BERLIN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Approximately 500,000 took to the streets to dance along with Berlin’s “Love Parade” on Saturday, July 15th, after the festival’s two-year hiatus.
The 11-hour event was revived this year under the motto “The Love Is Back,” after sponsorship issues forced its cancellation in 2004 and 2005.
Rainer Schaller, owner of fitness-studio chain McFit, invested over $2.5 million to bring the parade back and organized another $1.2 million from other corporate sponsors.
“The love parade has grown up,” Schaller told Billboard. “Techno is no longer the only music played during the parade, but also house, trance, progressive, elektropop and even live music. The sounds are softer and the beats slower.”
The Love Parade was launched in 1989 under the motto “peace and fun,” and gathered only 150 participants on Berlin’s main street. Since that time, it has grown to become one of Europe’s biggest free outdoor music events. In its heyday in the 1990s, the annual dance music carnival attracted up to 1.5 million ravers. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
