Rave The Planet Parade 2026: Berlin Takes to the Streets with “IMAGINE LOVE” for Peace, Unity, and Techno Culture

Rave The Planet Parade returns for its fifth edition on August 15, 2026 • 34 floats and more
than 300 international DJs and live acts • Moment of silence for the victims of the attack at
Berlin CSD • First official Rave The Planet Afterparty celebrates the parade’s fifth anniversary

 On Saturday, August 15, 2026, the Rave The Planet Parade will take
place in Berlin for the fifth time. Under this year’s motto, “IMAGINE LOVE,” people from Berlin,
across Germany, and around the world will dance through the streets in a demonstration for peace,
unity, and the protection of electronic music culture.
Starting at 2:00 PM, 34 floats featuring more than 300 DJs and live acts will make their way along
Straße des 17. Juni. In doing so, the parade continues a unique Berlin tradition of demonstration
culture that brings electronic music and dance into public space as forms of political expression.
With this year’s motto, “IMAGINE LOVE,” Rave The Planet invites people to consider a simple
thought experiment: What changes when compassion, respect, and love become the starting point
for the way we act?

“Every action begins with a thought. Let that thought be love.”
Ellen Dosch-Roeingh, Co-Founder, rave the planet gGmbH

Remembering the Victims and Standing Together for an Open Society
This year’s parade takes place just three weeks after the attack in the vicinity of Berlin’s Christopher
Street Day on July 25, 2026, in which one woman was killed and several people were injured, some
of them seriously.
Rave The Planet will therefore open the inaugural rally with a moment of silence for the victims of
the attack.
Following the moment of silence, representatives of three major Berlin initiatives will come together to
send a shared message of unity: Julia Miosga of Berliner CSD e.V., Anna-Maria Seifert of Karneval der Kulturen, and

Ellen Dosch-Roeingh of Rave The Planet will jointly deliver the
opening speech.
Together, they stand for an open society in which people can come together freely and peacefully,
regardless of origin, gender, sexual identity, physical ability, religion, or personal beliefs.

Safety and Awareness Are Top Priorities
The safety of everyone participating in the parade is Rave The Planet’s highest priority. The parade’s
safety concept has been developed over several months and continuously coordinated with the
relevant authorities and emergency services. Current developments and ongoing risk assessments
are continuously incorporated into the planning.
Dr. Norbert Schmerse has supported the Rave The Planet Parade for several years as its safety
specialist and coordinator. He develops and continuously updates the safety concept, prepares the
associated plans and documentation, and works closely with police, public authorities, and other
parties involved in the parade.
Stewards, awareness teams, professional security personnel, medical teams, police, and other
emergency services will be deployed along the route. Operations are coordinated centrally, allowing
all parties involved to communicate directly and respond quickly to changing circumstances. Rave
The Planet’s volunteers have also completed a series of training sessions in advance of the parade,
covering areas including safety, first aid, awareness, and responding to discrimination.
Glass is prohibited along the demonstration route. Three free drinking water stations will be
available along the route, and Rave The Planet recommends that all participants bring shatterproof,
refillable water bottles.
If necessary, Rave The Planet will publish real-time updates and important information during the
parade through its official social media channels.

34 Floats and More Than 300 Artists from Around the World
Musically, the parade once again brings together a broad spectrum of electronic music culture. The
34 floats are organized by crews from Berlin, across Germany, and around the world.
Berlin will be represented by crews including Ritter Butzke, HIVE BCCO, and MAAYA One✕ ✕
Tribe (NYC). Crews from across Germany include Bootshaus from Cologne, Ellen Noir from
Magdeburg, Man With White Gloves from Munich, Evosonic from Hamburg, and the FLINTA*
collective Sapphic Pearls Kunstreiheit from Frankfurt am Main✕ .
International perspectives will be brought to the streets by crews including Vibration from Mongolia,
3iS x The Bootcamp Goa from India and France, Animo pres. Hermesus from Spain, and
Underbridge from Poland.
The lineup features more than 300 DJs and live acts, including Acid Asia, A.D.H.S., Amber Broos,
Anna Tur, AMÉMÉ, BEC, Bloody Mary, Dr. Motte, Future 666, Gary Beck, Hannah Laing, Juliet
Fox, MAUSIO, Maceo Plex, Nakadia, Nicole Moudaber, Onyvaa, Pan-Pot, Samantha Togni,
Simina Grigoriu, Teenage Mutants, Timo Maas, Tommahawk, and Westbam

A Demonstration for the Future of Techno Culture

Rave The Planet is not simply a music event. It is a cultural and political demonstration, with
music and collective dancing serving as central forms of political expression.
Since its founding, the nonprofit rave the planet gGmbH has worked to protect electronic music
culture and strengthen its recognition within society.
Its core political demands for 2026 include the legal recognition and protection of nonverbal
dance and music demonstrations, the protection of electronic music culture as intangible cultural
heritage, equal structural recognition alongside other forms of art and culture, and stronger
protections for clubs and cultural venues.
Rave The Planet is also calling for the protection of human creativity when artistic works are
used by AI-based systems, a halt to the further extension of the A100 highway into
Friedrichshain and Lichtenberg, modern noise protection and building regulations, an end to
statutory dancing bans, as well as peace and disarmament at every level, including in our
interactions with one another.
All ten political demands for 2026 are available on the Rave The Planet website.

“IMAGINE LOVE”: The Official Parade Anthem
The parade’s motto is also reflected in its music. Dr. Motte and Tommahawk produced “IMAGINE
LOVE,” the official anthem of the Rave The Planet Parade 2026.
The track combines driving electronic music with the idea of rhythm as a shared language and the
power of music to create connection between people. The release is accompanied by an official
music video directed by Britta Mischer (25films Berlin).
New interpretations by Juliet Fox and Mark Reeder & Micha Adam have also been released as
“IMAGINE LOVE – Remixes I”. Proceeds from the releases support Rave The Planet’s nonprofit
work.

First Official Afterparty Celebrates the Fifth Parade
To mark the parade’s fifth anniversary, Rave The Planet is taking things one step further this year.
Following the demonstration, the nonprofit organization will host its first major rave of its own and
the first official Rave The Planet Afterparty.
After the parade, the action moves from Straße des 17. Juni to Columbiahalle, where the program
begins at 11:00 PM. The lineup brings together influential figures in techno culture and
internationally successful artists of today: DJ Rush, Dr. Motte, Nakadia, Teenage Mutants,
Tommahawk, and support act Kay Barton will take over the decks.
The Afterparty is a separate ticketed event and also contributes to funding Rave The Planet’s
nonprofit work and the parade itself.

Emerging Talent, Inclusion, and Responsibility
Techno culture thrives when it is passed on and continues to evolve collectively. The Kids Rave
Float therefore once again gives young talent under the age of 18 from several European countries a
stage of their own. Artists behind the decks include Ethan English, DJ Julia, LEX, Marcello,
Sebastian Vrljic, and VDM.
Inclusion and accessibility are also integral to the parade. Accessible toilets will be available at every
restroom location. Droomschip will also return to the parade, representing a community shaped to a
significant degree by people across the neurodivergent spectrum.
Rave The Planet is committed to making the parade a safer space for respect, diversity, freedom,
and self-expression. Racism, sexism, ableism, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, religious discrimination,
and other forms of exclusion will not be tolerated.

Live on rbb and Streaming Worldwide
For those who cannot join the parade in person, there will be more ways than ever to experience it
live this year.
For the first time, rbb will broadcast live from Großer Stern beginning at 2:00 PM, both on rbb
television and the broadcaster’s YouTube channel. Fritz from rbb will also broadcast the sets from
electronic music duo Pan-Pot’s float on the radio from 2:00 to 8:00 PM.
For the first time, Rave The Planet will also produce its own professional world feed, covering the
parade along the entire route from 1:50 to 10:00 PM. Combining footage of the floats with scenes
from throughout the demonstration, the feed will give audiences outside Berlin an immediate sense of
the parade’s scale, atmosphere, and diversity.
The world feed will be streamed live on the Rave The Planet website, making the parade
accessible to an international audience.

After the Bass Comes the Broom: Clean-Up Day on Sunday
Rave The Planet begins taking measures to reduce waste and protect the Großer Tiergarten while
the parade is still underway. Awareness teams will provide information about waste container
locations and distribute trash bags along the route and throughout the park.
On Sunday, August 16, Rave The Planet will invite volunteers, the community, float crews, and
anyone else who wants to help to join the Clean-Up Day in the Großer Tiergarten, clearing the
green spaces around the parade route.
The initiative is once again supported by “Kehrenbürger,” a project by Berlin’s municipal waste
management company BSR, which provides some of the equipment needed for the clean-up.

Meeting point: Beginning of Bremer Weg, opposite Brandenburg Gate
Briefing & team assignments: 10:30 AM
Clean-up begins: 11:00 AM