PAROOKAVILLE is one of the largest electronic music festivals in Germany. Every year since 2015, Weeze Airport has become a mini city with a market square, post office, church, swimming pool, and many other facilities – the “City of Dreams” for the tens of thousands of temporary residents. POOLgroup has played a key role in delivering the festival technology and staging since the very beginning and, together with the PAROOKAVILLE team, has continuously developed the show’s defining visuals on the main stage.

PAROOKAVILLE is more than just an EDM festival: It is a purpose-built city with its own history, rituals, and clear visual identity. In addition to leading international DJs such as David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Zedd, and Robin Schulz, the “Ceremony” is a widely anticipated part of the show – a large-scale spectacular on the main stage during the night from Saturday to Sunday featuring fireworks, lasers, drones, lighting, and content that is reimagined and refreshed every year.

The aim is to create a weekend that feels like it’s in its own universe – with a creative arc stretching from the first sets to the closing show and delivering an internationally competitive experience for both artist teams and the audience.

PAROOKAVILLE is a festival of superlatives: a lineup covering several days, well over ten stages, hundreds of artists, and rising expectations on all levels – artistically, technically, and creatively.

The challenges include:

• a tight build-up and breakdown schedule,
• parallel performances on multiple stages,
• rigorous demands on set design, staging, and artist support,
• and a Ceremony that raises the bar every single year.

At the same time, elements of the show such as fireworks, pyrotechnics, lasers, lighting, LED screen content, and videos running at maximum capacity must be synchronized precisely in the challenging festival environment.

The POOLcrew has acted as a technical and creative partner at PAROOKAVILLE for many years.

Alongside specialist technical planning across lighting, audio, video, media technology, IT, rigging, and stage automation as well as set and stage design particularly for the main stage, POOLgroup specifically contributes its production expertise to the festival. Lighting design, video concepts, and content storyline are developed and coordinated with the festival team, each building on the other so the overarching “City of Dreams” vision comes to life on stage.

A key element is the preparation phase at POOLgroup’s lighting studio in Emsdetten. Here, we not only program lighting cues but develop complete show imagery and main stage running orders in advance. In this way, lighting, video, and content can be molded ahead of time into coherent staging with clearly defined scenes, transitions, and highlights.

The live integration of LED screen content and lighting is particularly innovative:
Real and virtual spotlights are controlled from the same desk with the option of adapting LED visuals in real time. This blends stage, content, and lighting into one shared performance platform, enabling artists and operators to react to each other immediately.

This approach is strikingly evident in the Closing Ceremony: POOLgroup is heavily involved in designing and delivering the production. Fireworks, lasers, lighting, audio, and LED video content are woven together so that a DJ set is turned into a dramatic, theatrical highlight that encapsulates the festival experience.

Regular consultations, test builds, and technical assessments ensure that reality stays true to the plan – from the initial creative idea to the final show in front of the crowd.

The PAROOKAVILLE audience enjoys a fully realized, immersive atmosphere: They are not just attending a festival but “moving to a city”, becoming temporary citizens, and engaging with the DJs, shows, and stages as part of a continuing story.

The shows co-designed by POOLgroup, especially the Ceremony on the main stage, combine fireworks, drones, lasers, lighting, audio, and content to form a richly layered whole. The music of the world’s leading EDM artists converges with staging whose tempo, timing, and visuals are precisely tailored to the festival format and the PAROOKAVILLE brand.

PAROOKAVILLE is one of the most successful EDM festivals today and sets new standards in staging, storytelling, and technical quality year after year. POOLgroup has been part of this growth since the early days: from the first ideas for the “City of Dreams” to today’s show formats where technology and staging are seamlessly intertwined.

Over the years, the collaboration has developed into a close, trusting partnership where technical excellence and creative enthusiasm come together as one.

A festival that evolves every year and a crew that makes a decisive contribution to delivering the overarching vision on stage with advanced design, lighting, video, and content.