not a lot more. There isn't a sign of life in the area at night, let alone something as sociable as a bar to have a couple of drinks in before heading up the stairs of the nondescript venue, hidden away from everything.
Once inside the door - which doesn't even have security, unless there is a real heavyweight playing inside - you walk up the stairs to an equally nondescript room, which has a set of decks stuck in the corner, some seats against the wall, a few lights and some amusingly basic visuals on TV screens (played from videotape). Even the bar is makeshift, moved to the back wall from its usual spot on busier nights.
So what makes it so special? For starters, the sound system is as good as you'll find anywhere. Warm and crystal clear, hanging from the four corners of the room, even when it's cranked up it doesn't pain the ears in the slightest. The intimacy of the whole set up makes the punter very comfortable from the minute they step in the room, and it never fails to have a friendly atmosphere, be it from the punters or the DJs playing that night. The lack of any security inside means that you can feel free to either clamber on top of the seats for a boogie or skin up a joint on the bassbins beside the DJ. But this doesn't necessarily mean the place ends up a messy den of iniquity. For the most part the crowd is a little bit older and more civilised than some other famous clubs. It doesn't mean you can't fall about in a hoop, just don't expect to see the place full of jaws hanging around the place - though on some bigger nights, this can be the case.
You get the impression from the DJs that this is a venue they revel in playing. I once saw Laurent Garnier destroy the place for 8 hours, with a huge grin on his face the whole time, not once giving short thrift to the legions of dancers constantly hanging over the booth, asking for track names or just wanting to shake his hand. You feel like you're at a small party where everyone knows each other, but is still inviting to strangers. A nice extra is the balcony too, where you can take a breather and watch the sun come up. Closing times vary on how busy the night is, which can be taken as anytime between 5am and midday. If you like your clubs low on frills, with little distraction from the music, this is the spot for you.
Talent: The posers and hipsters tend to prefer showing off in Cocoon but there is a generally mixed, friendly crowd, though one which would rather you didn't hassle them for a bit of action in the jacks.
Toilets: Found on the floor below, they are manned like they are in many countries, but are always clean and due to the small capacity of the club, tend not to have many queues.
Sounds: A bit of everything, basically. Deep house, techno, electro, drum 'n' bass, minimal. Varies from the likes of Hawtin going back to back with Villalobos one week, Theo Parrish tearing the arse out of the EQs the next, DJ Serge and the Clone gang the week after and so on. DJs always seem to feel comfortable to play what ever they want in there. It attracts as many of the big guns as any other club in the city, and has had a varied roster of residents over the years, such as Villalobos, Luciano, Andy Weatherall, Heiko MSO and Ata himself.
Goodies: I never went looking in there once, and as it is a bit of an older crowd on many nights, coupled with the fact that you have to make a bit of an effort even to get there, people tend to be more about the music than getting fucked up. Alcohol fueled the crowd nearly every night I was there, so don't go expecting to get sorted. Again this may vary when a night attracts a younger, more hedonistic crowd.
Icebreaker: Cocoon is a bit shit, isn't it?
Jawbreaker: Where's the spaceship DJ booth and podium dancers?
From Kenny Hanlon
Not if you were the last club on Earth:
[Sankeys - Manchester] (http://www.bodytonicmusic.com/words/2008/oct/17/not-if-you-were-last-club-earth-sankeys-manchester/)
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