No singing is required at Hamburg's newest karaoke bar — but moaning is a must. The "Porn Karaoke Bar" in the city's infamous St. Pauli district gives guests the opportunity to groan along to their favorite retro pornos.
Instead, visitors are invited to go on stage and moan along to clips from pornography films from the 1970s and 1980s as they soundlessly play on screens in the background. Currently, visitors can choose from nearly 30 retro clips.
"It's funnier than I thought it would be," Jones told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper on opening night.
"At the beginning, people are reserved and don't dare to try it out, but meanwhile we've noted that we can hardly save ourselves from the guests who are galloping onto the stage," she added.
Olivia Jones: 'We have to fight for freedom of speech'
00:18
This browser does not support the video element.
Name the tune — moaning style
For those who need a warm-up before taking the stage, the bar offers a form of "foreplay" where performer Lex Dildo, who serves as the master of ceremonies, moans famous songs and has visitors guess the tune.
Not only is the game fun, but it also serves to draw out the shier customers, Jones said.
"I don't want to single out any particular gender, but you wouldn't believe how many big studs are unable to perform when they get up on our stage," Jones told news agency DPA ahead of the opening.
Jones is one of Germany's most famous drag performers and owns several bars and clubs in St. Pauli, which is home to Hamburg's infamous Reeperbahn with its nightclubs, sex shops, porn cinemas and the city's major red-light district.
In 2010, Jones also opened up Europe's first strip club that features male performers — and only allows women to enter.
In Hamburg, "Große Freiheit" — or great freedom — is more than merely the name of a road. It is a unique approach to life. A city with maritime flair and plenty of opportunities to go out.
Like the gigantic bow of a ship, the Elbe Philharmonic Hall sails into the skyline. Built on top of a former red brick warehouse for cocoa, the glass construction rises 110 meters (360 feet) into the sky. The concert house opened in January 2017.
Image: Markus Scholz/dpa/picture alliance
A lot of storage room
In 1888, German Emperor Wilhelm II opened the "Speicherstadt" (the warehouse district). Hamburg had already established itself as a free port, where storage and transfer of goods was duty free. As a result, it became one of the biggest storage districts in the world. The Speicherstadt was granted World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2015.
Image: Maximilian Koch/picture alliance
Miniature Wonderland
In the Speicherstadt district, you can also find the Miniature Wonderland, the largest model railway system in the world. Here, visitors can travel from Hamburg to Patagonia in miniature form. 1,166 trains travel on 16,491 meters of tracks on an area of more than 1,600 square meters. There are even planes that start and land, and cruise ships travelling on water.
Image: Markus Scholz/dpa/picture alliance
Everything in sight
Hamburg is redefining itself with its HafenCity, Europe's biggest urban regeneration project. When finished in 2025, it is to be home to 10,000 people. From the ViewPoint in the Baakenhafen, the development can be observed in a 360-degree panorama. The design of the orange steel tower was inspired by the dock cranes and was conceived to offer the panoramic view of a nautical periscope.
Image: Hauke-Christian Dittrich/picture alliance
Michel
The baroque St. Michael's Church, colloquially known as "Michel", offers another perfect view of the city. The church is a landmark building and can also be explored using an app. Prominent points like the tower or the crypt have been equipped with transmitters that react to the app and provides information.
Image: Thomas Lammeyer/imageBROKER/picture alliance
Going underground
The Old Elbe Tunnel was the first river tunnel in continental Europe. It reduced travel time from the city to the shipyards on the southern shores of the Elbe River. Since 1911, lifts have taken pedestrians, cars and cyclists down to the bottom, where two 426-meter-long (1,398-foot) tunnels run. For pedestrians and cyclists, it costs nothing to use — other than the price of overcoming their fear.
Image: Soeren Stache/dpa/picture alliance
Swan Song
In Hamburg, the messengers of spring are the city's very own swans, hundreds of them. The city council boasts a "swan office" called the "Schwanenwesen" — the only global authority that employs a "swan father," it oversees the white birds' return after the winter. By taking ownership of swans, normally an exclusive privilege of royals, Hamburg proved its independence as a free Hanseatic city.
Image: Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa/picture alliance
Going with the flow
Boats sail night and day on the Elbe River to the harbor. Their fog horns and the sound of the seagulls create the soundtrack to any early morning run on the pale sand of the shore. The port of Hamburg is 70 nautical miles away from the open sea. This popular sandy beach along the Elbe river is located in Ovelgönne in the Othmarschen district (image).
Image: Petra Schumacher/HAFEN-FOTOS/picture alliance
Tower tango
These days, office blocks do the dancing on the Reeperbahn. The architect of these two office towers with a kink designed them as a couple dancing tango, a tribute to the red light district where they are located. There is a restaurant and a bar on the top floor and the roof terrace offers a fabulous view of the harbor, especially at night.
Image: Bildagentur-online/Joko/picture alliance
'Big Freedom'
Sailors have spent entire wages in just one night in the Große Freiheit, a side street to the famous Reeperbahn. The St. Pauli district is filled with bars, clubs and a variety of fun and games. Artists and musicians discovered the charm of the seedy area in the 1960s. For the Beatles, playing at the legendary Star-Club became a warm-up exercise for their subsequent global success.
