Berlin's Love Parade back after two-year hiatus

BERLIN, July 16 (Reuters) Berlin's ''Love Parade'' picked up the beat again on Saturday, with revellers from around the world gyrating to deafening bass rhythms and dressed everything from fancy costumes to their under-garments.

''The Love is Back'' is the festive motto, after the giant techno-music party was cancelled the past two years for lack of funds. It runs all day and into the evening before ravers move on to the German capital's nightclubs.

Disc jockeys blasted away from flat-bed trucks along a 3 km (2 mile) stretch near the Tiergarten Park and Brandenburg Gate.

Some 500,00 revellers joined in, just a week after the country finished hosting the soccer World Cup.

''This is great! I've been waiting three years for this,'' said Berliner Nicole Koehler, 25. ''Hopefully it will be here every year from now on.'' With the help of a new sponsor, the party that traces its roots to 1989 is spreading beyond the techno scene to include all forms of electronic music.

Revellers from around the world arrived on Saturday morning with brightly painted faces and wearing exotic garb.

''I think there are actually more strange-looking people this year. Maybe everyone is still in a festive mood from the World Cup,'' said New Yorker David Wollenberg, 24, who attended the 2003 parade.

Some, however, were disappointed.

''It's okay but not as good as before,'' said Patrick Blume, a 28-year-old from Nuremberg. ''There are not as many people, but that may be because it's the first one in three years.'' The parade gained popularity throughout the 1990s, peaking in 1999 with 1.5 million people. It inspired similar festivals across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America.

The parade was stripped of its ''political demonstration'' status in 2001, meaning the city no longer covered the cost of services such as blocking off roads, relocating bus stops and cleaning up debris.

Reuters SY VP0840