Mediaboss Marketing

About time: Time Warp comes to NYC.

For three months, Time Warp found itself in limbo. The first festival in the city where it is still based Mannheim, Germany, having debuted in 1994 Time Warp has grown to become the most prestigious techno festival in the world. But that didn't mean getting to New York would be easy.

Two years ago, Rob Toma and Antonio Piacquadio invited Time Warp founder Steffen Charles to check out New York. Charles knew the two men, now working at Space, from their years in Ibiza. After a six-day working holiday, Charles says he was blown away by the vibrancy of the local underground dance scene.

"What I see going on in New York," Charles says, "is people playing regularly, underground artists with a huge following. That's super-great. Not a lot of other big capitals have developed such a vibrant underground scene over the last two years. I'd talk to promoters who'd say, 'I play this little warehouse.' You only hear about EDM, but there's all these underground spaces that don't play commercial music at all." Not just in "outlaw" spaces, either: Charles was equally impressed by the lineup at big rooms like Pacha, Output, and Space.

photo-company.nl

On September 3, Sinatra's iconic crooning of "New York, New York" announced Time Warp's first U.S. events, on November 28 and 29. Although both Kraftwerk and Donna Summer's ur-techno song "I Feel Love" originated in Germany, there's no question that techno really began with black DJs experimenting in Detroit. So for Time Warp, the 20th-anniversary year took on new meaning as a homecoming of sorts.

After obvious choices like Pier 94, which couldn't make a commitment far enough in advance, were ruled out, the selection of Kingsbridge Armory seemed inspired. With its huge layout (180,000 square feet) and the Bronx's strong association with underground music, the armory harked back to the genre's roots in Detroit's abandoned warehouses and factories.

Then, on October 16, the Daily News reported that "the party's over for ravers looking to takeover [sic] Kingsbridge Armory." The News wondered whether the party would happen at all. For the next few weeks, ticket buyers and scheduled artists wondered the same thing. In a strong not to mention unusual show of support, however, most ticket buyers expressed strong support on social media. The first night, November 28, had already sold out.

"None of the artists were worried that it wouldn't happen," Charles says. "They knew from 20 years that we have never had an event canceled." Brooklyn-based DJ Francis Harris, booked as Frank & Tony with Parisian DJ Anthony Collins, tells the Voice he was philosophical about it: "I figured there's nothing you can do. Things fall through all the time. You keep your head down and hope for the best."

Only two weeks before the first night, it was announced that Time Warp had secured the 39th Street Pier in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. For two nights, the warehouse will become "the Cave," a traveling total-design concept with dozens of laser lights beaming between rows of man-made stalactites. Charles must have taken Sinatra's optimism to heart; he shipped the Cave from Germany before signing the final papers.

More:
Time Warp, the Most Prestigious Techno Festival in the World, Makes Its Way to New York