Love Parade

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Logo of the Love Parade
Berlin Love Parade 2006 at the Victory Column
Stage on Berliner Platz at the 2007 Love Parade in Essen

The Love Parade (also Love Parade or Love Parade ) was one of 1,989 held by 2010 Techno Parade with 1.6 million visitors in the year of 2008.

The event developed over the years from a small street parade of the West Berlin techno music scene, initially to an internationally exposed techno culture event and later to a mass spectacle and marketing event . The parade took place from 1989 to 2006 in Berlin and from 2007 to 2010 at different locations in the Ruhr area . It was not carried out in 2004, 2005 and 2009. Since the accident at the Love Parade 2010 in Duisburg, there have been no more events.

history

Dr. Moth at the 2005 Love Parade in Acapulco , Mexico

The first Love Parade was initiated in Berlin on July 1, 1989 by the techno disc jockey Matthias Roeingh (artist name Dr. Motte) and the multimedia artist Danielle de Picciotto . The parade was carried out as a registered political demonstration , for “Peace, Joy, Pancakes” (for peace: disarmament on all levels, especially between people; for joy: through dance and music as a means of understanding; pancakes: for a fair distribution of food in the world ).

The parade led - from the forecourt of the Zoo station - on the blocked right side of the Kurfürstendamm in the direction of Olivaer Platz . A blue VW bus with huge front speakers drove up ahead . A half-naked unicyclist with a feather boa around his shoulders stood out.

According to the organizers, the Loveparade grew from originally 150 participants to around 1.5 million visitors in 1999. Since the mid-1990s, the techno music scene had increasingly withdrawn from the event and initiated counter-events such as the Fuckparade . From the year 2000 the number of visitors in Berlin declined. In 2001 the Federal Constitutional Court revoked its demonstration status and classified it as a commercial event. After a break in 2004 and 2005, it took place again in Berlin in 2006 with a new organizer, Lopavent GmbH owned by entrepreneur Rainer Schaller , and a modified concept. Dr. Motte, who can be described as the founder, clearly distanced himself from this concept because the organizer only pursues monetary goals and represents material interests. According to the Berlin police, the parade attracted around 500,000 visitors. The Loveparade planned for July 7, 2007 was canceled by the organizer in February.

The organizer was looking for a new twin town across Europe and found it on June 15, 2007. The business development company metropoleruhr GmbH announced that the Love Parade would move to the Ruhr area for five years. According to the organizer's original statement, the event took place on August 25, 2007 with around 1.2 million visitors in Essen , and on July 19, 2008 with around 1.6 million visitors in Dortmund - the parade planned for 2009 in Bochum was canceled - and on July 24, 2010 in Duisburg with 1.4 million visitors. According to media reports, the organizer's internal papers show that the official number of visitors to the Love Parade has been massively incorrectly announced for years and has no relation to the actual number of visitors. The number of expected visitors was manipulatively tripled.

At the 19th Love Parade on July 24, 2010 in Duisburg , an accident occurred due to backlogs on the tunnel ramp , in which 21 people were killed, 16 of whom died directly at the scene of the accident. More than 500 visitors were injured during the entire event. The organizer of the Love Parade 2010, Rainer Schaller, announced the day after the accident that there would be no more Love Parade in the future.

1989–1995: The beginnings on Kurfürstendamm

The Franconia Love Truck on Wittenbergplatz , 1995

The idea for the first Love Parade came from Dr. Motte six weeks before, in front of a party location in Berlin-Kreuzberg . Under the motto peace, joy, pancakes , this was registered as a political demonstration and took place on July 1, 1989, the birthday of Dr. Mottes, instead. About 150 people are said to have participated. With the help of a generator and a system on three cars, they moved across Kurfürstendamm . The afterparty of the first Love Parade took place in the UFO , the first acid house club in Berlin. Dr. That evening, however, Motte played in his regular club, the Turbine Rosenheim.

In the following year, the number of participants increased to around 2,000 people, which, in addition to the word of mouth by the participants from the previous year, was due to the interest of the young people from the former East Berlin , who had the opportunity to take part in the event for the first time because of the fall of the Berlin Wall .

In May 1991 the journalist Jürgen Laarmann became part of the event team and worked on turning the Love Parade into a national event. On a poster designed by Laarman, the official logo designed by the graphic artist Alexander Branczyk was shown with a heart for the first time . The 1991 Love Parade had the motto "My House Is Your House And Your House Is Mine" and was attended by around 6000 people. It is considered to be the first supraregional meeting of the various nationwide techno scenes. For the first time, scene activists from several cities traveled to Berlin to present their regional techno culture, which resulted in the first networks and a nationwide exchange of young techno culture . Groups from Frankfurt am Main and Cologne took part with their own car. With the car that Westbam and Marusha performed, a larger truck with a more powerful sound system took part in the Love Parade for the first time, as did a film team that made recordings for Westbam's music video for the track I Can't Stop . With the growth of the parade and the professionalization of some groups, an internal discourse began about commercialization and the departure from original ideals. The event was dubbed the “German Summer of Love ” by the music broadcaster MTV . In 1992 the "Frankfurt Posse" chartered a special train from Frankfurt to Berlin, the so-called "Love Train". 15 music cars competed this year. For the first time, the event was also reported nationwide in the Tagesschau . In 1993, an increasing number of people came from abroad. The Low Spirit music label helped organize the parade.

The Soviet tank organized by DJ Tanith , which he had borrowed from the Kunsthaus Tacheles and on which he appeared with a scepter with a skull , is considered to be defining for the Love Parade in 1994, at which 40 cars started .

In 1995 Love Parade GmbH was founded by the partners Jürgen Laarmann , William Röttger , Dr. Motte, Sandra Mollzahl and Ralf Regitz founded. The company exploited the trademark rights to the event and was responsible for the implementation and acquisition of financial resources through sponsorship, media partnerships and the sale of its own merchandising products. The parade was initially registered for July 1st. The registration stated: “With this demonstration we want to demonstrate for an undivided peace around the world. In particular, we demand an immediate ceasefire in Bosnia, Chechnya and Mexico. ”However, Christopher Street Day had already been registered for this day in Berlin and the city was expecting significantly higher numbers of tourists due to the wrapping of the Reichstag by the artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude . The event team then suggested July 8th and held talks with the city, which requested a submitted security concept and a concept for avoiding waste. Since the Love Parade was previously registered as a demonstration, the city has so far borne the costs for the garbage disposal. With the growth of the event and the associated rising waste disposal costs, the then Interior Senator Dieter Heckelmann ( CDU ) wanted to revoke the event's demonstration status. However, the demand was not supported by other members of the Senate. The police chief announced on May 24th that the Loveparade would be denied permission. The organizers filed an objection and an administrative complaint. The co-organizer William Röttger announced at a press conference that if necessary he would go to court “for the freedom of the right to demonstrate” and “obtain an injunction”. The process developed into the political issue of the upcoming parliamentary elections . On June 6th, the organizers met with representatives of the Senate, the police and the road traffic department. Approval was promised. The organizers presented a multi-page garbage disposal concept and postponed the start of the parade from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in order to accommodate the “AG City” dealer community. After the Love Parade in the previous year, this had raised concerns about a drop in sales.

More and more clubs and labels took part with their own love mobiles ("floats"). The cigarette brand Camel sponsored the event. Several participants climbed the traffic signs and street lamps, which the city tried to prevent in the years that followed by attaching protective grids and applying slip agents. Increasingly perceived as a problem, this year the illegal sale of beverages by hawkers and the associated increase in waste. In addition to the actual parade, a supporting program with raves was offered. The RBB broadcast live from the Love Parade for several hours on the day of the event. The moderator Anne Will reported live on site for the SFB .

1996–2000: Development into a major event at the Victory Column

Liveact N-SON-X on the Franconia Love Truck, 1996
Lovers at the Berlin Love Parade 1999

With the increasing number of visitors in the past year, the protests of residents and business people on Kurfürstendamm, which turned out to be too narrow for the event, grew. In addition, the side streets next to the parade route were overcrowded. Since the parade as a mass event had become an institution and an economic factor for the city, an alternative route was sought for 1996. While the organizers wanted to run the parade across the street Unter den Linden , the new Berlin Senate spoke out in favor of the route from Alexanderplatz via Karl-Marx-Allee to Berlin-Friedrichshain , because the protection of the Unter den Linden lies and only recently renovated monuments cannot be guaranteed. The organizers, however, did not want to be “pushed to the edge of the city” and also discussed moving the event to Frankfurt am Main, which was partly understood as a threat to the Senate. On April 10, however, an agreement was reached on a route from Ernst-Reuter-Platz via the Victory Column to just before the Brandenburg Gate and back to the Victory Column. The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation criticized the route through the Great Zoo because they saw the fauna and flora there impaired. The then district mayor Jörn Jensen (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen) criticized the lack of agreements and the district's expected high costs for the subsequent clean-up work in the zoo. Only the local security authorities, like the former Loveparade production manager Angelo Plate 2019 in the documentary Loveparade - When love learned to dance retrospectively explained, were extremely satisfied with the organizational conditions around the Victory Column, as the crowd of visitors in the event of danger or disaster in all Directions to the open, green zoo could have escaped freely, there were hardly any fixed obstacles.

Around a hundred organizations had applied in advance to participate with a truck. 40 trucks were ultimately able to take part. According to the organizers' specifications, their sound systems should be limited to an output of 15,000 watts. Because of the arrival of around 600,000 to 750,000 visitors, there were traffic obstructions in the city and on the highways. While only actors from within the scene had previously participated in the parade, this year a car with the motto “Rave for Christ”, a car owned by students from Humboldt University who demonstrated against financial cuts in the university sector, and a car from the environmental organization Greenpeace participated. MTV broadcast the event and was also represented with its own car. The start of the parade was delayed because the trucks couldn't get through the crowd. For the first time, a final rally with a speech by Dr. Motte took place, as well as performances by various DJs on a stage set up for this purpose. For this purpose, the sound systems were connected to one another with a special radio frequency so that the sound could be transmitted at the same time. Dr. In his speech, Motte called for peace and international understanding through music.

The parade always had a comparatively low number of arrests and injuries for an event of this size. The fewer than 100 arrests were always related to offenses such as open drug trafficking. The injured often suffered from cardiovascular breakdowns due to drug use or summer heat. However, there were also problems with the Love Parade on the new route. The garbage problem, the faecal contamination of the zoo and the increasing commercialization of the event caused controversy. The operators of the wagons had to meet ever stricter official requirements.

In September 1996, the Love Parade was registered for July 12, 1997 and confirmed by the Senate Administration in February 1997. The district generally rejected the planned route through the zoo in advance, referring to damage in the zoo and the associated costs. Alternative suggestions were again rejected by the organizers for security reasons. “Save our planet” was initially planned as the motto, which was later changed to “Let the sun shine in your heart”. Based on the experiences of the previous year and the trucks stuck in the crowd, the train was split up. Supporters from the gabber scene and from Club Bunker split off from the Love Parade this year. With the "Hateparade" they organized their own street demonstration, which was continued from 1998 under the name Fuckparade . No sponsors were allowed there and, in addition to music, the focus was on political messages. The reasons for the split lay mainly in the increasing commercialization of the techno movement, especially the parade, as well as in the closure of the bunker. The actual Love Parade grew into a mass event with up to 1.5 million visitors (according to the organizers) in 1999. This year, for the first time, a person was killed at the event. The 27-year-old, who wanted to settle an argument between two men, was stabbed with a knife. The masses of people even brought Berlin with its well-developed infrastructure and the local recreation area in the Berlin Tiergarten in distress and the voices in the population calling for a relocation to less populated areas of the city were fought in the Senate of Berlin with economic arguments, so that in the end the parade was repeatedly approved under changed conditions. From June 1998 to June 2000 DJ Disko was press spokesman for the Love Parade. In the following year, the criticism of rubbish and excrement from visitors to the zoo moved even more into the focus of the public debate. A citizens' initiative was also founded against the zoo as an event location.

The Love Parade 2000 took place under the motto “One World One Love Parade”. Dr. Motte ended it with a “speech” that consisted only of the two sentences “Back to the Roots. Our world is sound ”consisted. In addition, he bowed in each direction and produced sounds with a South Sea shell, into which he blew four times. The second sentence of his comment was partly misunderstood acoustically as “Our world is sick”. The performance sometimes met with incomprehension in the scene. In 2018 Motte explained in a podcast with Jürgen Laarmann that they had chosen the shell as the “oldest musical instrument on the planet” in order to refer to the roots of man and the transition “from primitive cult to culture”. He also referred to the book of the same name by Hans Cousto.

2001–2003: revocation as demonstration status

Dancer at the Love Parade 2007

The Love Parade 2001 could not take place on the scheduled date on July 14, 2001, because conservationists of the citizens' initiative, which campaigned against the zoo as an event location, had registered a demonstration at the same time. The Love Parade therefore took place a week later - which led to considerable additional costs. In addition, both the Love Parade and the Fuck Parade were no longer recognized as political demonstrations . The Federal Constitutional Court confirmed this in an urgent procedure on July 12, 2001. As a result, the organizers had to pay for the cleaning and the safety of the participants themselves. This was difficult for the organizers because, on the one hand, they wanted to forego large-scale advertising on the vehicles and, on the other, more and more sponsors refrained from participating.

The 2002 parade was themed Access Peace .

The record labels were forced to cancel their participation in the Love Parade due to falling revenues. Equipping a vehicle with technology, security and logistics for the parade cost around 50,000 euros. Only the participation of the Berlin exhibition company made the event possible in 2003. In return, the ravers on the route were hosted by the Berlin fair. Increased surveillance of black marketeers as well as fencing in sensitive green areas in the zoo supplemented the measures of the Love Parade in 2003 and angered many visitors.

2004–2005: default and bankruptcy

In the absence of sponsors, the parade was canceled for the first time in 2004. The organizers were missing more than half a million euros, mainly for waste disposal. At the end of 2004 Fabian Lenz also resigned as managing director of Love Parade GmbH. In 2005 the organizers canceled the parade again due to financial problems.

In 2004, instead, a week-long Love Week took place, during which several discos organized special events. In addition, the trendy magazine Partysan organized a demonstration for the preservation of the Love Parade on July 10th of that year under the motto Fight The Power , which partly led over the old parade route on Kurfürstendamm. According to the organizers, around 20,000 people took part in this parade; According to the Handelsblatt, 7,500 ravers took part.

The company Planetcom GmbH filed for bankruptcy at the Charlottenburg district court in September 2005 , which was rejected on November 29, 2005 due to lack of assets. The financially troubled Planetcom GmbH was saved from being deleted from the commercial register through the entry of the fitness studio chain McFit .

2006: New start with another organizer

Loveparade 2006 at the Victory Column

At a press conference on February 21, 2006, Loveparade Berlin GmbH announced the return of the Love Parade on July 15, 2006. So the Love Parade took place again after a two-year break. The motto of this Love Parade was The Love is Back . In 2006, not only techno but the entire spectrum of electronic music was represented, as the Loveparade originally planned in 2003 for the years 2004 and 2005. The final rally took place without Dr. Motte, who did not agree with the concept of co-determination on the part of the Internet community regarding car selection and other innovations. Dr. Motte then supported the Fuckparade with a speech.

The main sponsor McFit contributed a sum of three million euros to the main costs. The Love Parade was as a marketing tool part of the marketing strategy of the gym - company . The parade had introduced various innovations with the money. For the first time, the costs for the provision and installation of the 38 music trucks (“floats”) that took part in the train were borne by Loveparade Berlin GmbH . Regardless of their financial strength, all members of the club culture had the same opportunities to present themselves. The sponsors rented individual cars from the organizer and made them available to the clubs or DJs. The design of the trucks was the responsibility of the participating club culture carriers and the respective sponsors.

In return, the advertising space on the trucks for the sponsors was enlarged somewhat in 2006 ; a third of the space was available to sponsors and two thirds to club culture providers. The main sponsor presented itself visually on two floats. In addition, the ravers could vote on the Internet about the participation of the DJs, clubs and club culture bearers with 50 percent weighting and not only evaluate them after the event, as before. The other 50 percent of the weighting was determined by a float committee made up of various experts from the electronic dance music scene without sponsors.

2007–2009: move to the Ruhr area

Moguai during the final rally of the 2007 Love Parade in Essen
The stage of the Love Parade 2007 on Berliner Platz

On January 4, 2007, the managing director of Loveparade GmbH , Rainer Schaller, stated that he requested July 7, 2007 as the event date for the parade. It should take place a week earlier than in previous years. However, on February 21, the event was canceled because, according to the organizers, there was no written approval from the Berlin Senate and the necessary planning security was not given. In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Schaller mentioned that he is the managing director of the largest fitness chain in Germany and that the mayor has no time for him. He lacks a commitment to the Love Parade. However, he expressed confidence that a parade could be held in an alternative European city in 2007. Among other things, the city of Cologne had already started negotiations, which offered themselves with reference to many years of experience with large public events. The cities of Stuttgart and Leipzig as well as the Ruhr area with Essen and Dortmund were also in discussion .

On June 21, 2007, the operator and the business development company Metropoleruhr GmbH announced the city of Essen as the first event location in the Ruhr area. The LP should take place for 2007 to 2011 in Essen, Dortmund, Bochum, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen.

The 17th Love Parade took place on August 25, 2007 in Essen.

On July 19, 2008, the 18th Love Parade was held in Dortmund on the Rheinlanddamm . On a two-kilometer section of Bundesstrasse 1 , 37 music trucks (“floats”) made their circles, for the first time with a Turkish truck called “Turkish Delights”. The motto of this Love Parade was Highway to Love . The route led to the Dortmund Westfalenhallen on the parking areas there, where the final rally took place.

At around 5:30 p.m., Mayor Gerhard Langemeyer announced an estimated number of 1.6 million visitors and participants on the sidelines of the event . The number of 1.6 million participants was confirmed by the organizers and the police. A research project that examined the number of visitors to the Love Parade in Essen and Dortmund came to the conclusion that the official estimates were far too high and only 850,000 people were out during the day.

  • Visitors to the Love Parade 2008

  • Lovemobile at the Love Parade 2008

  • Crowds under the federal highway 54

  • Closing rally

The Love Parade 2009 originally planned in Bochum was canceled on January 14, 2009. The main reason for the cancellation of the techno event was the insufficient capacity of Bochum's main train station . The city announced that it did not have the requirements to cope with the onslaught of several 100,000 visitors. Until recently, there was also no suitable route for the major event in Bochum.

The then police chief Thomas Wenner was instrumental in the cancellation . To defend himself against the public allegations, Wenner wrote an open letter in January 2009:

“What do politicians and journalists think when they see the Ruhr Metropolis as a monstrance of their popularity when it comes to the responsibility of those who, as public officials, are personally liable for the consequences of their actions? Who have to guarantee public safety with their actions? Who know the narrowness of the event space and the dysfunctionality of the incoming and outgoing flows, who know that there have already been tricky situations in this regard in Dortmund? You know that a large part of the up to 1.5 million young participants will be heavily under the influence of alcohol and drugs and who can imagine the effects of panic among so many people under such circumstances in such a small space without being blinded by self-importance? All just insignificant sacrifices for the Ruhr Metropolis?
A metropolis that as such has no responsible actors at all, because politics has not created any conditions for this. Those who take manifest security concerns so little seriously, even though they are overt, should stay away from responsibility instead of beating up on those who are aware of their responsibility and who face it. We all know that it is the same people who, for example in nuclear power or genetic engineering, know exactly that everything that can happen will also happen and who, when it has happened, are the first to point pharisee in a pharisee manner to the irresponsible people in charge, to whom it will then The dock does little to help rant about the Ruhr Metropolis. The objective facts and their knowledge and will are then held up to them, nothing else, because that's how responsibility works. Rightly, as a constant reminder, to protect the physical integrity and life of entrusted people as well as possible, even if the fun factor falls by the wayside. Survival is more important [...] "

Wenner was retired against his will in the same year.

2010: misfortune and the end of the event

On April 16, 2010 it was announced that the financing of the Love Parade in Duisburg was secured. Part of the refinancing of municipal costs, which were discussed intensively for several months, was also a call for support from the city of Duisburg. For the first time, it was an event in a fenced area. On July 24, 2010, the Love Parade took place on the site of the former Duisburg freight depot near the main train station under the motto The Art of Love . Before and after the Love Parade, aircraft bombs were found and defused on the site of the former freight station, with appropriate security zones being set up and residents being evacuated. For the first time, visitors could not come from different directions to the event route or their destination, but ultimately all had to use a ramp as an entrance and exit.

The Love Parade was considered to be one of the most important and largest events for RUHR.2010 as part of the celebrations for the European Capital of Culture year, even if it was not supported financially or organizationally by its organizers.

Accident at the Love Parade 2010

At around 5 p.m. there was a crush in the entrance area to the event site, which, according to the Duisburg public prosecutor's office, resulted in a total of 21 fatalities and at least 652 injured, including around 40 seriously injured. After the accident, the event continued until 11 p.m. in order to avoid possible panic in the event of a sudden termination. On July 11, 2011, the press announced that the public prosecutor's office said that the approval for the Love Parade 2010 was unlawful.

The Love Parade after the accident

On July 25, 2010, the organizer Rainer Schaller announced during a press conference that the Love Parade would no longer be continued in the future. In 2011 the Love Parade should take place in Gelsenkirchen . The accident had seriously damaged the reputation of Schaller and McFit. The company crashed in the brand monitor and suffered economic losses.

At a press conference on March 6, 2012 in Berlin, the B-Parade was announced as a follow -up event for July 21, 2012. As in previous years, the intended event was to take place on Straße des 17. Juni starting from the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The concept presented at the press conference explicitly took environmental protection and waste avoidance into account. As in previous years , the B-Parade announced for 2012 was canceled. An overview article on the cancellations by Sebastian Leber since 2008 was published in the Tagesspiegel on July 15, 2012 under the heading Phenomenon B-Parade: Much nothing instead of noise .

Since 2015 there has been a new, larger techno parade in Berlin: on July 25, 2015, the first train of love passed through the city. The Zug der Liebe does not see itself as the successor to the Love Parade, but more as a political demonstration that should set an example for more compassion, charity and social commitment.

In January 2020, Matthias Roeingh, the initiator of the first Love Parades, announced the goal of using a fundraising model together with Rave The Planet gGmbH, which he co-founded, to bring the parade back to Berlin in the following year with old traditions, albeit under a different name.

The first Rave the Planet Parade has been officially registered as a demonstration for July 10, 2021.

organization

Rainer Schaller at a press conference in the run-up to the Love Parade 2010 in Duisburg

The owner of the Loveparade brand is Love Parade Berlin GmbH . The organizer of the Loveparade, which is free for visitors, was Lopavent GmbH (formerly: PlanetCom GmbH ).

Rainer Schaller was the new managing director and co-partner of the two companies since January 2006. He was also the main sponsor of the 2006 Love Parade with his fitness chain McFit .

The business purpose of Love Parade Berlin GmbH was to protect the brand name Loveparade , which is legally protected in various countries, and to market it under license. Former shareholders were Matthias Roeingh (Dr. Motte), Ralf Regitz , Sandra Molzahn, William Röttger and Andreas Scheuermann. Since October 31, 2006, Rainer Schaller has been the sole owner and managing director of Love Parade Berlin GmbH , while the former co-shareholders left (through share purchases and takeovers).

The original organizer of the Love Parade was the Planetcom company . Planetcom had signed a contract with the Berlin Senate to hold the Love Parade until 2006. The use of the Strasse des 17. Juni was then renegotiated; Since November 2005, the Senate has received proposals from the competition parade “B-parade / Berlin Dance Parade” for the years 2009 up to and including 2020 for a parade on the second weekend in July. The successor company to Planetcom was Lopavent GmbH , whose managing director and owner is Rainer Schaller. He had taken Planetcom GmbH out of the existing bankruptcy in order to rename it.

criticism

Commercialization

Critics accused the organizers of a commercialized sale. For example, the television broadcasting rights were sold to the private broadcaster RTL II . The approximately eight-hour live broadcast was integrated into a broadcast format that distorted the techno event . Other compensations by the organizers, such as the sound system, were also criticized. The broadcaster Free Berlin broadcast with Gotthilf Fischer as moderator of the Love Parade, whose involuntary drug use made the headlines.

The event attracted black market traders who sometimes sold poor quality food, whistles or T-shirts with fake Love Parade logos . The black market decreased in 2006 due to the fencing in of the site. Larger companies, such as Lego , used the parade as a PR motif for their products or benefited from the influx of visitors to the catering trade .

Since the mid-1990s it had become more time-consuming to raise the fees and licenses for your own sound mobile yourself. In the end, some clubs, labels and DJs often only gave their names to the cars because they were barely able to meet the safety requirements, license fees and requirements of some sponsors. The entire appearance was determined by special agencies. These advertising spaces were sold to various sponsors in the highest bidding . Often the sponsors not only determined the visual appearance, but also influenced a sound that was as mass-compatible as possible. Hardly any ravers danced on the wagons , but professional go-go girls . Other car spaces were given to business partners or sold.

Right to demonstrate

Critics accused the Love Parade of abusing the right to demonstrate under the Assembly Act . The public was suspicious not only of the apparent lack of a political statement - in the opinion of the Federal Constitutional Court, such a statement is now a prerequisite for a gathering - but also the business activities surrounding the Love Parade. It was a demonstration that was organized by companies founded for this purpose and, thanks to a registered brand name, was supported by license fees. This included the sale of fan merchandise and CDs, participation fees for vehicles, stall fees for street vendors and transmission fees for television stations - this was done on public property during a public opinion poll. On the other hand, the Love Parade transferred six-figure costs to the city of Berlin for the use of the police, rescue services and cleaning staff until 2001.

In 2001, this question was provisionally decided by the Berlin Higher Administrative Court , confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court , and the Loveparade's assembly status was "revoked". In contrast to the Fuckparade, according to the judgment, it can be assumed that the Love Parade is not a demonstration or a gathering within the meaning of the Assembly Act.

Garbage and pollution

In the Senate of Berlin and among the local public there were disputes (including with the Berlin Zoo ) from 1998 to 2001 because of the impact on the state of the zoo as a recreational area for the city's population. The economic interests of the city of Berlin as well as a changed organization ultimately made it possible to carry out the event again and again.

The costs for the garbage collection along the route and around the Victory Column , as well as the restoration of the green areas after damage by the participants and the necessity caused by them after the events, were borne by the general public until the status of the parade changed. The income of the public sector from the turnover of the Berlin hotel and restaurant businesses was compared and discussed against the additional costs of the consequences.

Since it was classified as a commercial event, the Love Parade has borne the garbage collection costs itself. A bonus for the employees of the Berlin city cleaning company was a Love Parade shirt with an annually changing print:

  • 1999: "We kehr for you."
  • 2003: "Forensic evidence."
  • 2006: “The Love is back. The BSR too. "
  • 2008: "Look at my broom, little one."

Participant structure

Due to the increasing number of participants, a shift in the participant structure was inevitable. While, on the one hand, the originally meaningful techno movement continued to retreat, tourists and onlookers from outside the scene appeared in Berlin who were neither techno music fans nor who knew the dance culture of the techno scene and its communication and behavioral habits. This drove many fans of the Love Parade to smaller raves and techno parades like the Fuck Parade .

reception

International Love Parade

In other cities around the world, several other major techno events were organized under the same Loveparade label . The Love Parade was celebrated annually in Buenos Aires (better known as the Buenos Aires Energy Parade), Tel Aviv , Cape Town , Vienna , Mexico City , San Francisco or Santiago de Chile . The motto was always the same as in Berlin. Furthermore, the Love Parade has inspired many organizers to start their own techno parade , which is why it is known as the "mother of parades". Today, the mostly much smaller parades - with the exception of the Street Parade in Zurich, which also has up to a million participants - are spread all over the world.

Two women at the Love Parade in Tel Aviv (2004)

Other events very similar to the Love Parade are and were:

As an alternative to the Love Parade, the Fuckparade in Berlin, which still takes place today, was created in 1997. As a counter- parade to the Street Parade, the anti- parade has been held in Zurich on the same day since 1996 . There were also Love Parades in Vienna until 2006. In addition, the Freeparade took place annually from 2007 to 2010 (previously the Free Republic Parade from 2001 to 2004 ). This was a registered demonstration parade through the city with anti-capitalist and anti- repressive demands. It was designed to be completely non-commercial, was attended by around 5,000 participants and accompanied by around 15 sound system cars playing electronic music, mostly from the Freetekno spectrum.

List of Love Parades

Since the first event, the Love Parade has always had a motto. Since 1997, a song has been produced and released as an anthem for the parade. The German DJ WestBam was involved in the production ten times .

date motto Interpreter anthem Venue Number of visitors
July 1, 1989 Peace, joy and pancakes Berlin 150
July 7, 1990 The Future Is Ours 2 000
July 6, 1991 My House Is Your House And Your House Is Mine 6 000
4th July 1992 The Worldwide Party People Weekend 15 000
3rd July 1993 Fifth Anniversary 30 000
2nd July 1994 The Spirit Makes You Move 120 000
July 8, 1995 Peace on Earth AWeX It's our future 300 000
July 13, 1996 We Are One Family 750 000
July 12, 1997 Let the Sunshine In Your Heart (originally planned: Save our Planet) Dr. Motte & WestBam Sunshine 1 000 000
July 11, 1998 One World One Future Love Parade 1998 1 100 000
July 10, 1999 Music Is The Key Music Is The Key 1 500 000
July 8, 2000 One World One Love Parade Love Parade 2000 1 300 000
July 21, 2001 Join the Love Republic The Love Committee You Can't Stop Us 1 000 000
July 13, 2002 Access Peace Access Peace 750 000
July 12, 2003 Love Rules Love Rules 500 000
2004 -
2005 -
July 15, 2006 The Love Is Back WestBam & The Love Committee United States Of Love Berlin 1 200 000
Aug 25, 2007 Love Is Everywhere Love Is Everywhere eat estimated: 400 000
official: 1,200,000
July 19, 2008 Highway To Love Highway To Love Dortmund estimated: 500 000
official: 1,600,000
2009 -
July 24, 2010 The Art Of Love Anthony Rother Meets Love Parade The Art Of Love Duisburg estimated (maximum): 285 000

Movies

Web links

Commons : Loveparade  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Love Parade  - Quotes
Wiktionary: Loveparade  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c We couldn't do anything more . In: Der Spiegel . No. 31 , 2010, p. 21 ( online ).
  2. ↑ a b c Dr. Motte : We thundered our sound into town . In: one day , July 1, 2009; Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  3. ↑ Nina Apin: Dr. Motte on the anniversary of the Love Parade: "We wanted this happiness" . In: taz . June 28, 2014 ( taz.de [accessed October 5, 2018]).
  4. ↑ @aram: Jürgen Laarmann: "The anger against Berlin is understandable". In: FAZ.net . July 20, 2001, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  5. ↑ @koe, with material from AP: Loveparade 2001 ended with a 1.5 million deficit. In: FAZ.net . July 22, 2001. Retrieved February 12, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Simone Utler: Love Parade Trickserei: The wondrous shrinkage of the 1.4 million. In: Spiegel Online . July 31, 2010, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  7. ↑ David Schraven : Numbers of participants for the Love Parade were falsified , online portal DerWesten, July 29, 2010
  8. ↑ Love Parade disaster - grief, anger and calls for resignation. In: sueddeutsche.de . July 30, 2010, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Our sympathy goes to the relatives of the 19 victims and the numerous injured ... ( Memento from July 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Police Duisburg. Joint press release by the public prosecutor and the police on the Love Parade in Duisburg, July 25, 2010, 3:51 pm; Retrieved July 30, 2010.
    Status of injured persons . ( Memento from July 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Police Duisburg. Joint press release by the public prosecutor and the police on the Love Parade in Duisburg, July 26, 2010, 2:52 pm; Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  10. ↑ rtl.de found at RTL.de, accessed on November 26, 2019.
  11. ^ Loveparade: The story - from Berlin to Duisburg. In: RP Online. Retrieved October 5, 2018 .
  12. ↑ When love learned to dance . In: Die Zeit , No. 27/2009
  13. ↑ Eva Kalwa: Suddenly there was a party every day. In: tagesspiegel.de . November 8, 2009, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  14. ↑ a b c d e Our moments: Loveparade - When love learned to dance. Retrieved January 4, 2020 .
  15. ↑ a b Love Parade 2002: Love Parade 1989-1993. Retrieved January 4, 2020 .
  16. ↑ We call it Techno , Documentation 2008
  17. ^ Tear Down This Wall: Reunification and the Explosion of Techno in Berlin. Retrieved January 4, 2020 .
  18. ↑ When the Frankfurt Posse took the Love Train to Berlin - pictures from the 1992 Love Parade. Accessed January 4, 2020 (English).
  19. ↑ With the Frankfurt Posse in the Love Train to the Love Parade 1992. Accessed on January 4, 2020 (German).
  20. ↑ a b c d Erik Meyer: The Techno-Scene - A youth cultural phenomenon from a social science perspective . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2000, ISBN 978-3-322-95145-8 .
  21. ^ Raoul Kranz: Tanith: Charts From The Past (May 1994). In: Groove. May 15, 2019, accessed on January 4, 2020 (German).
  22. ↑ Topic of the week 19: Tanith at the Love Parade. Accessed January 4, 2020 (German).
  23. ↑ Techno, march! Retrieved January 4, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Documentary: Our Moments Loveparade - When love learned to dance , director: Peter Scholl, 89 minutes, 2019, production management: rbb (Rainer Baumert), editing: Rolf Bergmann and Tim Evers, a production by solo: film GmbH, Berlin, im Commissioned by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
  25. ↑ Love Parade: Death at the Victory Column: The knife from 1999 is still free. Retrieved January 4, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Daniel Bier on LinkedIn. In: linkedin.com. Retrieved November 12, 2016 .
  27. ↑ Citizens' initiative complains about the destruction of the zoo and calls for a new route. Retrieved January 4, 2020 .
  28. ^ After the Love Parade 2000: Bye bye, Ekstase (commentary) . In: Der Tagesspiegel Online . July 9, 2000, ISSN  1865-2263 ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed September 1, 2018]).
  29. ↑ capemerlin: Dr Motte auf Muschel Loveparade 2000 Our world is sound. January 25, 2014, accessed September 1, 2018 .
  30. ^ Love Parade: techno event finally canceled , laut.de, May 17, 2004.
  31. ↑ Love Parade: Are the bosses breaking up? laut.de, December 27, 2004
  32. ↑ a b Out for Berlin Love Parade. In: handelsblatt.com . April 21, 2005, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  33. ↑ McFit, Schaller
  34. ↑ Juan Moreno: Rainer Schaller, ... Retrieved on July 24, 2020 .
  35. ↑ Wirtschaftsförderung metropoleruhr GmbH ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), August 26, 2007
  36. ↑ Forever Progressive - Love Parade. Retrieved July 24, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Marcel Kröckel: Whose secrets were revealed? (PDF) In: uni-jena.de. 2011, accessed in 2020 .
  38. ↑ Video - 07/19/2008, Love Parade, Dortmund. Stadtleben GmbH, accessed on July 24, 2020 .
  39. ↑ Love Parade 2008 Berlin photos and videos. Retrieved July 24, 2020 .
  40. ↑ 1.6 million people at the Love Parade in Dortmund ( Memento from July 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on tagesschau.de
  41. ↑ Visitor numbers ( Memento from July 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) according to loveparade.de
  42. ↑ Love Parade: Techno Parade is peaceful and happy. In: Focus Online . July 20, 2008, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  43. ↑ Love Parade: Cheating on visitor record. A research project now revealed that only a good half of them were actually there. ( Memento from July 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) ruhrnachrichten.de, August 20, 2008, accessed on August 5, 2010.
  44. ↑ Love Parade: Dispute over number cheating . ruhrnachrichten.de, August 21, 2008; Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  45. ↑ The Love Parade is canceled completely this year. In: welt.de . January 15, 2009, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  46. ↑ Open letter: Why Bochum's police chief canceled the Love Parade. In: Spiegel Online . July 26, 2010, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  47. ↑ Police chief writes an open letter for the Love Parade. In: derwesten.de. January 23, 2009, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  48. ↑ Philipp Wahl: Finding bombs in Duisburg is almost routine for citizens and construction workers. In: DerWesten , Chronik, Duisburg, April 28, 2011
  49. ↑ Christian Schwerdtfeger: Love Parade in Duisburg - Bomb discovery on the techno slope . tonight.de, June 9, 2010
  50. ↑ Doubts about the safety concept of the Love Parade ( memento of July 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), tagesschau.de of July 25, 2010.
    The otherwise public underpass along Karl-Lehr-Strasse was closed to public traffic on this day for this purpose .
  51. ↑ Loveparade criminal proceedings: Anonymized charge. (PDF) lg-duisburg.nrw.de, December 12, 2017, p. 2.
  52. ↑ Sources, evidence and further details in the main article
  53. ↑ Event illegal . bild.de ; Retrieved July 11, 2011.
  54. ↑ Love Parade . At rtl.de , accessed on July 24, 2020.
  55. ↑ Christian Teevs: Love Parade organizer Schaller: The catastrophe and the man from McFit. In: Der Spiegel . Retrieved July 24, 2020 .
  56. ^ F. Seidlitz: Fitness chain: Loveparade drama ruined the reputation of McFit . In: The world . August 3, 2010 ( welt.de [accessed July 24, 2020]).
  57. ^ Press conference on March 6, 2012 in Berlin , b-parade.de
  58. ↑ Phenomenon B-Parade: Much nothing instead of noise. In: tagesspiegel.de , July 15, 2012, accessed on July 24, 2020.
  59. ^ "Train of Love": Techno Parade rises in Berlin in July. berlin.de
  60. ↑ Train of Love ( Memento from August 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  61. ↑ Dr. Motte wants to start the new Love Parade in Berlin. Retrieved July 26, 2020 .
  62. ↑ The new Love Parade is to take place on July 10, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2020 .
  63. ↑ Gotthilf Fischer in ecstasy intoxication. In: Der Spiegel. July 22, 2000.
  64. ↑ Federal Constitutional Court: Love Parade is just kidding. In: Spiegel Online . July 12, 2001. Retrieved September 25, 2019 .
  65. ↑ 96 bpm - The Love Parade 2002. (PDF) In: berlinale.de. Retrieved February 3, 2018 .
  66. ↑ Chaos is predictable . In: VDI nachrichten , Düsseldorf, July 30, 2010, No. 30/31, p. 3.
  67. ↑ In general, the information provided by the organizers applies. In particular, the official number of participants for 2007 and 2008 could be greatly exaggerated due to marketing interests.
  68. ^ Ilona Bublitz, Cornelius Ballin: Love Parade Story 89-99; O-tones of a movement; People, makers and stories - in front of and behind the scenes of the biggest party in the world ... S-und-L-Mediencontor, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-89769-022-5 (German first edition).
  69. ↑ High number of visitors supposedly just a marketing ploy. In: handelsblatt.com . August 14, 2010, accessed February 12, 2015 .