A good 20 years ago, techno fans from all over the world danced across the Straße des 17. Juni under the flag of the Love Parade for the last time. After that, Dr. Moth the brand, it's been ruined since 2010. Now the Berlin party veteran is returning with a new techno move and high goals.
Matthias Roeingh aka Dr. Motte is considered the founding father of the legendary Love Parade, which celebrated its launch on a small scale on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm in 1989 and soon became a mass phenomenon. Two years ago, the now 61-year-old announced a new parade with an idea similar to the one back then, but then the corona pandemic got in the way of him and "Rave the Planet". At the beginning of July it should finally be ready. At a press conference, he and his team explained what the techno-enthusiastic visitors can expect that Saturday.
When around 500,000 techno fans danced across the Straße des 17. Juni to the music of the Love Floats in July 2003, the end of the Love Parade was already in sight. The finances were no longer right from the moment that the internationally renowned open-air party was revoked its demonstration status. From then on, the garbage disposal was the responsibility of the organizer and no longer a problem for the city of Berlin. The Love Parade was canceled for two years.
Then the Loveparade Berlin GmbH sold the brand - with a heavy heart - to Rainer Schaller, owner of the fitness chain McFit, who took the idea to the Ruhr Metropolis after another rather meager year in Berlin. After parades in Essen and Dortmund and a much-ridiculed cancellation by the city of Bochum in 2009, disaster finally struck in Duisburg the following year. 21 people died in a mass panic - and with them the idea of the Love Parade.
Those responsible for this debacle got away with largely unpunished in a ridiculous trial. Desperate relatives, sad techno fans and a fallow brand were left behind, which of course no one wants to touch anymore. Although dr Motte and his team had absolutely nothing to do with this event, it broke his heart at the time. His life's work has been on the ground ever since, destroyed by the greed, unreasonableness and irresponsibility of people from the world of business and politics.
But Matthias Roeingh would not be Dr. Motte, wouldn't he continue to fight tirelessly for techno culture and now start again from scratch - with the expertise of around 30 years in the parade business. He has always been concerned with peacefully uniting people from all over the world in their enthusiasm for techno. In times like these, a goal that is as noble as it is laudable. Only the pandemic stopped him and his team, which includes wife Ellen Dosch-Roeingh and lawyer Timm Zeiss, from taking their new parade "Rave the Planet" to the streets. But now it should finally start - and continue in the coming years. Under the title "Together Again" they want to meet again for the first time on July 9, 2022 in Berlin to demonstrate for love and peace to electronic music.
At the press conference in a hotel in Berlin-Schoeneberg, Roeingh explained not only the motto itself but also the seven demands, some of which are certainly quite ambitious. Accordingly, electronic music culture should be "recognized as a cultural asset to be protected" and "equal to all other, established cultural forms and institutions". In addition, the non-profit organization calls for the "unconditional basic income for artists and cultural workers" and the "abolition of the ban on dancing on Christian holidays". Roeingh is certain that if God existed, it would delight in seeing people dancing peacefully side by side.
A little more absurd than that is certainly the demand that a "day of electronic dance music culture" be introduced as a new, public holiday on the second Saturday in July - the legendary Love Parade day. So be it. When the parade starts on the Kurfürstendamm at 2 p.m. that Saturday and travels a seven-kilometer route to the Brandenburg Gate, this pious wish is to be announced every hour with the other six from the 18 registered floats. There will also be speeches by guests such as left-wing politician Caren Lay, spokeswoman for club politics in the German Bundestag, and techno veteran and safe operator Dimitri Hegemann, as well as, of course, electronic music from a total of more than 150 DJs.
According to the Facebook event, more than 60,000 people are interested in the event, but Roeingh and his team are assuming 25,000 visitors for the time being, but are well prepared for more, as they emphasize. Because, of course, one looks from many sides with eagle eyes at the safety of such a major event, where there are no fences, gates or entry restrictions. Everything is taken into account, and alternative routes are also available should the rush increase significantly, as Dosch-Roeingh and Zeiss assured at the press conference.
In addition to safety, sustainability and environmental protection should also be a top priority. Those responsible for "Rave the Planet" are urging the revelers to refrain from bringing plastic in any form and to use refillable containers, for example. Glitter, which was so popular with partygoers in the 90s and which pollutes the environment as microplastics, is also undesirable. Those who don't completely sink into the club events that take place after the parade or who still feel fit enough afterwards are also asked to appear on Sunday from 11 a.m. for the communal clean-up along the route. Exercise is supposed to help with hangovers too...
All in all, you can Dr. We can only admire Motte and Co. for their optimism and tireless fight for electronic music culture. It is also a "look into the crystal ball" for them, as Dosch-Roeingh emphasizes, when it comes to the acceptance of this event in times of Corona and the Ukraine war. But maybe it's exactly these two depressing parameters that make "Rave the Planet - Together Again" a hit in 2022. Because love and peace are probably not only in Dr. Motte's eyes are the only thing that can perhaps still save the so incorrigible humanity in the end.
