Rock’n’roll has been at home in the Gruenspan for over 50 years and pop culture historians put it on a par with the Roundhouse in London, the Hacienda in Manchester, or the Paradiso in Amsterdam. There are a few factors to why there is so much historical importance of this music club, which opened in 1968 on the Große Freiheit. First of all, there is the long tradition: as early as 1889, the Palmengarten, Hamburg's first dance salon, resided there, later a hippodrome was opened in the building, then a bathing establishment and a cinema, until the rock club moved in here.

With rock came art: Shortly after the opening, the impressive wall painting that has survived to this day was created on the façade of the building facing Simon-von-Utrecht-Strasse – at 500 square meters it is the largest pop art painting in Europe. Then technology came along with the art: the Gruenspan is considered one of the first clubs in Europe to rely on DJs instead of a live cover band for pure dance events - and was therefore able to offer an incomparably broad program. Added to this was the lighting technology, which was just as innovative: with the help of slide and film projectors, psychedelic light installations were created that were far ahead of their time; according to legend, even the stroboscope light was invented here. As a live club, the Gruenspan is still legendary to this day - countless stars such as the Scorpions, Bryan Adams, R.E.M. and Die Ärzte have performed here over the decades.