Time Warp 2010 Review

TIME WARP CALLING! Saturday 27th March

IC arrived in Mannheim hot to trot (or maybe not) after two days in Berlin where we saw the sublime Laurent Garnier at Watergate on the Thursday.

Arriving at our hotel we heard bouncy techno coming from somewhere as we were checking in. I asked the reception lady where the music was coming from and she
quietly smiled and said 'Our hotel bar of course, its Time Warp.' Meeting some friends who had arrived earlier it was unsurprising to see them dancing around the bar with the first of many Italians we saw that night.

We arrived at Time Warp at 1am and were easily inside in 15 minutes. The set up was classically German, well organised with great sound and good vibes. The venue was near the airport on the outskirts of Mannheim and was made up of several exhibition halls. Unlike some festivals you didn't have to walk too far to find the next party. Each room had quality sound and lighting and managed to create a intimate feel, even  though there were thousands in the larger arenas. The chill out area was a welcome rest bite for those who had indulged the night before.

After a quick look around we were straight onto Floor 2 to see Sven Vath. The room was packed and although Sven wasn't putting his tunes together as well as we had seen before, he never fails to deliver a wide spectrum of exciting music spanning the techno genres with a few classics like Rolandos 'Night of Jaguar' thrown in for good measure. Half way through Sven's set we headed over to see Villalobos who was weaving his magic on Floor 3. Technically sublime he was on the money, delivering a well crafted set despite the disturbance of one of his friends who was wearing the same top and felt it necessary to have a go on the mixer every now and then.

Sven finished his set with classic behaviour as only he would. Mounting the decks and speaking to the crowd, 'come on you ravers' and 'my friend Richie is going to play his new set for you in a minute'. The only thing missing was a stage dive! Although we would never put it past uncle Sven.

After much hype and anticipation who could have missed the rebirth of Richie Hawtins 'Plastikman'. A dramatic start as a video wall illustrating sound wave curved round the stage and as the best began to build the wall went back to reveal Mr Richie Hawtin. At this point the crowd erupted. With the much hyped iPhone app allowing clubbers to see Hawtin produce his music live it certainly lived up to expectation from a visual perspective.

I think many of the fans there may have been expecting something along the lines of his DJ sets today and may not have been that captivated by his sound of the 90's. That said the visual effects were special and we thought the show was well put together. Richie Hawtin has clearly put a lot of thought and hard work into his Plastikman show and with a number of festivals to come this summer it will be interesting to see how successful it becomes.

After seeing Laurent Garnier at Watergate in Berlin on Thursday night IC could not wait to get back on the dancefloor and watch the Frenchman ply his trade. Playing a hypnotic old school techno set the place was packed. For those that haven't seen one of Garniers epic sets it his always tight, moving you through your paces and rarely moving off course. 7am comes and he drops playing Radioheads 'Everything is in the right place' with great cheers coming from the crowd before carrying onto 10am.

The finale was quite special with Dubfire, Sven, Villalobos, Carola and Loco Dice all in the booth on Floor 3 playing at various points. Most of them were well laced by this point with Sven leading the way.. IC called it a day at around 2pm and the crowd was still going strong.

All round a fantastic techno festival with cutting edge music, sound and lighting, the best DJ's money can buy and all for a very reasonable 49 Euros!

Roll on Time Warp 2011!

Keep up to date with all things Time Warp @ www.time-warp.de