Love Family Park sizzled in Germany with Sven Väth, Solomun, Richie Hawtin and friends
We attended the annual summer event from the creators of Time Warp and Sonus Festival on Saturday July 28 in Rüsselsheim. Here's how we got on.
LOVE Family Park returned to the electronic music calendar on Saturday July 28 in Germany.
The annual event has had to move twice since it was born 22 years ago, firstly from its initial home in Hanau and then in 2016 from Mainz exhibition grounds in Mainz-Hechtsheim where it was held for two years. It had to take a hiatus last year but has found a new home on the leafy banks of the Main river in Rüsselsheim which will now be the perfect, idyllic venue for the event for many years to come.
Love Family Park is the oldest open air techno party in Germany and has played a big role in developing and influencing the sound and style of electronic music events across the world. Cosmopop, the promoter of LFP are also responsible for the mind blowing event Time Warp which sets the international standard for indoor festival production, line-ups and sound. They are also the guys behind which takes place later this month boasting a jaw dropping time table of artists on Pag Island between August 19 and 23 and shows international clubbing with incredible line ups does not have to break the bank in the same way as a trip to Ibiza can these days.
This was my second experience of Love Family Park. It won’t be my last. The 10am to 10pm celebration is one of the few times Sven Väth plays on home turf each year surrounded by his family and friends. He really lets loose at parties like this and for me he’s an absolute must see here even if this time it meant missing Richie Hawtin on stage 4. Sven always plays from the heart wherever you are lucky enough to see him around the world but on Saturday his set in Rüsselsheim was something extra special.
The weather was sizzling with the temperature already in the 30s when we arrived from our hotel which was conveniently located a stone’s throw away from the main entrance to LFP. We were met with the pulsating strains of new girl on the block Amelie Lens who had gone in hard from the off.
As at any festival it’s impossible to see everyone, so out of the 4 stages on offer we floated between stage 4 and stage 1 to catch the end of Butch’s extended set in the unfortunate absence of Dominik Eulberg who was unable to make the festival to perform his live show due to travel complications. Butch rose to the challenge, weaving impeccably between crowd pleasing strains of house and techno finding time to weave in Dubfire’s classic Grindhouse at one point which in the summer sunshine on that sound system went right off!
Butch was followed by Nina Kravitz who unfortunately delivered a rather lacklustre, self-indulgent set which left many of us scratching around for better things. So it was back to stage 4 to catch Pan-Pot who never fail to impress and sent the crowd at stage 4 soaring not least when they dropped track of moment, Adam Beyer and Bart Skils’ Your Mind (listen below) to a rapturous reception.
By now we were approaching the two sets of the day that my friends and I had really been looking forward to. There was no moving from stage 1 now as Solomun took to the stage, scheduled to play a 2.5 hour set followed by 3 hours of Love Family Park hero, Sven Väth closing out an amazing day in the scorching sunshine.
Solomun over the last decade has become one of the very best international DJs with a successful residency at Pacha in Ibiza and by smashing festival stages across the globe. He immediately lifted the crowd, picking up from a confused ending to Nina’s set and getting the thousands of people gathered at stage 1 back on an even keel. Solomun always looks lost in the music but he also keeps a keen eye on the crowd teasing at the right times and lifting them to new heights when it’s most needed. A great example of this is when he dropped his new remix of Age Of Love which needless to say went down rather well!
The arrival of Sven Väth to the main stage at Love Family is met with the adulation normally reserved for rock stars. The man is a legend and an international icon. His home crowd are rightly proud of him, almost as much as his own family who are always in attendance at Love Family Park.
Seeing his mum and brother dancing with him on stage as he commands the crowd every step of the way during his 3 hour closing set reminds me what this party is all about. There is a sense of family at this event, a shared ethos of unity, love and passion for the music.
Sven’s set was as always a masterclass in vinyl mixing, weaving effortlessly between DJ Koze’s remix of Radio Slave and the Pan African Electro Dub of Jerome Sydenham and Dennis Ferrer’s track Timbuktu through Planetary Assault Systems’ Desert Races to Blawan’s 993. This is the art of DJing at its best and Sven is one of the masters.
The next 3 hours flew by and before we knew it the sun had set and Sven began preparing to wind things up dropping Neutron Dance by Krystal Klear to finally bring an epic day to a close.
Love Family Park proves that with a carefully curated line up of the very best up and coming artists playing decent length sets with a minimum of two hours each alongside a selection of the best DJs in the world over 4 stages is more than enough to entertain the masses. I look forward to seeing what they have in store again next year alongside festival resident Sven Väth. Love Family Park is a must in the summer calendar for any discerning fan of electronic music.
Next stop Sonus Festival, Croatia. Check out the details below and for tickets .
