This year the emphasis is more on the music: besides the traditional parade of floats, organisers have added ten new fixed stages showcasing rising German labels and a stage dedicated to live electronic performance. If it all proves too much, there’s also a new chill-out area. And don’t forget the afterparties.

Beginnings

Originally the brainchild of Dr. Motte, the inaugural Love Parade was held in still-divided Berlin in 1989. In the beginning it was as much about politics as music, Dr. Motte intended the party to promote “peace and understanding through music” in the city. But by the late-nineties attendance had swelled to more than a million and the message was put on the backburner. The Love Parade established itself as a company and licensed spinoffs events happened as far afield as America, Chile and Israel.

Then things got complicated. Under German law the state underwrites security and cleanup costs for political demonstrations but commercial events have to foot the bill themselves. With the courts ruling the parade to be a commercial enterprise in 2001, organisers were faced with hefty bills and the withdrawal of sponsorship lead to the cancellation of the parade in 2004 and 2005.

Worked out

This year sponsors have been found to cover the "seven-figure" cost of staging the event. Main sponsors McFit, a fitness chain, have pledged to pump a million euro into the festival, part of which will be used to provide forty identical sound systems to the DJ teams on the floats. The fund will also cover mobile guards in special outfits equipped with first-aid kits, glucose, cooling gel, earplugs and condoms who will be there to “help partygoers, provide education and prevention.” A five-figure total will be spent to clean up the festival grounds after the parade.

Location

Berlin’s main artery Strasse des 17 Juni will become the largest dancefloor in the world. The area between the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst Reuter-Platz is 260,000 m2 - the size of thirty-five football pitches. The parade itself consists of two lines of twenty trucks which start at opposite ends of Strasse des 17 Juni and slowly head towards the main stage at the Victory Column (Siegessaeule) in Tiergarten Park for the finale. The parades start at 12.00 p.m and arrive at the column at 11 p.m. The Siegessaeule finale finishes at midnight but the party doesn’t: the trucks will set up shop in front of dozens of clubs around the city and keep on spinning.

At the Siegessaeule, the festival climaxes with the tune “United States of Love” by Westbam, which was especially commissioned for the Love Parade.

Love Parade 2006

Floats more international

The lineups on the floats are the most international yet featuring DJs from seventeen countries including Finland, the Balkans, Australia, India, Spain and even China. Huh? India? China? What’s going on?

In contrast to previous years, DJs on the floats have been chosen by a voting system. Four hundred wannabe participants from around the world to submitted proposal for floats, which partygoers then voted on. Thirty-five floats have been allocated by this system with five floats reserved for Love Parade media partners.

The decision to allocate floats according to this method has been a controversial one. Love Parade founder Dr. Motte parted company with the Love Parade organisers in May, unhappy that the selection system would mean floats would play non-techno music for the first time.

Organisers have taken the position that sponsorship funds allow all DJs, labels and clubs, regardless of size or financial status, to have an equal chance to participate in the parade. In the past, floats had to pay for their own floats and sound systems, which led to complaints about the commercial nature of the parade.

Notable non-German floats include Singapore superclub Zouk, Montreal netlabel Epsilonlab, Australia's Pulse Radio, India club Climax, Finland Club Millenium and even a China collective.

Musically, the Beatport float with Kiki, DJ T, Tiefschwarz, Oliver Huntemann, My My, Motor should be worth checking out but floats from Trenton Records (Stewart Walker, Touane, 3 Channels), Vandit Records (Paul van Dyk, Steve Porter), Chile's Euphoria group (Ricardo Villalobos, Tobi Neumann, Dinky) and Ntrop Recordings (Silversurfer, Savvas Pascalidis, Metope) should ensure there's something for everyone as they party down to the Siegessaeule.

Full list of floats and participating DJs.

Going underground

Want to dance and not walk? A welcome addition to the party this year is the addition of ten stages showcasing local underground music. German dance music is going from strength to strength and the inclusion of the showcases is an overdue acknowledgement of this. If you’re looking for fine music, check them out.

Minimal techno is well represented with showcases from Mobilee (Anja Schneider, Pan-Pot, Sebo K, Mo´s Ferry (Dapayk, Butane and Moon Harbour (Matthias Tanzmann, Luna City Express, Daniel Stefanik). If you’re looking for something a bit harder, the Bash Records party (Thomas P Heckmann, Stereo Jack, Dj Tearz) might be the ticket.

The Spend your Talent floor is also worth a mention: start your day by checking out a set Sascha The Raveboy, the youngest DJ of the day at 13 years old. This floor is for a charity with proceeds going to “taking poor Berlin kids to the cinema and the theater or on nice trips."

Full list of DJs and labels at underground stages.

Live electronics

The other intriguing addition is the Live Stage which will host live electronic performances by laptoppers and knob twiddlers from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the middle of the Tiergarten park. You can’t go out to a club these days without seeing that glowing silver Apple and the Love Parade is shifting with the times. Live acts include Anthony Rother, Exercise One, Noze, MIA and Lexy & K Paul.

Love Parade 2006

Party at the Victory Column

Another change to the parade this year is the final gathering at the Victory Column (Siegessaeule) which will see a shift away from just techno to a broader spectrum of electronic dance music including house, trance, minimal, progressive, electrohouse and drum 'n' bass.

The traditional final gathering at the Siegessaeule will kick off at 6:00 p.m. DJ sets are just 20 minutes each which is a bit of a headscratcher but there’s a balance of newcomers and international favourites including Ewan Pearson, Lucca, Tiefschwarz, Tiesto and Westbam. Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano will play back-to-back at 9.40 (one record each?) before trance heavyweight Paul van Dyk steps up for the final set and the parade concludes on the Love Parade theme by Westbam.

Click here for set times at the Siegessaeule

Berlin clubs

If you want to make a full weekend of it, the clubs around Berlin have got some tasty lineups booked both before and after the Saturday main event.

Insel-Berlin has its three-day Music Mania Electronic Music Festival running from Friday to Sunday July 14-16 with a strong lineup including Gabriel Ananda, Butane, Rob Acid, Dapayk and Audio Werner. Insel-Berlin is three floors of club, a beach and a garden set in an idyllic location by the lake. [event details]

On Friday July 14 the Panoramabar has a Kompaktorama night with Gui Boratto and Kaito playing live. [event details] As usual, on Saturday July 15 both Panoramabar and Berghain will be open for business with Aril Brikha playing live and Dettman & Klock, Cassy, Soundhack, Oner Ozer etc spinning. [event details]

Bpitch Control have a Love Parade showcase on at Club Watergate Saturday July 15. Lineup: Modeselektor[live], Kiki, Smash TV, Margaret Dygas and Heidi. [event details]

Friday to Sunday at Polar.tv is a weekend of Detroit and German techno on two indoor floors and one outdoor floor. Lineup features Aux 88, Takkyu Ishino, Joey Betram, Blake Baxter, Toktok (live), Emerson and Sharam Jey. [event details]

By proxy

If it all proves too much and you end up back in your hotel room, the Loveparade is also on German TV from 2 p.m. to 5.15 p.m. on RTL2. From 5.15 p.m. to 8 p.m. VIVA will broadcast live from Siegessaeule.

If you’re not going, Radio Fritz will also be broadcasting the event live. Tune in at the Radio Fritz live stream.