A stable factor in 20 years house & techno
MAYDAY is derived from the French word “M’aidez” – which means: “Help me”. The English word is Mayday and is known as the official international call for emergency. The first MAYDAY edition in Berlin (December 14th, 1991) was also a symbolic cry for help for the East-German radio station DT64. After the fall of the German wall this radio station was one of the first stations that played techno music. Host of the show was Marusha (‘Over the Rainbow’). The station was threatened to shut down but DJ Dick (aka Fabian Lenz, Wesbam’s younger brother) drew attention to the station by organizing a ‘Save DT64’ rave. The official title was ‘Best of House & Techno 91’. All visitors needed to experience techno music on a huge dance floor and with a fantastic sound system. The effort was futile, the radio station had to close down anyways but thanks to the Lenz brothers and scene magazine Frontpage, MAYDAY ‘The mothers of all raves’ was born. From that moment on MAYDAY toured trough Germany with each half year one edition. ‘Dance in MAY’ on the 30th of April, every time in a different city and one in the winter in Berlin aka ‘Winter-MAYDAY’.
On April the 30th, 1992 the second edition took place in the Eisporthalle in Cologne. The theme of this edition was ‘A New Chapter of House&Techno ‘92’. This edition drew 12.000 visitors. Also the first compilation CD, ‘TZ26’, was released. As the years went by MAYDAY turned into a movement and a ‘raving’ society. In the meanwhile tickets were sold on the black market for 1000 dollars per ticket. Not all cities, locations and artists turned out to be a good match for ‘the mother of all raves’ but they learned by bitter experience. After ten years, MAYDAY still drew 25.000 visitors and kept being the best-attended techno event in Germany. In 2008, founder Westbam, stepped out and Nature One took over. This year MAYDAY will be crossing the borders after 2 decennia of raving in Germany. On the 24th of September 2011 MAYDAY will take place in the Klokgebouw in Eindhoven.