leider kein deutsch, 2 reviews schreiben geht echt nicht mehr. viel zu müde! english language also not like it should be...


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 this kind of weather wasn't on saturday




The same truck with other ravers going home.

Last edited by jp on Jul-14-2003 at 00:11