The time has come for my review of the Love Parade Berlin and Love Fest San Francisco 2006. I chose the Love Parade Berlin theme “The Love is Back” for this thread, since it really captures the heart of both events. Both parades have returned for another year, and both were a great success! Rather than compare the two events though, I’d like to focus on how much love there is in the world!
I’m putting this review up in both the West Coast USA and Germany TA forums, so for those who haven’t heard from me for awhile, thanks for being patient. If you hadn’t heard, my sister from Arizona was killed in a violent homicide while in her house the day that I was flying back from the trip of a lifetime, which included my first visit to the Love Parade Berlin. This case remains unresolved, and we may never know exactly what happened.
Normally returning home from vacation or holiday is a period that I reflect on the good times, the new friends I’ve met, friends I’ve known for a long time, and how long it will be until I can book my next trip. Instead, the day I arrived back home after traveling 24 hours with jetlag, I was unexpectedly calling relatives, booking plane flights and planning for another trip to Arizona. My sister was gone, and nothing could change that, so it was time to focus on good memories from the past with her family and friends. Words can’t quite describe the feelings I went through since leaving for Amsterdam in late June. I guess the closest word would be “bittersweet:” Love, peace and joy being followed by disbelief, anger, sorrow, loss and then compassion, love, peace and acceptance. This photo is dedicated to my sister, who found beauty in the sunsets and painted many of them onto canvas:
“The Love is Back” takes on a new meaning for me also. It’s a time when I’m getting past a tragic time in life and can share highlights of my experiences at two of the world’s largest electronic dance music parades and festivals. With this in mind, let the journey begin!
After arriving in Berlin on Tuesday and going on a walking tour of the City the next day, I decided to arrange an “unofficial” TA meetup Thursday night at a huge ice cream shop named Caffe e Gelato in the big shopping mall at Potsdammer Platz.
If you visit Berlin, make sure to come, as this place seats something like 200 people and offers some amazing ice cream/gelato creations for reasonable prices. I know that a lot of TA’s hadn’t arrived in Berlin by this time, but I thought it would be too much for everyone to meet up for a second time on the night of the Love Parade pre-party (The Love From Above), and there would also be another TA meetup on Friday at the event.
It was here that I met TA’s Christian from Germany, Jolene from Australia and Rebecca from Canada. Meeting up away from the crowd and loud club environment was a great experience, and we became friends for the rest of the weekend (and into the future as well)! This picture is actually from later that night, because I forgot to take any at the ice cream shop!
Well, it’s Friday night already, and time to head out for the Love from Above at the Glashaus Arena! One thing I love about Germany is the efficient public transportation. I walked to the S Bahn station, got on the subway, and was at the Arena in about a half hour! The Love from Above had a dark, “warehouse” feel with blue lighting. After paying my “cup deposit” of one Euro (which you get back at the end), I quickly discovered how strong the 6 Euro drinks were!
Paul van Dyk was playing in the main room, and at about 11 p.m. the place was already packed! I could tell that he was at home, both literally and figuratively, the world’s number one DJ in his home city with Love Parade Berlin taking place the next day!
The second TA meetup took place in the outdoor area between the main room and the glashaus arena, but I was waiting in the outdoor area by the front entrance. Finally found everyone though, and was great to meet all the other TA’s (including Veit, Harald, Isabel, Menno de Jong, and everyone else who’s name I don’t remember!)
This was such a great space for The Love From Above, since there were two dance floors and a very cool outdoor area with hammocks right on the waterfront.
Was amazed to see that the sun had already come up by 5 a.m. when the party ended, so was an easy trip back to the hotel, but not so easy to find breakfast in Berlin at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning…lol
Slept in until 3 or so, then left the hotel for the Love Parade. Wanted to ask at the front desk what was the best way to the Tiergarten, but there was only one receptionist and this man there was going on and on and on and on and on and on with her….about his first visit to Berlin, and where is everything, and “show me this on the map,” etc. Waited about 10 minutes and he was still talking! So, went to the UBahn at Alexanderplatz and took the subway direction of the Tiergarten. Two girls across from me in the train were looking at the Love Parade booklet, so that seemed a good sign. When the train stopped at Nollendorf Platz, the car emptied out, so I figured this must be the right stop. Now for my next surprise!
Walked into a big crowd of people and started sending text messages to my friends so we could try & meet up, then a few minutes later, looked up, noticed a sign that said “Lesben, Schwulen” and realized that I was at the Berlin Christoper Street Day Festival, not the Love Parade!
Maybe it was meant to be, so I took a couple of pictures, including of one of the World Cup posters that said “Would you also beat up your favorite player for this?”
I paused for a minute to reflect upon how the Love Parade is also about diversity and being who we are, painted up naked, walking on stilts, wearing purple hats, or just being “normal.” …and what is “normal,” anyway - what our respective societies and cultures say it is? Nah, I’d never beat up my favorite player for that! I smiled as I left one festival for the other.
Back on another UBahn, I finally arrive at the Brandenberg Tor (gate) at 5:30 p.m. Jolene (TA Narcism) texts me that she is at the big inflatable banana by pole #96 and I look up and I’m at the big inflatable banana by pole #795! I soon realize after sending and receiving several more texts that it’s almost impossible to meet up when there’s a million people around, so better just to enjoy the experience, which I did.
Walking toward the victory column, it gets much more crowded and a feeling of unity is all around. A guy starts speaking to me in German, and I say that I don’t speak English. He then says in English “A lot of people here!” and I agree, telling him that I’ve lost my friends. He says “you have one now” and shakes my hand. This was the kind of vibe that I felt at the Love Parade.
The sun starts to set, and after not having any cell reception for hours, a text comes across from TA Christian from Stuttgart and we meet up with Rebecca near the Tiesto float. We make our way back toward the victory column, as the floats go around in circles, people sing and the DJ’s play their final sets of the night.
The victory column is lit up in brilliant hues of purple and orange, then blue floodlights shine up toward the sky.
This is a very cool professional video of Tiesto that I found on YouTube:
The music ends and the victory column looks as if it’s on fire. Love Parade 2006 has ended, but the night is still young!
Soon after getting back to the hotel, Jolene texts me from the LoveBase party at the Kulturbrauerie.
I head over and Menno de Jong’s set is going off in the TranceAddict room! Went to the main room and there’s a huge drum set on stage, the beats dropping to techno and trance music. Back to the other room for awhile, Stoneface & Terminal are playing a great set, but my feet really hurt! Was a nice place to hang out after the Love Parade though, lots of outdoor seating at tables with big umbrellas and nine different stages of music, something for everyone!
I have to say that I’ve never experienced anything like the Love Weekend in Berlin. If you ever get the chance, go and you won’t regret it! For the West Coast TA’s, the official Love Weekend Berlin 2006 review thread is here (it helps if you can read German, but there are a lot more great pics!)
Checked into the Chancellor Hotel in San Francisco on Friday night after a long drive in to SF from LA. The room was great, and Wes, the hotel manager, was very welcoming to everyone visiting for Love Fest. TA Chris checked in a few hours after I arrived and we went off to our respective parties…lol
Missed the TA meetup (which was not until 11 p.m. as advertised, haha Michelle!), but found the Spundae float before the parade started and there was the LA crew! Michelle gave us paper hearts, made by hand with a lot of love, and soon the parade started.
The Love Fest parade starts on one side of the city and goes to the other, ending at the Civic Center. I remember looking down the street and seeing people far as the eye could see, so I could tell it was a great success! There were all kinds of different floats, from Army trucks with hundreds of speakers to spaceships and most everything in between.
Another huge celebration of dance music, and again, a feeling of unity and love. I saw grandmas dancing on the sidewalks, families with baby strollers, every race, color, orientation imaginable! The festival at the Civic Center had a good crowd and the party atmosphere was strong. The Spundae/Skills float drew a huge crowd and the music was about as good as it gets!
Got to the afterparty about 10 p.m., with my ticket in hand, only to find out that the line went down to the corner, down the block and then down the street. Must have been 45 minutes until I finally got inside, then the lines were insane for drinks as well (seemed like there were about 10 bartenders for 10,000 people!) Missed Andy Moor’s set due to waiting in all the lines, but Christopher Lawrence was going strong by the time I got onto the floor.
Junkie XL tore it up, standing up on top of the decks and having a smoke (which is illegal indoors in California…lol), edging the crowd on.
The lighting was spectacular, even better than how it came out in the pictures!
Oakenfold came on next and I wasn’t feeling it that much so headed back to the bar for another long wait. His set picked up toward the end though, and then the grand finale…Above & Beyond with Paavo and Tony!
A&B were completely off the hook, and the place was totally packed until the music ended at 4 a.m.! A guy in a suit comes up on stage telling A&B it’s time to go, but the crowd is yelling “one more track.” Paavo shrugs like “sorry, what can I do” and then puts another one on while the lights are coming up and the crowd roars!
Next day, went with some friends on a boat tour of the Bay, was surreal to come upon the Golden Gate bridge completely shrouded by fog, go under it and then it was sunny on the other side!
Stopped at Boudin’s for a breadbowl of clam chowder, then back to the hotel by cable car. I left my heart in San Francisco, so must return soon to get it! ;)
lex400sc
excellent review! love parade berlin sounds incredible. that's terrible your amazing trip had to be tarnished by such awful news. the magic of things like lovefest and love parade give me so much hope for this world, then you hear about news like yours that really makes me lose faith in humanity. it's good to see you're focusing on the positive, i'm sorry for your loss and grateful that you were still able to share this thread with us all. my condolences to your family, i hope you all get the closure and justice you deserve :\
gehzumteufel
Don, what a wonderful review and i am very very sorry to hear about your sister. this really brought back some memories that are similar. nice to know you can stay positive and go on with life. see you again soon! great pics btw!
Kfrogger
this is what i call a review. my heart goes out to you and your family.
-Simon
sweetcandy girl
wow that is an amazing review. Thank you so much for sharing your story and pictures! :D
in2muzikk
Thanks, everyone :) I have some videos too, but need to convert from AVI to MPEG4 to YouTube them (after all, Google paid 1.6 billion for it, guess it's good enough for my vids!)
Anyone know of some free, good, no-spyware software that would convert formats and maybe handle some minor editing? ...just in case anyone's made it through all 605 pictures from this review and still hasn't had enough! :D
DaveT
Just go download TMPGEnc and encode them to MPEG-1.
It's be MUCH faster than encoding to MPEG-4 and it'll do what you need for YouTube.
Thx for the tip, if MPEG1 works well, then I can probably use the Studio 9SE program that I already have. I thought that MPEG4 would be faster and better (guess advanced technology doesn't matter when the screen's 4 inches high...lol) If Studio doesn't work, then I'll try this converter program, and with any luck will have some vids ready soon! :)
rizen
quote:
Originally posted by in2muzikk
Thx for the tip, if MPEG1 works well, then I can probably use the Studio 9SE program that I already have. I thought that MPEG4 would be faster and better (guess advanced technology doesn't matter when the screen's 4 inches high...lol) If Studio doesn't work, then I'll try this converter program, and with any luck will have some vids ready soon! :)
most mpeg-4 video codecs should work but if you have the bandwidth then it doesn't really matter in what format you upload it so long that google/youtube's encoder supports it. in the end it gets converted to flash video w/ usually mp3 audio :)
gehzumteufel
quote:
Originally posted by rizen
most mpeg-4 video codecs should work but if you have the bandwidth then it doesn't really matter in what format you upload it so long that google/youtube's encoder supports it. in the end it gets converted to flash video w/ usually mp3 audio :)
its not converted to flash. they put it in a flash object so that its cross platform with playability and so that you dont need codecs.
rizen
quote:
Originally posted by gehzumteufel
its not converted to flash. they put it in a flash object so that its cross platform with playability and so that you dont need codecs.
you're right, i keep thinking flv equals flash, when it's just a different container for a/v.
gehzumteufel
quote:
Originally posted by rizen
you're right, i keep thinking flv equals flash, when it's just a different container for a/v.
