Technoparade

A technoparade (the word is German) is a parade of vehicles equipped with strong loudspeakers and amplifiers playing Electronic dance music. It resembles a carnival parade in some respects, but the vehicles (called lovemobiles) are usually less elaborately decorated. Also, a technoparade doesn't share the carnival parade tradition of bombarding the spectators with sweets. However, the revellers do occasionally throw confetti (usually larger and more sparkly than that in a carnival parade) and spray foam from the vehicles onto the crowd.

Nearly all of the vehicles are converted trucks. In order to power the amplifiers, the trucks are frequently equipped with an additional electrical generator. For safety reasons, horse-drawn floats are never used in technoparades: there would be a danger of horses panicking from the noise and chaos. However, there are occasional human-drawn floats equipped with generators, record players, amplifiers and loudspeakers. Some of the vehicles allow people to ride along, for a fee. For those on the sidelines, or travelling alongside on foot or bicycles, attendance is free.

Official program

The official program of a technoparade is usually not as important as what happens informally. In contrast to a carnival parade, the vehicles are little more than flatbed trucks with sound equipment, rather than elaborately decorated floats. There are usually no fireworks or other traditional elements of large celebrations. Technoparades are rarely linked to anniversaries of historical events: they usually simply take place in the summer to take advantage of the good weather.

Character

DJ's deliver a constant stream of music from the parade trucks.

Technoparades generally have a carnival atmosphere, where social rules (and some laws, or at least their enforcement) are at least loosened, and sometimes broken outright. An atmosphere of chaos and tolerance prevails as bystanders dance to the shifting sounds of successive vehicles rolling by them: the music blasting from one vehicle blends into that from another, which can mean a sudden change of dance style in the area where the spheres of influence overlap. The music coming from two sound trucks overlaps with approximately equal intensity, and people can dance to either of two competing rhythms. In the technoparade subculture they call this the Verwirrungsgebiet ("overlap zone") by analogy to a concept in radio frequency engineering.

The street allows for a type of dancing that would be literally impossible in cramped German nightclubs, and the breadth of some people's dancing is further exaggerated as they throw their clothes outwards. Some in the crowd generally climb up to any high point that can possibly be scaled, more and more as the event continues. The spirit is usually continued at after-parties in the local nightclubs, sometimes including unofficial after-parties at venues having no official connection to the parade.

Problems

Law enforcement is often lax at Technoparades.

Although not intended, it happens sometimes that things get destroyed by visitors of techno parades. The rain tube shown on the picture was torn down by a man in a slap-stick like manner when he tried to climb down from the roof of the building at the left on Street Parade 1997. At Street Parade 1998, it laid still at the place where it was put one year ago

Technoparades are not without problems:

• They are regarded by some participants as a license to consume illegal drugs.
• A few technoparades have been exploited by makers of pornographic films.
• There is an inherent danger of accidents as people climb on and off moving vehicles.
• Technoparades usually have big crowds and few toilets, especially because the companies that rent out chemical toilets will not happily rent to technoparades; the crowds tend to climb on the roofs of the toilet structures, which are not built to withstand the weight. Some well-constructed toilets do exist, but not enough to serve the entire technoparade.

Major events

World's largest

Count of participants for the Love Parade (blue) and Street Parade (red).

• Street Parade, Zurich around 900,000 participants annually as of 2011
• Love Parade, previously the world's largest with 1.5 million in 1999

Germany

• Love Parade, Berlin / Ruhr area (1989–2010)
• Union Move, Munich (1995–2001)
• Generation Move, Hamburg / Kiel (1995–2007)
• Reincarnation, Hanover (1995–2006)
• Fuckparade, Berlin (since 1997)
• Future Parade, Bielefeld (1997–2003)
• Vision Parade, Bremen (2002–2006)
• Nachttanzdemo, Frankfurt am Main (since 2008)
• Zug der Liebe, Berlin (since 2015)

Switzerland

• Street Parade, Zurich (since 1992)
• Jungle Street Groove/Beat on the Street, Basel (since 1995)
• Lake Parade, Geneva (1997–2015)
• Tanz Dich Frei (Dance yourself free), Bern (2011–2013)

Other

• FFWD Heineken Dance Parade, Rotterdam (Netherlands) (1997–2007)
• Techno Parade, Paris (France) (since 1998)
• Love Parade, Santiago, Chile / Tel Aviv / Mexico City / Vienna (2000–2006)
• Budapest Parade, Budapest (Hungary) (2000–2006)
• Freeparade, Vienna (Austria) (since 2001)
• Elektro Parade, Oporto (Portugal) (2001–2003)
• Cityparade, Ghent/Liège/Brussels/Mons/Charleroi (Belgium) (2001–2006)
• Freedom Parade, Tartu (Estonia) (2002–2009)
• LovEvolution, San Francisco/Oakland (United States) (2004–2011)

Gallery

• 
  Franconia-Love-Truck 1995
• 
  Paraders dancing in front of the massive speakers carried by the parade trucks at the 2006 Paris Techno Parade.
• 
  Lake-Parade-2001
• 
  The July Column during the 2006 Techno Parade in Paris, France
• 
  Beat on the Street Basel
• 
  Lake Parade 2007
• 
  LovEvolution 2009
• 
  LovEvolution 2009
• 
  LovEvolution 2009
• 
  LovEvolution 2009

Similar Events

Similar to technoparades, electronic dance events have also been organized using other moving vehicles such as boats and trams. In contrast to technoparades which are characterized by free participation on the street, in this case only the passengers on the vessels or inside the trams are part of the event. An example for a boatparade is the Berlin Beats & Boats event which takes place annually since 2009 and involves up to 14 swimming dancefloors.^[1] A regular Housetram event has been organized by Monika Kruse in Munich since 1995.^[2]

See also

• List of electronic music festivals
• Teknival
• Doof

References

This article is based on the corresponding article in the German-language Wikipedia.

External links

Media related to Technoparade at Wikimedia Commons