Berlin
After corona-related restrictions, parties and fireworks are possible again on New Year’s Eve. A show is also planned at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The tickets are limited – now it’s time again: be quick.
Berlin celebrates New Year’s Eve again at the Brandenburg Gate. After two years of restrictions due to the corona pandemic, a party with an audience is planned for this Saturday at the federal capital’s landmark.
In the past two years, the big celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate with tens of thousands of visitors had been canceled due to Corona – now 2500 guests can be there. The interest in the show “Celebrate at the Gate” is great: According to the organizer, the first 1500 free tickets were gone within six minutes.
Tickets still available online
The remaining tickets should be available online on (today) Thursday at 10 a.m. According to the organizers, there are around 1000 seats. That cannot be said exactly, according to a spokesman for the organizer. Ticket holders were asked to notify if they were unable to use their card due to illness in order to be able to use the quota. According to him, the New Year’s Eve party has so far been booked by guests from all over the world – including Honduras, Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, Ireland, Great Britain, Sweden, South Africa, Australia, Japan, India, Italy, Tunisia and Spain.
The organizer company Silvester in Berlin GmbH speaks of “Germany’s most spectacular New Year’s Eve celebration”. There will be no high-altitude fireworks. What is to be shown is a light show that was developed with the makers of the “Festival of Lights”. “Fireworks are not permitted,” the organizer said. Unlike previous years, this time the party will take place on Pariser Platz on the east side of the gate.
Scorpions and DJ Bobo announced
Prominent bands and musicians such as the Scorpions, Alphaville, Calum Scott (“You Are the Reason”), Kamrad (“I believe”), Moncrieff (“Warm”), DJ Bobo and Münchner Freiheit will entertain on stage. Andrea Kiewel and Johannes B. Kerner will lead through the live show, which is shown on ZDF with the title “Welcome 2023”. According to the organizer, they will be supported by singer Sasha, who wants to appear as Dick Brave again. Admission for the public is on December 31 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. There are controls at the entrance, large bags or backpacks are prohibited.
In 2020 and 2021, the previous, really big celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate with tens of thousands of visitors were canceled. There were only concerts and shows for television. Last year, just before midnight, despite the ban, several thousand people gathered to celebrate, prompting the police to intervene.
This announced that around 1,100 police officers would be deployed across the city this year. “We expect a similar New Year’s Eve as before the corona pandemic,” said police chief Barbara Slowik of the German Press Agency. “That means a significantly higher volume of operations.”
Berlin sets up fireworks ban zones
According to Slowik, fireworks and New Year’s fireworks should be banned in three areas in Berlin: on Alexanderplatz, around Steinmetzstrasse in Schöneberg and at the prison in Moabit. According to the police, there used to be increased attacks on police officers and firefighters at Alexanderplatz and in Schöneberg. To ensure that no fireworks are set off there, barriers are set up and there are controls at the entrances.
The prohibition zone in the streets of Moabit Prison exists this year because in the past numerous people threw firecrackers onto the premises from the street or shot rockets in the direction of the prison.
