The Germans have been assigned more than their fair share of national stereotypes: men with beer guts in lederhosen who lack a sense of humor; a fondness for orderliness; a penchant for the early bagging of holiday sun loungers by marking ownership with a towel. One aspect of German culture which has, however, failed to make it onto the list is the Teutons' aptitude for throwing huge parties.
The annual Berlin Love Parade attracted an estimated crowd of 1.5 million in 1999. And the Mayday rave at Westfalenhalle in Dortmunder, an event which began 15 years ago with 5,000 ravers, is now touted as one of the world's largest outdoor parties, regularly attracting tens of thousands of dance music fans.
Taiwan's own Reason is jetting off to Germany tomorrow to play the main stage on Sunday in front of tens of thousands of revelers at this year's Mayday rave.
"I'm nervous, yea. It's going to be kind of crazy," Reason told the Vinyl Word. "I've made a few tracks of my own. I've also got a bunch of new records that I haven't played yet."
Reason, who plans to lay down a breakbeat set, will play alongside the likes of Paul Van Dyk, Takkyu Ishino and Ferry Corsten. If practice really does make perfect, he has nothing to worry about as he's already proved his metal playing with these big names in Taiwan.
"What makes me nervous, is people generally think that breakbeat doesn't fit in a big venue really well." The Mayday bash will be the biggest event he has played at.
"It's going to be impressive on my resume," said Reason. "Most of the artists at Mayday also produce really well, so that will encourage me to produce my own tracks and not play so many other peoples' tracks. I want to merge some elements from Taiwan in my music. This time, I have produced two tracks just for Mayday so I've added some original samples. I think producing is the future for most artists."
He secured the gig through Takkyu Ishino's agent who helped bring over Paul Van Dyk late last year. "I passed him my demo. He gave it to the Mayday promoters and they got in touch."
Will people back home be able to listen to his mix from the Mayday party?
"I'm not sure if they're gonna do a live recording. I will come up with something, maybe like Global Underground who do mixes inspired by gigs that they have played."
Back at home, Urban Funk All Stars, with Chi Funk, Alex D, MC Dr. Dan, Mixter T, Nelly, Lazy Daze and Subtle will be bringing "big ass beatz n' phat ass funk" to Club CU in Taichung tomorrow night.
Given the spate of recent police raids in Taiwan's third city, party organizers have been extra cautious and have ensured the venue complies to the relevant safety regulations.
A limited number of free tickets are available: send an e-mail to chifunk@revevolution.net.
In Kaohsiung, evening wear takes on a new meaning with the Pajama Jammy Jam party at DNA. Rob Solo, Jon B, Syntaxerror, Dirty G and Stan will man the decks.
The fourth Cut 'n Blo bash at Luxy, tomorrow will feature a mash up of electro beats spun by Coffey, Declan, Hooker and Edmund.
Send an e-mail to cutnblo@gmail.com with your name and the normal entry ticket can be exchanged in the Lotus Room for three drinks.
At Champagne 3, Lucid Production presents Talk Dirty tomorrow night with Marcus Aurelius and Jayro.
The Wall, which is emerging as a regular venue on the dance music circuit, and boasts a top-notch sound system, tomorrow presents the Butterfly by Pumpitup with Mic, Pitt Tang, Raver and Joey. The bash begins at 11:30pm and the door damage is NT$400.
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