sorry for the crappy english, i'm too tired to think and/or correct spelling

Loveparade 2003 with JP, Ruben, Dennis and Deborah


We got in the car 02:00hr thursday-night leaving Amsterdam (650km drive) for sunny Berlin-Spandau. No hotel booked, no other plans made than to visit The Love From Above on Friday. German police warned people wanting to go to Berlin would get checked on roads and train, but we didn't expect much of that 08:00am. Especially not at the roads we take to Spandau, our regular 'basecamp' in the west of the city.

We were quite surprised when we actually saw a small roadblock with 10 scary looking policemen, but they were to busy teasing some taxi-driver. Very good, because Dutch people have a reputation for being drugaddicts or dealers. They would have stripped my car...

On the sunny friday-morning we went to look for a hotel. Not the regular one from the last 10 Loveparade, because the luxury is fine but 108 euro is just too much. We only need a sleep and shower once in a while, so the 61 Euro which Ibis cost us was just perfect!

After checking in we went to the supermarket in the shopping-centre which is attached to the hotel. Vodka and Tequila would certainly put us asleep to gain energy for LFA. Because we were awake at 17:00hr, going to the Cafe Schonbrunn preparty was a good idea. PvD would play there from 22:00 - 23:00, the 3 others decided to eat during the set.

PvD's set was pretty ehm... after 10 minutes they had to turn down the volume due to the people living next to the park where the party was. So Paul moved the monitor speaker towards us (+/- 20 TA) and started playing again. Lucky us standing in the front, cause the people on the dancefloor couldn't hear a thing. As soon as PvD was finished, the rain came down which made everyone run for the trees to get some cover.

The 4 of us went straight for the Columbiahalle, which was crowded like never before. Especially a lot of (annoying) Dutch people, who all came for Tiesto. Moguai had a very funky set from 24:00 - 02:00, but it was too hot and loud on the dancefloor. On the outside of the hall a step lead to the first floor with view at the dj and floor. Just perfect: We were in the back of the hall almost a meter from the roof. Enough space to jump, drink, smoke, have sex...

After some time the older GTA's (those with the motto "Everything used to be a lot better in the past") discovered the 'VIP-stage' too. Although the vodka, lack of sleep and rain had given me a huge headache, being with these guys and girls made my day!

Tiesto started at 02:15, and it wasn't starting like it should be: pretty bad mixing and boring tracks. So Dennis and Deborah left at 03:00, the couldn't take it anymore

04:00 PvD was on, but he rally started slamming at 05:00hr. Classics combined with the usual tracks. Very entertaining! At this time the hall was finally accessable: many people left after Tiesto. The sound-level at the dancefloor was massive, the TA's were jumping around. But around 06:30hr me and my brother decided to hit our beds. With 2 posters we left heading back to the hotel.

Saturday. Loveparade day. As expected, the weather was crap. After so many years, the afterparties became far more exciting than the actual parade. After a long sleep we went to the city-centre to watch how this years edition would be. Unfortunately very disappointing: not so many people, only 28 trucks, bad weather, lots of tourist, too many drunks, not colourfull as it used to be. Well, it could never be like 95, 97 or 99 again. But this bad?

Anyhow, last year we decided to focus on the parties instead, so it didn't really kill our spirit. The massive rain at 17:00hr was pretty fun, and the Polish people were more crazy than ever. Time for us to walk along the Tiergarten and watch the trucks as we went to get food. The subway-tunnel is always special, as the sound of the truck is enforced 5 times. A few trucks later I saw Overseas on the Delerium truck. Good opportunity to grab a bottle of water and splah it all over him. Mission accomplished!

Near the Zoo we ate at Mövenpick. Mmmm schnitzel! Looking over the square a man caught our attention. It was the world champion in making funny faces. We cried laughing! This guy is amazing!

Back to the hotel to take a shower and watch Westbam and PvD at the Siegessaule on tv. Great stuff. Preparing us for LoveBase wasn't hard this way. We bought tickets for this afterparty because LoveStern is too cheasy and Electric Kingdom in the same hall als LFA. LoveBase promised us 12 different area's of which 2 open-air. 25.000m² of partyspace at the Kulturbrauerei. Would this be the perfect end of a very entertaining weekend?

The line-up seemed a bit commercial with Tomcraft, Charly Lownoise and Hooligan, but Hennes and Cold would alone be worth the 15 (!!!) euro's. After getting to the location we were stunned: this party (set-up +location) looked so much like the legendary Paradise City from 1999! The place, an old factory, is amazing

Walking around a bit we tried the different area's, all good for about 100 - 500 partypeople. In every one of them the admosphere was outstanding. Club, techno, chill, progressive... everything was there. The underground feeling from the parties they had 10 years ago!

We got an even bigger smile on our faces after visiting the oldschool rave area: OMFG the played everything from Rhythem is a dancer to hard Mayday 1994 style hardcore! This almost couln't get any better, but there was still one area to discover: hardtrance. A small hall with a balcony, 20 x 15 meter, huge speakers, almost no lights, 3 (!!!) full color lasers: just perfect!

Schwarze Puppen vs Russianmafia was on. Slamming like hell, pumping up the volume, making the crowd go wild with tracks like 'I like it loud'. Kaylab vs Reloop was on next. They seemed to find the perfect combination of commercial hardhouse (AHA - Take on me), quality trance (Solid Sleep - Club Attack) and German 'Tunnel Style' hardtrance. Hennes and Cold took over around 04:00. By this time we moved to a great spot next to the speakers. It was really getting hot so being closer to the doors was a relieve. Relieve? Hennes and Cold played tracks like Get Down with so much bass, breathing was almost impossible

Around 05:00 it was time to leave. We were exhausted. What a night! 15 euro's well spend. Also thank u to the unknown dj who played For an Angel outdoors. LoveBase 2004 here we come

Sunday around 14:00hr we left for home. German police and customs set up a roadblock on the highway on the autobahn (parking from gasstation used as location) heading for Holland. Not in Berlin but 100 km for the border. We managed to slip through by getting petrol first and they just wait until all officers were busy before driving away. Saved us a lot of time. A real case of 'teasing foreigners and ravers'




Not too crowded, enough space to dance. No naked chicks on this pic




Siegessaule with DJ stage (glass globe). Bulletproof off course




She wanted me, but my mother tells me not to have sex with blondes




Is that Anton from Tirol? If so, he lost some weight




Help help a mouse!




The famous subway tunnel, aka Goodplacetopiss




Small party near Kurfürstendamm. Not so crowded like before. Must be
those smelly Dutchmen




The worldchampion in making funny faces. It's a shame to see what he does for just 2 Euros




Drunk policeman having oral sex with their mascotte...




Lasers at Lovebase




Hands up all the time. And the Dj's didn't even bring guns!




Kulturbrauerei. A small part of the huge outdoor area




For an angel?




Hennes & Cold & Reloop & Kaylab. Look at those huge speakers!




One of the trucks heading home, just like us. Too bad the weather wasn't like this on saturday




The same truck with other ravers going home.

Last edited by jp on Jul-14-2003 at 00:13

great report, great pics. think ill be there next year.

great stuff JP!! where do you get the energy and concentration to write a story like that??

i just got home after 6 hours in a bloody hot car so i'm not gonna write as much as you.. just wanna say i had a great weekend
the Love from Above was cool (but too hot and crowded )
but upstairs on the balcony it was OK
Tiesto played ok imo (i was really trippin on As the Rush comes and Traffic again
didnt really have the energy to stay after PvD started, so i left at 4.30 to get some sleep

the parade itself... getting less interesting every year, i dont know why 99 was my first time but from there its going downhill

saturdaynight, Lovestern Galaktika!
arrived while Blank and Jones were on the decks, playing average trance, nothing new
i found the lay-out a bit confusing too, they played hardstyle in the techno area(i only heard like 2 techno songs in there all night)
and oldschool dutch hardcore at the trance area (damn those crappy dutch ppl) lol í guess i'm one of them
in short..
Lovebase sounds better but i enjoyed myself

i'll be back

Great report JP!!

LFA was definately too hot and too crowded. The only place where you could possible dance was on the topfloor. As for the set, PvDs first 45 minutes was a nice warmup with tunes like Time of our Lives
Tiesto started off pretty badly, but after he played Flakes, he kept the good tunes coming! The crowd went wild, of course, to ATRC (sweeping strings remix).

Easily the one of the best sets Ive heard live.

When PvD came on after Tiesto people was tired and went home.
His set really started when he played Solid State - Club Attack (PVD remix). Then he mixed classics like the one mentioned with new ones like Hatrixx - miss you.

At maybe 5:30 they closed off the topfloor, which forced you down to the desertlike dancefloor downstairs. I think most people there were pretty tired, even PvD looked sleepy :/ With 2 and a half hours left I went home to get some sleep before the LP started 2pm next day.

All in all, LFA was the highlight of my Berlin weekend and I will definately come back for next year. And it was a rush to see PvD and Tiesto dance together in front of the turntables

I dont think I imagined how much people there would be at the loveparade before I actually came on to Strasse des 17. Juni (something like that). You could look in any direction and never see the end of the huge crowd. There was too much techno for me that day though. It was the crowd that made it good, not the music. I felt sorry for the delirium truck, that didnt made it 100m before they had to turn off their music because of the Live dj-sets from the strange glass ball. As I said above, the music wasnt my style, but PvD was a nice change it was amazing when the night fell and lights illuminated the golden angel on top of the siegessaule.

After the Loveparade, it took me forever to get to Lovestern Galaktika. I got there in time for Blank&Jones set, but I didnt find it very special. DJ Sammys set was pretty ok though. Tillmann Uhrmacher played for less than 50 people on the pretty cold stage outside. Didnt have much fun at Lovestern Galaktika sadly, as they werent playing much Trance even on the trance dancefloors.

I can definately recommend going there next year, as I had fun like never before =D Although I think you could enjoy it even more if you are a technoaddict.

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11.07.03 The Love from Above, Berlin
12.07.03 Loveparade 2003

Overall, I didn't have as much fun this year as last year. That's partly due to me being a little sick, though, so I was feeling rundown to begin with.

Love From Above was far too hot inside. My camera ended up fogging up, so I have no photos of Tiesto. And very vew of PVD actually; would have been nice to have stage access. I think the rain hurt this show as it drove everyone inside (hence opening the upper balcony, as I don't recall them doing that last year) instead of allowing people to go outside and cool off yet still hear the music. I got soooooo dehydrated there, too. 3 euros for a 6oz energy drink is just obscene, and I saw people paying similarly for a 6oz beer. Talk about a rip-off.... I ended up leaving around 4am as I couldn't take any more photos and was feeling aweful from dehydration.

The parade was definately less crowded this year, but that worked to its advantage. Although the rain threatened all morning, things cleared up about the time the parade started. Around 6pm, just as they shut the trucks down and switched to the DJs in the central plaza, it started to rain. I shot a LOT of photos during the parade from the south wall (used a super-telephoto lens to shoot over the heads of the crowd). I had a fun time at the parade, actually.

Saturday I went to Sage Club as I was set up to do photos there that night. That place is *tiny* and there were way too many people in there. If you thought it was hot and hard to move around at LFA, think again. I got my crowd and people dancing photos and then when Felix and Roger came on (they came on about the same time in the two separate rooms) I got my shots of them and them move out to the system of tents for the rest of the night and while I took some photos out there, mostly I just chilled and talked to people.

Sunday night I was planning on Tresor, but my cold was catching up with me again and I just didn't have the energy to do it.

Anyway, I flew back to the states yesterday and my bodyclock is all off right now (hence why I'm writing this at 2AM my time having just woken up). I've got many thousands of photos to sort through now from multiple events, so it's going to take a little while for me to get things posted.

Cheers,
Chris

Wheres the naked women?

do any of you remember meeting me?

im from australia, i had the PVD shirt with "tranceaddict.com" on the back, i was at the front for the shonnenbrunn party met a few of you but sorry forget the names, my mate had a vandit shirt also!

quote:

Originally posted by waXology do any of you remember meeting me? im from australia, i had the PVD shirt with "tranceaddict.com" on the back, i was at the front for the shonnenbrunn party met a few of you but sorry forget the names, my mate had a vandit shirt also!

yeah i met you, i was the one who u spoke with! bloodflower, german ta...

awesome that u came from this far .......

if u want to look up my pics from the weekend:
http://www.rmdesignz.com/loveparade_2003

jp, thanks for the report...

never been to festival more than +4,000 plus!

i must go one day

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