- Some of the world's best queer party crews gather at Ferropolis for a rave to remember.
- Long before I reached Ferropolis, the sprawling former strip mine that's home to WHOLE | United Queer Festival, I was introduced to the chaotic, kind, platform-shoe-clad community that makes the event a thing of wonder. As soon as the doors shut on the regional train from Berlin to Dessau, people dressed in short shorts clutching tents and sleeping bags started chatting with each other, the social barriers of city life melting away as we headed off to queer techno paradise. In Dessau, the crowd gathered on the hot pavement drinking vodka and beer and singing along to DJ Call Me's "Marry Me," which played from a Bluetooth speaker. Though it's only been running for three years, WHOLE has already gained a reputation as a sort of gold standard for inclusive raving. Many people had been waiting for this all year, and when we reached the festival grounds, it was like people's inhibitions evaporated in the sun. Shirts came off, guards came down and hedonism reached staggering levels.
It's tricky to review a festival that prides itself on being a safe space because feeling safe is both elusive and subjective. But from an organizational standpoint, it seemed like WHOLE put a tremendous amount of effort into structuring the festival so it was as inclusive as possible. This included roaming awareness teams, critical panel discussions, exploratory workshops, stage design that was sex-positive without being genital-exclusive and a chill-out tent for trans and non-binary attendees organized by Berlin's TRHANS collective. Many people I spoke to were astonished by how comfortable they felt. For some, WHOLE was a portal into a world where merely existing wasn't shadowed with fear and anxiety. The festival put a framework in place to make this possible, but it was the attendees who respected and checked in with each other who realized the vision. This collective energy carried through right down to the bookings. Instead of picking individual artists, the festival asked different international party collectives to curate mini lineups. This resulted in some fantastic sets.
Here are five key performances from across the weekend.
Shaun J. Wright
On Sunday evening at the Teufelsee stage, the Berlin-based Detroiter Shaun J. Wright cooked up a healthy mix of Chicago house, techno and soul. From his perch above the shores of the man-made lake, he lifted the audience of sunbathers and swimmers out of beach mode and into another long night of debauchery with tracks like Loose Joints' "Is It All Over My Face." The two small runways framing the stage gave people a chance to spin and twirl for the audience, the barrier between DJ and listener softened as the audience worked themselves into the performance. When Wright dropped an extended remix of Jody Watley's "Looking For A New Love," the crowd went particularly wild, moving away from their beach towels and inflatable flamingos and towards the water-lined dance floor.
Ziúr
Playing on the ground floor of the Treehouse Stage, a two-level wooden hut that housed some of the festival's most forward-thinking shows, Ziúr flaunted her incredible ability to weave clusterfucks of sound into smoldering yet danceable mixes. Throwing down all the hallmarks of deconstructed club music, from metallic klinks and industrial beats to static noise, she pushed the cue button like she was throwing down punches. Wearing a threatening look and no headphones, she played with a palpable fearlessness. At one point, a drink was spilled upstairs, pouring down through gaps in the floor over the CDJs and power sources. With a few rapid movements, she stoically unplugged everything and, once the technician had given the all-clear, started back up again with "Baltimore" by Nina Simone. This felt like an incredibly intuitive choice, and was hands down one of my favorite moments of the weekend.
Dr. Rubinstein
As the beginnings of a cheddar-yellow full moon loomed large in the sky, Dr. Rubinstein lured fans to the festival's biggest space, Crane Stage, on Saturday night. Her repertoire of acid and hard, industrial techno matched perfectly with the surroundings, as dancers pumped their fists under the shadow of a gargantuan disused excavator crane. Reinforced by frantic selections like Drummapella's "Planet Of Drums," the vibe grew kind of spooky, as the audience, dressed in glam leather puppyhoods and high-vis clothing, flashed in and out of view with heavy-duty strobes. But what feels ominous to one is heaven to another—just as I was finding things a little unnerving, a fellow dancer jogged past me and exclaimed with a euphoric grin on her face, "I feel so safe!"
Horse Meat Disco (Severino)
On Sunday afternoon back at Teufelsee, Severino, of the celebrated London party crew Horse Meat Disco, turned the beach into a decadent '80s-style afterhours. Keeping yesterday's party going with tracks like Venise's "The Mystery With Me," a hardcore mix of Mory Konté's "Yeke Yeke" and an edit of Norman Connors' "Stay With Me," it was like consuming an audio-energy drink, full of easy to digest melodies and jaunty fizz. I bobbed my sunburnt head on the edge of the dance floor next to a leather bear holding a vape the size of a football. Fuelled by a couple bottles of Moët, an arsenal of boisterous bangers and a crowd still cooked from the night before, Severino perfectly eased festivalgoers into the final night.
Violet
Violet, who played Crane Stage late on Sunday, thumped out big beat, outsider techno and drum & bass. Interspersing '90s breakbeat classics like The Crystal Method's "Busy Child" gave her set a cute, PLUR-nostalgia feel. As the weekend headed to a close, festivalgoers began retreating to the forest to regroup and recover, which left the dance floor a bit more sparse than during the other marquee performances. But what it lacked in numbers it made up for in bountiful enthusiasm—time and time again, Crane Stage was home to the most hardcore ravers in all their wide-eyed glory. Continuing her balance of old and new records, Violet upped the tempo with Regis's 1996 track "Sand" before switching to more modern cuts, such as "Ride VIP" by Special Request. When she finished, I trod off into the night, exhausted and ears ringing, hoping to see the mirage of an ambient chill-out tent where I could fall into a soft, beatless slumber until WHOLE Festival started up again next year.
Photo credits /
Lead - Lucas Rosa
Tim O'Loghlin - Shaun J. Wright
Sara Herrlander (Via Loud) - Tree House, Horse Meat Disco, Violet
Studio KáNDé - Dr. Rubinstein
Ziúr Playing on the ground floor of the Treehouse Stage, a two-level wooden hut that housed some of the festival's most forward-thinking shows, Ziúr flaunted her incredible ability to weave clusterfucks of sound into smoldering yet danceable mixes. Throwing down all the hallmarks of deconstructed club music, from metallic klinks and industrial beats to static noise, she pushed the cue button like she was throwing down punches. Wearing a threatening look and no headphones, she played with a palpable fearlessness. At one point, a drink was spilled upstairs, pouring down through gaps in the floor over the CDJs and power sources. With a few rapid movements, she stoically unplugged everything and, once the technician had given the all-clear, started back up again with "Baltimore" by Nina Simone. This felt like an incredibly intuitive choice, and was hands down one of my favorite moments of the weekend.
Dr. Rubinstein As the beginnings of a cheddar-yellow full moon loomed large in the sky, Dr. Rubinstein lured fans to the festival's biggest space, Crane Stage, on Saturday night. Her repertoire of acid and hard, industrial techno matched perfectly with the surroundings, as dancers pumped their fists under the shadow of a gargantuan disused excavator crane. Reinforced by frantic selections like Drummapella's "Planet Of Drums," the vibe grew kind of spooky, as the audience, dressed in glam leather puppyhoods and high-vis clothing, flashed in and out of view with heavy-duty strobes. But what feels ominous to one is heaven to another—just as I was finding things a little unnerving, a fellow dancer jogged past me and exclaimed with a euphoric grin on her face, "I feel so safe!"
Horse Meat Disco (Severino) On Sunday afternoon back at Teufelsee, Severino, of the celebrated London party crew Horse Meat Disco, turned the beach into a decadent '80s-style afterhours. Keeping yesterday's party going with tracks like Venise's "The Mystery With Me," a hardcore mix of Mory Konté's "Yeke Yeke" and an edit of Norman Connors' "Stay With Me," it was like consuming an audio-energy drink, full of easy to digest melodies and jaunty fizz. I bobbed my sunburnt head on the edge of the dance floor next to a leather bear holding a vape the size of a football. Fuelled by a couple bottles of Moët, an arsenal of boisterous bangers and a crowd still cooked from the night before, Severino perfectly eased festivalgoers into the final night.
Violet Violet, who played Crane Stage late on Sunday, thumped out big beat, outsider techno and drum & bass. Interspersing '90s breakbeat classics like The Crystal Method's "Busy Child" gave her set a cute, PLUR-nostalgia feel. As the weekend headed to a close, festivalgoers began retreating to the forest to regroup and recover, which left the dance floor a bit more sparse than during the other marquee performances. But what it lacked in numbers it made up for in bountiful enthusiasm—time and time again, Crane Stage was home to the most hardcore ravers in all their wide-eyed glory. Continuing her balance of old and new records, Violet upped the tempo with Regis's 1996 track "Sand" before switching to more modern cuts, such as "Ride VIP" by Special Request. When she finished, I trod off into the night, exhausted and ears ringing, hoping to see the mirage of an ambient chill-out tent where I could fall into a soft, beatless slumber until WHOLE Festival started up again next year. Photo credits / Lead - Lucas Rosa Tim O'Loghlin - Shaun J. Wright Sara Herrlander (Via Loud) - Tree House, Horse Meat Disco, Violet Studio KáNDé - Dr. Rubinstein