Love Parade
From Krass
- Love Parade 2006 is on 15. July
The Love Parade is a popular one-weekend techno festival taking place in Berlin's Tiergarten Park every summer since 1989.
Many people from Germany, Poland, and other countries travel to Berlin to take part in the Parade - over a million attended in the years 1997 through 2000 and 800,000 in 2001. Attendance at the 2001 festival was significantly lower because the date of the parade was changed with little advance notice. 2002 and 2003 also saw lower figures, and organizers have announced that Love Parade will not take place in 2004 due to funding difficulties.
The Love Parade has roots back to 1989 in the spirit of a changing Europe. It was first celebrated 4 months before the demolition of the Berlin Wall. It was started by the fresh Berlin Underground under the initiative of Matthias Roeingh aka "Dr. Motte". It was held as a political demonstration for peace and international understanding through music.
Until 1996, the parade was held on the famous Berlin "Ku'damm"; after that it moved to the "Straße des 17. Juni" which is near the Tiergarten Park in the center of Berlin by the Brandenburg Gate. The center of the parade is the Siegessäule (Victory Column) in the middle of the park, and the golden angel atop the column has become a symbol of the parade.
Anyone who wants to experience Love Parade at the middle weekend of July should be aware of the fact that it is louder and more crowded than most concerts. With its water-cooled sound systems on every truck the parade produces a sound floor of many megawatts. The parade basically lives through those trucks. The trucks usually feature local or important clubs and their DJs. It has become a rule that only trucks are allowed which have sponsors from a techno related field such as clubs, labels or stores. It costs a lot of money to equip a truck. They are usually open on top and feature dancers. Their box-systems are mounted on the side or the rear. There are two tactics to choose from: Follow a truck that features a style that you like or have them all pass you so you can see more.
The final of the demonstration is every year the so called "Abschlusskundgebung" which are half-hour sets of the world's leading top DJs such as DJ Rush, DJ Hell, Westbam, Miss Djax, or Chris Liebing. During this time all trucks (usually about 40) are connected to each other and set online to the statue of victory where the Turntables are. This is one of the few chances a DJ can ever have to play for a crowd of about one million people.
With the end of the parade the fun is far from over. Love Parade weekend in Berlin is probably the only time and place worldwide where a whole city is practically turned into a club. Many DJs are booked for one of the huge number of parties that are held before and after the parade. Parties range from clubs with some hundred, mostly exclusive guests to almost raves with several floors and some ten thousand folks. Many people today come to Berlin only for the parties and miss the parade for sleeping reason. Or they enjoy it with other "ravers" in the park right next to the parade route.
The Love parade may be a dinosaur and together with Mayday, Nature One and few others the left over of a rave culture that marked the beginning of the era of modern Techno music.
There are similar festivals in other cities like Zürich's Street Parade and Love Parades in Newcastle and Vienna. In the fall of 2004, the Love Parade was held in San Francisco, marking its first expansion into North America.
[edit] List of Love Parades in Berlin
| Year | Motto | Participants |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen | 150 |
| 1990 | The Future Is Ours | 2,000 |
| 1991 | My House Is Your House And Your House Is Mine | 6,000 |
| 1992 | The Spirit Makes You Move | 15,000 |
| 1993 | The Worldwide Party People Weekend | 31,000 |
| 1994 | Love 2 Love | 110,000 |
| 1995 | Peace on Earth | 280,000 |
| 1996 | We Are One Family | 750,000 |
| 1997 | Let the Sun Shine In Your Heart | 1,000,000 |
| 1998 | One World One Future | 800,000 |
| 1999 | Music Is The Key | 1,500,000 |
| 2000 | One World One Loveparade | 1,300,000 |
| 2001 | Join the Love Republic | 800,000 |
| 2002 | Access Peace | 750,000 |
| 2003 | Love Rules | 750,000 |
| 2004 | canceled! | |
| 2005 | canceled! | |
| 2006 | The Love is Back |
Note: The "Participants" figure is the estimate given by the organizers. Police estimates have usually been as much as 30% lower. Accurate counts are not available since entry is free and uncontrolled.
[edit] External links
- Offical Site (in German)
[edit] Photos
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Love Parade".
