After the parade itself had finished and the trucks returned to the festival grounds, the Beatparade 2025 continued into the night. The six trucks that earlier rolled through Empfingen during the techno parade were now positioned around the fest area, giving visitors the chance to reconnect with the music they had already followed through the town. Later in the evening, additional DJs took over the MainStage and continued the program. The party was not fully sold out this year, but the area filled steadily as the night progressed and, according to estimates, around 6,500 visitors made their way onto the grounds.
Even though the weather had been difficult during the afternoon, the evening atmosphere felt noticeably lighter and more stable. Visitors interacted more casually with the music than earlier in the day, and you could sense that the evening part of the event is always a logical extension of what happens during the parade: same people, same energy, but without the constant movement of the trucks rolling through town.
During one of the later techno sets, something happened that felt almost like a tradition — even though it is not officially announced or choreographed in any way. A small group of girls started performing freestyle dance movements to one of the harder techno tracks, right in front of the MainStage area. And while spontaneous dancing is common at electronic music events, this specific moment had a different structure: their dancing was not random club movement, but more intentionally improvised, somewhere between open choreography, expressive freestyle and personal interpretation of the beat.
It became clear that this was not the first time they were doing this. When asking them, they told me that they do this every year, and every year more people join in. The circle started small, with only a few people watching. But as the track progressed and the build-up became heavier, more people stepped in around them. At first they only formed a loose ring of observers, then slowly some of them began copying certain movements, then others simply joined energetically without copying anything.
It was a reminder that events like the Beatparade are not only about the line-up or the stage production. Sometimes atmosphere is created by the participants themselves. And when techno meets freestyle, even briefly, it adds a layer of personality that cannot be planned — but adds something memorable to the night.
