Time Warp

Steffen Charles started Time Warp in November 1994, with Laurent Garnier, Robert Armani and Speedy J on the first bill. It has called Mannheim home since 1995, and the flagship runs in the Maimarkthalle, an exhibition hall out by the city's trade fair grounds. The format is one long night, listed for 2027 as 19 hours across five floors, starting at 19:00 on Saturday 3 April and finishing at 14:00 on the Sunday. Production came through the agency Cosmopop, which is credited with helping make Funktion-One standard for big indoor techno events, and sound and lighting have always been the selling point. The recurring cave design on Floor 1 is a fixture. The brand has been exported all over, with New York, São Paulo, Madrid and Mexico City among the editions, but Germany remains the original. It draws over 40,000. It is more techno than house, though house has been on the bill since the first night, and it is one of the few events of its age still programming with this much care.