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The Love Parade
Love, Beer and Techno Harmony in Berlin
Berlin
26/07/2001 -
"You'll see," cried Boris, a young French techno fan who's become a regular at the Love Parade, "When you get back to Paris, you'll find it's impossible to describe what you've seen here. The Love Parade's not something you can put into words, it's something you've got to experience!"
Not one for attempting to describe the indescribable, this was exactly what I'd come to Berlin to do. So I clambered aboard the furry French love float and waited for the action to begin. In the course of its 13-year history the Love Parade has undergone a series of dramatic ups (attracting 1.5 million fans when techno fever was at its height in 1999) and downs (a mere 500 in its first year and a slight drop in attendance in recent years). Critics – no doubt the same grouchy souls who vastly underestimate attendance figures at raves and 'free parties' - have been quick to step in and predict the imminent demise of the Love Parade. This year, they stated, attendance figures would not exceed 400,000. But they were proved more than doubly wrong - when 850,000 techno fans took to the streets of Berlin !
That's not to say this year's procession was all plain sailing, however. In fact, Dr Motte, the Berlin DJ who launched the Love Parade, found himself plagued by a number of headaches this year. The worst of these was sprung on him by Berlin's Green associations who pinched the Love Parade's preferred date (July 14th) to parade through the city streets themselves, protesting against the ecological damage the Parade had wreaked on Berlin (and especially the city's forest area) in recent years. The Berlin authorities were quick to respond to the Greens' complaint and this year, for the first time, they refused to accord the Love Parade the status of "political demonstration" (fair enough, it clearly isn't !)
Now, you might have thought the 'status business' was just a matter of red tape and pedantic bureaucratic wording – but you'd be wrong! The Berlin authorities' decision had a major impact on the Love Parade 2001. Stripped of their "political demonstration" status, organisers had to bear the cost of cleaning up the city's forest area after the party. And they certainly won't get off cheaply. The 'cleaning budget' is estimated at a cool 5 million francs, the cost being proportionally indexed to the litres of beer urinated in the forest area (we are in Germany, after all!)
This year, for the very first time, French music was specifically represented in the Love Parade. This was thanks to the OFAJ (a Franco-German youth association) who entered a special French float in the parade in collaboration with the AFAA (the French Foreign Ministry's 'Association Française d’Action Artistique'), the French Music Office in Berlin and CB-office (a dynamic young Berlin agency that specialises in promoting French electronic music abroad). The décor of this collective float was assured by the charming Pénélope and her "Aero Deko Lab" who decked the French entry out in fetching red fake fur.
Musical programming on the French float proved to be every bit as vibrant and audacious as Pénélope's red-fur decor. Acts booked to play on the float included Buffalo Bunch - aka Play Paul and Rawman (from the Crydamour label set up by one half of Daft Punk, Guy-man), breakbeat maestro Doctorolive from Cherbourg and Agoria (the Lyons mixmaster from hip Parisian label Peer Music). And, although none of these acts are techno superstars in their own right, listened to collectively they represent the eclecticism of the French electro scene at its very best.
DJ Phonique from Berlin had the honour of spinning the first vinyl on the French float around 3pm. Then, as the Love Parade cruised through the packed city streets, Buffalo Bunch took to the turntables, mixing a set that might best be described as "70% made in France". (Think a heavy dose of Daft Punk EPs mixed with Phœnix, Grand Phabao and Buffalo Bunch's own releases). Doctorolive had spent the previous night playing in a Berlin club, but the happening Cherbourg DJ still had enough energy to spin an audacious mix of breakbeats on the French float (a mix which, incidentally, was a million miles away from the mainstream sounds issuing from surrounding floats !)
Agoria rounded off the performance with an impeccable electro/techno set, made up of at least 50% French productions – the eclecticism of which served as an apt reminder that the French techno scene is every bit as diversified as the more loudly hyped house scene! Spinning happening sounds from Oxia, The Hacker, Miss Kittin and other French producers (most of whom release their EPs in Germany), Agoria flew the flag for French electro/techno in style.
Meanwhile, French fans attending the Berlin Love Parade for the first time were amazed at the peaceful, communal atmosphere that reigned on the city streets. How was it, I wondered, that nearly 1 million Germans could come out and party like crazy in the Berlin streets without the slightest sign of trouble or crowd unrest? Put it down to Berliners' public-spritedness and good citizenship perhaps !
One thing's for sure, the French press should be ashamed at the meagre amount of column inches they devote to the Love Parade (a procession which just happens to be the biggest musical event in the world right now!) And why is it that no-one has ever publicly questioned the fact that in France – a country which prides itself on being at the cutting-edge of electro sounds – we don't appear to be capable of organising a techno parade without a vast police armada ?
Translation : Julie Street
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