Calling all ravers! You and 400,000 of your friends will be in Paris on Saturday for the most extravagant (and loud) event of the year!


After the Gay Pride, it’s the biggest street event of the year in Paris, and this year’s should be even bigger than usual as the Techno Parade celebrates 10 years of supporting electronic music. The route is fairly short – from Opéra to Bastille – but with 400,000 people clogging up the streets the whole thing moves painfully slowly. Normal walking time would be less than an hour, but on Saturday the parade sets off at midday and arrives between five and eight hours later!

Since 2007 the Parade has strived to become eco-friendly, not an easy task with the 25 tons of debris left behind. This year there will be a recycling point at Bastille, participants are encouraged to use the bins along the route rather than simply throw their can and bottles into the gutter, and even the posters and flyer for the event are printed on recycled paper with vegetable-based inks.

Note that during the parade you’ll be able to get free drinking water from a lorry near the middle of everything (Paris tap water) and that free ear plugs will be available once you reach Bastille. And I’m telling you, you’ll need ’em.

If you haven’t been to France for a while, you may not know of the Tecktonic craze that is currently very popular with the youth here. The Techno Parade will almost certainly be a brilliant place to observe this strange arm-waving leg-wobbling dance (and the crazy manga looks that go with it). You’ll often see youngsters gathered together in the centre of town (Les Halle or the Pompidou Centre for example) to show off their mad skills. Here’s an example: