When the Love Parade was cancelled for two consecutive years in 2004-2005, it seemed as if the world's largest rave had finally danced to its last techno beat: the comedown had begun. A funding shortfall meant the organizers could not guarantee crowd safety or pay for the subsequent massive clean-up operation on the streets of Berlin. While small scale events continued around the German capital, the lights had gone out on the techno-extravaganza, which at its peak brought over 1 million people to Berlin each July. The partygoers moved on.

But earlier this year, like a phoenix from the flames, the Love Parade was reborn. A wealthy sponsor stepped in, convinced that a free parade could still go ahead without haemorrhaging money. All seemed rosy, yet -- after initial agreement -- one man wasn't happy: Love Parade's founder Ralf Regitz aka. "Dr. Motte." The DJ, promoter and spiritual leader of the techno generation, said he would play no part in the event.

"The sponsors started to interfere with the content (of the parade) and that simply can't be allowed," Motte, 46, told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

With a cash injection of around €2 million, a bargain-basement fitness company is to take over the running of the Love Parade Saturday, which -- in contrast to the amateurish, hippy free spiritedness of previous years -- will be run with military precision and no small amount of financial acumen. Instead of the makeshift, rickety soundstages of years gone by, the parade's 40 floats will be built to a single design and will be prominently adorned with sponsors' logos. On the plus side, there will be over 1,000 toilets for the expected half-million visitors, and plenty of security and refuse personnel. But, the fear is that some of the slap-dash, free-spirited hokum of previous years will be lost, replaced by corporate uniformity, rigidity and ubiquity.

Motte steps down

It doesn't help that the main sponsor is the McFit company, whose name alone conjures images of corporate efficiency. The budget fitness emporium, which operates a chain of over 60 gyms around Germany, doesn't exactly have the cachet and resonance with edgy youth culture which one might expect of a Love Parade organizer. McFit chief executive Rainer Schaller, a self-confessed stranger to dance culture, had a big falling out with Motte over the way the Love Parade would be run. Motte resented the commercialization of his techno-baby but Schaller held the purse strings. Rather than compromise his artistic integrity, Motte chose the open road.

"For me it's about the authentic line-up, all the presentation, modern culture, the whole spectrum of electronic dance music which we have been developing for the last 17 years. That was always my belief, and remains so, so I'm no longer taking part."

"What matters is the potential and content of the Love Parade. Now it's about the sponsor, and all the sponsor wants is to strengthen its brand." McFit's logo is a big yellow anthropomorphic banana which ravers can expect to see quite a lot of this weekend: two of the 40 floats are reserved for McFit gym members and all the traveling sound stages will be replete with a banana motif.

So how has it come to this? Motte explains: "It's no longer possible to hold an underground event because in 2001 we lost our status as a demonstration. In principle the Love Parade became a commercial event, so the city could say we should bear the costs: closing the roads, paying the police and street cleaners -- that costs a lot of money. Selling drinks and merchandise simply doesn't cover the costs."

Motte likes to talk in abstraction, revelling in the metaphysical connections and transformative experience which he claims the old-style Love Parade would deliver. At the close of every Love Parade he used to give a speech to hundreds of thousands ravers in which he would stress the philosophy and mentality behind the event. The following rant is typical of this old-school dancehall renegade:

"Electronic dance music developed a new form a global youth culture, and that (the Love Parade) is a demonstration of this peaceful, cooperative shared experience, of youth celebrating together ... With this music you have a connection between hearts, a direct emotional communication. We understand music, because music speaks every language, individual to individual -- that is what we celebrate."

A compromised event?

Maybe it's a sign of the times, of modern "bottom-line" decision making, that the Love Parade has been forced to make a Faustian pact and embrace the corporate behemoth. McFit insists ravers won't notice the difference: "The fact is that Love Parade remains true to its roots: The 2006 event is also free for all visitors and everything that is currently hip in electronic music will be played. The Love Parade company has developed a concept to professionalize the organization of Love Parade, which will not compromise its original character."

And, perhaps the fitness company is right: After all, top DJs like Miss Yetti, Tiesto, Westbam and Paul van Dyk will play at the close of the parade, there will be live sound stages, cheap beer, and millions of watts of defeaning dance music. And even Motte is the first to admit that the Love Parade was never just about the procession of floats along Berlin's main thoroughfare, the Strasse des 17. Juni. Over the weekend, hundreds of clubs and bars will host their own dance events, which often prove much more popular with the cognoscenti than the parade itself and cannot be accused of commercialism. Furthermore, a degree of commercial exploitation has been central to the popularity of Love Parade for years. Until 2003, the Love Parade could be expected to generate an additional €50 million for the Berlin economy in just one weekend, which explains the desire of many small businesses for it to return.