The Berlin Love Parade

Having A Techno Ball

Berlin 

10/07/2000 - 

The German capital came alive this weekend with more than a million ravers descending on Berlin to celebrate the annual Love Parade. Techno beats and carnival floats filled the streets and this year's costumes were more outrageous than ever!

The weather on Saturday morning did not look promising - with the thermometer registering a mere 17°, clouds looming on the horizon and a chilly wind blowing through the streets, ravers gathered in Berlin for the 12th edition of the Love Parade were not exactly queuing up to buy water pistols! German summer was decidedly not up to scratch and Love Paraders of 2000 were not destined to march through the streets in tropical temperatures as they had done in previous years. In fact, for the first time in the Parade's history, organisers were seriously worried the procession might be rained off. Fortunately the weather held and by late morning the gigantic Avenue 17 Juni was one heaving mass. Not an umbrella in sight - instead, the eye was assailed on all sides by a barrage of fluorescent strings, tight T-shirts and ravers of both sexes sporting multi-coloured tutus!

The Germans had obviously decided to let their hair down for the occasion, many of the younger members of the crowd baring breasts and buttocks with gay abandon. Philippe, a young raver from Paris, was impressed by the German spirit of exhibitionism. "It's amazing the way everyone lets it all hang out!" he enthused, "it's great to see the way everyone's so comfortable showing off their bodies! We're much more uptight about the whole thing in France. Compared with some of the costumes I've seen today the Parisian Techno Parade looks really dull and boring!" Top of the list on the dress code for the Berlin Love Parade 2000 came fluorescent fake fur thigh-boots and sequinned hotpants (for girls) and flamboyant Gaultier-style skirts (for boys). Cowboy hats and whistles were de rigueur , of course.

On the stroke of 2, the 53 floats taking part in the Love Parade began making their way down the Avenue 17 Juni, blaring techno from every available speaker. The only problem was the crowd of ravers pressing in from both sides of the avenue almost brought things to a standstill and an escort of security guards was required to clear a passage for the floats. Perched on top of the techno lorries, 250 DJs relayed one another on the turntables, pounding out fast and furious beats for the dancers below. Two separate convoys left from either end of the 4-kilometre long route, meeting up at the foot of the Victory Column in the middle of Avenue 17 Juni. The crowd went wild for the techno beats dancing themselves into delirium and greeting the DJs - many of whom had come from as far afield as Russia, Israel, Argentina and the USA - with rapturous applause.

Sitting astride a parapet high above the Parade, Mareike's only regret was that she couldn't get closer to the floats. "I've come all the way from Stuttgart for the Love Parade and I'm a bit disappointed there are so many people," she complained, It's really hard to get up there and dance near the lorries." In actual fact, the Love Parade 2000 attracted a slightly smaller audience than in previous years. Organisers had predicted a record turn-out of 1.5 million, but in the end 1.3 million ravers took to the streets of Berlin, assuring this year's Love Parade was nevertheless a major commercial success.

The commercial side of the Parade has gone from strength to strength over the past few years - to the point where the annual procession is now in danger of becoming more about Money than Love! In fact, the Love Parade, which now ranks as one of Berlin's most important cultural events of the year, brings in a huge amount of deutschmarks in terms of broadcasting rights and sponsor deals as well as packing out the city's hotels for the weekend. Consequently, the Love Parade's music has become increasingly mainstream and this year's sounds were disappointingly unoriginal. Most of the DJs taking part in the Love Parade 2000 spun a mix of fairly standard - not to say mediocre - house, taking little notice of the speech made by Dr Motte (the founding father of the Love Parade) who called for the Parade to get "back to its roots".

The great musical debate did not appear to affect the crowd of ravers in Avenue 17 Juni however. Gathering together at the foot of the Victory Column at 7pm, they partied on until 11.30pm before dispersing into the night and hitting Berlin's club scene until dawn. One of the most popular destinations on Saturday night was Le Trésor, one of Berlin's pioneering techno clubs which was hosting its final fling. (The club has been bought out by new owners and its techno days are now over).

Following its phenomenal success in Berlin, the Love Parade has now been exported to other European venues such as Vienna and Leeds and should soon be arriving in Tel Aviv. But as the crowd gathered on Avenue 17 Juni on Saturday night showed, the original Berlin version remains the biggest and the best! This year's Love Parade not only confirmed Berlin's reputation as techno capital of Europe, it was also the perfect occasion to cock a snook at the Hitlerian lamp-posts lining the city's most famous street!

Alexandre LAZERGES