As some parts of the world begin to slowly return to normal during the coronavirus pandemic, a German venue hosted a truly bizarre-looking socially distanced club night featuring DJ Gerd Janson.

The Coconut Beach club in West German city Münster was the place to be, where the venue capacity of 2,000 was cut down to just 100. Gerd Janson played to a small crowd who each occupied a small circle so as to remain far enough apart.

The Taka Tuka party also saw performances by Steve Stix B2B Kai Lorenzen, and Thorsten Karger.

Tickets were sold for €70 each, which included €21 worth of food and drink, and boy were people keen, as tickets sold out in 15 minutes despite the high price.

“Of course we understand that some of our guests are a bit disappointed as they don’t have the money to join,” Coconut Beach managing director Thomas Pieper told Resident Advisor. “As soon as the regulations for live events will be raised up to 250. e.g. we will lower the ticket price.”

There were several other social distancing measures in place too, with groups of up to four people maximum able to congregate and drink in their own areas. On top of that, there were social distancing markers at the bar and a see-through plastic barrier around the DJ booth.

Gerd Janson, who reduced his performance fee by 80%, said the whole thing was bittersweet. “I had fun and I hope the dancers, too. It felt like a reinsurance that it can go on in some way, shape or form until things can get back to normal,” he told RA.

Attendees also had to wear face masks which they were only allowed to remove when at their allocated table and the bars were also fitted with plexiglass shields to protect staff. Sanitiser was also freely available.

“It felt good to play for a live crowd again,” DJ Steve Stix told MixMag. “My first thought was ‘do I play for a yoga session?’ because there were circles and dots on the ground for everyone to keep their distance.

“At least it felt real with closed eyes like back in the days.”

Stix also revealed that the venue is hoping to be able to reduce ticket fees back to around €15 once “the regulations of live events will be raised up to 250 people” in Germany.

Check out Gerd Janson performing to a socially distanced crowd:

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