Rock to the Beat
Last Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of the Paris Techno Parade. It was started in lieu of festivals like the Love Parade in Berlin and seeing as how currently Paris is the Techno capital of the world, it is only fitting for it to have its own celebration. This year featured more dj's from around the world than it has ever and it was at it's biggest, from what I have been told. Its rendez-vous was at 12h at Opéra and it goes on through Rue du Quatre Septembre and Rue Réaumur to Bastille where it ends at about 20h in the evening...Only to continue through the various clubs and parties in the city dedicated to the festivities.
Let me start off by explaining how difficult it is to get in or out of the small town I currently live in. There is absolutely NO public transportation on Saturday's and Sundays. The closest town nearby has a bus that goes to Angers (the closest city) ONLY at 7h on Monday-Friday. My boss was sweet enough to wake up at 6h30 to drive me to this town to catch that bus on Friday morning. Otherwise, a cab to this town could cost up to 50euros one way. It takes an hour by that bus, or longer if your bus driver likes to faff, which mine did, to get to Angers. So, if you cut your train times close, you're really chancing it. The train from Angers to Gare Montparnasse in Paris takes about 1.5hrs. I missed the first train, but caught the next one after an hour and finally got into Paris at around 11h. It was kind of really nice because I didn't really realize how much I missed the city until I pulled up to it. I hadn't even thought about it really since living where I do now. I met a friend for lunch, did some souvenir shopping and then went to pick up the kids I used to take care of from school. I stayed with their family that night. I missed them too.
The next day, I woke up, got ready, had some breakfast and then met my friends. We walked down to Opéra where there was this huge crowd and a giant travelling sound system float. Of course, in very French fashion, the parade didn't start until it thought it was necessary, so we waited around for about an hour until the float started to move. It was totally worth it though. We were hanging out on the steps at the Palais Garnier when all of a sudden this huge rush of papparazzi and photographers and fans rushed the entrance. It was a politician and Martin Solveig!!! We got pushed around by security so I couldn't get a good photo, but I did get a photo and some video of him doing press on the parade float. This float was amazing. To start, they had a violinist and cellist play on top of the beats being spun. I'm such a sucker for strings and it was blowing my mind. Then they stepped down and Ellen Allien got up to spin and the float started to move. The float started down the street and then stopped as soon as it got behind another one. There were people everywhere dancing. What was amazing about each float was once you walked by and then beside another, you couldn't hear the previous one anymore. Every style of Techno being spun was completely isolated for everyone to enjoy their preferred type. It was very smart and kind of the parade volunteers to hand out ear plugs because it was so loud. We kind of just motored through the whole parade because I had to catch a train back to Angers to catch the ONLY bus back to the town. But at least I got to see the whole parade and the front floats confetti and flares display. Hopefully, when I come back, I will be able to experience the party at Bastille. I think it's not really worth it to go for the whole thing. I know that for next time though. Bastille is where the real party is at.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
Crowds in the street...
Tektonique on a phone booth...
It was an ordeal to get to and come back from because of the remoteness of the town I live in now, but it was ultimately worth it! I only got one real hour to enjoy it, but still, entirely worth it. I got to see Martin Solveig and live strings with dance beats. Now I can one day be sitting around with various teenagers that may or may not be mine and talk about how I went to the 10th anniversary of the Techno Parade and then they can either not believe me because it's so cool to them, or think I'm so lame!
Let me start off by explaining how difficult it is to get in or out of the small town I currently live in. There is absolutely NO public transportation on Saturday's and Sundays. The closest town nearby has a bus that goes to Angers (the closest city) ONLY at 7h on Monday-Friday. My boss was sweet enough to wake up at 6h30 to drive me to this town to catch that bus on Friday morning. Otherwise, a cab to this town could cost up to 50euros one way. It takes an hour by that bus, or longer if your bus driver likes to faff, which mine did, to get to Angers. So, if you cut your train times close, you're really chancing it. The train from Angers to Gare Montparnasse in Paris takes about 1.5hrs. I missed the first train, but caught the next one after an hour and finally got into Paris at around 11h. It was kind of really nice because I didn't really realize how much I missed the city until I pulled up to it. I hadn't even thought about it really since living where I do now. I met a friend for lunch, did some souvenir shopping and then went to pick up the kids I used to take care of from school. I stayed with their family that night. I missed them too.
The next day, I woke up, got ready, had some breakfast and then met my friends. We walked down to Opéra where there was this huge crowd and a giant travelling sound system float. Of course, in very French fashion, the parade didn't start until it thought it was necessary, so we waited around for about an hour until the float started to move. It was totally worth it though. We were hanging out on the steps at the Palais Garnier when all of a sudden this huge rush of papparazzi and photographers and fans rushed the entrance. It was a politician and Martin Solveig!!! We got pushed around by security so I couldn't get a good photo, but I did get a photo and some video of him doing press on the parade float. This float was amazing. To start, they had a violinist and cellist play on top of the beats being spun. I'm such a sucker for strings and it was blowing my mind. Then they stepped down and Ellen Allien got up to spin and the float started to move. The float started down the street and then stopped as soon as it got behind another one. There were people everywhere dancing. What was amazing about each float was once you walked by and then beside another, you couldn't hear the previous one anymore. Every style of Techno being spun was completely isolated for everyone to enjoy their preferred type. It was very smart and kind of the parade volunteers to hand out ear plugs because it was so loud. We kind of just motored through the whole parade because I had to catch a train back to Angers to catch the ONLY bus back to the town. But at least I got to see the whole parade and the front floats confetti and flares display. Hopefully, when I come back, I will be able to experience the party at Bastille. I think it's not really worth it to go for the whole thing. I know that for next time though. Bastille is where the real party is at.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
Crowds in the street...
Click to viewTektonique on a phone booth...
It was an ordeal to get to and come back from because of the remoteness of the town I live in now, but it was ultimately worth it! I only got one real hour to enjoy it, but still, entirely worth it. I got to see Martin Solveig and live strings with dance beats. Now I can one day be sitting around with various teenagers that may or may not be mine and talk about how I went to the 10th anniversary of the Techno Parade and then they can either not believe me because it's so cool to them, or think I'm so lame!