LovEvolution 2009
“THIS IS OUR FUTURE. OPEN YOUR HEART … FREE YOUR MIND … FACE YOUR FEARS… LIVE YOUR SOUL … DANCE!” - Dr. Motte, Founder of Loveparade Berlin
October 3rd, the one month anniversary of my blog. Out of curiosity and in celebration of this momentous day, I attended the biggest love event in San Francisco, the LovEvolution (a.k.a. the Love Parade or LoveFest) with the goal of discovering what love is for these “love evolutionists”.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, the LovEvolution is a celebration of music and dance in the spirit of love, peace, justice, respect, diversity, tolerance and community. A spin-off of Germany’s Loveparade that started in 1989 by “Dr. Motte”, the event is held annually as a political demonstration for peace and international understanding. It is set to the beats of drum machines, synthesizers and sequencers, expressing the universality and unity of electronic music. For one sunny day in San Francisco, hundreds of thousands of people from different cultures, countries and ethnic backgrounds congregate at the Civic Center to dance, drink (among other things) and be merry, symbolizing the possibility of a global community and the hope for peaceful co-existence.
Not knowing anything about the event or doing any prior research, I had no idea what to expect, so thank goodness for Kate, a LoveFest veteran, who shepherded me through the masses, ensuring that I experienced the festivity to the fullest, yet still came out unscathed and intact (otherwise, I would have left within five minutes of my arrival). The festival-goers, mostly in their late teens to early twenties, were either dressed in a colorful array of spandex, beads, leather and feathers or dressed in their birthday suits with nothing but a pair of shoes. Needless to say, much skin and flesh were displayed, even among those who were covered up. Large floats, basically trucks decorated in garish festival décor, were parked along the perimeter of the festival grounds, blasting its individual brand of electronic music, toppling with dancers flaunting their tops, bottoms and anything else they had to offer. The general masses were either crowded around these floats, dancing at super-human speed with hyper-drive energy, or recklessly stumbling around in massive groups, hopping from one float and beer stand to the next. People seemed unnaturally smiley and generously affectionate: lots of hugging, kissing, groping and hip-grinding. So as far as love goes, it was an alcohol and drug-induced, anything-goes, free-for-all kind of love here, very different from the kind of love I’ve been writing about.
I don’t know what the founder, Dr. Motte, envisioned when he started this event but if it was a gigantic, gritty street party, then the LovEvolution has undoubtedly lived up to Dr. Motte’s vision. If he was looking for a profound and substantive message on love, peace and community, then these concepts may require some revision. With all the shoving, elbowing, pushing, trampling, grappling and chaos, the LovEvolution looked more like anarchy than peaceful co-existence. Nevertheless, it is an interesting and fun event if one has the stamina, energy and patience for it. But for what it is trying to promote – love, peace, unity and respect – it is a bit off the mark.
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One of the main ideas that bring many of us followers of LoveFest together is actually the casting off of the archane, traditional concepts of love and sexuality that you seem to promote.
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Great article Meg. I completely agree with you. These types of events are indeed a bit off the mark of peaceful coexistance and genuine community sharing… Most European cities actually have one and recently the Love Parade which used to take place in Tel Aviv, the rather liberal coastal town in Israel, has moved to Jerusalem, the conservative and religious holy city, home to the most important shrines of the three modern religions. Which, as you can imagine, has upset quite a few. I was there last year, it was a pitiful scene, with a bunch of orthodox jews throwing stones at the paraders in protest. The Palestinians were not there because the Parade took place in West Jerusalem. Indeed, as we all know, the Israeli occuption of Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank, restricts the movement of Palestinians even to pray at the Al Aqsa mosque in the Old city of Jerusalem. Anyway, I am not going to get into the politics of it, it could create another contentious debate, especially that most of your readers reside in the US.
To get back to the love parade issue, these events seem to promote drug use in the most casual way, basically associating alcohol and drugs to peace and harmony. What a bad influence for today’s youth.
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Hello All,
My last article, “Love Me, Love Me Not”, has caused quite a contentious debate, so to lighten up the mood, here’s an observational piece on San Francisco’s version of the Love Parade. Have fun reading!
Meg
P.S. If you attended San Francisco’s LovEvolution or any of the Love Parades in other parts of the world, I would love to hear your thoughts and compare experiences.
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