Time Warp 30th Anniversary

Time Warp celebrates its 30th anniversary with a two-day party on April 5th and 6th, 2024 at Maimarkt Mannheim which on Friday will feature 11 hours of music over 3 floors from 19 acts and on Saturday 19 hours of music over 6 floors from 39 acts.

With passion and a special understanding of the scene, the Time Warp team has curated a unique program to continue the festival’s rich history with a diverse program for the grand anniversary. As well as some exclusive back-to-backs, fans can look forward to a special edition with a spectacular program, new floor designs, and further surprises. 

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Headliners include a fine selection of back to backs such as VTSS b2b Anetha and Dax J b2b SPFDJ while returning favourites include Adam Beyer, Joseph Capriati, PAN-POT, Karotte, Sven Väth, Nina Kraviz, Marco Carola, Richie Hawtin and Laurent Garnier, and new talents like Clara Cuvé, Indira Paganotto, I Hate Models, Kobosil, and Mochakk amongst many more including Speedy J and Laurent Garnier who are both back having played the first edition in 1994. Tickets and additional information are available on www.time-warp.de. As in previous years, it’s advisable to act quickly: the first ticket tiers have sold out and in recent years, Time Warp has been sold out entirely weeks before the event.

In the last ten years, the shows have been elevated to a unique level, setting new standards. In collaboration with international designers, the production team of the organizing agency Cosmopop develops new designs every year that are unparalleled in terms of technology and concept. By virtuously combining music, light, video, architecture, and art, they create unique immersive worlds in which visitors can truly lose themselves.

Today, each dance floor gets its own iconic design, sound, and look and feel. Guests are repeatedly plunged into a new world but at the same party as production and design remain  at the highest level and are the cornerstones of every Time Warp which is why it is so well known around the world with their international editions in Sao Paulo, New York, and for the first time in 2024, Madrid.

However, Mannheim remains the flagship, thanks to the design possibilities that the city and, in particular, Maimarkthalle have provided for the festival. It is quite unique that thousands of visitors from 170 countries pilgrimage to this medium-sized city every year, making it the international centre of electronic music for a weekend. Thanks to Time Warp, Maimarkthalle has gained cult status, and the city of Mannheim received the title “UNESCO City of Music.”

Time Warp debuted back on November 26, 1994, at Ludwigshafen’s Walzmühle when only 2000 attendees squeezed into the party. Those who made it inside the warehouse initially disappeared into the party fog. Robert Armani, annoyed by the overwhelming smoke, ended his set after 30 minutes, clearing the decks for Laurent Garnier. Fortunately, the Frenchman turned this first Time Warp into a legendary party and remained loyal to it for another three decades. “Time Warp is based on making people dance,” he said on the occasion of the 20th Time Warp anniversary. 

That holds true then and now. In 1994, techno was no longer underground; electronic music was experiencing its first peak in Germany. Therefore, the first Time Warp was not intended to be a rave like the thousands in the ’90s. Founder Steffen Charles wanted the first Time Warp to be a musical return to the underground. This should be reflected in the lineup and the name: “Time Warp – back to the good old days,” Steffen Charles recalls. Besides the musical focus, the location also played a significant role at the first party: “Time Warp shouldn’t be a rave in the traditional sense, rather a party like a large-scale club.”

A curated lineup in a carefully chosen and equipped location has been a trademark of Time Warp from the beginning, making it unique to this day. While the festival has evolved artistically and technically over the past three decades, its fundamental form has remained the same: Time Warp is not just a big rave but a collection of six or seven individually designed clubs, where you can dance throughout the night. Then, as now, Time Warp stands for spectacular floor designs, audiovisual worlds, and the best that the electronic music world has to offer.

Robin Ebinger, who joined the Time Warp team in the late ’90s, remembers challenges: “After techno and house disappeared from the public radar in the early 2000s, the future of the festival was uncertain.” Despite some setbacks, the number of attendees increased again, and from 2008, the event was sold out every year.

Do not miss this special 30 year celebration!