Love Parade visits Athens
From its humble beginnings in the former West Berlin back in 1989, the Love Parade has snowballed into a major street parade, or, more precisely, musical rally promoting positive thinking. Tolerance, respect and understanding between nations, as well as on a personal level, have been the movement’s underlying concerns. The event, which, since 2000, also holds musical rallies in other parts of the world, including Austria, the UK, Israel and South America, as well as club parties, comes to Athens at Club 22 for two nights, tonight and tomorrow, complete with some of the DJs that have provided the rally’s house-techno soundtrack over the years. It all began along one of West Berlin’s main avenues, with about 150 participants on a truck and Berlin DJ Dr Motte trying to let the previously divided city’s citizens know of their concerns. Their message registered and the numbers that began hopping on board just kept growing. Love Parade rallies, nowadays, involve over a million participants, elaborate floats, and plenty of leading DJs. Due to its phenomenal growth, the Love Parade eventually was forced to relocate, in 1996, to Berlin’s Tiergarten, where the city’s event is still held today. The team of DJs for the Love Parade’s two nights at Club 22 includes founding DJ Dr Motte. Tonight and tomorrow’s Love Parade club parties conclude a series of «Berlin in Athens» cultural diplomacy events that began April 1 with a show by the revamped ’80s pop band Alphaville. The series, whose musical side included performances by three Berlin-based indie rock acts, Rhythm King and her Friends, Cobra Killer, and Chicks on Speed, also covered film projections, theater, cabaret, exhibitions and gastronomy.
