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The Love Parade is a festival of techno music, which started in Berlin in 1989, the objective of which is to bring together thousands of people in a peaceful manifestation in which the main protagonist is music.
As mentioned, the Love Parade was born in 1989, just a few months prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Its creator was Matthias Roeingh, also known as “Dr. Motte”. It was celebrated as a political manifestation in favour of Peace and world-wide understanding through music, although its original motivation could have been simply just to throw a party.
Up until 1996, the parade was celebrated in the famous Berlin avenue “Ku’ Damm”. Due to the great confluence of people, the street, along with its adjacent vias was crammed, including even the nearby train thoroughfares. For this reason, it was moved to a place with more space, the large “Straße des 17. Juni”, which crosses through “Tiergarten” park in the centre of Berlin until it reaches Brandenburg gate. Upon the peak of the ‘Victory Column’, in the centre of Tiergarten, there is a golden angel which has come to be a symbol of the event.
Many people from Germany, Poland, and other countries travel to Berlin around the middle of July to take part in the festival. About one million attended between 1997 and 2000 and 800,000 in 2001. Attendance in 2001 was markedly less due to a change of dates given not long in advance. In 2002 and 2003, there weren’t large crowds either, and in 2004 and 2005 the festival was cancelled owing to organisational problems.
It could be said that the Love Parade, along with Mayday, Nature One and other events, marked the beginning of rave culture and the era of modern techno.
The music heard here is principally house, techno and trance. There have been attempts to introduce other musical styles, such as hip-hip, but these have always failed. At the beginning of the Love Parade, Hardcore techno and Gabber were also part of the party, however lately these have been taken out, and for this reason the Fuckparade manifestation was born.
Normally the parade is noisier and more crowded than the majority of the concerts. The sound systems, refrigerated by water loaded onto all of the trucks, produces a sound with a potency of many megawatts. The party basically takes place around the trucks, which each represent big clubs and DJs. The truth is that they are very costly, but they are the best form of promotion that there is, with dancers on the upper part and loudspeakers on the sides or towards the rear.
The end of the parade doesn’t mean the party’s over: much to the contrary. Several DJ’s disc-jockey in the many parties which take place before and after the parade. There’s everything from private parties to raves, which is a thing that means many people head directly to the parties instead of going to the parade.
It mustn’t be forgotten that, in order for such a trip to come off pleasantly, it’s imperative to go well-prepared and to know how to adapt to the surroundings. Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best ways to become completely integrated into the city is living as a real city-dweller would. For this reason, renting one of the Berlino alloggio (appartamenti Berlino o hotel a Berlino) is recommended, which are located throughout the city- for every taste and in every district. And as you’ll also need to get around the city, taking one of the transportes en Berlín will make things a little easier. Unbeatable!
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