A million think pieces have been written about the “death of clubbing”, killed by puritanical, teetotal Gen Z-ers. At a Kylie Wears Berghaus night, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Wherever the electronic dance party goes, it attracts an all-ages crowd ready to let their hair down to throbbing techno, trance and hard house … with a little Kylie Minogue magic sprinkled in. “The Kylie fans of all ages are out in force, obviously,” the event’s organiser (who wishes to remain anonymous) tells Broadsheet, but they’re by no means the only ones in attendance. On the dancefloor, you’ll find casual listeners, electronic music aficionados, or young people who are “who are quite new to Kylie – Kylie-curious, so to speak”.
My first KWB show, stumbled into on a whim in Bristol, was unforgettable, and I returned at the first opportunity. People pulse and writhe amid the smoke and haze, sporadically letting out cheers as another Kylie banger drops and they realise that yes, that is On A Night Like This being mixed with Joy Orbison or All the Lovers flowing effortlessly into Born Slippy. The DJ behind the night aptly describes the experience as “a one-way ticket to dopamine town”.
Between her headline-making Netflix documentary and the surprise international career resurgence that came with Padam Padam, Ms Minogue is having a real moment. But Kylie has always been that girl: both in terms of her pop prowess, but also within the dance music world. Kylie Wears Berghaus’s creative force explains that there’s a long history of DJs dropping Kylie into their sets. “It’s always been a bit of an ‘if you know, you know’ thing – a tongue-in-cheek appreciation that pops up in clubs at just the right moment,” he says.
This August, KWB will headline Night Tales Loft in Hackney, amid a country-wide summer tour of festivals and gigs. The project is still relatively new; the first Kylie Wears Berghaus show took place in Manchester’s Yes! back in November 2024. Back then, it had a different name – one that can’t be referred to for legal reasons, but I can say was inspired by a very famous Berlin nightclub that Kylie herself infamously performed at in 2018. But following “a gentle request to avoid legal action”, the name was changed in February this year. Kylie Wears Berghaus was rechristened, gaining significant attention in the process.
Kylie Wears Berghaus now has a cult following among Kylie fans and serious clubbers who like hearing the odd recognisable hook among the drops and heavy, heavy bass. Rather than a night of premade pop remixes, it’s first and foremost an electronic music event inspired by Kylie.
“Funnily enough my agent found me when he stumbled across me playing at a festival but didn’t realise it was a Kylie act,” explains the organiser. “He thought … ‘I swear this guy has played like three Kylie edits in a row. Sick?!’”
What makes Kylie’s hits so ripe for the dark and moody dancefloor, the DJ explains, is that they’re “already dance music”, with the “innate tension-and-release quality and 16-bar structure that works perfectly over full-length club tracks”. Over a two-hour set, he’ll treat his crowd to his own mixes of Kylie bangers which can only be heard at a KWB night. The process involves taking the a capella recordings and arranging them over “sick tracks” guaranteed to fill a late-night dance floor, he explains. “It takes fucking ages – a lot of love has gone into them.”
Kylie has many household hits (the DJ estimates around 20), yet there’s also an extensive back catalogue of hits that he incorporates into the sets, too. “I sometimes try to flip the narrative a bit by making those edits the pinnacle of the set, energy-wise, to keep things unpredictable and not just about the big tunes,” he says.
“There’s a euphoric hedonism and seductiveness to Kylie’s music that mirrors the decadence that’s present in a lot of house and techno perfectly,” he continues. “She has such a wealth of hits that express that feeling. Kylie Wears Berghaus is here to help spread that gospel.”
Kylie Wears Berghaus is next on at Night Tales Loft on Friday August 28, and tickets are on sale now.
