Current 93 is the project David Tibet has kept running under one name since 1982, moving from tape-loop industrial noise into what Tibet himself named apocalyptic folk - a genre he is often credited with more or less inventing on his own. On Saturday, September 26th, that four-decade catalogue plays silent green Kulturquartier in Berlin, inside a hall built under the lawns of a former crematorium, for a show billed as Sonic Morgue that has already sold out. English folk singer-songwriter Reg Meuross opens.
A Project That Never Stopped Being David Tibet's
Tibet, born David Michael Bunting in 1960, formed Current 93 in London out of the same industrial scene that produced Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, and the earliest recordings - abrasive tape loops, droning synthesiser, a distorted, excoriating vocal - sat comfortably in that lineage. Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound played on Current 93's first album in 1984 alongside Youth of Killing Joke and Annie Anxiety, and stayed a near-constant collaborator for the following 26 years. By the mid-1980s the project had turned toward something closer to folk, though the label undersells it: Thunder Perfect Mind (1992), Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre (1994) and Soft Black Stars (1998) run mystical Christianity, occultism and Tibet's own literary fixations - he also translates Akkadian and Biblical Hebrew in his spare time - through arrangements built on acoustic guitar, piano and his half-sung, half-recited delivery.
Why Sonic Morgue, Why This Room
silent green Kulturquartier opened in 1911 as Berlin's first crematorium, designed by Wilhelm Müller in a neoclassical style with a serpent worked into the mosaic floor as a symbol of transformation. The city closed it in 2002; a private initiative reopened the site as a cultural venue between 2013 and 2015, and the underground Betonhalle - a converted concrete hall beneath the former crematorium's lawns, finished in 2019 - now holds up to 1,000 people for concerts, exhibitions and film. Current 93 plays there as part of Sonic Morgue, a concert series in that room curated by Christian Morin, formerly the Volksbühne's music programmer for twelve years. The pairing barely needs explaining: a band that has spent four decades writing about death, myth and eschatology, staged in a building that spent nine decades cremating Berliners.
What the Underground Reading Says About the Room
Mood's enrichment data puts the show at 0.8 on undergroundness, double the 0.4 average across the fifty highest-trending events on the platform's Berlin calendar this month - a set weighted heavily toward club nights and arena-scale pop and metal dates. That Current 93 reads as underground is not the surprise; the surprise is how far the reading separates from a city whose scene reputation is built almost entirely on nightlife rather than seated, recital-adjacent shows like this one.
What to Expect on the Night
Doors are at 7pm, with Meuross opening ahead of an 8pm start in the Betonhalle - a large room by capacity, but the booking is not built for a large-room show. Tibet's live performances have always been described, including by the venue itself, as rare and deliberately staged rather than routine tour stops, and Current 93 sets typically run long, drawing from across the catalogue rather than promoting a specific record; there is no new Current 93 album behind this date. Mood puts danceability at 0.1, against a 0.57 average for that same fifty-event Berlin set - one of the least danceable bookings the city carries this month, and a fair read of a project built around recitation and hymn-like repetition rather than rhythm.
A Sold-Out Night That Isn't Chasing Anything
Commerciality reads 0.2 in Mood's data, well under the 0.5 average for that same Berlin set, and the show sold out anyway - a sign that David Tibet's audience doesn't need a new release, a support slot at a festival or a large room to turn up, only the promise of one of his infrequent live "channellings." In a city where most touring bookings compete on turnover and danceability, a hushed, 44-year-old catalogue about death, myth and Coptic hymnals filling a former crematorium is a reminder that Berlin's underground reputation was never only about techno.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is playing Current 93's Berlin show?
Current 93, David Tibet's long-running apocalyptic folk project, headlines, with English folk singer-songwriter Reg Meuross opening.
Where and when is the Current 93 Sonic Morgue show?
Saturday, September 26th, 2026, at silent green Kulturquartier's Betonhalle in Wedding, Berlin. Doors open at 7pm, with the show starting at 8pm.
Is the Current 93 show at silent green sold out?
Yes. The show sold out ahead of the date, according to the venue's own listing.
What genre is Current 93?
Current 93 is usually described as apocalyptic folk, a term David Tibet coined for the project's own blend of folk instrumentation, industrial texture and mystical, eschatological lyrics.
Are there other underground shows like this in Berlin?
Yes - Berlin's calendar runs well beyond its techno reputation, from neofolk and industrial bookings to jazz and classical dates; browse the city's full live music listings on Mood to find what else is on.
For the rest of what's playing in the city this month, from club nights to shows like this one, explore upcoming events in Berlin on Mood.
