Party as Protest

Based on ethnographic research in Berlin and further research into early rave cultures, this chapter addresses the commercialisation of the techno rave in Berlin as part of wider transformational processes, and as a source for protests movements that promoted alternative visions, economies, and practices of rave such as free parties, teknivals, and parades. That Berlin was ‘poor but sexy’ became the city’s leitmotif from 2003 onwards, when Berlin was still cheap and grimy. Rich with creative potential, it was just starting to attract foreign investors. In the aftermath, Berlin was embedded in a global tourism industry to market its urban identity, also through its electronic dance music cultures. The discussion shows how music and culture are entangled with political-economic processes of neoliberal capitalism and how these are contested through counter cultural practices linked with electronic dance music. Gentrification and commodification of culture continue to be pressing topics in urban Europe at large and reverberate in the musical genres at stake.