Berlin :: Germany
The bit after Love Parade.
Places: Berlin
Coolest thing I did: Bask in the warming glow of what may be a dying tradition of dance culture.
Coolest thing I didn´t know: Leonardo Da Vinci only painted 27 artworks in his entire life. I guess he spent too much time inventing aeroplanes and open heart surgery and whatnot.
I know I don't usually do direct narratives of what I've been up to, it makes far more sense this time.
After a fairly lazy day on Friday (which mostly involved sleeping in the sun) I met up with my former flatmate Lisa and her pals. For those who know Ms Halverson, she's just the right kind of person you want on an outing like this, and the group she brought with her (one having touched down in London from Australia the day before, talk about dedicated) were more of the same, fun loving kind. We had an easy Friday night's bar crawling in the current hipness of Friedrichsshain, which included a clothes shop who were giving cheap haircuts on couches on the footpath out front, and tex-mex resteraunts with Middle Eastern hookah pipes as a crowd drawing tool. We also made it back into town to sit in the bar on top of Tacheles, a bombed out department store turned art commune, where they project things onto the blank wall the bar looks out onto.
Well, so what about the Love Parade itself? Whilst it didn't feel it, the papers today are saying that about 500,000 people attended the street party this year, which is the minimum sponsors needed for the thing to break even. The peak of the crowd was also much earlier than previous years, but this may have had alot to do with the periodic outbreaks of rain throughout the afternoon. You also notice that the crowd, whilst most top heavy with 20 somethings, contained far more people in their 30s and 40s than in the under 20 crowd that must have dominated the event when it was reaching peaks of 1.5 million people in the late 90s. Add to that most of the people in outrageous or little clothing belonged to the older set (my generation are just plain too cool/uptight for that kind of thing) and you get the feeling that techno listening crowd are getting older, without the younger blood coming in to boost it up. More on this later.
The event itself probably benefited from the smaller crowd. The crowd pack themselves into the stretch of road from the Brandenburg Gate to the Victory Column in the Tiergarten, where mobile sound stages wheel their way back and forth down the street, each playing a different style of music and sponsored by a different club. The crowd seemed to be more made up of revelers and less of curious tourists that I expected, so it made for more of a spirit of community, as if everyone was there for the same reason. And there is very little like 500,000 people all having a good time together.
The aforementioned rain didn't bother us one bit. With that many people in such a small area, the downpoor cooled everyone off, which was most welcomed. There was also the added ritual of thousands of people raising their hands and turning towards the sunlight as the sun finally broke through the clouds. A special moment.
After a bit of a rest back at the hostel of my comrades, we moved on to the Tresor club in downtown Berlin, apparently the birthplace of Techno (though I'm sure I've been to at least three "birthplace(s) of Techno" by now...) for the afterparty. I was initially sceptical that somewhere that big could fill up, especially since we showed up just after the street parade officially ended. However, within probably an hour of our arrival, the three levels plus outdoor garden was packed to the brim. The party continued well on into the daylight, and it's here that you got to feel the international flavour the event still has. I'd seen Polish flags around all day (one of the few nationalities who felt it was necessary to openly show national pride at an event like this), so was not surprised to meet a few. I met lots of people from Central and Western Europe, plus quite a few of the ususal suspects (Aussies, Kiwis and Saffirs). Despite the heavy presence of the Poles, there seemed to be no real other representation from those who once dwelt behind the Iron Curtain. This may have been the small sample I met, but I would have expected at least a few Czechs or Slovaks, being so close.
Don't let the slightly negative undertone of this let you think for a second that I had anything less than an absolute ball. The 24 plus hours I was awake for the event and afterparty did require me to sleep for close to all of Sunday, but I enjoyed every waking moment. Thanks to the five who traipsed over from London for making it that much better.
I have to say, however, that this event, whilst it will still continue for some years yet, may be falling prey to an aging fan base for it's key component, Techno music. Having watched many of the superclubs in London change their style of music or close their doors more nights a week over the last three years, you got the feeling that Techno was dying in the UK. Whilst this wasn't necessarily indicative of what was going on on the Continent, you still got the feeling the kids just weren't that interested. However, with the size of this, the musical form's premier event, shrinking with each year, you wonder how long the older diehards will be able to keep it going. As the charts are now filled with pop that's basically watered down hip hop, not even containing the irritating eurodance rubbish that got the kids hooked on the Techo scene in the first place, you wonder where the next generation of Love Paraders are coming from.
Or maybe this is a good thing. Perhaps the lack of commercial interest in the future will help the parade get back to it's roots. If all this started with a hardcore of 150 people dancing through Berlin way back in 1989, perhaps a smaller, more dedicated group can resurect it. It's a unique event, and one I'm glad I've seen. Even if you aren't into the electronic music scene (which I admit to being fairly ambivalent about), it's an event well worth checking out.
So, I picked up my Czech visa this morning, and bought my train ticket to Warsaw for tomorrow. I've taken up Mike's floor for long enough and it's time to get back on the road.
As a final note (which just came to me) The Czech embassy in Berlin was the most co-operative I've ever had to deal with. Friendly staff, forms with pens to fill them out and glue sticks to put your passport photo on them, explanations of the forms in 8 different languages and a clear price list and policy on how long the visa would take to process (mine was even ready a day early). After dealing with several nightmare embassies in London, this is a refreshing change. Then again, London can do that to anyone.