Since 1994, Time Warp festival has been bringing top electronic music artists to it’s festivals at the beginning of every spring. Their aims are clear: the line-ups and technical execution set high standards as well as supporting new developments. This made Time Warp one of the first events in Germany where leading artists like Carl Cox or Richie Hawtin could be seen and heard annually. In November 2008, Time Warp hosted for the first time in Holland where techno lovers from all over the world congregated to enjoy the indoor festival. 

Lost Souls Travel organised the trip which was filled to capacity…all of whom were willing to party morning, noon and night. Many ordeals occurred on the journey to Rotterdam alone: one of previous promoters vomited on the ferry journey to Calais. He put this down to sea sickness; of course it had nothing to do with the 70cl bottle of Jagermeister that he necked on the coach beforehand. I think one of the main events that will stick in everyone’s minds is the minor coach crash when entering Rotterdam (after only 12 hours of journeying). The coach driver over estimated to say the least, driving into a bridge that was shorter than the height of the coach. The electricals of the first 5 seats fell down causing shock amongst the passengers. One person who was in a ‘daze’ shall we say, mistook the wires for gas bags (you know, the ones dropped in the event of a plane crash). Fortunately the televisions were still in working order and the soothing voice of David Attenborough soon calmed us down. Apart from the crash the journey was a breeze. We had techno compilations playing through the coach’s sound system, which got everyone in the mood for the party.

On arrival in Rotterdam everyone seemed a bit out of their depth. It took a while for people to organise themselves but eventually everyone managed to make their way to enjoy one of Rotterdam’s cafes. It was certainly a relief after 14 hours of staring at recurring scenery to sit down with a  coffee. Rotterdam’s Maassilo was spacious enough to host many exciting techno DJs such as Karotte, Moonbootica and Johnny D. Upstairs Italy’s finest, Marco Carola was up to his usual tricks. Mesmerizing the crowd with his set up he incorporated smooth techno with a choreographed dancer, lazer shows, and indoor pyrotechnics. And if that didn’t float your boat it was just a short stumble away to see the likes of Ben Sim’s who has been described as ‘the wizard’ for his mastery on multiple decks, playing hard techno. After Marco Carola’s set Laurent Garnier was playing downstairs with his mixture of genres including dub, dubstep, drum and bass and of course techno.  On our elevator trip to the after party room we were exposed to a mind-blowing room featuring a view over Rotterdam. The scene was fitting: industrious, exciting and modern.

The after party show was supposed to finish at 11.00 a.m, featuring Raresh, Pedro, and Rhadoo playing back to back. However, on getting the elevator back downstairs Laurent Garnier (who we were told was finishing at 8.00 a.m) was still smashing it with his epic eight hour set at 11.30 in the morning. I was shocked to see so many people still loving the party. The adrenalin rush took over; it was the perfect atmosphere and people were dancing right until the end. Speaking to one of the promoters it turns out that Laurent had a slight disagreement with the bouncers, who were telling him to finish at 8.00 a.m. He powered through and won, smashing it right through to the late hours of the morning. It was an epic end to an amazing event.

The journey home was just as eventful as the journey to Rotterdam. Everyone’s spirits were still high as a kite and no one could stop nattering about the night. After chilling in our hotel rooms for a couple of hours everyone managed to  make their way to the coach. Luckily the bus driver had managed to somehow shove the electricals back into the roof meaning we could travel safely home. One thing that still amazes me is that one of the passengers managed to pick up his dad’s passport instead of his own (his dad being and looking around 25 years older than himself) and he still managed to get pass the border. That’s a bit slack on security if you ask me but we were just thankful that everyone got back in one piece. Oh, except for the one guy who got left behind on the ferry. Did I forget to mention that? I was informed later that he got home safely much to our relief. Over all the entire weekend had been a success. The party, the music, the venue, the people…it was all perfection. It definitely left everyone saying ....

‘Let‘s do the time warp again!’