Rave the Planet is the new name of a giant Techno party formerly known as the Love Parade. On Saturday, some 20,000 participants danced on the streets of Berlin. Later on, the crowd grew.
Berlin, July 9th, 2022. Update: 8:40 p.m. CEDT (The Berlin Spectator) — It started raining like hell the minute Rave the Planet commenced shortly after 2:00 p.m. at Kurfürstendamm, one of Berlin’s main shopping boulevards in its posh Charlottenburg borough. Hundreds of dancers took shelter under porches in front of expensive shops, but most did not seem to care much. They continued dancing even when they were soaking wet.
Several Generations
The parade included 18 trucks that carried giant loudspeakers. Nobody could escape the loud and monotoneous “ooomph ooomph ooomph” sounds they spread through the city, and nobody wanted to in the first place, since the beats and the dancing were integral parts of the modern day Love Parade, 33 years after the first event of this kind took place in West Berlin.
At first, 20,000 people danced and partied. Later, the crowd grew substantially. The smell of cannabis was just as omnipresent as the music. Many of the ravers brought along alcoholic drinks. Some were intoxicated before the event even started. Several generations were part of Rave the Planet 2022. While most dancers looked like they were in their 20s and 30s, quite a few others substantially increased the average age. Even grey-haired ravers were in the crowd.
Beer and Liquor
From Charlottenburg, the parade was going to move all the way to Brandenburg Gate and Berlin’s Victory Column. Little stands popped up along the way. At most of them, beer and liquor were sold. An hour and a half into the rave party, the Sun came out and dried those who had been soaked earlier.
From the start, the Berlin Police Department did a good job blocking streets to motorized traffic and protecting the Rave the Planet parade along its long route. Around Kurfürstendamm and in other areas, traffic jams developed because some Berliners and tourists either did not know about the event in advance or they thought they would get through somehow in their cars. They were wrong.
Love and Peace
The Corona pandemic maybe should have played a role, meaning some caution probably would have been appropriate because the infection numbers are rising yet again. But only about 1 in 100 participants wore protective masks.
Like the Love Parade, Rave the Planet is more than just a party with loads of alcohol and loud beats. According to the organizers it also is a protest. “Together Again” is this edition’s motto. It is still supposed to be about love and peace. At the same time, the parade is a demonstration “for the recognition and preservation of electronic dance music as a cultural achievement”.
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Togetherness and Freedom
Rave the Planet was going to take place in 2020, then in 2021. In both cases, the Corona pandemic and the contact restrictions that were put in place by Germany’s federal and state governments forced Dr. Motte and his people to postpone the big event until today. “What moves us most is the longing for togetherness and freedom”, the organizers stated. Those two years of the pandemic and social distancing had left their marks in the society. “It is time to overcome separators and finally get back together again.”
Love Parade, the original name the Techno party used to have, is not available anymore because someone owns it. Today’s edition of Rave the Planet is the first event of this kind since 2010, when 21 ravers died and more than 500 were injured in a stampede in a tunnel in the city of Duisburg.
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