In early July 2012, news feeds reported the cancellation of the B-Parade music festival, which was supposed to take place on July 21 in Berlin. Among the reasons for the incident, the organizers mentioned organizational problems and lack of funding.
According to the organizers' plan, the B-Parade was to be a continuation of the tradition of the summer electronic music festivals held under the name Love Parade since 1989 in Berlin and a number of cities in the Ruhr region. The first festival, organized in 1989 by Matthias Röing, was attended by only about one hundred and fifty people. In 1999, Love Parade has already gathered about one and a half million fans of techno, house and trance styles. The last festival, held in 2010 in Duisburg, ended in a massive crush in which more than five hundred people were injured. After this sad event, the Love Parade in Germany was discontinued.
At a press conference held on March 6, 2012, the organizers announced the planned festival, which was to take place in Berlin on July 21. June 17th Street was chosen as the venue for the B-Parade, which traditionally hosts military parades and major festive events. Mindful of the events that darkened the Duisburg festival, one of the organizers of the B-Parade, Eric J. Nussbaum, emphasized the particular attention that was paid to the development of the safety concept.
However, the organizers of the electronic dance music festival faced problems related to the lack of funding. Potential investors were not sure about the recoupment of the project, which required additional investment, and were openly afraid of a repeat of the events of 2010. When the lack of funds to host the B-Parade on 17 June Street became apparent, organizers attempted to save the festival by moving it to Tempelhof Airport, which was closed in 2008, to reduce costs. However, the owners of the airport considered the time remaining before the planned date of the festival to be insufficient for preparations. On June 28, the official B-Parade website announced the cancellation of the festival.
