The Love is back (again). The infamous Lovevolution Parade and Festival is back for 2011 and it will be held in Oakland at the Oakland Coliseum parking lot (with the Skills Love Afterparty immediately following inside the Coliseum). Yes, the annual party on Market Street that sent thousands of decibels of bass floating into the streets of SF is officially a thing of the past. Make way for the new (or ever changing) Lovevolution (formerly Love Parade and Love Festival). We hit up Syd Gris, founder of Opel and the Opulent Temple Burning Man camp and one of the main organizers behind LovEvolution to get the skinny on the move and what we can expect this year.

MW: Why the move to Oakland?
LE: We outgrew Civic Center with our amazing turn out in 2009, and basically since then have been on the hunt for the right spot to move it to. The new O.Co Coliseum Grounds location allows us to have a large event with room to grow, has an on site BART stop and parking (which obviously we never had in SF), has the perfect on site location for an Official After Party at the Oracle Arena, has a high probability for great weather, allows us to still have a parade around the grounds to give a nod to our history, and the costs were such that though they are higher than Civic Center, we can produce a world class event for only $25

MW: Will there be a love week with parties around town?
LE: Yes! Love Week starts Wednesday, September 21st with a kick off party, dinner, and benefit for Next aid at Supperclub, with official and affiliated events every night through Sunday.

MW: What can the festival goers expect to be different and/or the same this time around?
SG: Though it's certainly the case that we wish we could still be parading down Market St into Civic Center plaza, that time has passed and after the year off we look at this year as a chance to re-boot what Lovevolution is and can be. We're putting a higher premium than ever on production, both with the floats themselves and the grounds. We're going to erect a huge shaded chill area with a killer line up including Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation and Mark Farina doing a Mushroom Jazz set. We're going to be 18+ for the first time, so it will be an older crowd than the last couple years. We will still have floats produced by the community, and we will again have a main stage featuring The Glitch Mob, Plump DJ's and others. Obviously the aesthetics of the surroundings will be different, but we're going to do our best to make it awesome.

For more info on the festival visit their website or buy tickets here.

For more info on the Afterparty, check out the Skills website