king calavera, St. Pauli, Hamburg

I AM LITERALLY GOING TO KILL MYSELF WITH RAWK AND ROLL!

Yes, King Calavera is full of people wearing just a little too much eyeshadow and sporting DM’s they didn’t throw away 15 years ago. The music is loud, and I imagine it’s cheap, although since it’s so loud you can’t really hear how much the drinks are.

Well a go, if you like that sort of thing… I prefer Lunacy.

I’ve been to King Calavera once. It was “ok”, kinda cheap, but so is every bar in the vicinity. It didn’t leave enough of an impression for me to remember to review it back then, I’m only here because I noticed it’s one of the top 10 bars in Hamburg?! Odd.

King Calavera is a standard St. Pauli dive bar. That’s it, unless I’m missing something.

The King Calavera is one of the few bars/clubs on Hans-Albers-Platz not completely crowded with tourists. The music is great (Punk’n’Roll, depending on the night’s theme Country, Rock, Ska, Surf, Garage and other great Off the Middle of the Road sounds). And yes, it’s loud, but: hey, it’s f*in Rock’n’Roll! And yes, it’s hot, but that’s because it’s usually jam packed and that’s because it’s such a great place. Oh, drinks are indeed relatively cheap for the Reeperbahn. So, that’s another plus… Short: THE honest Rockabilly/Motorocker/Punk bar on Hans-Albers-Platz.
PS: When you’re there also have a drink in one or both of the neighbouring places: Cobra Bar and 20 Flight Rock… All three together form the Bermuda Triangle of the “Kiez”...

Super Duper punk/rock n roll…aka punk’n’roll pub/cub just off the reeperbahn. Heaving most nights, great dj, average priced drinks. Dancefloor is a good size for the venue. seating outside. A gem of a bar!

From the outside this little bar looks like the perfect little venue for a fun punk/pop girl band to play a home gig in Hamburg. My flatmates band Clara Bow was performing a gig here so I found myself grudgingly parting with 5Euros and sqeezing my way in to get a seat for the show.

There's graffiti on the outside, the theme is rock, punk....or is it rockabilly, country?? With the variety of memorabilia littering the walls, fixtures and bar tops makes the whole effect a little OTT and instead of looking authentic it just feels rather silly and like it's trying to hard.

Although the gig was catchy, original and fun the venue completely let it down...there's hardly any seating and not a whole lot of space to stand either. The sound system is up wayyy too loud and it's impossible to have a conversation without shouting. I smoke when I drink yet even I found this place to be far too smoky for my liking and spent a big portion of the night when Clara Bow wasn't onstage outside the front of the bar on a bench getting fresh air and resting my bleeding ears.

To be honest I wouldn't be too bothered to come back as I just found it all a bit to much and was rather happy when the gig finished and we were able to move on to a quieter spot.